#!markdown
I get this. Totally. Rampage is damn near as burl as burl can get. In most any
other sport, the athletes are covered when competing/performing and that goes
for a lot of cycling events/races too. Why it isn't here, with what's getting
built and done, it's crazy for the event sponsors to NOT pony up and get the
riders' a policy at least. With that, one thing always concerned me, and
that's the lack of chest and spine protection on the riders. The
promoters/sponsors should have been mandating appropriate protective gear for
the contest all along. True it won't solve all injuries, but if you're out
there in jeans, a t shirt, gloves(maybe) and a full face and expect to not get
injured you haven't been watching your competitors. Or you've not spent enough
time at a skatepark to see how screwed up people get bailing at MUCH lower
amplitudes. It's negligence on both parties to be out there in what the rock
and dust will regard as your birthday suit when you crash. If you look at Bas'
crash, a spine protector could very well have prevented that fracture. How
Rogatkin got away without more of an injury is just luck. And truly
unfortunate, Bas' luck turned sour. I can hope (I do) and donate (I have) for
a speedy recovery, but it's time the promoters, the riders, and the riders'
sponsors sat down and had a powwow to establish just how much the riders'
lives are worth. It's time to raise the baseline for safety both before a
crash (protective gear) and after it (insurance and wage coverage).
Oct. 21, 2015, 11:31 a.m. - JT
#!markdown I get this. Totally. Rampage is damn near as burl as burl can get. In most any other sport, the athletes are covered when competing/performing and that goes for a lot of cycling events/races too. Why it isn't here, with what's getting built and done, it's crazy for the event sponsors to NOT pony up and get the riders' a policy at least. With that, one thing always concerned me, and that's the lack of chest and spine protection on the riders. The promoters/sponsors should have been mandating appropriate protective gear for the contest all along. True it won't solve all injuries, but if you're out there in jeans, a t shirt, gloves(maybe) and a full face and expect to not get injured you haven't been watching your competitors. Or you've not spent enough time at a skatepark to see how screwed up people get bailing at MUCH lower amplitudes. It's negligence on both parties to be out there in what the rock and dust will regard as your birthday suit when you crash. If you look at Bas' crash, a spine protector could very well have prevented that fracture. How Rogatkin got away without more of an injury is just luck. And truly unfortunate, Bas' luck turned sour. I can hope (I do) and donate (I have) for a speedy recovery, but it's time the promoters, the riders, and the riders' sponsors sat down and had a powwow to establish just how much the riders' lives are worth. It's time to raise the baseline for safety both before a crash (protective gear) and after it (insurance and wage coverage).