Glades2

Per my initial post of a week or two ago, I wanted to let everyone here know that from what other members recently mentioned on the club's web site, this woman crashed because of a front tire blowout near the bottom of one of the steepest descents (from my own experience, perhaps heat generated from too much braking, combined with a very high tire pressure), but, two other factors were also mentioned by club members:

- a possible front fork problem with the type of road bike that was being used (possibly a recall issue), and,

- not enough advanced training prior to the ride, since the group's only experience with hills or mountain roads before this ride were the "hills" of the local bridges, and, for those here who are aware of the hills around Mount Dora, Florida, this woman's several visits to Sugarloaf "Mountain", but, as we all know, training on bridge overpasses and even Sugarloaf are nothing compared to the steep mountain roads of North Georgia, and, their comments really do match my own previous analogy of the person who goes from being a skiier on the novice slopes to a novice who attempts the alpine slopes but crashes in the attempt...

The cyclist killed (Daniella) was liked by everyone that knew her, and, was greatly missed at the club's annual century last week, and, in her memory, I stand by my previous comments, because, as proactive as she was when it came to being a club member, I'm sure she'd say that more training and care is needed before and during rides that include very steep ascents and descents, since a certain amount of knowledge and skill is required before attempting a route that was initially designed for the professional cyclist (Tour de Georgia)...

When I belonged to the local Sierra Club chapter, they'd rate the outings by degree of difficulty, from novice to expert, which was done in the hope that the novice would not get into trouble by attempting something that was beyond a person's skill level - perhaps that is something needed for centuries such as Six Gap, instead of encouraging cyclists (in this case, "flatland" cyclists) to ride a "challenging" route, as was done for this ride...

Glades2

I-Like-To-Bike

Swell! Another followup up of your nasty gossip and speculation about the death of cyclist with the additional speculation of your club members' "mentionings" (no doubt prompted by you).

But that's OK, you are only doing this service "in her memory", eh? Your postings on this subject still make me retch.

Glades2

That's your problem - others here posted intelligent comments to the previous thread, unlike your own words...

Many in our local club are still upset over what happened, and, have had many similar discussions in regards to the concerns that have been raised - more thought is needed before urban cyclists from relatively flat areas attempt expert routes such as the one in this case...

I'm glad that I stuck with my first reaction when hearing of her accident - that it likely happened because a person with little or no experience in mountain road cycling perhaps found herself in over her head - perhaps you are new to the sport and don't understand that, but, many here like myself are veterans of both racing and touring cycling and understand what that can mean when going 50 or 60 mph - if you have a problem with that, perhaps, as your username states, you are in the sport only for fun and not safety, but, as the veteran cyclists know, it only takes one accident to change a person's thinking - if the person survives...

cudak888 

Now that we know your side of the "facts," let us drop this conversation (or argument, depending on how you look at it).

It is not tactful nor gentlemanly to dig up dirt over someone's tragic death.

-Kurt

mkael

I feel branding cycling on public roads extreme is well a little extreme. People can usually slow down if they get scared. I don't know if that happened on a group ride with social pressure issues. And **** sometimes happens not everything has a reason.

Lots of mountains around the world must get people from flat areas. Is there a real problem with them crashing often? I would say motorcyclists take way bigger risks than the average cyclist on the slopes I have seen.

surveyor

It must be nice to be right all the time, and to be the ultimate authority on anything whenever you open your mouth...

It must be terribly droll to have to converse with us mere cycling mortals, especially when we don't immediate shower you with love and praise for those brilliantly insightful comments you make. (Especially those ad hominem attacks - they really persuade others to understand your point, don't you know.)

How do you walk past mirrors without swooning at the sight of yourself?

I-Like-To-Bike

Given the OP's taste/penchant for this accident victim's blood, maybe he can't see himself in a mirror. But then again, ghouls can, so I don't know how he does it.

RobertHurst

A blowout would be easy to see after the fact, just by looking at the tube. Unfortunately, just because we see that the tube suffered a blowout event does not mean the blowout was the cause of the crash, because a blowout could also occur when a wheel fails after a crash or in some front fork catastrophe.

So, why do they think it was a blowout? Did they even examine the tube and tire? What's this issue with the front fork that you mention?

Sounds like people are still guessing about what really happened, although evidence points to some kind of catastrophic equipment failure. And yet here you are, again, insisting that the cause was the victim's inexperience. Very, very strange behavior on your part I have to say.

RobertHurst

Right? I haven't heard or read anything about this tragedy that leads me to believe that Glade2 is even in the right ballpark.

HoustonB

I have an idea, why don't you go forth and procreate thyself.

Panthers007

Or, perhaps, a nice, fast ride down Snake Alley in Burlington, Iowa - with no brakes...

RobertHurst

???? If you know the facts, please share.

CB HI

And we all know that only novice cyclist crash on fast down hills when they have blowouts.

Give up the worthless speculation. If you ever get some real facts, let us know. Then we can have a worthwhile discussion.

cudak888 

It was intended to be sarcastic.

-Kurt

Ajenkins

The OP really ought to get a life. His speculation is rude, crude, and thoughtless.

Dchiefransom

The route was designed for the Tour De Georgia???? Geez, they have hills steeper than that in San Francisco, and everyday cyclists ride them all the time. Maybe what we need here is for YOU to stop acting like bike riding is dangerous and must be undertaken with excessive caution. Life is DANGEROUS, if you don't like that, stay on the porch.

SeattleShaun

I've been trying to stay out of this, but it would be really nice if the OP would quit trying to proclaim that riding a bicycle on a public roadway is in any way extreme. The first thread was silly enough, two is absurd.

If you lack the very basic skill to ride a bicycle on a hill, great - don't ride on hills, but quit pretending that there was anything particularly difficult or "extreme" about the route.

On the positive side, at least he/she has apparently stopped fishing for specious reasons to deny life insurance claims.

I-Like-To-Bike

I consider his misplaced condescension (emanating from his self proclaimed "veteran cyclist" status) directed at me and others disgusted with his lack of decency, to be the silver lining of humor to his black cloud of nasty gossip and tasteless speculation.

trekker pete

I don't get everyone's pile on of the OP. Perhaps "extreme" was the wrong word, but, his intent, to point out the dangers of high speed descents, is valid. Maybe it will cause some to think about things like tire pressures and braking techniques.

Perhaps had Daniella read such a thread before her fateful ride, she might still be with us.

CB HI

^^
Did you read the first thread.

This thread does nothing but add more speculation to the first one.

trekker pete

Well, no $h!t it's speculation. Half of what you read on BF is speculation.

So what.

The guy was trying to point out to the flatlanders on the board that flying down long steep hills just might get you dead if you aren't careful.

Seems like a valid discussion for A&S.

CB HI

^^
Did you read the first thread?

UmneyDurak

WTF is the point of this post?

I-Like-To-Bike

Gratuitous finger pointing and nasty gossip and tasteless speculation from a ghoulish self proclaimed "veteran cyclist" repeatedly demonstrating his contempt for the victim and condescension towards those bicyclists who don't qualify as "experienced" IAW some cryptic standard known only to the OP.

RobertHurst

From everything I've read it seems most likely that Daniella suffered a catastrophic fork failure, hit an animal, or had the wheel fall off or dropout separate from the fork. If it was human error it could easily have been someone else's error and not Daniella's.

Considering reports of a broken fork the blowout explanation is down the list of possible explanations.