Crash!

Here's a sequence of shots from a recent dual slalom race. This is a good example of what not to do when the guy in front crashes. I'm in orange.

First a couple of shots during my qualifying run.





I qualified in the top half of my bracket which is pretty good. Unfortunately they rearranged the brackets before the head to head race and I got bumped back a few spots. This meant that I didn't have lane choice. The guy I was racing (16 yo kid actually) choose the fast lane which meant I was going to have to pass him at the merge (where the two side by side tracks come together as one).

Follow the sequence. I'm in back looking into the corner and setting up for a "Low-High" pass. That's where you come in to the corner low and try to body check the guy you're passing by exiting high. Remember I'm looking low into the corner, so I have no idea what the other rider is doing on the high line. Watch what happens:


















Ooof. It looks bad but all I got out of it was a little scratch on the elbow. Unfortunately the other racer was able to get up faster than me and managed to cross the line first. Oh well, that's racing. What I learned is that I need to keep an eye on the other racer and the corner. If I had know he was going to fall, I could have braked and made a safe pass while he was on the ground.