David Roche is a great athlete, coach, and contributor to media about training issues. He posted on X (Twitter) and Instagram about his recent incident of car vs bike. I hate reading about these unnecessary problems but sounds like the car turned left in front of him and he suffered a concussion with a broken wrist. Hoping and praying for a speedy recovery for him.
https://twitter.com/MountainRoche/status/1777729692503585106
Also, glad Derek Teel (Dialed Health) is making such good progress after his devastating car vs bike clash
Cars making a left across you is one of my least favorite things. They have no idea how fast you’re going on an open road & how much they have to slow down to make the turn. It’s impossible for you to brake a lot of the time so you have to rely on them seeing you but the driving mentality is me first. I’m not going to wait for this biker I’m going to make this turn first and get to the next red light to wait, or whatever.
It really is scary. I have had it happen so many times that I refuse to ever go down a descent at full speed anymore because of the risk of one of these drivers turning left in front of me. As a matter of fact, a cyclist in Georgia was killed in a similar situation where a van turned left in front of her as she was descending. Very scary!!!
Example number 10,000ish as to why I rarely ride road anymore. Most of my road riding these days is limited to connecting pieces of rail trail, gravel or MTB trails.
p.s. Haven’t seen David much around here in awhile but he is a great running coach if you’re ever looking for one. He coached me for a couple of seasons when I was doing some ultra running. Can’t say enough good things about him.
I’m so sorry to hear this 
.
He’s coaching Allie O rn, who is trying to give the steeple a go this Olympic cycle.
He’s coaching Allie O rn, who is trying to give the steeple a go this Olympic cycle.
Yup, I’m interested in what she can do at the Payton Jordan this Friday off not much specific steeple training.
And yes, Roche got messed up pretty good. Apparently the driver was in her 80’s and he was waaay more forgiving than I would have been.
he was waaay more forgiving than I would have been
If you knew David you would not be in anyway surprised by this. He is one of the most positive people I’ve ever met.
Thank you so much for posting this and caring! I still lurk on Slowtwitch to learn from this community. There are so many wonderful training tips here, and I think that it’s such a benefit for running coaches to have a feel for the rationale behind cutting-edge triathlon training.
I am doing so much better a few weeks later! The head injury has good days and bad days, but the broken wrist is already feeling solid. I am so fortunate that my wife Megan forced me to buy a Mips helmet before this happened–it probably saved my life. Next up: my bike is going to have so many strobe lights that every ride is going to be more like a rave.
The driver is 89 and stayed on the scene. I wish her nothing but love–we all make mistakes and I hope the rest of her life is full of joy and lightness.
The hardest I cried throughout the ordeal was when Trek Boulder called me and said they found a replacement for my dream bike (this time in bright blue!). Plus they set up a rental bike in the meantime and had it put in my exact fit dimensions, including the weird little pedal spacer I like. Local bike shops are the best. THANK YOU ALL!
Wow, so happy to hear you are making progress and have such a good positive view of the entire ordeal. Stay safe out there!
he was waaay more forgiving than I would have been
If you knew David you would not be in anyway surprised by this. He is one of the most positive people I’ve ever met.
After following David for several years now it didn’t surprise me at all. I was stating that I don’t think I would have handled the situation the same way. There’s not too many 89 year old people that should be driving but our politicians don’t have the balls to pass more stringent laws about making sure people are actually competent to drive.
David, glad to hear you are doing better. Have fun cheering Megan on at Canyons this weekend.
So sorry this happened to you, and so happy to hear from you! Recover well, praying for your full recovery.