Almost got killed in a paceline crash. But I didn't know any of them so I should not have gotten in with them.

those guys can ride a mean American type crit. Politician? What's he doing?

County commissioner for Lehigh county. Also runs the Ttown velodrome now.

Question for the experienced here....what is the best way to avoid road hazards in a paceline? hand gestures are tough to see, yelling is tough to hear depending on conditions....

Do the lead rider(s) simply weave around the hazard and the rest of the line follows?

Its tough. I hate the sudden swervers, as they can take out the guy behind if they slow a bit and swerve. But yeah, try and follow moves ahead, and when leading you're a shepherd.

First, you should always move a little right or left occasionally and scan the road ahead on your own. Second, you need to be sensitive to gestures. The shouts get annoying, I hate hearing "hole" screamed 100 times a ride. Third, you need to accept that sometimes its a risk of being in the line, which is why its ALWAYS both hands on bars and good grip. Its not just your own safety at risk, its all of the guys behind you. Drink when on the very back or when drifting or at stops etc, never in a full on line.

Inevitably you'll whack something.

I agree with Greg and its hard to describe since there are so many things that can happen or ways to avoid all the gotchas. I will add to Greg's list. I always look for the way they ride. Smooth pedal stroke, no upper body movements, ride straight as an arrow and they don't swerve at all. They look effortless as they ride down the road. Plus, you get a better draft behind guys like that. If you ride behind someone who swerves left and right, an inexperience rider will follow that and amplify that movement 2x. by the 5 position back they are all over the road. So, look at the person's ass or seat post area to prevent your eyes locked on the wheel. Sometimes, you have to look at the wheel, because you might be 2" from it. I tilt my head and look through their arm to see what's ahead. Jsut remember one thing, the front rider's job is not to tell you where the obstacles are but a warning with a hand signal telling the rider behind that something is up ahead and look out for it.

A loud mouth tri bike, woman rider let me have a piece of her mind a few weeks ago when I called car up from about 10 spot from the front because everyone was hauling ass humming along this straight at close to 27-28 with no one calling out the park car. She btich about my descriptive language. "what's car up, the fawking car is on the right, so call car right". I responded with" do you want me to write that out for you?" Some of the guys laughed. We never saw here again. I think she got spat out the back.

You will get all kinds of crazy people yelling at ya, so listen and take it with a grain of salt. When I see riders that makes mistakes, I tey to ride along side them and explain to them what they did wrong and hope they will try or remember to correct it next time around. Yelling will never get the message across.

We usually use a hand tapping hip or across the back pointing left for right edge road hazards to move the line left.

I stick out out my hand or finger and point for a split second. I expect the person behind me to follow the same signal to warn other behind them. Its just a warning for them to watch for danger up ahead. Guys who wave their arm and do the scope and scream drives me nuts. I stay away from them.

I do not go around man-hole covers, rough road, water, or pot holes unless they are huge. I will point out railroad tracks or cones on the road. I will yell out water if the floor is wet with an upcoming turn. That can hurt if they are coming around a turn full gas.