Sad news from Indy - another cyclist lost

[WindingRoad]

Here's a bit more information on that accident. It's a nice story about what happened but unfortunate that our club has to gain recognition from such a terrible event.


http://www.wthr.com/global/video/fla...=&rnd=98701527

[WindingRoad]

Tulip I totally agree with what you are saying. I actually stopped going to this ride as much because of how insane it was becoming. It's scary because the only reason I wasn't there the night of the accident was because my schedule changed this semester so I wasn't able to do Wednesday nights anymore. Feeling a little heavenly intervention in hindsight. It sounds like your club is having the same problem ours is with the more experienced riders getting out of control on some of the rides. The ride in this story has been notorious for running stops signs, stop lights, and just being plain rude on the roadways. As someone who has ridden with this group it is real easy to get sucked into thinking it's OK to act like that but it's not. That's where the 'group mentality' issue comes into play.

I love to ride fast too but in a dense urban area? at 6pm? during the week? during the afternoon rush? I don't want to give it up but I have to ask myself how smart this really is? I'm completely torn at this point

[indysteel]

As another Indianapolis cyclist/club member, I'm saddened--but not terribly surprised--by the accident. The club's training rides, and that one in particular, are often pretty crazy. I stopped going to a different training ride, in part, because I felt that there were riders who had no appreciation for safety. I also felt that the rider leaders themselves, in an effort to avoid confrontations, weren't addressing the situation. Sadly, in an effort to hang on to the group, riders do some idiotic things and lose all sense of perspective. Granted, those rides made me stronger and faster, but for what purpose? I don't race; I just want to live to ride another day. I also find the bravado of some of the (mostly) guys I talk to who regularly do those rides to be rather off putting.

I hope that the club makes some changes to the rides. Some of them have A, B and C groups now to address various skill levels and speeds. Still, I think many of the riders who do the rides need to carefully consider the risks they take to do the training rides (or to race for that matter) and determine whether they're worth it. The sad truth is that our sport is inherently risky, although I do think you can minimize the risk to some extent.

An accident like this is always possible when riders are in a tight paceline, but the injuries don't typcially result in death. I'm not entirely clear what went wrong after Charlie's surgery. He was reportedly alert at the scene and the surgery itself seemingly went well. It's not clear from what I've read why he stopped breathing.

Regardless, I'm heartbroken for Charlie's wife and children.