Why do so many euros have a complete lack of understanding about personal space.  Airport lines are prime examples.

 And that blind faith part: After crashing this week, and reading about the constant carnage down at the Giro (claiming Dave Z, fracturing his L1 vertebrae) I started really thinking about what we do.  I do this from time to time after crashes, but man, it’s bad right now.   My crash, mid-bunch, on Friday was straight up bad luck. I was in the middle of a bunch of 140 guys, packed together between curbs on 2 lanes of road with barely inches between us. When somebody a few riders ahead touched wheels and hit the deck I followed suit.  Before this I was going 60kph, my heart rate pinned, and madly pedaling forward based upon the assumption, and hope, that nobody ahead was going to f- up.  But somebody, who I’d placed that faith in, did.  oops.  There are SO many times over the course of the year when you’re racing, FLYING downhill, fighting in the gutter, battling(did I say that?:) into a finish, all the while simply counting on the fact that nobody ahead is going to screw up.  If they do, well, you’re screwed.  Fortunately most of the guys we race with are pretty adept on 2 wheels and don’t botch it very often.  This is one solid reason why the category system, with rules for progression, is so key in citizen racing.  We’re just generally going a bit faster. 

All that said, I can’t wait to heal up and get back into one of those races, likely one where we’re going to be smashing away in the gutter, praying that those ahead are doin the right thing…