Very sad.

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

"A motorcyclist and a bicyclist were killed Sunday when they collided near an RV resort and campground near Jamul, authorities said."

I hate journalism like this. The motorcyclist hit the biker, period; the sentence above makes it sound mutual. It's like saying a car and a tree collided vs. the car hit a tree.

Rant aside. Deepest condolences to the families and friends of both persons who died in this terrible crash.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Horrible, that is a really nice road to ride. Not a lot of traffic and plenty of cyclists so you a group of cyclists is completely expected out there. Horrible.

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The first time man split the atom was when the atom tried to hold Jens Voigt's wheel, but cracked.

There was more details in the article just for full reference that described the actual incident:

Authorities say a group of cyclists were riding along the road in a line when the passing biker hit the cyclist at the back of the line.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

That is part of the point. The journalist knows that the motorcycle plowed into the back of the paceline, but the lead sentence uses neutral language saying that the two collided.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Do we know what happened yet? I can't really see being "distracted" by a motorcylist as being an issue like I can more easily for a car v bike incident. ETA: I'm assuming w/ a motocylist high liklihood of speed is a factor vs "distraction".

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

 https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...list-killed-in-crash

Looks like the motorcyclist was riding with two other friends. From the Fox video it looks like there were about 1/2 dozen cyclists in the paceline. That's all I've seen so far.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

this road is a challenging hilly road with many blind turns. So adrenaline seeking cyclists of both types like to push it here. Im sorry, if you want to race a vehicle above speed limits: take it to the track!

synthetic wrote:

Reckless motorcycle rider crashes into a rider, both died on the scene

https://fox5sandiego.com/...-crash-on-rural-road

fund raiser for funeral:

https://www.gofundme.com/...4c1fa13141adf648b95e

Donated. Thank you for sharing.

For other readers: I submitted the following to the news agency. I am cautiously optimistic they'll alter wording.

"A motorcyclist and a bicyclist were killed Sunday when they collided near an RV resort and campground near Jamul, authorities said."
They didn't collide. The motorcyclist struck the cyclist in the back. Language like this is part of why cyclists are often treated with contempt on the roads.
Contempt for cyclists leads to disregard for their presence on the road, thus, more are endangered daily.
Please change the wording immediately. I will be grateful and happy to share your piece broadly across a variety of channels.
Sincerely,
Dr. Alex Harrison & the families of all cyclists, triathletes, past, present and future.

Their [suggest a correction] button is at the bottom of the page. I would encourage you to do similar.

Clearly fault-neutral statements made, when in another non-cycling-related scenario, I doubt if fault-neutral language would be used. Seems absurd.

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Dr. Alex Harrison | Founder & CEO | Sport Physiology & Performance PhD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
📱 Check out our app → Saturday: Pro Fuel & Hydration, a performance nutrition coach in your pocket.
Join us on YouTube → Saturday Morning | Ride & Run Faster and our growing Saturday User Hub

Journalists aren't supposed to determine fault. That's what the justice system is for. Journalists are generally trained to use neutral language until a decision by the justice system has been made.

I really don't think we want journalists trying to assign fault at the scene.

I agree.

But they did assign fault later in the same article, 4 sentences later. I gathered by this, that it was known at the time of writing where the fault was.

https://fox5sandiego.com/...-crash-on-rural-road

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Dr. Alex Harrison | Founder & CEO | Sport Physiology & Performance PhD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
📱 Check out our app → Saturday: Pro Fuel & Hydration, a performance nutrition coach in your pocket.
Join us on YouTube → Saturday Morning | Ride & Run Faster and our growing Saturday User Hub

Update from their digital news producer:

Hi Dr. Harrison,

Thank you for sharing your concern about the wording in the article. I took a look and changed the sentence.

Best,

Brittney Donovan
Digital News Producer
FOX 5 San Diego

https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/biker-cyclist-killed-in-crash-on-rural-road/

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Dr. Alex Harrison | Founder & CEO | Sport Physiology & Performance PhD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
📱 Check out our app → Saturday: Pro Fuel & Hydration, a performance nutrition coach in your pocket.
Join us on YouTube → Saturday Morning | Ride & Run Faster and our growing Saturday User Hub

Also added video coverage...it's terrible just how much damage a bike can be and thus how easily a cyclist can pass away. Bike looked to be missing seat post, a wheel w/ the tire torn off. Just makes you realize how fragile you can be (and I've been hit 2+ times by cars) out there.

(no that's not to turn this into a "this is why I ride indoors" rant)

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

At least from an insurance perspective, if you strike another vehicle (or person, etc.) from behind it's 100% your fault.

I'm sure that's true. My only point is that it's not the journalist's job to know the insurance perspective, or the legal perspective. They mostly just go off police reports, and even the police don't necessary hint at culpability in their initial public statements. I'm glad in this case it was corrected as more information became available, though.

While I'd love if an actual investigative journalist were assigned to everyone of these to do in-depth reporting and follow-up as the cases develop, that's usually just not the case.

The standard victim blaming language used by the media (which is parroting the standard victim blaming lies spewing from police) is in large part responsible for society's torpor about motoring violence. We must push journalists to do better.


hhttp://ttps:/...-blaming-the-victim/

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Two wheels good. Four wheels bad.

I’ve ridden this road dozens of times as a local... it’s a two-lane winding road that is one of the main access routes to the eastern hills and desert and on the weekend there are probably hundreds of cyclists along the 10 mile stretch at any given time. There is minimal shoulder for much of it and very limited at the stretch in question.

Cars and motos also take advantage of it - the cars mostly safely, even when you see a Porsche or tuner club out for a cruise. The motos are a different story, you can hear them winding out the engine from miles away... most will slow down on approaching riders, but I’ve been passed at +100mph multiple times...it’s like being strafed by a jet fighter. This particular area near the RV park is the only crowed spot with RV’s , families, a convenience store so it’s especially irresponsible to be going fast there. There is a big dip there too - it’s possible a poor rider going too fast could lose control, I don’t know the exact particulars. Super sad event in our community

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" I take my gear out of my car and put my bike together. Tourists and locals are watching from sidewalk cafes. Non-racers. The emptiness of of their lives shocks me. "
(opening lines from Tim Krabbe's The Rider , 1978

I'm fine with promoting more use of active voice, and better overall treatment. I'm just tired for other reasons of journalists and the media being a nonstop punching bag for all of society's ills. Core blame here should go to people racing motorcycles on public roads (if that's what was going on).

Very sad. My condolences to the family. I can relate to an extent as I was struck by driver while on a ride and spent several months in recovery. There's little patience and respect for cyclists throughout the US.

I always love when I get aggressively/obnoxiously passed by someone with a bike on their car.

The old saying:

Drive like a D1I<, ride like a D1I<.