Road Ride Report Triumph and Tragedy: Impy's ride down the california coast

I rode down the California coast last month. Its been 3 weeks and I haven't been able to post about it until now, although it is a story that really needs to be told so I guess now is the time...a little long but bear with me...

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I did the Arthritis Foundation charity ride Sept 20-28, from San Francisco to LA. I was very excited to do this ride and had always dreamed of riding down the coast. I didn't know anyone else doing it but of course I met tons of people immediately from the kickoff dinner and on the road the next day.

At dinner the first night in Santa Cruz as we sat at the picnic table in the park, I met a few guys from Pasadena, and another local guy from Burbank. Carlos, John, Dana, Tim and Randy. They were funny and nice guys and we had some good laughs. Already I was thinking about all the great rides we'd do when we got home. Of course I wanted to convert them all into mountain bikers, but that would come in time I figured...Carlos seemed the most likely to get into mountain biking - he already had a stable of fixies and road bikes. He was proudly riding a custom Ti Moots road bike that he got 3 months ago - it was easily my favorite bike of all the bikes I had seen in the tour so far.

I saw them again at breakfast, and more often than not, would find them through the next few days, as we rode through gorgeous Monterey and then to Big Sur. At Big Sur I was hungry early so Carlos and I ate dinner together. We chatted in the way bike geeks do, and talked about our families, and what it was like to be divorced, and great places to ride in LA, and all sorts of good stuff. I already knew we'd be riding together after this tour, and I could hardly wait for him and my fellow bike-geek boyfriend Al to meet.

Big Sur to San Simeon was the next day. I rode most of that day by myself, but met up with the crew in San Simeon. They were positively giddy at how great the ride was, all the big climbs and the swoopy flying 40 mph long decents. As a matter of fact, up to this point I had rather stubbornly been not been drafting people (couldn't get past the mountain-bike bias of feeling like its cheating - and per tour rules you aren't supposed to anyway) but having lines of people passing me when I was tired started to make it look a lot more appealing.

Day 5 was from San Simeon to Pismo Beach. I took off that day with the boys in thick fog which eventually cleared. About 10 miles into the ride, Carlos, John and I decided to keep rolling as the other guys kept stopping to futz. The 3 of us stuck together and had a great day riding along inland small roads without much traffic. We came through San Luis Obispo and stopped at this great bike shop called Wally's - they were giving out free tamales to the riders! John Carlos and I could not resist. Sitting in the warm sun and eating home made Guatamalan tamales in the back of one the of coolest bikes shops ever - we were in heaven.

Eventually we rolled out, and as we got closer to our destination of Pismo, a big headwind kicked up. I decided to pull but it was pretty tiring after a while. Carlos graciously offered to help and basically pulled John and I to the town of pismo. The 3 of us stopped and took goofy pictures at the "welcome to Pismo Beach" sign and felt relieved that the campsite for the night was only 3 more miles away. We were on a nice frontage road with a nice bike lane, no more headwind, and no more hills!

We rolled into town and started up a slight rise. A line of 4 tour riders passed us and John hopped on their tail, followed by Carlos. I started to hammer to hook on too but heard something go click and looked down in time to see my chapstick bounce out of my bento box and roll down the street . I almost kept pedalling, but knew I'd regret it if I didn't have it later. I yelled "I'm turning back" but I knew they didn't hear me - no big deal, we were just about there, I'd see them in camp. So I went back and got my chapstick as they went up over the rise.

As I got started again and came up over the rise, something was ..not right... There was a truck stopped on the other side of the road, and another car was slowing down on my side. I saw a bike lying on curb....and a helmet near the double yellow.....and a rider crumpled, helmetless, right on the line separating the bike lane from the car lane. My heart started crazy hammering ...someone got hit. For some reason all I could think was "god don't let it be carlos". But as I got up close, there was no mistaking his brown jersey...

I threw down my bike and ran over as some people in the stopped vehicles were also coming over. "CALL 911" I screamed and I ran over to him. The people yelled "Don't touch him" and I said "I'm a doctor someone needs to stabilize his neck". One guy kept saying "the truck who hit this guy just took off, I saw it! He totally hit him from behind, he was in the bike lane, I can't believe it..." There was no obvious blood but I supported his head and neck....he was out cold....time stood still. It seemed like 15 min until the paramedics got there but it sure seemed a lot longer....he started coming to, babbling at first, almost seizure like, then started saying words, and moaning and trying to get up. He was in agony....I remember holding his head on my lap and trying to calm him and get him to relax and feeling wetness and hoping the dripping wasn't blood but just sweat...cops showed up and other riders and traffic on the frontage road was stopped and the pebbles on the tarmac were biting into my legs from kneeling , and I heard carlos say "I'm dying, please let me die"...and people were crowding around ..

The paramedics did come and they got him, moaning, onto the stretcher and took him away. I collected his camelbak (which I finally noticed had one strap completely ripped off) and his wallet and stuff and went and talked to the cops. They took what info I could give them. I told them "his bike is the silver Moots" and the cop said "yea its the once with the saddle broken off (indeed it was only then I noticed the saddle was gone)...After speaking with the cops and giving them info, and as the crowd dispersed, I wandered around alone for awhile. I walked over to the fence where I could see the coast and the rocks and the birds and suddenly realized with horror I was going to cry, hard. So I did. Some very nice people came over and asked if they could do anything, and I thanked them and got a hug and I collected myself and ...got back on the bike. Still had to get to camp.

Those last 3 miles were a haze. I felt lost, literally and figuratively. Luckily I met up with some other tour riders who after hearing the story escorted me into camp on their bikes. Later I called the hospital and found out they airlifted him to a trauma center. Thank god. I knew he was hurt bad and needed a good center.

The rest of the tour - to Solvang, Ventura, and eventually to LA - was bitter sweet. The guys - who I started calling team Heinie after a zillion chamois butter jokes - and I rode together defensively, protectively all the way home. We actually passed through Santa Barbara 2 days later where Carlos was airlifted to and went to the hospital - he was in (another) surgery, but we met his family and sister in the ICU and were encouraged by their amazing spirit.

I cried again that afternoon when we rolled into Ventura, along a picture perfect beach, on a perfect warm day, with flowers all around, sad that Carlos missed this homecoming to familiar bike territory. And the final foggy sojourn along the PCH to Santa Monica - after 8 days of cycling - was exciting but a bit subdued. I was glad there wasn't too much traffic with the weather being kind of crappy.

later we found out Carlos broke 2 hips, shattered his pelvis, ruptured bladder, had skull fracture, bleed in his head - really broken. He was in the ICU for a few days. But the great news is, he is recovering! He is now in rehab, and making a few steps with a walker. I just saw him the other day. I think seeing him healing (and talking about bikes!) allowed me to finally process this, and put it to paper, er type it.

By the way, they never caught the guy, it was a hit and run.

So that is my story. Be careful out there, roadies.

 

That story made me think... About a lot of things! :-k

Life is fragile.. Friendship.. Family.. Love... Living for today... Enjoying life...
Sorry for the sermon- It's been a rough year!

Thank you for sharing :beer:

 

You made me cry Impy. Now I need to ride with you again and hear some George Micheal songs. Tragic, im glad carlos is going to make it.

 

you got it bud!

got to say, i'm back in the dirt these days, back home on the trails

 

Great story, sorry that it was so tragic. We all take risks out there, both in the dirt and on the road.
The driver of the truck will get his eventually in this life or the next.

 

Thanks for sharing Impy. I saw your group come through Morro Bay. Whenever a ride like that comes through, there are always tons of signs warning motorists of an organized ride taking place. At least in Morro Bay there are signs posted at each highway entrance. For the most part it seems drivers give a pretty wide berth for riders. It's really sad and disheartening that someone was hit and so badly injured. Sending out healing vibes to your friend. Keep us posted.

 

So sorry to hear about your friend. I wish him a speedy recovery and some good mtb rides when he gets better.

 

Sorry to hear about your friend and riding partner.Healing vibes out to him on his road to recovery.- Lloyd

 

Thanks for sharing!! Keep us posted on how Carlos is doing!!

 

Thanks Collete. I will try to hit ya up for a Sycamore ride soon.

 

wow. healing vibes to Carlos!

 

very sad story. made me feel as though I was there. thanks for sharing and healing vibes to Carlos.

 

Wow. Beautiful story. And tragic too, but at least with an ending that wasn't fatal and hope for a happy ending. I'm glad to hear that Carlos is healing and that you are healing too. It's not an easy process but it sounds like you have a good start on it. I wish you all the best.

~R

 

Wow, that is very sad. Please keep us updated on how he is doing.

 

Wow, that was the day alright. It was foggy when we rolled through and I was bummed I didn't see the big rock offshore.

We had to do quite a bit of highway riding which I hated, but the sad thing is this was in town on a well marked street with a huge bike lane. (shell beach road?) Of course, the fact the guy took off speaks worlds about him.

 

Thanks for the story. I wrongly felt that a large organized ride would be the last safe place to road ride.

[hug]..[/hug]

 

Thanks for sharing your story, Collette! It's great to hear Carlos is recovering......karma will find its way back to the driver who hit him. Let's get out and ride sometime soon!

 

That's very sad but well told. Thanks and hope it helped to tell us. Please keep us updated on Carlos' recovery.

 

Very touching, thanks for sharing. Be thankful that you were there and were able to help out. Our prayers go out to him and his family while he is recovering.

 

Thanks Collete for your beautiful write up. I am sure Carlos and his family feel blessed that you were there for him in such a tragic situation. I hope he has a speedy recovery and you get to ride together again.