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Cyclists, pepper spray, cars, revenge, and....
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The pepper spray, cars, and revenge thread got me thinking: what happens when you add 'friendly' alcohol and corporate advertising to the mix? Well, read below and see. These real events happened in the late 1980s. First is a news item, then a brief opinion, then a letter in response. Taken together, they leave one reeling...



ACCIDENT KILLS ONE CYCLIST, MAIMS ANOTHER

On March 22 a group of bicyclists were run down by an out of control vehicle on Highway 101, just north of Santa Barbara, California.

Killed instantly was 35-year old triathlete and racing coach Chip Wessberg of Santa Barbara. Ken Foraker, 23, of Goleta, suffered a severed leg and massive internal injuries. After undergoing massive blood transfusions, Foraker is still hospitalized. His condition was reported to be steadily improving, according to a spokesperson at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. Shari Rodgers, 24, of Goleta, suffered severe bruises, cuts and scrapes and was treated and released from Goleta Hospital.

The driver of the car, Buellton resident Douglas Eugene Bishop, 55, was reportedly traveling over 75 mph and had a blood alcohol level of 0.25 at the time of the accident. The legal blood alcohol level is 0.08 percent. Bishop has been charged with vehicular manslaughter and several other felony counts.

Wessberg, who was leading a training ride at the time of the accident, was a licensed USCF coach, mechanic, and official who devoted himself almost full-time to promoting bicycling and fitness. He is survived by his wife, Lindsey. Foraker is a Cat 1 USCF racer and rider for Team Avere and Yeti Cycles. Supporters can send monetary donations to the Friends of Ken Foraker & Chip Wessberg Trust Fund, PO Box ----, Santa Barbara, CA -----.



EXERCISING DEMONS By Maynard Hershon

I'm not feeling too good right now. I just heard that five cyclists on the Central Coast of California were out training and a car nailed them. I heard at least one guy was killed. And not just kinda drunk. He'd managed to get his blood alcohol level up to 0.25 by ten o'clock on a weekday morning; over two and a half times the legal limit of booze-in-the-bloodstream.

I know we take chances out on the road. Obnoxious motorists and close calls come with the territory. I figure if I want to ride the road, I have to deal with its hazards. A drunk, though, is another thing, the wild card in the pedaling deck. You can do everything right: stop at stop signs, signal your turns, wear a helmet (hell, wear TWO helmets) and bright colors and reflective clothing. Wear a suit of armor, anything. But none of it'll help if some half-loaded helpless dude in his Firebird drops a lit Marlboro in his lap at 60 mph. By the time he's sure he won't burn his whatchamacallit, you and he may have tried to occupy the same space on the road. Minor inconvenience for him, a hospital visit for you. With luck.

And we protect that drunk driver in this country. A drunk driver's thought of as a solid citizen who made a bad judgment mistake; a good man or woman, probably, caught in awful circumstances. Jail? No, not for a single momentary lapse. But, hey, you've heard all that stuff before. And what can you do really? I have no glib answer but I do know one thing that we can do. Most likely it won't make a bit of difference, but it feels right. We can be examples.

We can choose to not drink. We can absolutely not drink if we're going anywhere near our bikes or a motor vehicle. We can decide that if we believe a little alcohol is okay but more is too much, we're fooling ourselves the same way drunk drivers do. A little alcohol is just less poison than more alcohol. We can gently make our anti-drinking feelings known to friends. We can offer to make it convenient not to drive for persons who have been drinking.

Sounds hard-lined, doesn't it? Maybe drinking's okay. Some people appear to get away with it quite well. The spirits industry surrounds us with images of men and women enjoying alcohol in moderation, men and women we'd like to know, like to look and act like. People in the booze ads apparently live terrific, fulfilling, lives, unlike our boring, not-nearly-perfect lives. They refresh themselves spiritually and physically with alcohol.

But we don't meet those people though, do we, out in our world? And we never get to walk with them through those balmy early-summer fields, wearing loose-fitting clothing and satisfied (but never smug) smiles, carrying wicker baskets full of bottles and Brie and, smoking because we enjoy it. We, more often, get to meet the people who enjoy alcohol out on the grimy edge of the highway. We appear there in our salty lycra: they're driving their cars after enjoying fine refreshing spirits in the company of friends. Sometimes, after such adult, sophisticated libation, they make minor navigation mistakes in their cars and drive into us, surprising us. A tragic mistake but not life-changing, not for them. Somebody down at the bar will know the name of a good lawyer.

It occurred to me that certain cycling events of note are brought to us by the nice men and women who make the very spirit beverages I'm begging you not to drink. I love those events; I'd hate to lose even one of them. But even if every one of you reading this quits drinking today and quietly advocates temperance forever, the sales curves of brewers and distillers will not drop. We'd quit because we thought it was right, not because it would work.

When you put down this paper and look around, you'll certainly see billboards and two-page full-color spreads featuring worthy individuals who enjoy adult beverages in festive, supportive surroundings. The breweries and distillers can afford to position opinion-shaping ads anywhere they like. But I can't. And I'm trying to shape your opinion, too. I'd like to make you look at those drinking ads in a new way. So this column is my own half-page black and white ad for non-consumption: a note in a bottle floating in a sea of drinking-is-hip propaganda.

Think of it as a reminder. Booze ads are expensive, clever, and effective; it's easy to forget that they lie.



LETTERS--AMEN MAYNARD!

I just finished Maynard Hershon's column on "Exercising Demons"; I say Amen. Amen! It's one of the best things California Bicyclist has published.

On New Year's day, 1983, in the middle of the afternoon, a hit-and-run drunken driver nailed me (while I was cycling) on California Highway 101 about four miles away from where Chip was killed and Kenny's left leg was torn off on March 22, 1989. My right leg was almost torn off; I spent twelve months on crutches; had five operations; and spent two months in the hospital. It was lots and lots of fun.

"And we protect the drunken driver in this country." The guy who nailed me had three prior DUI convictions; his public defender argued that a year in jail was too much. The drunk had no insurance; his lawyer insisted this guy was a "solid citizen" who would make restitution. I never heard from him; not a peep; not a "sorry"; he really didn't give a s___ what he'd done. My tough luck.

After that accident, my wife and I swore off drugs and alcohol forever. Stone cold. Not a drop; not a toke. The liquor industry doesn't know they're missing our dollars, but that's okay. Their hip, smiling, cutesy ads have our middle fingers in salute.

Currently, the Chancellor of UCSB, Barbara Uettling, is on probation for a DUI conviction. Boy, she's a great example for 19,000 UCSB students. For sure. We haven't made too much progress since I was mashed in 1983. We still meet tipsy drunks, with or without their headlights on, "... on the grimy edge of the highway." Public defenders and private lawyers still wring their hands over their client's "momentary lapse." The whole thing makes me sick.

You see, I'm rather upset right now. I just saw Kenny in the hospital.. He's having lots of fun--just like I had in 1983. He's looking great; but, damn it, his leg is gone. His leg is gone. Come on, tell me how drunken drivers are such fine, upstanding citizens. Tell me.

Maynard Hershon is right! The best thing--perhaps the only thing--we can do is become positive examples. God knows we have more than enough flaky ones--some are in positions of power. Thanks, Maynard. --Dan Wesolowski






Where would you want to swim ?
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Re: Cyclists, pepper spray, cars, revenge, and.... [Greg/ORD] [ In reply to ]
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wow, makes you look at all those booze ads in a whole new light. sad world we live in.
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Re: Cyclists, pepper spray, cars, revenge, and.... [Khristine] [ In reply to ]
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the first dui offense should be about 3yrs in jail, a BIG fine and lots of communtiy service. the second should be the electric chair.

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

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Re: Cyclists, pepper spray, cars, revenge, and.... [Greg/ORD] [ In reply to ]
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While I obviously feel for the people injured and killed by drunk drivers and support the harshest penalties for these people I don't feel the liquor industry is to blame. I have never seen an ad that promotes drinking and driving, quite the opposite. By blaming the industry you are taking responsibility away from the people who made the decision to drink and then drive their cars.
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Re: Cyclists, pepper spray, cars, revenge, and.... [Greg/ORD] [ In reply to ]
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As many of you know, last May 2nd my best friend of 21 years, Michael R. Rabe, was killed by a car while riding home from my shop.

He was killed by a driver who had been drinking, using marijuana, was driving on a suspended license and operating a car with defective equipment (brakes, lights and windsheild). The 20-something female had her two very young children in the car with them when she struck and killed Michael R. Rabe.

I participated in a forensic re-enactment of the accident for police investigators to determine if murder charges should be brought against this woman. I dressed in the same uniform Rabe was wearing at the time of death, rode the same course on the same type bike and, becasue I had ridden with Rabe for years and years and years, faithfully reproduced what he would have done on the road in the final moments of his life. A forensic investigator accompanied by a camera crew followed me and then re-enacted the accident using the same car with me as the victim- right up until the fatal impact.

I can;t tell you what it was like to lose Michael R. Rabe. Perhaps you have lost a parent or a loved one- I hope not. If you have, you probably know.

Rabe was a friend few people are ever fortunate enough to have. A kind, honest, intelligent and strong man with many idiosyncracies. There was a lot of texture to his personality. He taught me a lot about character and how to be a good person.

Of course, everyone speaks well of a dead person. But if you knew Rabe, you would understand what I am saying.

Rabe wasn;t the only casulaty of that accident. It hurt everyone who knew him very deeply. It sent me into a tailspin of depression and despair I have only recently been able to get on top of. My own sport and livelihood took the life of the one person who put the most life in mine.

for a while I hated bicycles. I still don;t sleep too good.

Losing your friend sucks. It ruins your life and then you have to find a way to start over again, and that is very, very hard at 42.

So many times I feel like I have nothing and am connected to no one. It takes a concious effort to remind myself that is not true.

All of us who survived Michael R. Rabe's loss hurt over it. The closer we were the more we hurt. On any other night he and I would be here right now, working on the Bjorn bike, programming I-Pods, fixing computers, watching the Tour de France for the 200th time. But he isn;t here anymore.

Someone called me the other day, a good friend of mine named Andre'. he asked what we wer going to do to observe the 1 year since michael R. RAbe died. I told him I didn;t know.

I still don;t

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com
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Re: Cyclists, pepper spray, cars, revenge, and.... [Tom Demerly] [ In reply to ]
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It seems impossible to put into words what you must have gone through/be going through. I can only imagine the pain.

About observing the 1-year point since Michael died, since he was a real friend of yours, I am sure he would've also been someone many of us would've liked to have known. As part of your tribute to him, perhaps you could post a photo of him and write something about him, what he believed, what he stood for, what he did, what he liked, and what he meant to you--maybe here, maybe on your shop's website? The power of your pen is great and what better way to honor someone than to use that power for them?

Speaking for myself, I would feel privileged to get to know him in this way.





Where would you want to swim ?
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