How is Gracia doing?

[klunky]

http://www.i-mtb.com/cedric-gracia-interview/

Getting better by the looks of it.
I thought he bent a rotor or something but it looks like it was just a mechanical! Did he do his own spannering?

[tabletop84]

I can't believe he broke his hip-bone into 50 pieces. Hard to believe he will ever ride again but it's great to see him in good spirits and commited.

What is spannering?

[klunky]

As in did he do his own bike servicing or did he have a mechanic. If he had a mechanic and his hose came detached or whatever I feel sorry for the mechanic - it would be a horrible position to be in.

[tabletop84]

Of course he has a mechanic. I read somwhere that a rock hit his hose and ripped it apart but his reaction towards the question in the vid was weird.

It don't has to be the fault of the mechanic. I mean apparently gwins both brakes failed at the same time. Hard to believe but then why whould they make things up.

I finished many vertical feet in the alps and never had a catastrophic fail of a brake but I think it could happen if seals blow suddenly etc.

[PsyCro]

It don't has to be the fault of the mechanic. I mean apparently gwins both brakes failed at the same time. Hard to believe but then why whould they make things up.

Then how'd he make it to the end of the track in one piece!!? I'm pretty sure that lightweight frame cracked somewhere, so he just rode it out.. and now no one is the wiser

[SCARY]

It's odd how Gracia finds fault in everyone else's "incompetence "surrounding his fall,transport,track, but you don't get an answer to if he has an incompetent mechanic or sponso regarding what went wrong with his bike.

Really?clearing an additional 10ft out off the side of the track?Youre lucky to get single track put in in the first place.I understand having a safe track,but this is DH .I dont think anyone here needs any further explanation.

I have a French friend and he tends to do this alot,too.Im wondering if it's a cultural thing

[tabletop84]

I don't race worldcups but safety measures could be better. I'm not saying that cleaning out the sides of the track should be done but basic things like competent track marshals would be good. I experience it frequently that they don't have their **** together when they should wave the yellow flag when a rider goes down in training.

[UiUiUiUi]

trackside first aid usually is pretty bad too...

but paying for professional trauma specialists and paramedics is expensive...

[tabletop84]

Thankfully I didn't need them till now and I think in germany it's ok for most races. Even at small local races I see a decent amount of paramedics but I don't know about their competence.

It's just situations like in training at dirtmasters where there was a rooty off camber section where the riders had to go up and around a tree coming into the woods from a relatively open highspeed section.

Almost nobody made it, everyone was crashing into the tree or before it and rider after rider crashed into the crowd of crashed riders. and it took like half an hour till officials showed up to sort things out. It just appears that something that could be easly avoided has to happen first before you get a reaction from officials.

[tabletop84]

btw. he seems to be doing fine according to this pic:

[numerik]

From FB:
It’s official, I’M FREE !!! 4 month after my accident, doctor said “exceptional recovery !”
I’ve the green light to be on the bike and do everything I want!!!

[jackalope]

Fuuuuuuuuu...

That is simply amazing.

[William42]

holy ****, thats nuts. What a monster, hope to see him racing professionally again one day, I thought he was done right as he started nailing his comeback.

[OGRipper]

"We can rebuild him. We can make him better, stronger, faster..."

[Transcend]

It's odd how Gracia finds fault in everyone else's "incompetence "surrounding his fall,transport,track, but you don't get an answer to if he has an incompetent mechanic or sponso regarding what went wrong with his bike.

Really?clearing an additional 10ft out off the side of the track?Youre lucky to get single track put in in the first place.I understand having a safe track,but this is DH .I dont think anyone here needs any further explanation.

I have a French friend and he tends to do this alot,too.Im wondering if it's a cultural thing

Most tracks on the world cup have a semi cleared zone alone the outside. If they don't, they certainly do have have stumps and cut down trees tossed just the other side of the tape. The area he went down in was one where there was obviously going to be accidents so tossing sharp, dead brush there wasn't a great idea. Clearly this isn't what hurt him, but the stump/log he landed on did...