Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter joined a special club on Tuesday -- "Pols Who Love to Ride Bikes and Have the Abrasions, Contussions and Fractures to Prove It."
Members include other governors, some mayors, and even a president.
Out riding with some friends Tuesday morning, Ritter apparently touched wheels with the bicyclist in front of him and crashed to the pavement.
Spokesman Evan Dreyer said the governor bumped his head as well, but was wearing a helmet. He'll spend several nights in the hospital for treatment of the broken ribs and previously undisclosed separated shoulder.
We're glad that Ritter is OK. He's been seen riding at the Elephant Rock Ride and has been talking to Lance Armstrong about reviving the Coors Classic.
But Ritter is just one in a long string of elected officials who have been injured in bicycle accidents.
Kneecaps and collarbones
Among mayors, it has been reported several times over the years that Chicago's Richard M. Daley ripped the skin off his kneecap a few years ago in a bicycle crash. Washington DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty flipped over the handlebars of his road bike on the Whitehurst Freeway in 2008 while he was training for a triathlon and reinjured his foot.
The toll among governors is just as high.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry broke his collarbone just last summer when he sped down a hill on a bike trail in Austin and, for an unknown reason, flipped over his handlebars and landed on the backside of his right shoulder.
Virginia Gov. Mark Warner suffered two broken bones in his right hand while participating in the 2005 Bike Virginia. Apparently Warner was holding his water bottle in his right hand as he approached some railroad tracks and tried to slow down, braking the front wheel only with his left hand.
POTUS
The most famous bicycle crashes, of course, involved President George W. Bush on Mountain Bike One.
The first was in 2004 when he fell off his bicycle at his ranch and grazed his chin, upper lip, nose, both knees, and right hand.
The most publicized, however, occurred during the G-8 summit in 2005. According to excerpts from the police report, a detachment of police was asked to close off an intersection while Bush bicycled to his hotel:
"As the President passed the junction at speed he raised his left arm from the handlebars to wave to the police officers present while shouting 'thanks, you guys, for coming'.
"As he did this he lost control of the cycle, falling to the ground, causing both himself and his bicycle to strike [the officer] on the lower legs. [The officer] fell to the ground, striking his head. The President continued along the ground for approximately five metres, causing himself a number of abrasions."
This series of accidents in the past decade may lead us to believe that our elected officials are total klutzes when it comes to bicycling. Well, I've had my own experience with klutzier bike crashes, and would rather just chalk it up to bad luck. Let's just be glad these crashes weren't any worse.
