Holy cow... and he still won.... Gary Gottlieb is sumpin' else...
BY MATTHEW REAGAN
mreagan@star-telegram.com
GLEN ROSE -- Gary Gottlieb wouldn't be denied.
The defending Tejas 500 winner had endured more than 24 hours on his bike and had fewer than 150 of 500 miles to finish the race he won a year ago at the Texas Time Trials, a series of endurance bike races ranging from six hours to 500 miles.
Just when it appeared Gottlieb was in good position to wrap up another victory on the 26.5-mile loop course at Glen Rose Park, a tanker truck without its gas tank secured spilled diesel fuel all over the road ahead of him late Friday night.
Gottlieb slipped and slid across the asphalt and couldn't find traction, forcing his bike and body to the pavement.
The process was repeated several times before Gottlieb finally succumbed to the gas fumes and passed out.
"The police and the paramedics came and the next thing I knew, I woke up in an ambulance with an oxygen mask on and my wife next to me," said Gottlieb, of Fort Worth. He was taken to the hospital, as paramedics determined Gottlieb had an abnormally low blood pressure. The medical staff at Glen Rose Medical Center wanted to admit Gottlieb, but the 47-year-old wasn't about to lose the chance to repeat his win from a year ago in a race he began at 6 p.m. on Thursday. So he signed a medical release to get back to the course.
"I was trying to pull myself together. I had a hematoma in my thigh and calf and my wife bandaged me up," he said. "Someone came up and told me that I better get on my bike if I want to win this thing."
And win he did. The ordeal cost Gottlieb three hours, but he was still able to finish first, clocking in at 32 hours, 12 minutes, and finishing more than three hours ahead of his closest competitor.
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http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/09/25/3394431/truck-leaves-champ-fuming.html#i
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