Anudder SART Tandem Ride 5/20

A dead body on SART. OK, maybe not dead but he looked dead and we thought he was dead. Alan says I live in world of exaggeration ha ha but this was scary! Again on the tandem we invited Herb and Alyce for a dueling tandem ride (no real duel). Aimee started with us, Alan surprised us showing up to join the group, then later joined by The Legend Greg.

Anyway we picked up some speed near the Imperial area as a rider from Santiago Cycling hopped on our wheel as we rode by. OK, not sure how he ended up on our wheel as we had a good little train of 7 riders, but he was second wheel now. I looked back and everybody was on so we just kept going. Soon after I pulled off the front for some help. Santiago Dude said, "nice pull" then took the lead. He did really nice job on his pull. We ended back up in the front again doing a nice pace but once again, I pulled off for some help. Next thing I know it's the Legend Greg at the front lifting the pace. Now I see why they call him The Legend. I couldn't recover fast enough to hop back on the line that had just shattered. So we broke up and all we could do was watch Greg pull a way.

So we regrouped and found a more fitting pace for the group and headed to the coast. Now the scary part. We had just pulled of the front allowing Team Herb & Alyce to take a pull. From the bottom of the Segerstrom underpass we saw a ride laying on the ground. So we slow ready to offer help but holy cow this dude is not moving at all! He's laid out next to his bike face down and very motionless. Oh my gosh please tell me this guy is not dead. His position was so that it made it look like his neck had been broken. The closer we got the more still the body seemed. We all stop and begin warning bike traffic. Alan and Herb run up to the guy still thinking he's dead. This guy I tell you was motionless for quite some time but luckily he finally showed some response. We tried to keep him down but he would not agree.

He got up leaving a small pool of blood on the pavement. He had a rock in his hand and I couldn't figure out why he would let go of this small rock. It was his tooth! Against his will Alyce called for emergency help as we tried to seat him (dispatcher's advice). He would not sit but I think it was more that he was out of his mind. His helmet bashed on one side and broken on the other. A large mouse under his eye and a bloody nose or lip, I couldn't tell. Dressed in a spiffy outfit and a super light bike, we figure he must have been pushing pretty good.

He wouldn't cooperate so finally I had to tell him that his eyes were pretty messed up. They were out of focus, pretty much cross eyed for a while. Once I bought up his eyes he really got worried but he started to listen a little more then allowed us to seat him. The emergency vehicles arrived very quickly then took over and somewhat rushed us off. "No problem do your thing but that is a very expensive bike so please don't lose it" I asked. He said they would transport it along with the dude.

Wow, that is scary. The unconscious dude was asking us how he crashed, was he alone etc. All we could tell him was that he was out when we found him, serious face plant I'm guessing. He couldn't remember his name, he was torn between two names and couldn't remember if he was 54 or 57 years old. Very fit looking guy but that goes to show the pavement doesn't care how old or how fit you are, be careful out there!

Just as we were leaving Garfield Cat came riding up for a quick hello. The rest of the ride was nice and safe. Alan managed to do some of the video shoot and Jed19 did some fancy posing for the camera ha ha! Herb & Alyce took the front for a large portion for the return. Hey, I was happy to sit back and enjoy the ride!

Some shots from Alan's camera

The Old Recording behind me trick

Two fisted action