My riding partner each year has been Larry Preble. Last year, Ed Scharfenberger joined our team, and returned this year. Each of us rides a Bacchetta--Larry a Corsa, Ed a 2008 Strada, and I my customized 2002 Strada. One of the things we enjoy on this ride is hearing some of the comments from other riders on the course, like, "This guy's in a hurry on that laid-back bike...oh, so is his friend, on HIS laid-back bike...wow, here's a third one!" as we go past a cluster of DF riders. Of course, there are those who get all parochial on us, and have to try to prove to themselves and all around them that THEY won't get passed by some old coot on a 'bent, even if that "old coot" is younger and stronger than they are and on more efficient bicycles to boot...
Our ride was not marred by flats this year (Ed had one last year in downtown Terre Haute, Larry had one a few years ago near Franklin), nor by overly-severe cramps (although both Larry and Ed experienced some painful cramps, they didn't have to get off their bikes for long--I fared better this year than they did). We didn't see any bicycle crashes, although we did see one rider being attended by EMS shortly before lunch.
Our ride pace was good this year, although not a personal best. Any time three guys (including this out of shape guy who has done precisely one century since September of last year) can average 20.2 miles an hour over 162 miles is a good ride.
We did witness a disaster for a motorcyclist, though. We were stopped at a stop sign, waiting for a safe opportunity to cross IN 267 south of I-70 a bit after the second rest stop in Plainfield. A southbound motorist slowed, as if to allow us to cross. A northbound motorcyclist slowed dramatically, for reasons we couldn't decipher. A northbound motorist failed to notice that the motorcycle had slowed, and hit him from behind at high enough a speed that the motorcycle was shunted some hundred feet or more, the rider tossed in the air like a rag doll to land behind the car as it passed under him. The driver apparently froze on the gas pedal, and careened off the road through a fence into a nearby field.
Larry's account, as posted on the KYCYCLIST listserver, includes some links to Google Maps and their surface views of the intersection, albeit at a time far removed from when we were there:
Sixty-Eight miles into the ride, in Plainfield, Indiana, we were stopped
here, waiting for traffic: http://crashscene1.notlong.com Just behind where
you see the white car in the picture, a large motorcycle was coming to a
stop, close to the shoulder of the road, when a small sedan barreled into
him from behind at high speed. The motorcycle was hurled more than a
hundred feet forward, smashing into pieces while the motorcyclist was
catapulted into a back flip straight up in the air about 15 feet. The driver
must have panicked at that point, because as her vehicle passed under the
airborne rider, she hit the accelerator instead of the brake sending her
crashing through the fence and at least 300 feet off into the adjacent
field. The rider completed a half turn in midair and slammed down onto the
pavement striking his shoulder and his head. Unfortunately, the motorcycle
rider was not wearing a helmet. The point of impact was here,
http://crashscene2.notlong.com, just to the right of the medium-sized bush
in the center of the picture. The car continued into the field, here on the
right. http://crashscene3.notlong.com. And here is an overhead view of the
scene: http://crashscene4.notlong.com. We were stopped at the intersection
to the left, travelling West to East. The collision was just South of the
intersection, travelling South to North.
It was harrowing to see the rider flying in the air as he was. It was scary to see his injuries, although there were others more qualified to help on hand soon after, and I stayed out of their way. What really got to me, though, and bothers me still, was witnessing the man's struggle against the aid workers who were trying to get him immobilized in preparation for transport. He was coming to, in immense pain, couldn't really tell what was happening, and despite the efforts of those workers to tell him what was happening, they couldn't get into his consciousness that they were trying to help him. He was yelling and fighting their efforts for some time before we left, and still was when we left him to the care of EMS and fire department folks.
I've not been able to find any news reports on the incident to link here. I wonder whether he survived, or how he's doing. It's going to be a rough row to hoe for him for a long time, if he ever does recover.
The driver who hit him was inconsolable, sobbing over and over, "I didn't even SEE him." None of us wanted to talk to her, each for his own reasons--most were focused on aiding the motorcyclist or keeping cars out of the crash site. I could not have said anything approaching, "there, there, it's going to be okay." It was most certainly NOT okay, nor would it be any time soon. Her inattentiveness had cost someone a lot of time with a family member, and perhaps cost that motorcyclist his life. The car she was driving had a HUGE dent in the front end from the impact with the bike--it was a big heavy cruiser-type motorcycle--and her repair bill on the car would likely be in excess of the car's value. I didn't have to scold her, either, as she will live with what she'd done for the rest of her life, which seems more punishment than I'm authorized to mete out to anyone.
Needless to say, our ride pace was a bit subdued for a while after that.
I'm glad to be alive.
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