We did 80 today. Aderhold, Pierre, Mikey, Bob Akers of International Bike Shop, Mario, Tam Markley and I.
We were riding out the Ann Arbor Training Series Criterium, were going to do the 40 lap "A" race and then ride back, about 110-120 miles total. We pretty much laid it down the whole way out to Ann Arbor from Dearborn at over 25 mph. As a result, the riders rotating on the front at over 25 inadvertently drop the four guys on the back.
About ten minutes from Ann Arbor Bob hits a chuckhole and goes down like a bag of cement. Blam. Road rash, torn bar tape. But Bob is tough so his is back on the bike in an instant.
We arrive at the race so early we do a few warm-up laps and decide we don't want to wait for the start. We hit it back to Dearborn but go north a few extra miles so we can come in on Seven Mile to Hines Drive.
Once we just leave Northville enroute to Dearborn, in bound at about 24 mph, everyone's phones start blowing up at once. Tom Markley busts out his Nextel and his wife is on the other end, obviously distraught, "A cyclist was killed just a few minutes ago at Hines and Inkster..."
We immediately hang up and phone Aderhold to confimr their group got back OK. They report they happened upon the accidnet three minutes after it happened. It looked like a car bomb scene. Two big touring motorcycles were completely destroyed, one with a blood stain as wide as the entire lane under it. The rider was KIA. The other rider was wounded when his motorcyle hit and actually broke through a large fence just off the road. In a field 100 yeards away was a Jeep Liberty with two broken axles, a missing wheel, massive damage to the left front quarter panel and, oddly enough, the floor boards blown up into the passenger compartment. The area was strewn with wreckage and taped off by accidnt investigators.
In the middle of the wreckage laid a black Cannondale, completely mangled, the only intact and recognizable feature were the handlebars. It actually appeared as though the bike were somehow horizontally cut in half. One wheel was completely gone, the other hang in tatters from the fork.
The rider apparently is a customer of ours. We tuned up the black Cannondale last week. He did survive according to family members on the scene, had injuries that may include two broken ankles. He was transported to a nearby emergency medical facility. Wayne County Sheriffs told me ther drive of the Jeep Liberty was uninjured as was the second motorcycle rider.
Weird ride. Group blown apart. Crashed rider. Missed race. Dead motorcyclist. Injured customer. Weird.
A lot can happen in 80 miles.
Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com
We were riding out the Ann Arbor Training Series Criterium, were going to do the 40 lap "A" race and then ride back, about 110-120 miles total. We pretty much laid it down the whole way out to Ann Arbor from Dearborn at over 25 mph. As a result, the riders rotating on the front at over 25 inadvertently drop the four guys on the back.
About ten minutes from Ann Arbor Bob hits a chuckhole and goes down like a bag of cement. Blam. Road rash, torn bar tape. But Bob is tough so his is back on the bike in an instant.
We arrive at the race so early we do a few warm-up laps and decide we don't want to wait for the start. We hit it back to Dearborn but go north a few extra miles so we can come in on Seven Mile to Hines Drive.
Once we just leave Northville enroute to Dearborn, in bound at about 24 mph, everyone's phones start blowing up at once. Tom Markley busts out his Nextel and his wife is on the other end, obviously distraught, "A cyclist was killed just a few minutes ago at Hines and Inkster..."
We immediately hang up and phone Aderhold to confimr their group got back OK. They report they happened upon the accidnet three minutes after it happened. It looked like a car bomb scene. Two big touring motorcycles were completely destroyed, one with a blood stain as wide as the entire lane under it. The rider was KIA. The other rider was wounded when his motorcyle hit and actually broke through a large fence just off the road. In a field 100 yeards away was a Jeep Liberty with two broken axles, a missing wheel, massive damage to the left front quarter panel and, oddly enough, the floor boards blown up into the passenger compartment. The area was strewn with wreckage and taped off by accidnt investigators.
In the middle of the wreckage laid a black Cannondale, completely mangled, the only intact and recognizable feature were the handlebars. It actually appeared as though the bike were somehow horizontally cut in half. One wheel was completely gone, the other hang in tatters from the fork.
The rider apparently is a customer of ours. We tuned up the black Cannondale last week. He did survive according to family members on the scene, had injuries that may include two broken ankles. He was transported to a nearby emergency medical facility. Wayne County Sheriffs told me ther drive of the Jeep Liberty was uninjured as was the second motorcycle rider.
Weird ride. Group blown apart. Crashed rider. Missed race. Dead motorcyclist. Injured customer. Weird.
A lot can happen in 80 miles.
Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com