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z, fred
Colorado's bicycling Guv not the first to hit the pavement
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter joined a special club on Tuesday -- "Pols Who
Love to Ride Bikes and Have the Abrasions, Contussions and Fractures to
Prove It."
Members include other governors, some mayors, and even a president.
Out riding with some friends Tuesday morning, Ritter apparently touched
wheels with the bicyclist in front of him and crashed to the pavement.
Spokesman Evan Dreyer said the governor bumped his head as well, but was
wearing a helmet. He'll spend several nights in the hospital for
treatment of the broken ribs and previously undisclosed separated shoulder.
We're glad that Ritter is OK. He's been seen riding at the Elephant Rock
Ride and has been talking to Lance Armstrong about reviving the Coors
Classic.
But Ritter is just one in a long string of elected officials who have
been injured in bicycle accidents.
Kneecaps and collarbones
Among mayors, it has been reported several times over the years that
Chicago's Richard M. Daley ripped the skin off his kneecap a few years
ago in a bicycle crash. Washington DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty flipped over
the handlebars of his road bike on the Whitehurst Freeway in 2008 while
he was training for a triathlon and reinjured his foot.
The toll among governors is just as high.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry broke his collarbone just last summer when he sped
down a hill on a bike trail in Austin and, for an unknown reason,
flipped over his handlebars and landed on the backside of his right
shoulder.
Virginia Gov. Mark Warner suffered two broken bones in his right hand
while participating in the 2005 Bike Virginia. Apparently Warner was
holding his water bottle in his right hand as he approached some
railroad tracks and tried to slow down, braking the front wheel only
with his left hand.
POTUS
The most famous bicycle crashes, of course, involved President George W.
Bush on Mountain Bike One.
The first was in 2004 when he fell off his bicycle at his ranch and
grazed his chin, upper lip, nose, both knees, and right hand.
The most publicized, however, occurred during the G-8 summit in 2005.
According to excerpts from the police report, a detachment of police was
asked to close off an intersection while Bush bicycled to his hotel:
"As the President passed the junction at speed he raised his left
arm from the handlebars to wave to the police officers present while
shouting 'thanks, you guys, for coming'.
"As he did this he lost control of the cycle, falling to the
ground, causing both himself and his bicycle to strike [the officer] on
the lower legs. [The officer] fell to the ground, striking his head. The
President continued along the ground for approximately five metres,
causing himself a number of abrasions."
This series of accidents in the past decade may lead us to believe that
our elected officials are total klutzes when it comes to bicycling.
Well, I've had my own experience with klutzier bike crashes, and would
rather just chalk it up to bad luck. Let's just be glad these crashes
weren't any worse.
dave a
> http://www.bikingbis.com/blog/_archives/2010/3/3/4470968.html
>
> Colorado's bicycling Guv not the first to hit the pavement
>
>
> Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter joined a special club on Tuesday -- "Pols Who
> Love to Ride Bikes and Have the Abrasions, Contussions and Fractures to
> Prove It."
>
> Members include other governors, some mayors, and even a president.
>
> Out riding with some friends Tuesday morning, Ritter apparently touched
> wheels with the bicyclist in front of him and crashed to the pavement.
>
> Spokesman Evan Dreyer said the governor bumped his head as well, but was
> wearing a helmet. He'll spend several nights in the hospital for
> treatment of the broken ribs and previously undisclosed separated shoulder.
>
Several nights in the hospital for a few broken ribs and a separated
shoulder? What a wuss.
Any video of POTUS doing the faceplant?
- dave a