Cyclist dies in race in Portland, OR

[slinkedog]

http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug...v=ap&type=lgns

Very sad story. Be careful, all you racing gals!!

[bikerchick68]

man that's just awful... I'm sure he never thought that would be the way he died... ya always assume that if you were to die while cycling it would be caused from being hit by a car or a downhill crash... T's and P's to his family and friends...

[LBTC]

OMG! that's shocking and frightening!! The poor guy! yes, lots of healing and peaceful energy to his family, friends and the cycling fans and volunteers that were witness to the tragedy!

Hugs
Namaste,
~T~

[Lynne]

Yeah, I was just posting in the TE member race results section. I'd just done my first race there the night before.

Very sad. It's so hard for me to imagine how that happened...I guess these guys must get too aggressive and forced him off the track? I wish I knew more.

[Dianyla]

Geez, that's terrible. And the guy who just got run over by a MAX commuter train (riding with headphones!) survives?

[julbee]

This is sad.

Lynne, you must be having many different thoughts and emotions... having just raced there?

I'd understood the article to say something about a helmet not being able to take an impact at 30 m.p.h.? If that is true... it's quite disconcerting, as many riders ride 30 m.p.h. or faster! Hopefully helmets are designed to take the impact???

Thoughts and prayers to friends, families, teammates, anyone impacted by this recent tragedy.

[Irulan]

This is sad.

Lynne, you must be having many different thoughts and emotions... having just raced there?

I'd understood the article to say something about a helmet not being able to take an impact at 30 m.p.h.? If that is true... it's quite disconcerting, as many riders ride 30 m.p.h. or faster! Hopefully helmets are designed to take the impact???

Thoughts and prayers to friends, families, teammates, anyone impacted by this recent tragedy.

Even the best helmets do not protect against ALL kinds of head trauma. They are insurance against certain types of injury, within a certain range of speed, mechanism of injury and the laws of physics.

irulan

[alison_in_oh]

Last night my husband was sprinting at faster than 30 mph, had some kind of small equipment malfunction, went over the bars and hit the pavement. Thanks to his helmet, he had a small bruise on his temple and maybe a mild concussion.

That's the kind of injury that a helmet is meant to protect against. Not a full-speed collision with a concrete post. The human body just can't sustain that regardless of protective gear.

[Lynne]

I'm going to take a look at the track next Monday and let you know what I see. Honestly, I think the paper has it wrong; there are no exposed poles on the final "sprint" stretch. Everything is behind cement barriers. I can't help but think that the poor guy might have gone up on a barrier and hit the pole behind?

[Irulan]

Last night my husband was sprinting at faster than 30 mph, had some kind of small equipment malfunction, went over the bars and hit the pavement. Thanks to his helmet, he had a small bruise on his temple and maybe a mild concussion.

That's the kind of injury that a helmet is meant to protect against. Not a full-speed collision with a concrete post. The human body just can't sustain that regardless of protective gear.

that is exactly right. It's physics and mechanism of injury. A body in motion will stay in motion, and unfortunately when a body in motion hits something stationary at certain speeds, it destroys bone and tissue in an instant, regardess of what happens to the brain upon impact.

Irulan

[RoadRaven]

Ah... this is scarey - I suppose everything carries an element of risk and we have to live to the fullest - but its stories like this make one aware of what risks are "worth it" when reaching the finish line...

Always drumming into my boys, never, ever cross the centre line in a road race - the risk of meeting a car head on are too real and just not worth it

... or to pace themselves for the conditions - high speed around wet corners - not a good plan

[julbee]

It all makes sense... the fact that a helmet cannot protect against all types of head injuries/impacts.

Alison, so glad yur husband is okay!

[KSH]

``He was wearing a helmet, but it didn't do much at 30 mph,'' Oswalt said.

Oswalt said the cyclist suffered ``huge head trauma'' and died at the scene.

First off, this is very sad indeed. I would like to say though... at least he died doing something he loved.

Now, I tell you what... these flimsy little helmets that we wear worry me. Yes, I said flimsy.

I rode motorcycles for years, and I wear a SERIOUS FULL FACE helmet, that could protect at me low and high speeds. And 30 MPH is a high speed if you ask me!

I wish these helmets that we wore were more like the ones I wore on my motorcycle.

[KkAllez]

I've often looked at my helmets, and I have three now, a Speciailized and two Giro's and thought...hmmm...if I fall right on TOP of my head I am ok but God help me if I fall and hit my face or slightly below my my occipital bone.

I would imagine that at 30 mph he probably broke his neck. I feel sorry for his family. What an awful thing to happen so far away from home. Sort of like our diving friend that died in Honduras last month.

Does anyone have his name yet?

[alison_in_oh]

Here's an update article.
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/ore...281.xml&coll=7

My husband learned of the accident from old friends on Team Oregon. I didn't want to tell him because of his own accident, but when he read about it his eyes got all shiny. He is always hit really hard by these tragedies; yesterday when I told him I'd been freaked out because of the similarity to his own accident he asked, "Do you want me to quit racing?" I assured him I would make no such demand on him, even though I was really grateful to have him still with me. Later I heard him mutter to himself, "Maybe I *should* quit racing."