Posted on 09/30/2017 5:27:42 PM PDT by snarkpup
A woman died in a crash on the Monument Saturday where she was participating in the Tour of the Moon bike event.
The 64-year-old woman from Albuquerque, New Mexico was wearing a helmet when Park Rangers say she went off the road and hit a rock wall. She was not hit by a car. It happened on Rim Rock Drive near Cold Shivers Point at around noon.
(Excerpt) Read more at kjct8.com ...
Early this morning I checked the weather forecast and, at that time, expected that either the over-the-Monument part of the event would be cancelled or bad things would happen. It was the latter.
As described in another article here, many cyclists who neglected to check the forecast and/or are not familiar with the way the Monument triggers convection storms apparently hunkered down and were bussed out. But I observed a continuous stream of other cyclists coming out of the Monument who chose to risk the lightning bolts.
I posted this in case anyone needs to be reminded that high-speed cycling down winding mountain roads during a (predicted) thunderstorm is not a good idea.
And no amount of helmet is going to save your face if you plant it on the asphalt.
Working in Vail Colorado....a cyclist was struck by lightening and the sun was out..the storm was pretty much out of sight...I do not know if this was the first bolt of lightening from the storm...I think Colorado and Florida are the leaders in lighting strikes
Just got back into cycling again.
I’m an older guy now, not much wiser. “:^)
There’s not much to protect you out there folks. That little helmet isn’t going to cut it many times.
Stay safe. Enjoy the ride. Stay within limits.
This was a tour event. For USACycling sanctioned events, they will typically go regardless of most weather conditions, however, the chief commissaire can choose to shorten or even cancel the event in case of lightning, flooding, or other hazardous conditions.
Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas
A friend had a similar sounding crash a few years back. Hit a rock face head first. The helmet absolutely saved his life. He was seriously injured including a broken neck but he fully recovered. His crushed helmet made for a great show and tell bike safety lesson
“A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle” is often attributed to the American feminist and political activist Gloria Steinem.
Hope she hasn’t been partaking of this tripe.
Thanks for the mention. Glad your friend was able to make a full recovery. I didn’t mean to slander bike helmets there. I use them and I think it’s important to.
Looking back, I remember when I was a kid going full out at times when I shouldn’t have, without any protection.
Yikes.
No problem. Didn’t take it as trashing helmets. It was just a helmet success story.
RIP.
Ditto. Helmetless down bumpy, unpaved hills full tilt. But that was 67 years ago.
1000s die each day. Why is this news worthy??
Man stepped on bug. News at 11.
I knew someone paralyzed from the waist down because his bicycle chain snapped. It was all downhill from there until his death.
This accident occurred on Colorado National Monument property; and I expect that the Monument personnel foresaw what was coming. Their rangers do not enjoy scraping cyclists off the pavement and I'm somewhat surprized they didn't veto that part of the event.
I am told that participants had to check in at the west entrance and show that they were registered for the event. This would have been a good opportunity for Monument personnel to warn them that if they rode over the Monument during the next couple of hours, they should assume they would be riding through at least one thunderstorm cell.
Sorry to hear that. Yikes.
No doubt time for yet another local debate regarding the use of the Monument for sanctioned cycling events. I’m surprise they still let the 100 mile tour of the valley traverse the Monument
Exactly.
The Park Service is traditionally very paranoid about bad things happening on Monument property. To minimize the chances of bad things happening, they have a tendency to ban things.
Reckless cycling in the Monument is a chronic problem. In fact, reckless cycling in the whole county is a chronic problem. Cyclists in organized groups are as reckless as individuals. (In last year's Tour of the Moon event and in another cycling event about a month ago many cyclists were vividly demonstrating their lack of riding skills.)
Put these two things together and the Park Service's traditional resistance to allowing organized cycling events is understandable. The catch-22 here that makes this latest accident politically interesting is that 1) this would give the Monument people ammunition for banning future events of this kind, except that 2) the Monument might be held responsible for this particular accident because they allowed the event to proceed in spite of obviously dangerous weather conditions that were developing as the cyclists were being checked in.
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