Radelaides senior skaters are stepping it up a notch. Groms beware!
This was posted on our Adelaide thread yesterday after Mikey Rivers had a horrendous crash. After what happened in Sydney on the weekend to with Matty Ado has asked that I post this on here in the hope that senior skaters all over will think about it and maybe put a similar plan into action. Mikey is still in hospital with a broken shoulder, arm, ribs, vertebrate and a punctured lung. He is lucky to be breathing and he is lucky to be walking (or he will be anyway).
''Ok. Mikey had a really bad crash today on hayward. He ended up in the guard rail shoulder first at 60 or so. He likely has a broken arm, ribs and something wrong with his hips/pelvis. Thank someone that his back seems to be ok. It was probably the worst crash I have seen and I have seen many.
Mikey is an experienced racer/rider from England. He has ridden and competed all over the world and is a very capable skater. Still though, this shows that one mistake can really have a huge impact and everyone is capable of making them no matter the experience they have. Luckily for us we had phones to call ambulances, we had friends around, we have first aid knowledge and we had the common sense to call the Ambulance instantly. If this was two kids walking up the hill with no car, possibly no phone, no water, no medical supplies things could end a lot worse.
Leigh, Bow and myself are now stepping things up a notch. My stomach turns just thinking about what could happen to young, inexperienced riders on certain roads in Adelaide. I think many or most of you take this sport much to lightly. If you bugger up a turn and hit a car, post, cliff edge, pile of rocks or anything else you can and most likely be seriously injured. People have died riding downhill and unfortunately, more will in the future. I would be absolutely sick if anything like this happened to anyone in our community.
We now have a list of roads.
1.Hayward
2.Corkscrew
3.Mt Osmond
4.Norton summit rd (not the pins, they are fine)
5.Pole rd
6.Greenhill
These are roads that we know you grommets have been skating. We have people telling us who skates roads they shouldn't and every video you post up we watch. We will recognise these roads and from now on we will pull you up on them. Anyone caught riding these roads in the future or if we hear of anybody riding these roads in the future, will be banned from future South Australian events such as races or freerides. You will never ride with any of us, we will never invite you to sessions with internationals or interstaters, we will never reccomend you for interstate races that require our approval (such as BTS) and we will encourage others not to ride with you.
Skating down a hill is one thing. Most people can do it. Skating in your lane is a step above. Skating safely when something unexpected happens is something you will only learn over time. Cars in your lane, trying to pass you or tailgating you. Animals jumping onto the road. Someone crashing in front of you. These are all things that very few of you have the skill or knowledge to deal with.
If you think this is unfair, tough. Laws prohibit kids and teens from smoking, drinking, driving, film and television content and a lot of other things. Your parents prohibit you from certain places, activities and other things. This is the way the world works. Kids and teenagers have an opinion that they are invincible. You are not. I believe that the 3 of us are obliged to look out for your safety. As far as the law is concerned, we put ourselves at risk for under age kids every week.
The RAG's were all selected (have to talk to intense squad who we overlooked with the list) as groms we skate the listed roads with regularly and believe are up to a safe standard. If you wish to skate these roads with us I would suggest hooking up a session with a few guys from RAG's and they will let us know of people who are skating at a high level. It will then be up to us to invite you to a session and see how you go. You will not get to a weekend session with us by sending us facebook messages.
It is shitty that it has come to this but we have a lot of things riding on the line currently. The Willunga boys are still in the midst of their court case and it is predicted to carry on until June. Daily Grind and myself are finalising our council proposals for regular road closures in Adelaide and Duff is currently working on having a particular road closed also. Not only is seeing a friend crumpled up in a guard rail screaming at the top of his lungs with unthinkable pain one of the worst experiences ever but it put's many other things and risk.
Skate safe, skate within your limits, wear your helmet, do the clip up and watch out for one another.''
Views: 234
Replies to This Discussion
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Gabe on -
Amen brother
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Fendy on -
*like*
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by charlie harris on -
I didnt think anyone skated pole, aha
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Permalink Reply by LOBBY sullivan on
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And no one is going to
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Dani on -
You would be nuts to skate pole road. You would also be nuts to skate Hayward after two months of owning a board. Gotta cover all bases.
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Permalink Reply by Jack on
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was mike's crash caused by a grom or was it a mistake on his part? I'm only asking out of curiosity; this seems like a good idea.
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by charlie harris on -
Who skates hayward after owning a board for two months?
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Dani on -
It was a mistake on his part. He got some twitches while going around a bend. The lane is quite narrow and cannot be cut as it is 100% blind. He just couldn't hold it together this time.
These rules are not here because it was a groms fault it happend. They are here because if this amount of damage was done to Mikey who would weigh in at 75kilos or so, imagine what it would do to a kid weighing in at 50kilos. Mike also managed to steer himself away from the post a little while sliding on the road which prevented him from going head or face first into the post which surely would have killed him. Not many people would be able to pull that off.
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Dani on -
Groms who have no common sense.
I would like to point out that it took Leigh, Bow and I about 2 years of skating before even considering Hayward. You guys are lucky since you have people to learn skills from. We didn't so it took us longer. It is one of those hills though, you need to be dialled.
charlie harris said:Who skates hayward after owning a board for two months?
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Benbro on -
heal up well mike,wish you all the best,.....
incidents like these are going to happen occassionally,all the senior riders can do is make an effort to help/coach/teach the inexperienced guys whenever they skate together.
I would personally like to see the groms and the newer riders spend more time learning to control speed and grip and stick lines and corners,less time slipping and sliding all over the road at slow to moderate speeds.
sliding is a skill that definetly needs to be learned,but there is more to kno and learn.
most seem to be either freeriding-sliding,tricks etc. or then there bombing hills.
no in between,when i first was getting into d/h we went and sessioned corners,but instead of only sliding we also just gripped and learnt to hold a nice line thru them until you could take it fast.....
Learn the skills before you hit the hills.
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Permalink Reply by leighgriffiths on
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what we are trying to get at more than anything else is that Mikey has far more experience than any Adelaide grom does. but despite his experience he went down and he went down hard. i saw it first hand and i was sick to my stomach.
THESE ROADS ADD FAR TOO MANY RISKS TO THE ALREADY DANGEROUS SPORT AND FOR NEWBIES THIS IS NOT WHAT THEY SHOULD BE LEARNING ON.
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Permalink Reply by Tim Day on
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Very fair I'd say! This should be rule/code everywhere. Haven't had a chance to speak with Matti yet, although his injuries are to a similar extent. Made the papers and news today. It really hits home when its somebody in your community eh?
Great post, its a shame that its taken something like this to bring it in to force. Lets keep our sport as safe as we can. Heal fast Mikey.
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