FlyingLaZBoy
Moderator
'16 ICE SprintX fs, '16 Rocket, '12 KHS Mocha
Posts: 5803
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Got this from BROL, about the Team Surfin' accident that knocked them out of RAAM -- sounds like mostly the rider's fault: First hand report on accident -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello all, I received this report from fellow ultra racer Brett Walker. A truly nice guy and great racer. He asked if I would post his report, so here it is: There as been a lot of speculation regarding the accident during RAAM that involved a rider from Team Surfing USA and a Team Strong Heart support vehicle. Many people with NO information have formed many opinions about what happened (for example the Bent Rider’s Forum.) So I thought I would take a moment to give you my perspective of what happened. This is NOT an official statement from TSH, just one rider’s perspective. First thing, we did not hit the rider, the rider hit us. Although no fault was found or citations issued to either side, by the police or RAAM officials, in my opinion, the Team Surfing USA rider bares at least half of the responsibility. The accident occurred at the bottom of a hill, in a small town, just before a stop sign. Our support vehicle had NOT just passed the rider, we passed him a long ways up the road but due to the road conditions (many corners, traffic, stops, and down hill) the cyclist had apparently caught back up to our van. The accident occurred just before a stop sign, the cyclist was passing a line of cars approaching the stop sign (ours included) on the right (I believe illegally) and at a high rate of speed. It is questionable if he would have been able to stop for the sign. In order to conduct a rider exchange, our driver decided to pull into a parking space, just before the stop sign. He signaled, looked and pulled into the parking spot. Unfortunately, at this time the cyclist collided with the van. To imply that we hit the rider on purpose is disgusting. We are cyclists that take our lives into our hands every day competing with cars for a few inches of pavement. The idea that we would hit a fellow cyclist is not even thinkable. Why we would we intentionally hit a rider of a team we had just spent 1800 mile chasing and caught. I would much rather beat the great Laird Hamilton, man-to-man. I know this won’t stop the ignorant and malicious attacks. but I couldn’t stand by and be silent any more. I am very disappointed that the RAAM organization has not stepped up and done more clear the air. Brett Walker
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