Riding in an organized bicycle tour means lots of camaraderie, prepared meals, luggage and maintenance services waiting at the end of the day, even police motorcycle escorts at times.
Just don't let down your guard about the dangers posed by motor vehicles. Three cyclists on group bicycle tours — two in Colorado — have died in collisions with motor vehicles in the past few weeks.
In two of the fatalities, it appears the cyclists may not have been attentive to traffic. The third leaves a lot of questions unanswered and is still under investigation.
The most recent occurred July 1 as the annual Bicycle Tour of Colorado was coming to an end. As reported in the Durango Herald and Farmington (NM) Daily Times, a 26-year-old cyclist, Ben Inglis, from Albuquerque passed a women just outside Pagosa Springs who was asking cyclists for an air pump to help repair a flat.
Travelling eastward, Inglis made a U-turn into the westbound lane of US 160 and collided with a pickup truck, which tried to swerve to avoid him. He was wearing a helmet, but suffered major head injuries. Although he had a pulse when emergency responders arrived, he was later pronounced dead at the scene.
An earlier fatality marred the Ride the Rockies bicycle tour on June 22, the next to last day of that tour for 2,500 cyclists.
A 65-year-old cyclist, Diane Woolwine, from Boulder ran into a motorhome, slid under the back tire, and was killed. The woman was cycling off the route to her motel reservation in Salida, reports the Denver Post, sponsor of the event. She and five other cyclist rode along US Hwy. 50 instead of the tour's less-traveled residential route.
The accident investigator determined her handlebar left a mark on the side of the vehicle, showing that she had veered into the traffic lane. The Post reports that the “initial investigation indicated that the accident was caused by bicyclist error and said no charges are pending…”
On June 25, tragedy struck a 40-member cross-country bicycle tour organized by Adventure Cycling Association. Phil Smith of Banner, Wyoming, was riding on very lightly travelled section of Washington Highway 23 near Davenport when he was struck and killed by car driven by a woman who did not appear impaired by drugs or alcohol.
One of the cyclists on that tour, Bill Cook, is writing a blog of his adventures entitled Cycling Across the USA for McClatchey newspapers. Cook writes about Smith and the accident on the fourth day of the tour. The AP reported that charges were pending.
The blogger at Hoosiers Ate My Brain knew Smith and sums up a lot of people's reactions:
“Organized trips are generally considered pretty safe. We don't know much about what happened, but in an apparently wide open stretch of road, it's a mystery to me how the front end of this woman's car could have come in contact with Phil and his bicycle. It's tragic and unbelievable and makes me unspeakably pissed off. Yes, open road cycling can be dangerous (as can any sport) but an organized group of cyclists should be able to share a wide, safe, open road with cars and still not take their lives in their own hands.”
As Cook's wife told him after discussing Smith's death over the phone:
My wonderfully sensible wife told me on the phone that that some activities we really want to do merit taking clear risks. Otherwise, she said, “life's not worth living.”
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