Bike Related Deaths

By the way I read somewhere Waddell was wearing a MX (Moto Cross) Helmet, and that he probably would have died with a bike helmet on, since the MX helmet was destroyed.
 
The other fatality was a male in the US riding downhill. 2002 i think. I dont know if it was a NORBA but it was racing and he came into a rock garden at some say 55-60km/h and got loose. He landed heavily and died of chest injuries even tho he had upper body armour.
 
kizza01 said:
The other fatality was a male in the US riding downhill. 2002 i think. I dont know if it was a NORBA but it was racing and he came into a rock garden at some say 55-60km/h and got loose. He landed heavily and died of chest injuries even tho he had upper body armour.
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If memory serves me that was Jake "Earthquake" Watson, he may have been riding for Marin at the time.
 
Truthman said:
By the way I read somewhere Waddell was wearing a MX (Moto Cross) Helmet, and that he probably would have died with a bike helmet on, since the MX helmet was destroyed.
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yeah his team manager insisted that all the team DH riders wore them. smart man.
 
My family is friends with the brother of the roadie who died in canberra. (at least Im pretty sure its the same guy.)
so sad, but at least when these people die, they die doing what they love and don't get old and dementure...
Im surprised Bender hasn't carked it yet I must say, but it seems most people don't die from huge hucks rather collisions... I was expecting some more huge huck stories when i read the title of this thread... makes me feel a bit safer now :p

But I heard something about someone going off the cliff at goatfarm and dying as well mr. Hanky
 
My Grandma used to be friends with a Velodrome rider who died in the a race in a Velodrome, was ages ago (I honestly can't give you a date but it was when my mum was a kid). In a race a rider took him out and he crashed hard on a turn and died of head and neck injuries.
 
I think mtb is pretty safe for life threatening/removing injuries, compared to road.
I also noticed the same trend in motorcycles, I've only even seen 1 person I know die racing MX or enduro but have seen 4 or 5 people just from my circle of acquaintances die road racing.

I don't think its just the speed differences, its also the speed at which things happen. On a road bike (bicycle or motorcycle) the limits of traction etc are very high, and the margin of error very narrow. When things go wrong, they happen much quicker with higher forces involved. On the dirt the speeds are on average lower, but still quite high, however due to all the things involved (lots of soft suspension, flexy treaded tyres, low grip, more consistent grip), when something starts to go wrong quite often you have a slight bit more time to react. And the forces involved are generally lower through all the dissipating factors.
Obviously that doesn't apply to high speed, harsh impact injuries which are pretty consistent amongst both disciplines for trauma.
 
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another fatality was from very sketchy memory a friend of Paul Rowney's duing his time racing in OZ before his Haro deal in the US..say around '94,'95. It was a training accident on the road in the blue mountains. His tyre blew out or a single peeled off on a corner at speed and bam into the guard rail. I remember having a minutes silence before a race in remembrance of it..a couple of other guys close to him also wore black armbands in that race too. pretty sad
 
digger said:
another fatality was from very sketchy memory a friend of Paul Rowney's duing his time racing in OZ before his Haro deal in the US..say around '94,'95. It was a training accident on the road in the blue mountains. His tyre blew out or a single peeled off on a corner at speed and bam into the guard rail. I remember having a minutes silence before a race in remembrance of it..a couple of other guys close to him also wore black armbands in that race too. pretty sad
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That was Garry Payne, he crashed on Mitchell's Pass between Blaxland and Emu Plains in Dec 1997, the day after his birthday. Garry was a top 5 national series competitor at the time, and was improving very quickly.

There is a small memorial where he crashed, and i must say that it is a pretty scary corner flat out, as it is j-u-s-t flat out. Many other people have crashed there before and after Garry, some quite seriously. His loss is still felt badly by many in the MTB community.
 
go to bed jessica said:
That was Garry Payne, he crashed on Mitchell's Pass between Blaxland and Emu Plains in Dec 1997, the day after his birthday. Garry was a top 5 national series competitor at the time, and was improving very quickly.

There is a small memorial where he crashed, and i must say that it is a pretty scary corner flat out, as it is j-u-s-t flat out. Many other people have crashed there before and after Garry, some quite seriously. His loss is still felt badly by many in the MTB community.
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Gz was a good mate of mone, he was as good a bloke as he was a rider. He died on the Tuesday, and me, him and a couple of other mates (one of whom was riding with Gaz when he crashed) were all together on the Saturday before, eating pizza, having a couple of brews, playing Playstation and talking shit. Then 3 days later I get a call to say he's on life support. Life is shit sometimes; Gaz had just decided to go to uni to do Primary Teaching, things were all falling into place then BANG! His parents are two of the nicest and most genuine people you could ever hope to meet, as is his brother (also a top rider). As has been previously stated in this thread, the only consolation is that he died doing something he loved. In reality though that's cold comfort.
 
after several incidents up here the cowboys leauge team now train at the velodrome. too many of them have had incidents while out on the road. i was about an inch off getting doored yesterday sitting at about 45km/hr on a busy as road. my life could of easily been over right than. scary shit. fuck people that don't give a shit about cyclist. each one of them deserves a serious kick in the face.
 
bazza said:
after several incidents up here the cowboys leauge team now train at the velodrome. too many of them have had incidents while out on the road. i was about an inch off getting doored yesterday sitting at about 45km/hr on a busy as road. my life could of easily been over right than. scary shit. fuck people that don't give a shit about cyclist. each one of them deserves a serious kick in the face.
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Agreed, when people show us complete disrespect and put us in danger and we get angry as a result, they think that we're all dickheads on bikes. These people make riding on roads more dangerous than it already is, and with the amount of people that get hurt they deserve to get their teeth booted in.

its not like we give them shit just because their in cars.
 
I myself haven't heard of any mtb deaths without vehicles being involved. But the son of another customer of my mums hairdresser died riding his bike on the road and a truck ran over him. He had no helmet on. It's sad :( , and my mum uses it as an excuse for me to always wear my helmet:rolleyes: . I know I should wear one, and I usually do, just not for street.
 
x said:
I myself haven't heard of any mtb deaths without vehicles being involved. But the son of another customer of my mums hairdresser died riding his bike on the road and a truck ran over him. He had no helmet on. It's sad :( , and my mum uses it as an excuse for me to always wear my helmet:rolleyes: . I know I should wear one, and I usually do, just not for street.
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It's the street where you need it the most.IMO.
 
most guys dont wear helmets for street, but i recon that's where you can get most f*cked..like with djs you sorta land on a slope, and yeah it can f*ck you over, but street stylz is concrete...
 
go to bed jessica said:
That was Garry Payne, he crashed on Mitchell's Pass between Blaxland and Emu Plains in Dec 1997, the day after his birthday. Garry was a top 5 national series competitor at the time, and was improving very quickly.

There is a small memorial where he crashed, and i must say that it is a pretty scary corner flat out, as it is j-u-s-t flat out. Many other people have crashed there before and after Garry, some quite seriously. His loss is still felt badly by many in the MTB community.
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My ex boss crashed there and died 3 weeks later from head injuries. Apparently that corner was safer before they put the guard rail up because the bikes would just go over the side of the hill. The guardrail now acts as a wall that cyclists slam into.
 
A guy up here in cairns died in brinsmead at a set of dirt jumps doin a backflip poor bugger they have a small memorial there for him it's just so sad
 
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