miamijim

The Rickenbacher Causeway is more than a half mile long with a 4% grade. Sailboats with at least 60' masts can sail under it. Its our version of Mt. Ventoux. I've hit over 45mph going down it on my Mtn. bike.....just to put things into perspective.....

I'm just wondering how he made it over the 4' plus rail.

https://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/7839845.htm

ChezJfrey

Now THAT is a story a person could recount for decades! Amazing. He even has a witness to boot!

But even the grand tale doesn't make up for the loss of the bike. That's really too bad, but almost forseeable - I mean, someone who doesn't witness the "feat" would just find a nice bike sitting on the middle of a monstrous bridge. . . they're gonna pick it up. Hopefully, they will see the story and return it.

Zub Zub

That would have to be sooooo annoying.

iamlucky13

Oh man, the one time I rode across the I-5 bridge over the Columbia, I kept imagining exactly that happening to me. The footpath isn't real wide, and the steel girders cut it down to maybe 3 feet between the rail and the huge beams that jut outward every 20-30 feet. My handlesbars are about 24 inches wide, so the clearence is really small. I could just see my bars clipping a girder, ever so gently, and catapulting me over the side for a real long fall.

It would definitely make a good story, but it's not a personal experience I plan to relate to anytime soon.

ewitz

I rode the Rickenbacker Causeway everyday for 10 days thsi past December.

That stretch from Key Biscayne to the tollbooths must have the highest per capita concentration of poseurs anywhere in North America.

All show, no go. They wear their team kits and sit astride their latest CF and TI bikes, but they move at a snails pace on the road. It would be laughable if it wasn't such a waste of equipment.

pinerider

The rider posts on www.bikejournal.com as Techno. He has posted an interesting detailed account of the incident on the forum there. Something to think about when you're riding on a bridge - If the fall doesn't kill you, losing your bike sure hurts!

lotek 

unfreakingbelievable.

Been over the Rickenbacher a time or two myself.
I bet his bike was laying in the road (as stated by
witness) and some enterprizing person thought
"what the heck" a bike and threw it in the back of his
pickup.

Marty

creep dog

And they lived happily ever after.......(i just saw this in the "Dirt Rag" News briefs)

Klein Presents Custom Bike to Miami "Huckster"
By: Thanita Adams

Yesterday, Max Berger of Bikes to Go in Miami, Florida, made a call to Jose Arellano's house. When the youngster answering the phone asked, "Jose Senior or Jose Junior?" Berger wasn't sure. So, he said, "the one that fell off of the bridge."

But perhaps you haven't heard of the strange but true story (there were witnesses!), of Arellano's flight off of the Rickenbacker Causeway in Miami. Yes, in case you're wondering, that is the big bridge.

On Monday, January 26, Arellano, 26, was pedaling over the bridge and was about to take a pull from his water bottle when his front tire struck something. We've all been there - unexpected impact, and over the bars we go. Most of us, however, are lucky enough not to be riding on a 70 foot bridge when this happens. Arellano wasn't. He was thrown over the waist-high "retaining" wall (there is no railing) into the ocean below.

Fernanda Villalba, an eyewitness, saw the whole thing from her car. After making some U turns to get back to the scene, she looked over the retaining wall but couldn't see Arellano's body. Meanwhile, he had swum over to the older and smaller adjacent bridge where a passing fisherman threw him a rope and towed him out. Later, Villalba said that she wasn't sure if what she had seen actually happened, as no other drivers seemed to react to Arellano's sudden disappearance.

So - Arellano falls 70 some feet (fortunately avoiding the concrete supports) and hits the water. He is pulled out and, miraculously, feels good enough (only injuries: bruised ribs, a bloody arm from hitting the wall as he went over, some dizziness and hearing damage, all of which has since faded) to go back up to fetch his bike. The kicker: it's been stolen. Arellano believed that the bike did not go into the drink along with him, and Villalba agrees that the bike remained on the bridge after Arellano's fall.

Stolen: one yellow Klein from Rickenbacker Causeway area, purchase price $550 (about three years ago).

When Arellano told the guys at his local shop, Bikes to Go, they couldn't believe what they heard, repeatedly asking, "you mean the BIG bridge?" (there are two bridges in the area, one much smaller). When asked what was going through his head as he fell, Arellano reportedly replied, "what a hell of a way to go." When I told Arellano this, he said, "nah . . . that type of though might have gone through my head, but for some reason I thought if I kicked a lot when I hit the water, I wouldn'd lose consciousness. And it seemed to work. When I first hit the water, I was also thinking, 'man, I should have worn my helmet,' but then I thought what did it matter - I was in the water. Hold your breath and kick, hold your breath and kick . . ."

Klein heard of the bizarre event, and just yesterday informed Berger at Bikes to Go that they want to present Jose with a new Klein, an Aura XV. Ryan Atkinson, Brand Coordinator at Fisher, LeMond and Klein reports that Jose "decided today that he wants the 'Bones' paintjob with 'Nearly Broken' on the top tube."

Any symbolism to this scheme? "They took a ton of X-rays at the hospital," said Arellano. "It reminds me of that."

Atkinson added, "I don't encourage anybody to go jumping off bridges to get a free bike." So don't get any ideas, out there.

jfmckenna

LOL I'm sorry but LOL

Well you can laugh now knowing the guy's alrite. What a story. Maby he should weld the water bottle braze on's shut and consider getting a camel back...

supcom

This guy needs a custom CamelBack with a built in parachute.

Avalanche325

Now THAT's funny.

I used to live near there and ride over that bridge. It is pretty high. I also thought a few times that if you wrecked on it, you could go right over the side. As far as the bike getting stolen. That's Miami. They will steal anything and everything around there. My wife walked to a grocery store ( in a nice neighborhood) there with one of those fold up grocery/laundery carts. She took her eyes off of it for about ten minutes. GONE. What if that belonged to some poor old lady??

dexmax

I have read this news article about 2 months ago.. it still makes me laugh!

Its sad that someone took his bike.. Hey, at least he had fun!

lotek 

Ok, someone opened this one back up so I don't feel so bad about
posting in it. Klein donated a major bike (forget which model) to the guy
when they heard about the story. I think it was reported in Velonews or cyclingnews.com

Marty

DieselDan

I have to ride over serveral bridges around here just to get around, and I've never thought over wrecking and falling in the water.

miamijim

The most recend issue of Bicycling Magazine has an update to this story. Klein has given him a new bike!!! You dont hear about companies doing things like this so its nice to hear they do give back. Good for them.

Avalanche325

I have ridden over that bridge many times. That rail is at about saddle height. I used to think that you could go right over.