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From: Andy
Subject: Cyclist down
What’s up Big Jonny?
Chicago’s kids have been running the Tour Da Chicago for 9 years, and this past Sunday, when yours truly was too lazy to haul his fat ass out of bed and onto the bike, da Tour experienced its first fatality.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-biker_fatal_26feb26,0,533633.story
We’ve had some bad hits in the past, but this is the first time something like this has gone down. Shit, even I’ve pulled some pretty boneheaded moves during these races and by all means should have been in the hospital or the morgue more times then I can count.
This turn of events no doubt is tragic, and all of us Chicago bike folk are saddened and disheartened by this loss.
Keep the rubber side down,
Andy.
From the article:
A race to the finish resulted in an untimely end for a cyclist who was killed during a street race Sunday morning when he was hit by a sport-utility vehicle.
Witnesses say the accident took place when a large group of riders competing in Chicago’s “Tour Da Chicago” street race attempted to ride through an intersection against a red light.
My condolences to his friends and family.
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Sad news.
What’s even sadder is the fact that this may have been avoided if he had obeyed the traffic signs. Maybe, maybe not.
I’d be pretty bummed to have to live with the fact that I had killed a cyclist, even if he was a fucking idiot who brought his untimely end upon himself.
That intersection is one you are lucky to get through at any time. It’s a 6-way, and it is customary to get stuck in the middle, even in a car, and you have to blast through it and hope you don’t get tagged. The way that Lincoln, Damen, Irving Park slice into each other there makes the middle of the intersection enormous, and I’ve been saying forever that the yellow is far too short. I live in the area, and it’s the worst intersection.
So for the people thinking this guy just blasted through an obvious red light, well, it isn’t that simple. When I heard that he was killed at this intersection, I was not surprised at all.
A tragically sad and unnecessary death. My condolences to his family and friends.
Weigh the risk/benefit of your ride.
Hey I’m moving to Chicago this spring. I will look up this group. Always bad having something like this happen. Perhaps it will lend itself to a safer approach in the future.
Very sad news. I hate to see this. Could it have been avoided on the cyclist part?
I know one thing, chiefhiawatha is right…that intersection is busy as hell. Most MAJOR thourofare intersections are busy. 6 way intersection…Irving Park is 2 lanes on each side including a turning lane. When the light is green, people are cruising through that intersection at around 40mph. I think the speed limit is 35.
Regardless of whether the yellow is “too short” or not, no one should be running yellow and red lights. The race is notorious for running lights and winning at all costs…that is the point, right? Personally, I think you should ride responsibly, whether in a “race” or not. There is a reason why there is “official racing”. Saftey is a big part of that reason.
How do you think that drive feels? They were going through a green light which they had every right to do. Now, they killed someone and it was not even their fault. I cannot imagine having to live with that.
pegleg – why would you look up this group? Would you like to ride irresponsibly as well?
If that intersection is indeed that dangerous, I gotta question why they even include it in the ride. Surely they can find another way.
From accounts I have read, they did just blast through a red. Yes, it is that simple.
I believe that the stage was stage 3, 3-way. They purposely included a lot of 3-street intersections.
Lastly, it cannot be made safer. Running reds is the only way to be competitive in an alleycat. People are going to take more risks in the heat of competition. Alleycats are fucking stupid.
They could have made it safer by using the traditional alleycat format instead of trying to be a low budget Tour de France with the wrong accent. You can win a traditional alleycat without running red lights, you just have to:
1. Know your town.
2. Plan your route, and
3. Ride your plan, but safely.
Yeah, but if you:
1. Know your town.
2. Plan your route, and
3. Ride your plan, but safely.
4. Run red lights
You will beat the guy who only did the first three. (You are right though, this was a set course.)
# three in my comment should have been without the safety part.
But do you really know of alleycats where nobody runs lights?
Guys-
This is pretty simple: run races through red lights and traffic accidents will occur. This incident reflects poorly on the cycling community… it only takes a handful of dumbshits to make a whole mess of automobile drivers lean towards the homicidal.
Mikey
What complete and utter dumbasses. Both the rider, and the orgainiser. Race Promoters, wouldn’t it be better to hold your races in safer, less traveled parts of town, you know, so people don’t DIE? And riders, if you already know the intersection is that dangerous, maybe you should, oh, I don’t know, not ride though a red light like an asshole?
How many more kids will die at these races?
What sucks the most about this is people are pretty hell-bent on looking for blame, and getting frothy-mouthed about talking down on the biker and the organizers.
I’m getting tired of the safety talk, too. Sure, things could have gone differently, but they didn’t. The Chicago area has seen at least 2 deaths last summer in sanctioned events. One biker was hit by an oncoming car on a country road. The other took a nasty spill and sustained a head injury in spite of helmet use.
And the real shitter is that people are making judgment calls without being there. Matthew Lynch was not new to cycling in the city at all.
Bikes turned us into racers, and apparently the internet has turned us into assholes.