Air Force Classic Crash?

[hoffsquared]

Hi,

I did the Air Force Classic this weekend. Saw the aftermath of one pretty bad crash. Wondering if anyone knows the status of the female rider who was unconscious. This was the crash within the 1st 5 minutes of the start and underneath one of the overpasses.

Thanks.

[MRH5028]

Did the ride as well and saw the aftermath of the crash you mentioned, when we went through it must have just happened. When we were waiting at the end of the ride they were doing announcements that anybody who saw what happened should head to the police command post. Really hope they everyone is OK

There was also a crash on the downhill from the Air Force memorial, heard somebody crashed into a police officer.

This mix of people taking the ride way to seriously and people who are new to riding in groups is disastrous. They should really a) discourage the “race” mentality, and b) stagger the starts so people are spread out.

[hoffsquared]

@MRH5028 141272 wrote:

Did the ride as well and saw the aftermath of the crash you mentioned, when we went through it must have just happened. When we were waiting at the end of the ride they were doing announcements that anybody who saw what happened should head to the police command post. Really hope they everyone is OK

There was also a crash on the downhill from the Air Force memorial, heard somebody crashed into a police officer.

This mix of people taking the ride way to seriously and people who are new to riding in groups is disastrous. They should really a) discourage the “race” mentality, and b) stagger the starts so people are spread out.

Yes, agree on both counts.

[Emm]

My neighbor was a ride marshal. He saw the person who crashed…and was pretty sure that they were either in very critical condition or didn’t survive it (he felt strongly it was the 2nd option and he is a medical professional…but since I saw no news on it I’m hopeful he was wrong). I guess the person went down face first.

He also was there for the police officer crash. That one sounded nasty although it was clearly an accident–I guess the cop got off his bike and the rider crashed into his leg. He said there were many other “less serious” crashes, and some other minor issues (e.g. tons of flat tires), but this was by far the worst year he’s seen crash-wise.

I was grateful I missed it this year

[rcannon100]

@MRH5028 141272 wrote:

. They should really a) discourage the “race” mentality, and b) stagger the starts so people are spread out.

That would require ceasing awarding the “gold” medals, which can only be awarded to people who basically take the course at race speed.

[dasgeh]

@Emm 141278 wrote:

My neighbor was a ride marshal. He saw the person who crashed…and was pretty sure that they were either in very critical condition or didn’t survive it (he felt strongly it was the 2nd option and he is a medical professional…but since I saw no news on it I’m hopeful he was wrong). I guess the person went down face first.

He also was there for the police officer crash. That one sounded nasty although it was clearly an accident–I guess the cop got off his bike and the rider crashed into his leg. He said there were many other “less serious” crashes, and some other minor issues (e.g. tons of flat tires), but this was by far the worst year he’s seen crash-wise.

I was grateful I missed it this year

I’m taking solace in the belief that if there had been a fatality, it would have been reported. But I do hope she’s ok. Any idea what happened?

A friend saw the crash involving the police officer – he said the officer was attending to yet another crash when he was hit, and my friend blamed both on the pavement condition of the Pike below Joyce, but I don’t know more.

We almost decided to take the whole family on two bikes to do a couple laps. Glad we bailed.

[MRH5028]

@Emm 141278 wrote:

My neighbor was a ride marshal. He saw the person who crashed…and was pretty sure that they were either in very critical condition or didn’t survive it (he felt strongly it was the 2nd option and he is a medical professional…but since I saw no news on it I’m hopeful he was wrong). I guess the person went down face first.

Wow. I knew it was serious, but really hoped it wasn’t that bad. When we went by they were motionless face down with feet splayed out, I thought the worst would be conscious. Please update if you hear anything else.

[bobco85]

Just an FYI, I created a separate thread for a discussion on the Challenge Ride so that this thread will focus only on the crash victims. I hope they are all in at least stable condition and improve soon.

The separate thread can be found here: http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?10415-Air-Force-Classic-Challenge-Ride-Post-Crash-Discussion

[dasgeh]

But do we know anything about what happened to cause the crash?

[Megabeth]

I don’t know what caused either crash. However,

As noted, the first crash near the start happened in the underpass. Passing through there on the next laps I looked at pavement there and it seemed to be freshly paved. It was sunny and then became extremely dark underneath (as an overpass tends to do). That’s all I can report on in terms of conditions as I was behind the crash and didn’t see it happen. There seemed to be people down on both sides of the course since at that point, no one was coming the other way, yet.

The 2nd (major) crash happened after the freshly paved downhill section ended and old pavement began. It occurred at the point where the most speed would occur at the bottom of that hill. Again, I didn’t see it happen and just reporting on the condition of road/pavement and location. When I went by I only saw two riders on the ground. I did not see the hurt police officer (but also was looking in the road to avoid the cyclists and bad pavement). There were police officers stationed at the gap in the median when we went by. If an officer was involved, I could only surmise that the first rider went down after hitting some bad pavement and the police officer went over to assist…but that is a complete assumption.

[semperiden]

@dasgeh 141313 wrote:

But do we know anything about what happened to cause the crash?

At that downhill, every one was trying to pass everyone, so people were going 25-30mph+ very close to each other in very disorganized lines. My guess is that she lost control of the bike at the end of the hill or someone tried to pass her and hit her bike. After we were waiting for the ride to restart, I heard people cheering in the front, so I am hoping that she woke up, but that was 10-15 minutes after it happened. I have looked online to find any info, but couldn’t find anything, so I hope she was able to make it.

[Tim Kelley]

@semperiden 141339 wrote:

I have looked online to find any info, but couldn’t find anything, so I hope she was able to make it.

I’ve been told that it was worse than it looked like, a lot of road rash and a broken collar bone. But yes, she’s okay.

And left over blood stains for the rest of the laps??

[hoffsquared]

@Tim Kelley 141340 wrote:

I’ve been told that it was worse than it looked like, a lot of road rash and a broken collar bone. But yes, she’s okay.

And left over blood stains for the rest of the laps??

Thanks for the info. Glad that she is okay and not worse that description above.

[Sunyata]

@Emm 141278 wrote:

My neighbor was a ride marshal. He saw the person who crashed…and was pretty sure that they were either in very critical condition or didn’t survive it (he felt strongly it was the 2nd option and he is a medical professional…but since I saw no news on it I’m hopeful he was wrong). I guess the person went down face first.

Unfortunately I can not give more detailed information, but the female rider in the crash at the beginning of the race was still in critical condition as of yesterday afternoon. I have not gotten an update this morning yet.

[mdub47]

@Sunyata 141360 wrote:

Unfortunately I can not give more detailed information, but the female rider in the crash at the beginning of the race was still in critical condition as of yesterday afternoon. I have not gotten an update this morning yet.

Thank you. Please keep us updated.

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