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.