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04-29-03, 08:40 AM
I signed up to participate in the MS150 - "Breakaway to Key Largo" this past weekend. I've been training "HARD" for the last 15 weeks for this ride. I was as ready as I could be.
I didn't finish. In fact, I didn't even start.
My wife and mother were going to ride down in the car while I rode the bike. We picked up my mother in the morning and headed out to the ride start. While southbound on the Florida Turnpike, we got into a car collision. Pretty bad one, but no 'serious" injuries. It only involved our car, as I managed to avoid the car that actually caused the accident, but not the wall.
My wife- minor bumps and bruises.
My mom- 2 broken ribs and some minor bumps and bruises.
Me- Really banged up my knee and chest, but nothing is broken.
The car- most likely totalled.
Worst of all, the bike. Definitely totalled. It was on the rack on the back of the car.
Everything that was seriously damaged is replacable. Thanks to seatbelts, airbags, good luck and good engineering all was not worse. I would guess that we impacted the wall at 30-40 mph. The '99 Dodge Stratus held up remarkably well, considering.
As far as the MS ride itself, though I wasn't there the ride reports coming in from my fellow club members is not good. in the 17 years they've been doing this ride there's never been any real problems, logistical or otherwise. Well that hefty bill came due this last weekend.
Shortly after the ride start, it started raining. Weather reports had warned of possible Thundershowers in the late afternoon, but apparently Mother Nature didn't get a copy of that report. It started raining about 7:30am. And continued ALL day. Not "thundershowers", but full on storms. One rider said it was like "Hurricane Homestead". But despite the horrendous conditions almost all of the riders decided to go ahead. Almost all of them finished the first 75 mile day.
One girl didn't.
Just outside of Homestead, Florida, 15 year old Lauren Katzenstein, while pulled off to the side to wait for her father, David, who had lagged behind a couple hundred yards, was struck by a drunk driver, 43yo Blas Romero.a link to the local news story (http://web1.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/C19431/)
With all the events of the day going so horribly wrong, and the threat of more inclement weather for Sunday, the event organizers made the difficult decision to cancel the return ride. They arranged moving trucks, and county buses to get the riders back to the ride start. The Monroe County Sheriff's department even put the stops to any of the riders returning unsupported by mandating that no bikes would be allowed on the route on Sunday.
I guess there may be some greater reason that I wasn't able to make it down for the ride. While I feel terrible about what happened to me and my efforts to complete the ride, I feel a million times worse for the Katzenstein family, particularly her father, who watched his daughter die, so early in life. The driver has been charged with Vehicular Homicide, DUI manslaughter and driving without a valid license. I hope beyond hope that this scumbag gets every ounce of penalty that our system can give him, and then some.
I didn't finish. In fact, I didn't even start.
My wife and mother were going to ride down in the car while I rode the bike. We picked up my mother in the morning and headed out to the ride start. While southbound on the Florida Turnpike, we got into a car collision. Pretty bad one, but no 'serious" injuries. It only involved our car, as I managed to avoid the car that actually caused the accident, but not the wall.
My wife- minor bumps and bruises.
My mom- 2 broken ribs and some minor bumps and bruises.
Me- Really banged up my knee and chest, but nothing is broken.
The car- most likely totalled.
Worst of all, the bike. Definitely totalled. It was on the rack on the back of the car.
Everything that was seriously damaged is replacable. Thanks to seatbelts, airbags, good luck and good engineering all was not worse. I would guess that we impacted the wall at 30-40 mph. The '99 Dodge Stratus held up remarkably well, considering.
As far as the MS ride itself, though I wasn't there the ride reports coming in from my fellow club members is not good. in the 17 years they've been doing this ride there's never been any real problems, logistical or otherwise. Well that hefty bill came due this last weekend.
Shortly after the ride start, it started raining. Weather reports had warned of possible Thundershowers in the late afternoon, but apparently Mother Nature didn't get a copy of that report. It started raining about 7:30am. And continued ALL day. Not "thundershowers", but full on storms. One rider said it was like "Hurricane Homestead". But despite the horrendous conditions almost all of the riders decided to go ahead. Almost all of them finished the first 75 mile day.
One girl didn't.
Just outside of Homestead, Florida, 15 year old Lauren Katzenstein, while pulled off to the side to wait for her father, David, who had lagged behind a couple hundred yards, was struck by a drunk driver, 43yo Blas Romero.a link to the local news story (http://web1.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/C19431/)
With all the events of the day going so horribly wrong, and the threat of more inclement weather for Sunday, the event organizers made the difficult decision to cancel the return ride. They arranged moving trucks, and county buses to get the riders back to the ride start. The Monroe County Sheriff's department even put the stops to any of the riders returning unsupported by mandating that no bikes would be allowed on the route on Sunday.
I guess there may be some greater reason that I wasn't able to make it down for the ride. While I feel terrible about what happened to me and my efforts to complete the ride, I feel a million times worse for the Katzenstein family, particularly her father, who watched his daughter die, so early in life. The driver has been charged with Vehicular Homicide, DUI manslaughter and driving without a valid license. I hope beyond hope that this scumbag gets every ounce of penalty that our system can give him, and then some.