Conference 7.286::sports_91

    	The basenote was entered into the BICYCLING conference by Ed
    	Fisher, who was crewing for his wife Linda.
    
    	I was crewing for Ed Kross, who was in second place at the time.
    	He came into the checkpoint at around 2 AM, asking if we had heard
    	about the accident. We told him we hadn't heard a thing. He jumped
    	back on the bike and reported it to the officials at the check
    	point. The race was stopped immediately.
    
    	Sad, sad situation. There were large signs indicating that a race
    	was in progress. All riders had headlights and taillights. It's
    	almost unbelievable that two riders in two separate incidents
    	were both killed by drunk drivers.
    
    	Scott

    
    
    Notes like this make me believe that my decision to stop running at
    night was the right one.
    
    FWIW, I could never run in the AM (~6:00) and found that late PM runs
    were the most fun but the roads and poor lighting scared me more than
    enuff to stop.
    
    I drink but I don't drive and I hope they hang the guys (no sexual
    offense intended)!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    
    I remain,
    moving to O'doules,
    Kev
    

    Never good to hear stories like that - especially since I, and many of
    the folks I know, spend many a mile running alongside the roads.  I
    rarely run at night - and use reflective gear when I do - but I don't
    enjoy it.   While in Seattle, I found it easier to run at night - in
    part because of bike/pedestrian lanes near  where I work - and to the
    fact that pedestrians REALLY do have the right of way.  In a week back
    in New Hampshire, I've become painfully (not literally) aware of the
    fact that despite pedestrian right-of-way and all that - that drivers
    will not and do not yield or stop for pedestrians.
    
    So remember folks - when you see someone on a bike - or someone running
    - or walking - along a road you are driving - slow down a bit - give a
    little room - and be careful.   Yeah, maybe it will slow you down a few
    seconds and keep you from wherever you are going - but remember - that
    person could be a co-worker, a parent, and is definetly someone's
    child.
    
    Look both ways when going into a_intersection - even if making a right
    turn on a one-way street.   Nothing is too important to risk taking a
    life just because of impatience...
    
    JD

    	I got to work yesterday and found out that a lot of people
    	already knew about the deaths. A few came up and asked if
    	that was the race where I was crewing.
    
    	I was dog tired Sunday night, so I taped the first installment
    	of Lonesome Dove (and some news) and went to bed. When I looked
    	at the tape last night, I noticed that they had the story on.
    	They the bike (with #22 on it). The rider had obviously been hit
    	head on (the down tube was bent back toward the seat tube). The
    	rider musta hit the roof right where it meets the front windshield.
    
    	They showed the driver (Gerald Hill of Johnstown, NY), who left
    	the scene and was arrested at a relative's home.
    
    	Most of these ultramarathon events have little, if any, problems.
    	
    	As I mentioned (I think), we were 6 miles outside of Johnstown, NY,
    	in the boonies. We had hardly any traffic all day. Then, in a short
    	space of time, two riders are killed in two separate incidents by
    	drunk drivers.
    
    	Al Lester's funeral is tomorrow at 10 AM. I can't even attend. My
    	manager of 8 years died last Friday. His funeral is the same time.
    
    	Scott

Truely a sad story.

I also spend a lot of time on the side of the road, but seldom run in the dark.  You need to
be careful not to develop a false sense of security running on roads that you know well, or 
that are not generally well traveled.  I was on a "country" road last Saturday, and some 
punks in a van decided I was a good target for their "super soaker" water gun.  I was mad as
hell at the time, but later (and especially now), I realized that thye could have done much 
worse.

My sincere condolences.

=Bob=

      This is strange.  To bad.....
    
    
    
    
    
      Are'nt there any sidewalks for running on?
    
    
    
    Tim

�      Are'nt there any sidewalks for running on?
 
Not usually Tim.  Even if there are, concrete sidewalks are murder on your back.

I've only had one problem running on the roads (and at night at that)
and that was a year ago January.  

I had all the reflective gear on and stuff, and I had crossed to the right
side of the road about 100 yards from my driveway.  The on-coming car
blinded me, and the car coming from behind on my side sounded really
close (turns out he was too).

Now there's probably a 3-4 foot shoulder in most of the routes that
I run, but as I moved right I happened to be in a sport where there
wasn't much shoulder, and the asphalt had a sharp edge and sand beyond that
after a 2-3" drop.

Well, as I moved my foot caught the edge of that apshalt, twisted
over and down I went.  Sucker was sore for a few days...



Other than that, no one wants to hit me cause I'll do more damange to
their car than a deer.....


'Saw

    There are quite a few streets out here with bicycle and runners lanes.
    All the new streets are created with them in mind.
    
    Mike

You're right Mike.  In my visits to California, I have always been able 
to find roads with bicycle/pedestrian lanes, and it is a Godsend.  I wish we 
had them here in the east.

=Bob=

    Mike -
    
    
    They had them in Seattle also.  Of course, then you have to watch out
    for those yuptoid Mountain Bikers or roller bladers...
    
    JD

 I'll tell ya when I'm out running and Blader goes by I get the distinct urge
 to trip em'...

 I tell ya one thing about Bladers. you never see one that isn't color
 coordinated to match his wheels..........

 ;^)

    I don't get this bashing of roller bladers.  Looks like a great
    new form of exercise to me although I've never done it.  Maybe
    I'm soft on bladers cuz I aim sitting in the sports birthplace.
    
    Mpls has a network of bike paths and lanes (most paths, they use
    lanes where necessary to bridge into the next park or lake area)
    and the bikers and bladers coexist rather well.  My only complaint
    is with the musclebound high school boys who carry their hockey sticks
    while skating (it's like with a batter who must have his ash in his
    hands whenever possible, though I must admit that skating with a stick
    is different from free skating) cuz this presents a 5 foot wide
    profile.  I just nudge the stick and move on.
    
    The ones who irk me are the walkers and runners, who do it on a bike
    path just ten feet from a pedestrian path.  Both the bladers and the
    bikers are prone to shoulder these geeks to get 'em off.
    
    MrT

    
�    The ones who irk me are the walkers and runners, who do it on a bike
�    path just ten feet from a pedestrian path.  Both the bladers and the
�    bikers are prone to shoulder these geeks to get 'em off.

MrTmain

You're right, if there is a pedestrian path available, that is were walkers 
and runers belong, as long as the path is asphalt or grass.  As I mentioned 
in a previous note, running concrete long distances on concrete is brutal
on the back.

=Bob=

    
    Where did these accidents occur?   In NY?  On Sunday?
    
    
    Cath

    	The 42-mile course began 6 miles outside of Johnstown, NY,
    	which is northwest of Albany, NY. About 4 to 4 � hours from
    	the Boston area.
    
    	My rider came in at 2 AM, so, assuming about 45 minutes to
    	get to us, I'd say at or around 1 AM Sunday morning.
    
    	Scott

    Speaking a cycling accidents: Thursday evening a neighbor wheeled
    up my driveway seeking a pledge for $15 for a Multiple Sclerosis
    benefit ride from the Twin Cities to Duluth (150 miles).  It's a
    big annual fundraising event that gets a lotta publicity.
    
    Anyway, I tell my neighbor to come back after his training ride
    (the MS 150 was the next day and he needed the work) and ribbed him
    on finally being smart enough to wear a helmet.  He laughed and tells
    me that the MS organizers require helmets so he's wearing it on his
    training run to get used to it.
    
    He never came back to pick it up.  Turns out he went into a large
    nature reserve nearby to run the bike path in there.  It's a beautiful
    situation for bikers, rolling prarie and forest with a 6' wide asphalt
    track that winds through rolling hills, almost like a grand prix track
    for bikes.
    
    He was going down a hill at 20 mph, there's a hard right at the bottom
    that he couldn't see around.  At the curve appears two 12 year olds
    stupidly riding side by side.  Steve reacts and attempts to split them
    up the middle, his handlebars locks with one kid's bike, he goes over
    the bars, Supermain-style, lands in the middle a the path smack on the
    front part of his helmet (splitting it), and proceed to break two
    vertebrae.
    
    A broken back.  He's in traction now...
    
    MrT

    
    Sheet T, you'll do anything to save 15 bucks...

    No such luck.  I heard the sob story when his wife came over to
    collect.
    
    Poor(er) MrT

    Pretty scary T. How's his spinal column?
    
    MikeL
    

    He's in no danger of paralysis.  Just crushed two verterbrae is all.
    He was sitting up two days later.
    
    MrT

    
    I don't think you shoulda paid T.  If the guy can't finish the race, he
    don't deserve it.  If you are gonna be such a weak-kneed, bleeding
    heart, go over to the note-for-the-forlorn and let Dan'l cry on your
    shoulder.
    
    Brews

    
    RE: .24
    
    > ....note-for-the-forlorn and let dan'l cry on your shoulder.
    
    dan'l is in the midst of the worst week of his life and your making fun
    of the situation?  Man, that's cold!
    
    Shame, shame.
    
    
    Cath  

    
     I'm with you, Cath. I thought when your friends are hurtin' you're
    supposed to rally around 'em not boot 'em.
    
    
    

    In case no one noticed, Brews' reply was intended to be tongue-in-
    cheek.
    
    Mark.

    
    Thank you Mark.  I'm quite hurt that these people were picking on me. 
    It takes a true friend like you to make me realize that I's gots somfin
    ta live fer.  
    
    

    Brews,
    
    Thats the kind of note we expect to see from T-man.
    
    The Crazy Met
    

    
    geeeez people.  LLast week peoples was bitchin that this note was
    getting to serious.  SO here I am, trying to bring sunshine to
    everyone's putrid little life, and I'm get a ration of crap.  Heck, I
    thought a little humor would help lighten things up for poor old dan'l,
    and that you could say anything in here you wanted, as long as you were
    picking on T.  
    
    Brews

    Brews, take comfort in knowing that I did find humor in your note, as
    intended, which was easily recognizable, IMO...
    
    Now, lighten up willya, and stop giving people crap for giving you
    crap.  There...
    
    Hawk
    

    Leave May Bear alone.  He's right, that self-centered sex-fiend 
    Medvid finally had a non-cynical thought, got slam-dunked, and 
    proceeded to turn 73 into a weepy schmalzy embarrassment.
    
    Bear, the reason I forked over the $15 dollars was fear.  The
    broken back-guy's wife is a hulk and with her hubby down with the
    broken verterbrae had I attempted to stiff the gal she woulda 
    picked my ace up and stuffed me into my blacktop driveway!
    
    MrT

    	Brews, how 'bout taking in a soccer match soon?

    
    >>Bear, the reason I forked over the $15 dollars was fear.  The
    >>broken back-guy's wife is a hulk and with her hubby down with the
    >>broken verterbrae had I attempted to stiff the gal she woulda 
    >>picked my ace up and stuffed me into my blacktop driveway!
    
    Hail, I'd pay $25 to see her do it to ya "T".
    
    JaKe
    

>    He's right, that self-centered sex-fiend 
>    Medvid finally had a non-cynical thought, got slam-dunked, and 
>    proceeded to turn 73 into a weepy schmalzy embarrassment.
    
    First time I've laughed in five days!  Thanks, T.
    

    re: .35
    
    Brews,
    
    You're just not vicious enough :-)
    
    The Crazy Met
    

    
    
    I think there are too many soccer-types in this note.  Look what it did
    to the once admirable /er.  
    
    Brews

    Who ever admired the awful /Roach?  This is a guy who played toady
    to ACCrock and was proud of it.
    
    MrT

    	Copied without permission from VeloNews Volume 21, Number 16
    
    	============================================================
    
    	Charges Filed in Cyclist' Deaths
    
    	Dorothy Salvatore, 34, of Salisbury Center, New York, has been
    	charged with providing beer tothe 18-year-old who struck and
    	killed Andrew Spiller, a competitor in the Bud Light Challenge,
    	June 7. The youth, Jason Lamphere, was also killed in the
    	accident. According to an article in Albany's Times Union,
    	police are continuing the investigation, and additional arrests
    	are expected.
    
    	Another teenager, whose car struck and killed a second competitor
    	just an hour later in the same event, pleaded guilty to three
    	charges in the death of cyclist Al Lester. Gerald Hill, 18, was
    	charged with second-degree vehicular manslaughter and leaving
    	the scene of an accident (both felonies), and to a misdemeanor
    	charge of driving while intoxicated.