General Cycling Discussion - Goodbye to my close friend John.

My close friend / bike team member was out yesterday evening on his road bike training for the upcoming bike season. He had his helmet and lights on his bike. It was a road bike though. So he was up about 20minutes north of the City Of Toronto in farm land where there are many hills. It also happens to be much cooler in the farmland so there are more areas for black ice to form. Unfortunately, in the night, you cannot see the black ice at all. Well he was riding and he slipped on a patch of black ice while going down a hill and he snapped his neck the second he made contact with the ground. They said his brain stem almost completely severed from his brain (I don't remember the technical terms). He resets his clock every ride and according to his clock, his fastest speed on yesterdays trip was 62km/h. He crashed at the bottom of a hill so they said he must have crashed when he was riding down the hill as he was bruised up pretty bad. He was a close friend of mine and will be thought of by many people. My team will be going to his funeral and I'm sure many of the people that knew him will be there too. He was extremely intelligent (93% average in gr 12) and enjoyed playing guitar, and sax, and really enjoyed the sport of cycling. His name was John and he was 17 years old.

That's a shame. My condolences to his family

Condolences to you and his family...

There was I guy I knew that died on my birthday last year in a similar fashion. It's sad to see someone like that die in such a horrible way.

Take care. Yet another person in my prayers...

Koffee

Sorry to hear of your loss. I lost my best friend/best man a few weeks before my wedding almost 13 years ago, I understand what you are going through.
Doug

Sorry to hear about your friend and that you have to go through this at such a young age...it is never easy, if you can try to remember all the times you laughed together.. and listen carefully to friends and family at the funeral.. you may find out even more about your friend John.. than you ever thought you would.
hopefully all the kind thoughts will ease some of your burden

How terrible. Such a waste. At least he died doing what he loved. Sure sorry for you and his family Brian. My thoughts are with you.

my condolences also ...

you know, I clicked on this thread because I thought, hmn, I wonder if someone's taking a sabbatical from the forum and is saying bye to John G.? I honestly caught my breath when I realised the real subject of the post. I don't even know you or your friend, but I'm genuinely sorry. so young ...

I suppose there're times when even though you take all the reasonable precautions and do everything right, you still have something happen to you.

take care,

alex.

I am sad and sorry. Your friend was young. That people will remember him suggests he must have lived his short life well. Remember him, remember his passions, and remember to keep living your life well, too. When we are gone we can hope people will say of us that we lived our lives well.

Sorry to hear about your friend, it sounds like he will be missed by a lot of people.

What a shame when someone so young passes away. He was doing what he loved and sounded like a fine young man. Hang in there, Brian.

My condolences to you and yours on the loss of your friend. Y'all will be in my prayers and even though I did not know him, he will be on my mind during future rides.

Take care and God bless.

So sorry to hear about your friend! He sounds like a wonderful person, I'm sure you and his family have many happy memories to look back on. My condolences...

One of the wonderful things about friendship is that you always have a part of your friend with you. Your shared experiences, his advice, his way of thinking. And because of that your friend John can not die, he will live always through you.

Gosh, it's really sad....... I saw this guy today, his fingers were almost all gone, only a few were left. He was serving me when I was looking around at bikes and he told me he got into an accident and was struck by the lorry. It was such a scary and freakish sight.

To die while doing something I like doesn't sound too bad but it does turn me off from competitive cycling in the future. It is something really scary. I guess that's just the risk involved in any sports.

So sorry to hear this. I know what you're going through. I lost a good friend in the beginning of February. Losing a friend is very tough. All that can be done is to think of the good times and keep your head up, move on.

Dan.
If you need to feel free to PM me, or contact me through AIM.

AIM is DualSlalomJunkie.

Tragic death of someone so young. Please accept my heartfelt condolences.

Thank you all for your caring and support. The funeral was this morning. It was sad. Many people skipped out from the bike show as did I now to go to the funeral.

Hopefully things will be a little better tomorrow at the show.

Thanks Everyone,

Brian

oh god.. im sorry..

Brian,

First of all I would like to give you my heartfelt condolences -- it's terrible to lose such a close friend under any circumstances, but for one to be taken from you in such a sudden manner and at your young ages is especially tragic.

One idea that you might consider is to organize a ride as a memorial to your friend. See if you can get some of the local shops to chip in for sponsorship and have your club provide support (SAG, rest stops, safety, etc.) and make it an annual event in John's name and donate the proceeds to a worthy cause.

Originally posted by WorldIRC
His name was John and he was 17 years old.

Do you know what tires he was using?

I spoke with a motorcyclist recently, who told me that the special winter tires with the steel knobs make the motocycle on ice more stable than when it is with normal tires on the asphalt.

The steel knobs puncture the ice and make the tire surface contact very strong on the ice.

I tried recently to cycle on icy road with my hybrid bike. It is way too slippery with usual summer tires. I plan to buy bicycle winter tires soon.

There is just no way to keep a reliable balance with usual summer tires on ice. I heard that the winter tires are prodced in Finlad.

Any experience with such tires? Will they be spoiled if I cycle on the cleaned areas of the road, where there is no ice, but only the asphalt surface? Or are they only for the sheer ice surface?

As for your friend - no one will get out of here alive. I hope it was the death without a prolonged suffering. Sleep well fellow cyclist.

By the way, it still could be a collision with a runaway car. In principle if the ice surface is even, and one does not make a turn, the bicycle is stable enough on the ice. Instability shows only when there is a pothole or a turn.

I would not jump to conclusions and would ask people around. Maybe there is a witness who saw something.

Please extend my sincere condolences to his family.

So tragic.....There are no other words.

You can best serve your friend's memory by providing mutual emotional support to his parents and his (probably numerous) other friends. Losing a child is particularly difficult; I have a friend who may never get over the sudden loss of her intelligent, talented, beautiful 22-year-old daughter. I offer my sincere condolences to everyone who knew your friend. Be there for each other.

Shocking.

Sorry to hear about your loss. A reminder that life is precious and fragile (I need to go hug my teenager).

Condolence,s Brian , my friend who was killed at my work place about 5weeks ago also had a snapped brain stem & altho. his death looked messy we were told he would`nt have known or felt a thing, cold comfort I know . Its always so much sader when someone as young as your friend John is killed .

:(

Such a terrible loss. My condolences to you and his family and friends.


I second the idea of a memorial ride. One was organized here in mid-December for a local racer who was killed while on a training ride. Don't know if it will be an annual ride but it's a great way to both remember and say good-bye to a friend.

I’m so sorry for you and your friend’s family. Understand that a little part of John lives on through you, and the others that touched his life. Find a way to talk to your mutual friends, and begin to heal. Try and remember his life – not his death.

:angel:

Brian,

Having just read your post, I'm sitting here a little a stunned... I don't pray as often as I should, but I'll be saying a prayer or two you and John...

Mike