Katy, my sincere condolences. I'm glad you're spending time with your teammates so that you can share memories of your friends. I'm also happy to hear that you're planning to join a memorial ride for Kristy. Getting back on the bike soon is important to recovering, I think. You want to be able to remember that cycling is a beautiful sport, and that while none of us can choose the hour of our going, your friends left doing something they love. Cherish their memories, and continue cycling.

appropriate punishment is debatable, but I firmly believe that those individuals driving an automobile that causes bodily harm or even death to cyclists should have their license stripped and FORCED to ride a bike to and from work, for errands etc. I also believe that along with a DMV test there should be an appropriate bike awareness session included.

It's extremely sad to hear about instances like this.

This is probably the stupidest thing ever written on this forum.

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"It takes courage to do it, to be a runner. We all found that out a long time ago. Because it's about more than fatigue. It's about pain, and dealing with it for a long time. And its about resolve." - Quentin Cassidy

I think we should hold off on the cop/who's fault is this debate until later time, if even then.


To the family and friends, you are in my thoughts and prayers. Very sad.

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Fortitudine Vincimus

Agreed. Laying blame won't ease the pain.

Deeply saddened by this...

No offence guys, but at this point i think the friends and family involved don't need to hear the bickering of people on a forum as to who's fault it was. I am truly sorry for those that have suffered this lost, and I know nothing anyone can say will make it better.

All of our condolences

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NCCP certified Comp coach

Update on SF Gate

http://www.sfgate.com/...TVH7DF.DTL&tsp=1

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"A society is defined not only by what it creates, but by what it refuses to destroy."
John Sawhill

BOO...you have no idea what he feels...like he drives around thinkin hey i wouldnt mind if i hit someone w my car and killed them. I know all of us have had bad exp w cars in general and some w police officers but that doesnt mean that all cops r jerks and out to get people. Even if the officer comes back to work he may never be the same. that being said I do feel awful for the Cyclists their families especially and the officer as well. Hopes for a speedy recovery for the injured

That is the most %^$*! up statement I have ever heard! Oh wait, this is Slowtwitch. Yes this is a sad story, but as always, when a L.E.O is involved everyone comes out of the wood work to bash them. Would you feel the same way if it was a Fire Fighter or paramedic? I doubt it.

So very sorry to hear this tragic news. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of Mat and Kristy and also with you and your club. Support each other in this time of grieving.

I'll agree with that one.

I was a cop that was hit, while I was directing traffic. The only reason I am here today is because I had a split second to jump into the air before the girl hit me. I fly over 80 feet before I hit the ground. My injuries still effect me 28 years later. She did NOT stop. She was caught the next day trying to report her car being vandalisized so her insurance would pay for the damage!!! She was charged with 2 felonies. One was dismissed and the other reduced to a misdeamenor......she was fined $50 and sent home.

So don't even go there about punishment when a cop is involved!!

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Paul

Unless you're a district attorney who prosecutes cases such as that, then I don't give a shit what you're opinion is (and have you even read all the posts ever on this forum, buddy? Didn't think so). I'm not getting into some stupid internet arguement about who did what and who should pay for it. Fact: several people are DEAD. Cyclists just like you and I. People out training trying to make themselves the best they could be. I do not care one little bit who was driving that car, a cop, a priest, a tax guy, hell, even my grandmother. They need to pay for what they've done. And if you think that no one has been charged with murder for falling asleep at the wheel and taking a life accidentally, you're wrong. Watch a little more Dateline. They just had a special on that very topic. So if Joe Shmoe killed some random chick and went to prison for murder, you think they wouldn't nail your ass to the wall for killing a cop, albeit accidentally? If you have more to say to me, do it somewhere other than this thread, because I'm done defending my position. I have a life to go live.

And I cannot stress enough how horrible it is that anyone of us died, by any means. I am TRUELY sorry to those who knew and loved the victims. Let's keep the focus of all this where it belongs, on them, their loved ones, and the families who have to find a way to move on.

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"Triathlon is for people who can't handle drugs and alcohol." -IMFL t-shirt

The Dude Abides...

I was wondering the same thing. Insurance reports show that the rate of accidents increase dramatically in the 48 hours after the time change.

Don't effing BOO me. Like I said before, I'm not going to argue. I just came from the crash site where I saw my friend's blood still on the ground, picked up shattered pieces of his sunglasses. As horrible as I feel, I can't begin to imagine what his parents are going through. Guilt holds nothing over the pain of burying your child.

EDIT: It doesn't really matter how the deputy feels or who gets blamed, nothing will bring Matt back.

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Awww, Katy's not all THAT evil. Only slightly evil. In a good way. - JasoninHalifax

Dude, who the hell are you? go away, don't come back.

Why doesn't everyone please take a chill (or move the who did what and how punishment is meted out to the LR).

Like Katy said, nothing will bring Matt or Kristy back. And that fucking sucks.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

doesnt matter what anyone thinks...i PROMISE they guy didnt go out in his car today with the intent to hurt someone. and as we are on the roads with vehicles that are obviously bigger than us something like this is going to happen several time a year. all i was tryin to say was not to rush to hang the guy when u dont even know the whole story yet.

Katy, most of us here would just like to give you a hug. Say what you want to say right now ;I think you have that right.

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"the trouble with normal is - it always gets worse"

- Cockburn

Thanks for the kinds thoughts. I'm fortunate to belong to team that is really more of a family than just a racing team. We've had a steady stream of hugs.

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Awww, Katy's not all THAT evil. Only slightly evil. In a good way. - JasoninHalifax

Matt, thanks for the update. It is difficult to read, though, with so many people on ST so closely involved.

Katy, Cathy, I am at a total loss of words for you two. It is good to hear that you have a good group of friends out there that are pulling together.

My most sincerest condolences.

Parke

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Behold the turtle! He makes progess only when he sticks his neck out. (James Bryant Conant)
GET OFF THE F*%KING WALL!!!!!!! (Doug Stern)
Brevity is the soul of wit. (William Shakespeare)

There is a video link on the front page here of my teammates and I at the crash site today. The very end is my teammate Ben talking about Matt while I lean on him. The reporter asked me to say something, but I thought Ben could do a better job, and he did.

http://www.mercurynews.com/

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Awww, Katy's not all THAT evil. Only slightly evil. In a good way. - JasoninHalifax

    I am deeply saddened by this story and have cried for both the victims as well as the driver. Ive been fortunate enough in my lifetime to not have experienced loss of this magnitude, or have taken a life. But I am sure that both are equally and terribly hard. As a person, I have a compassion and cry for the loss of beautiful lives and those who suffer their loss, and I don't even know these souls. I can only imagine how incredibly harder it may be if i were to take a life myself. Id already be saddened by the loss of life--- but to know that I caused all this pain and ruined these lives would truly kill me. I do not believe the course of action for recovery is to place blame and hate on the driver...and say such hateful things...it is more important to focus on yourself , and remembering a dear friend.
I do know the driver of the car on a personal level. He is a coworker of my sister who works in the court system, where he was also a baliff. She has gone on and on about what a kinder soul he has-- how he never swears, or even drinks. Ive never met him, but have heard great, sweet things of him throughout the years. He was released and sent home with a officer in crisis team to help him cope with his actions. He was said to be very emotional, and i'm sure his life will never be the same. Pending investigation his career will be put on hold. But he has to live with knowing he took a life everyday, weighed down with guilt and remorse. He is a nice young man...i hope for the best for him, as well as the friends and family of the victims. And also to remember countless other victims of other similar tragic accidents.

first of all driving is not a right, it's a privilege.

as triathletes and cyclists, every day is russian roullette on the roads as we risk this same deadly tragedy by a reckless driver. it's an accident, yeah, but a reckless, negligent accident. we are human. i don't even know the victims, yet i feel enraged. their brilliant young lives snuffed out in a split second. i want to inflict some form of wrath on that negligent asshole driver for killing two fellow cyclists. will i? no. but i want to.

others can pray for the driver. not me.

"a nice young man?" jeffrey dahmer was a "nice young man."

""a nice young man?" jeffrey dahmer was a "nice young man." "

Get a grip. This was certainly a tragedy, and one I'm sure the officer in question will be paying for in some shape or form for the rest of his life, but it was a matter of drifting off at the wheel. Calling him a negligent asshole and comparing him to a serial killer doesn't add anything to the discussion. Like many accidents, I'd bet he didn't even know he was taking a risk until it was too late. Without any more facts than we know now, it sounds like a matter of the cyclists being in the right place at the wrong time coincident with the officer drifting off, which, contrary to the apparently stellar driving records of everyone on ST, happens all time.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

Couldn't agree more. This is a more than tragic incident because two amazing people have been lost. People can be angry because a person was negligent in operating a vehicle and should be held responsible, but this shouldn't become a witch hunt for some person who tried to kill cyclists, it just isn't that.

First, you have the intentional acts (I am going to buzz these bikers who held me up for five seconds/ road rage/ etc.) that occurr as a result of premeditated, malicious intent. These are the incidents that pose a SERIOUS concern to me as a cyclist and should draw the kind of anger that I have seen expressed here.

Then you have the second set of incidents, such as this one. A pure and simple case of being in the right place at the wrong time. This is a dangerous sport because we are on the roads with cars yet don't have the same protections. What if the same people had just finished their ride, been driving around that corner at the exact same time, bikes on top of cars? The news may have hit the forum, but not with the same magnitude that it is at the moment.

My point is that I don't think this is an instance where people should go on a witch hunt because a CYCLIST was killed. This is not that type of malicious incident that raises the rights of bicyclists to be on the road and motorists respect of those rights.