If memory serves me right (which it doesn’t always), I have never crashed before in a road race of any sort. Now this is not to say that I have not had very close encounters with crashes in road racing. Indeed, many a time, I have found myself standing with my bike, one foot unclipped, as screaming women fall onto my legs and wheels. Torn shorts, cherry-red, road-rashed rumps, broken bikes abound, and me, with nothing less than a chainring to the ankle. I have tip-toed out of said piles of bodies quietly, clipped back in, and raced back on, as the group rolls onward. The battlefield of the NCR peloton.

This is not to say I have not crashed in races. I have crashed countless times in mountain bike racing, resulting in broken bikes, torn ligaments, gashes requiring multiple stitches, cracked helmets, you name it. But not in road racing. Crashing in road racing is scary…

Read the rest of the story here.

About the author: Melanie Meyers is a Tucson based member of the Specialized Designs for Women Cycling Team. To read more about her click here. To learn more about her team click here.