Monday, March 10, 2008

Sad Ending

It was another great weekend. The weather was the nicest yet and lots of great stuff all around. Unfortunately there was also tragedy. 3 cyclists leading a group out for a training ride were struck by a car in Cupertino, that's about an hour south of San Francisco - home of Apple. Anyway two died and another in critical condition. In light of that I've decided to shelve the stories for a couple more days.

Road cycling is a dangerous sport, you are out there with all these cars and often there's a lot of speed involved, sometimes on both parties. As a cyclist you are incredibly vulnerable and every time you go out you are trusting that these drivers are NOT going to hit you. You also have to have a lot of confidence in yourself and your bike skills to take care of yourself.

Before I bought my bike that was the one thing I spent a lot of time thinking about – Did I really want to get myself into a sport that raised my potential for injury or even death? In the end I decided that I wasn't going to live in fear. I'm always thankful though whenever I end a ride safely. Nevertheless accidents happen, sometimes it's the cyclist's fault, sometimes it's the driver's but cyclists always lose in the end.

My condolences to the family and friends of the victims. These guys were experienced cyclists and if it can happen to them, it can happen to the rest of us. You can get the story here.

12 comments:

  1. Wow, how awful :-( My condolences to fam and friends.

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  2. That is really sad. : (

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  3. tragic...

    you are right, rick. cycling is a hazardous sport. thanks for reminding us about that. we really need to keep that in mind always and be doubly careful on our rides.

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  4. Thanks for the reminders. What a tragic story! :<(

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  5. How terrible. Very sad indeed.

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  6. Anonymous6:44 PM

    Reading this makes me very very scared. Since I can't stop you, be safe and my prayers goes with you always....

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  7. That is a sad ending. I guess I choose to live in fear, because I am scared out of my mind to get on a bike. At the same time, a friend emailed me last week for your area about a female runner hit by a car and died - she ran in a bike lane. Accidents happen, and that is horrible. Lets be careful.

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  8. sorry to hear about this. my deepest regrets to the family and friends. :(

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  9. Very sad story. My prayers go out to the family and friends that were close to them.

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  10. Ya I hate hearing about these tragic stories, very sad.

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  11. Aw this is so sad.

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  12. I read about the collision on SFGate right after it was reported. It's sad. But I'm also angry. That cop reportedly was seen doing twice the speed limit on the wrong side of the road by witnesses farther down, before the accident. Not the first and last cop to drive recklessly, above the law they're supposed to be enforcing.

    Everyone be careful out there, cherish life.

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