Why the Red Hook Crit May Be the Safest No-Brake Bike Race In the World

The clock ticked 9:30 PM on April 30, and the theme from Rocky blared. The field of 95 cyclists—mostly a mix of bike messengers, track specialists, and world-class road racers hailing from 47 countries—got ready to compete in the men's final of Red Hook Crit, a fixed-gear cycling race held in Brooklyn. It's considered the premier track bike criterium in the world.

But just seconds into the race, disaster struck: the pace motorcyclist stalled in the middle of the track. A handful of riders were able to swerve out of the way and narrowly avoid collision, but soon enough someone hit the vehicle and a massive pile-up ensued. At least seven riders were injured; one required stitches, but no one broke any bones. There were plenty of ambulances at the scene and the race eventually resumed (41 of the 95 riders would finish).

Footage of the crash, however, looks like pure chaos, and so of course the video went viral. It led many to criticize the unsanctioned event. If a fixed-gear event is sanctioned by USA Cycling, the sport's governing body, the race must abide by the organization's safety guidelines and course requirements. Many Red Hook Crit supporters believe the criticism of the crash overshadows efforts to make the event one of the safest in the sport.

"The moto incident was terrible, but [it was] human error. I've seen the same stuff happen at local, national, and international races. People forgive the error of anything that causes a crash in a normal race," said national criterium champion Daniel Holloway, whose first fixed-gear race was the Red Hook Crit. "Because Red Hook is new and 'taboo,' it's easier for people to say, 'Oh, that's so stupid. This is mayhem.'"

Fixed-gear racing is notoriously dangerous. Riders reach speeds up to 40 miles per hour, often only inches apart from each other as they careen through a series of tight turns. Their bikes have only one gear, and no freewheel mechanism, meaning that as long as the wheels are in motion, the pedals are in motion, too. And, of course, there are no brakes.

"It's unrelenting," said Holloway, who finished fifth in the Red Hook Crit. "You can't coast. You have to be very focused the whole time. Every little mistake is actually bigger that what it is on a road bike."

Fixed-gear may never be completely safe, but David Trimble, who founded the Red Hook Crit in 2008, wants his race—and, in turn, the sport—to get as close as possible. With course improvements and event infrastructure gleaned from his experience in motorsports, he has tried to create a model for other criteriums. Today he directs races in New York, London, Barcelona, and Milan as a four-part championship series.

For Ronnie Toth, a former triathlete turned competitive cyclist, just getting to the starting line of this year's Red Hook Crit was an accomplishment.

Two years ago, at the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix in California, he was in a near fatal crash during the final sprint to the finish. After flattening his tire on the feet of a barrier, Toth lost control and face-planted directly into it, shattering every bone from his eyes to his mouth. His right arm got caught in a barrier as he crashed, breaking his humerus; the bone pierced through his skin. Toth had to undergo multiple reconstructive surgeries. Titanium plates and screws were implanted in his face and arm.

Trimble studies videos of crashes like Toth's. He analyzes footage of all types of races, from amateur crits to grand tours, and has spent hours reviewing previous Red Hook Crit crashes to understand what caused them and how to prevent them from occurring again.

"I understood right away what went wrong," he said, referring to Toth's accident. "The barriers weren't covered in branding, and the sharp top corners were not secured."

That, according to Trimble, would have made a difference. The same barriers that destroyed Toth's face are used in the majority of bike races across the country, including the Red Hook Crit. They are designed to be sturdy and easy to transport and set up, but, Trimble says, they're not designed with safety in mind.

"The worst part is the sharp square corners," he said.

The most serious crash in Red Hook Crit history involved these barriers, when a rider hit one face-first in 2013, shattering his lower jaw and damaging his cheekbone and eye socket.

Now Trimble's team uses industrial zip ties to join the tops of the barriers so that the blunt ends aren't exposed. Nearly all the barriers around the length of the circuit are also layered with fabric advertising banners, which cover holes in the barriers, thereby preventing riders from getting tangled in one. No amount of adjustment to the barriers, however, will ever fully minimize the chance of a bad accident occurring.

"The race is dangerous," Trimble said. "But all bike racing is dangerous. The entire culture of most bike races is that they're not safe enough. We know people are going to potentially get hurt so we need to minimize the risks as much as possible."

Trimble attributes his focus on safety measures to his background in motorsports. Growing up, he raced shifter go-karts professionally and worked as a mechanic on Indycar teams for several years before transitioning to competitive mountain bike, cyclocross, and alleycat races.

"In motorsports, the safety infrastructure is incredible and something that's been developed over many years out of lots of casualties," Trimble said. "You have to think of a bike race as basically a car race. Where would you put safety measures? That's how a criterium course should be designed."

The Red Hook Crit takes a few ideas from motorsports, like its system of flags and course marshals. Race officials also brief riders on communication procedures and safety precautions before the competition.

Each race on the Red Hook Crit circuit is managed by a "zone leader": an experienced event staffer with a strong cycling background. The zone leaders oversee about 20 marshals stationed around the course—enough personnel to ensure that every inch of the race is visually covered, according to course director Liam Worthy. Should a minor incident occur, a marshal waves a yellow flag and blows a whistle. If the incident is serious enough to pause the race, marshals revert to radio communication and wave red flags around the circuit to inform riders what's happening and to mobilize medical resources immediately, if required.

Worthy is a cycling consultant who previously served as route operations manager for the 2012 London Olympics. He travels to each Red Hook Crit race with his own crew of zone leaders, which means more managerial consistency across events, better communication between staff, and safer races.

Even some of the most recognized professional criteriums in the U.S. struggle with safety issues and incidents. At the Athens Twilight Criterium in Georgia in 2014, for instance, there was a crash involving multiple riders. One cyclist stayed on the ground, not moving, but the race continued as the others checked their bike equipment for damage and rode off. The injured rider was still on the ground as competitors completed the lap, and another pile-up ensued.

At the 2014 Tour of Somerville, a four-year-old boy was standing on a curb, without barriers. He was hit by a rider sprinting to the finish and suffered a gash on his forehead that required 100 stitches. The incident created a ripple effect and caused six other cyclists to crash. And this was at a race sanctioned by USA Cycling.

Any disruption in the line of racers, who are only inches apart from one another, can have serious consequences. That's what Trimble tries to minimize. The Red Hook Crit circuit is completely closed with barriers, a decision Trimble said developed over time and through experience. He worked closely with the race's title sponsor, Rockstar Games, to increase the budget for additional infrastructure. This year's race used 6,000 feet of barriers, which cost more than $25,000.

Holloway, who was the top-ranked road criterium rider in the U.S. leading into his Red Hook Crit debut, points to the event's qualifying system as a distinguishing safety measure worth copying.

The Red Hook Crit is set up with six rounds of qualifying sessions held throughout race day, narrowing the initial field of 250 riders to 95 for the marquee race in the evening. Trimble said there are more crashes during qualifying rounds than in the final race because inexperienced riders are weeded out.

"A big obstacle we're at now with sanctioned racing is that there are a lot of guys that are really strong and catch up fast but never learn the bike handling skills. So they'll race faster than what their skill set is, and they get themselves into scenarios where they're over their head," he said. "Red Hook is one of a kind in that regard. There's a natural selection put in place."

Still, Toth, whose first fixed-gear race was six months after his 2014 crash and who finished 18th in this year's Red Hook Crit, knows that no matter how experienced the riders are, no one is immune from a crash—nor will the inherent risks keep everyone away.

"People love dangerous shit," he said.