Old 05-24-15, 04:22 PM
  #16  
MinnMan
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Thanks for all of your thoughtful comments. I think that bruce19 is on the mark that some clubs (mine, for sure) need to give more thought to safety and to make it part of the club DNA. We communicate well verbally and we do remind one another about safety. There is also a weekly ride in which one of the old salts - a former racer - gives instruction on group riding skills and etiquette. But we don't do enough. The particular experience yesterday also makes me think that our club should strongly encourage members to get first aid and CPR training. I don't know if it would have helped yesterday, but as I understand it, CPR didn't begin until the first responder showed up (which was pretty fast - about 10 minutes).

Just a few more details about the accident yesterday that pertain to some of the points others have made. (Again, I was not actually there until afterwards, but I ride with these people all the time and I have spoken to several after the fact.) They were in a large bunch of 20 or 30, riding on the shoulder of a very low traffic rural road. There definitely was a mixture of highly experienced riders and less experienced riders in the bunch, and that was probably the key bad element. They were NOT racing or faux racing. There had been some tendency to that earlier in the ride, but the ride leader had loudly shut that down, letting people know that it was not a ride or group where such behavior was appropriate. at the time of the accident, the group was moving steadily at 20-21 MPH.

The rider who died was one of the most experienced riders in the club. He was in his mid-60s and had a heart condition. As I understand it, something happened in front of him that caused him and a couple of others to go down (2 other very experienced riders, including the ride leader, also left the scene in ambulances, but their injuries are comparatively minor- I've heard one has a dislocated shoulder, but I'm not exactly sure). But the rider went down hard on his head and lost consciousness, and was never revived.

His wife is also a long term member of the club. They are/were both ride leaders and many of their best friends are also club members. There are a lot of grieving people here in Minnesota over this sad event.

Last edited by MinnMan; 05-24-15 at 05:19 PM.
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