I didn't see this thread last year, or I would have commented on it. I did the GT highland triple with a friend in 2009, and we were apparently about 5-10 minutes behind Rod Armas and his son.

We rolled up on the scene perhaps 5 minutes or so after it happened. No doubt, Robert Sanchez passed us moments before he struck them.

A black bike was in the bushes, front wheel gone and rear wheel with a slew of broken spokes. It was shattered. A white bike in the same sorry state was next to the cyclist getting CPR.

The son was laying down in the bushes, with a blanket to keep him warm. As many EMTs as there were working on the Dad, none were working on the son. When asked, all he was told was that they were working on his Dad.

At that late hour, PCH is a beautiful ride. There is virtually no traffic whatsoever, and you can see the summer constellations and hear the waves breaking on the shore. Beautiful, really.

To ride up on a scene full of flashing red lights and tragedy .... it was surreal.

A little east of the crash site, Rick noticed a full sized Dodge Ram pickup with damage to the front. We thought that might have been the vehicle that did all the damage. Apparently, it was. There were Sheriffs and CHP everywhere, apparently looking for the driver.

It was a terrible end to what was up until that time, a great day. I hope I never see anything like that again.

We were doing the Highland Triple to train for the HooDoo and the 508. So we had planned to get up early the next morning and do another 100 miles. We took a loop that sent us by the same place.

The crash site is about 1/2 mile East of Leo Carillo ... right by the Nicholas Canyon sign, and the asphalt where the accident occurred is heavily marked. “Helmet.” “Shoe.” “AOI-1,” “AOI-2.” “Head.” “Foot.” There were water bottles and broken pieces of rear flashers about.

We stood there, straddling our bikes. It was a beautiful sunny day, with all number of families enjoying a day at the beach. Sunny, warm, and beautiful. Car after car rushed by in the bright daylight. A postcard California day … what a contrast to the dark tragedy only 12 hours before.

A car parked behind us, and a man emerged with his little girl. He also looked about with a sense of loss. He came over to speak to us.

Turns out he was one of the law enforcement officers responding to the scene the night before. He had been heading westbound on PCH to the scene of the accident, when he saw a pickup truck going the other way that looked … “hinky.” But it wasn’t until he got to the scene that he realized the pickup truck was the same one that laid a family to waste. He took off in the other direction to catch him, but by the time he did, the truck was abandoned. Thus began the search.

Apparently, Sanchez had abandoned the truck, and ran. Somehow, he got all the way to Trancas or Pt. Dume (I am unclear as to which), and attempted to pass himself off as someone that had just been carjacked. He also claims to have fallen asleep, but apparently, alcohol was involved. The driver was apparently an emotional wreck.

One of the worst things about this crash were some of the public comments I read about the many news stories. Many seemed to imply that the father was somehow irresponsible for riding out there with his son at 1:30AM.

Of course, those statements evidence complete ignorance of the risks of riding a bicycle and are little more than the usual "blame the victim because he's different than me" mentality. PCH is infinitely safer at 1AM than it is at 1PM.

Anyway, I've been checking to see what happened in this case. I had heard that Mr. Sanchez' blood was not tested immediately, and wondering how anyone could be incompetent enough to allow that to happen. It would have been a travesty if he were to lay a family to waste, and walk away without punishment because of law enforcement's incompetence.

Thanks for the info! Was a ghost bike ever installed?