Bike Forums - Tour de Georgia Tragedy

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His name was Thomas Kinnebrew of Helena, Arkansas.

This thread from the Southern Bike League forum seems to have the best info on it.
http://www.bikesbl.org/modules.php?o...ewtopic&t=3110

This is posted on another forum:

This is Tom Kinnebrew's daughter Gwen,
I just found this on a Google search. Most of the info is wrong. But sadly my father was seriously injured by the crash. He was on life support until Wednesday the 25th at which time we made the decision to take him off the life support and he passed away 2 hours later. He leaves 4 daughters not two, ages 14-24 and my mom whom he loved so much they were married for 28 years. We take comfort in knowing he died doing something he loved. More importantly we are confident that his strong faith in God assures us that we will see him again in heaven. He has been riding road bikes for 25 years. Please know that he was a very careful rider. He always took every precaution necessary. This was a shock to our family and friends. As a tribute to dad, we are setting up a memorial fund to provide bicycles to Africa to transport people to hospitals. This is through an organization called Heart for Africa. If you‘d like to contribute, please go on the website or e-mail me.
Thank you for your concerns,
Gwendolyn Kinnebrew
gwendolynbeg@yahoo.com
]http://www.bikesbl.org/modules.php?o...c3666c0d96023f

I was there and I posted something about this just a day after the accident. My group was not far behind him. I'm sorry to hear that he passed away. It was terrible at the scene.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rlodewell

Unless you were at Brasstown Bald on Friday you're probably not aware that one of the many cyclists who rode up the mountain to watch the finish crashed on the way down after the stage.

Even though we (the other spectators) didn't know what had happened, it was obvious it was serious because they brought in a helicopter to take the person away.

I've been wondering since and searched tonight and found this:

http://www.wmcstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=6413200

If you have to register or can't see it for some reason, the gist of it is, a cyclist from Arkansas crashed and is paralyzed from the waist down. He has other injuries, as well.

I know "tragedy" usually refers to death, but this seems pretty tragic to me.

hmm...I rode it down going no faster than 20 mph. not work at all. Grab brakes....slow down...keep it slow..

Quote:

Originally Posted by merlinextraligh

^^^^^
I talked to several people that rode up and walked down last Friday. They said that with all the people, bikes,and team cars it was way too dangerous in their opinion to ride down.

And its so steep it would take work to ride it below 40 mph.

you would be on the brakes constantly. Obviously you can do it, but if you weren't braking pretty much continuously you get going very fast very quickly.

well considering some of my group were hitting over 45 going down lookout at 6-8% grade, I can imagine the speeds at 13% and even the speed at the wall.

Yes, I was on the brakes constantly. We all wanted to be careful. Walkers and riders were everywhere. I was warned that some would be going down way too fast considering the conditions. Not saying the rider in question was doing that but well I saw the impact point. It looked like he umm...missed the turn and plowed right into some rocks. Right where the accident happened, there was a sharp left and beyond that was a rock face.

Quote:

Originally Posted by merlinextraligh

you would be on the brakes constantly. Obviously you can do it, but if you weren't braking pretty much continuously you get going very fast very quickly.

Sorry to hear......The key is to start slow, then slow down. By the time i got down my rims were almost too hot to touch. I stopped two or three times to make sure things didn't get out of control.

I came down the wall into that turn very hot and on the brakes the morning of the crash. I saw 45mph down the steep section. That will not happen again. It was early and there were very few people there but still not real smart to do looking back at it.
Also of note. I clearly recall seeing a lot of dark gravel right by the center line on the right hander just below the "wall" That gravel plus the reflector bumps in the center line did make for a nasty section if you were going to fast in that turn. I clipped one of those reflectors at speed and it made for a bit of pucker moment. Luckily for me, that was all.

During the Tour of Canberra last weekend, women's B grade bunch touched wheels and two riders flew across to the other side of the road and contacted an oncoming 4WD. One rider critical and the other in serious condition.