1000 Warriors – What a Race!

What an incredible area to race.  What a climb, well several of them.  First I will tell my story, then a little more on the terrible accident.  My first goal was to stay with the front group up the first main climb to Kamas from Jordanelle.  Then if I succeeded there, to stay with them to through Provo canyon.  I did and was very pleased with how I was feeling.  Not breathing hard at all and listening to guys around and behind me struggling, kicks up your confidence a bit.  I was expecting to have if not a few and might be many blast up past Sundance to the top of the Alpine loop.  I put it in gear and kept it steady and strong, passing slowly quite a few.  One guy stayed with me and we eventually caught another from our group close to the top.  I stood up and pushed up to take the King of the Mountain points, :’).  Yes they were gone long ago, but in my group of three, I got them, ha ha.  Then I really kicked it in.  Geoff had taken off at the beginning of this climb which I expected, he is a great climber, So when I started down the other side I wasen’t sure how close I was and thought maybe, just maybe I might gain some time and get closer, so I was Flyin!  Passing cars… at this point I was under the impression that they had closed the canyon so I was thinking the cars up here were in the wrong.  So I was barreling down like a bat out of somewhere.  I left quite quickly the other two guys and was alone and passing guys left and right.  Not just passing, but did I say “Flyin!”  Then as it leveled out a bit, two other guys caught me and we started a line and pushed pretty fast.  I was thinking oh man could I catch Geoff.  How far ahead was he?  And just then, bikers coming up and people standing were yelling, “There’s a crash!”  So we slowed way down and came up on a group of riders and the ambulance had just arrived.  Geoff was here.

Blood was all over the road, and the bike was completely broken in half.  Some other riders there explained what happened and we sat there not being able to do anything to help or to leave.  We just sat and watched.  About 25 mins they let us go down to the mouth of the canyon where Life Flight had landed and waited for the Ambulance to drive down and load one critically injured biker in the Chopper.  When it took off we were also let off to finish our race.  Kind of hard to get started after sitting for 50 or so minutes.  We did and kicked it up.  I pulled over at the beginning of Suncrest to swap my bottles.  Kudos to Cayon Sports for having them ready.  I was a bit faster than Geoff and figured he would catch me on the climb.  Sure enough he came by me partially up Suncrest and waived me on.  I kept him and his group in my sites but could not keep that pace, and I was even passing other bikers.  When I crested, I knew he wasn’t far so again I barreled down and again “Flyin” down.  When I flew by Geoff I looked back and he was just shaken his head.  From here we stayed together.  There was a decent head wind coming at us.  We did the climb on Wasatch pretty good passing quite a few, but when we got to the mouth of Little Cottonwood, I asked Geoff how he was feeling, and he said “Crappy”.  I repeated the same back to him.  We were now both hurting pretty bad.  Little Cottonwood kicks up between 10 and 12% of a grade and I found it difficult to keep my bike up right at times.  Here I was doing about 4 mph and normally climb this canyon 7-10 mph.  Only 6 miles up to Snowbird, but was harder than the entire race.  I heard a bike go off in the gravel and looked back and it was Geoff.  I stopped and waited as he had to catch his breath.  We started again and continued and a snails pace up it felt like.  I looked back and Geoff was stopped again.  I stopped and waited and the rest felt soooo good.   We started again and I remember thinking I just want to lay down in some grass in some shade with some water.  Oh that would be nice.  It was hot too.  100 degrees or so.  I just put my head down and stayed climbing.  I looked back for Geoff and could not see him.  Now I was in survival mode.  Get this thing done!  So I kicked it up a notch and ended up passing 4 guys that had just passed me right before I went down to the finish.  I was dizzy, and had to sit still for several minutes.  Eric was there waiting.  He was in the group before us and looked fresh and rested.  About 4 minutes later Geoff came up saying, “I threw up!”  We at the time, were thinking this was one of if not the hardest races we have ever done.  Included Lotoja Classic and Tour De Park City which are much longer.  So glad to be done, so glad to be safe and grateful to my wife and family for letting me do these things.  Thanks to Eric for driving and having cold water for us.  What a ride/race.

Here is a perspective from Xango executives.   They did a video.

***

Included is  the email sent to us from Sterling about the racers.  I am glad they are ok, and glad they have such a positive outlook on cycling.  He makes a huge point at the end.  Thank you Sterling, and Good luck to Dave and the others.  What an amazing blessing that EMT’s were there to get things under control.  I could not imagine what I would have done.  Bless them.  Allthough I did not know him well at all, I rode with Dave and his group in Lotoja for most of the race.  He and Micheal Norberg.  Michael was the one that said, “Way to go 306!” and invited me to jump on.  I got dropped just before the finish coming in about 2 mins behind them.   What a great group of guys.  Our prayers are with all of them and especially Dave.

An Email from Sterling to all racers this day:

My name is Sterling Baer and I lead the group of Cyclists many of you saw wearing the gold BRUMBYS jerseys from Mesa, Arizona. We had 45 cyclists participating yesterday and unfortunately the 5 who crashed were from our group. For those who did not see the story reported on KSL News last night, it can be viewed here

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=7636047

First and foremost the riders requested that I convey to all their deep appreciation to all who helped at the accident scene, have inquired or expressed their love and concern for them. They are very grateful for the outpouring of support!

I have also been asked to find out which of you were the EMT cyclists who assisted at the crash site? You performed a literal miracle in saving the life of the most seriously injured. Please reply to this email as the families would like to make contact with you.

For those who were not fully aware of what occurred, below is an overview of the accident along with the current status of our injured cyclists.

Sterling Baer
Red Mountain Brumbys
www.azbrumbys.com

On the descent from the Alpine Loop coming down American Fork Canyon the 5 Brumbys who were in the accident were Dave Collins, Steve Beck, Mike Skousen, Wayne Smith and Grant Taylor. All went down when a Ford Explorer suddenly stopped in front of them and they plowed into the car at about 40 mph. Dave Collins and Steve Beck hit the car and Dave shattered the rear window and both destroyed the rear door. It was a very bad scene for those of you who witnessed it. Dave was the cyclist most seriously injured with broken jaw and facial bones, a punctured lung and a cut from his sternum to his ear which severed his jugular vein. Miraculously two EMT cyclists on the ride were in their pack and tended to him quickly. He lost 5 pints of blood and we believe they literally saved his life while the ambulances were arriving. He was life flighted out to University of Utah Hospital. Dave had two surgeries yesterday and today he has another long one for bones in his face. Despite his extensive injuries, the Dr's report is positive about full recovery, with no brain, neck or back trauma. Steve Beck who also impacted the car has a partially collapsed lung and lacerations from impact that took a lot of stitches. He is pretty sore but hopes to be released tomorrow from Intermountain Health Center in Murray Utah. We are very happy to know his injuries were not more serious. Mike Skousen was injured trying to avoid the crash and skidded on the pavement through the glass from the car. He has significant road rash but no broken bones. He was treated at American Fork Hospital and released yesterday. Wayne Smith and Grant Taylor have quite a bit of road rash from also trying to avoid impact and ran off the road together but avoided trees and will be ok.

As an epilogue to what would have otherwise been a great day racing through some gorgeous country, I am sure that I can speak for my friends by saying that this was an unfortunate accident. I am sure that they would hope that we all get back on our bikes and ride in a sport that we all love. I have read many negative commentaries about us cyclists and when incidents like this happen, it is important that as a greater cycling community, we stand together and support each other and continue to promote opportunity for participating in our sport. If we allow antagonists to pressure events to be cancelled or limited in the future, we all suffer for it. While the accident was unfortunate, I support the efforts of Rick Bennett in doing everything possible to organize a safe race.

*** Update ***

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Sterling Baer <sabaer@us.ibm.com>
Date: Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 9:19 AM
Subject: Update on Injured Utah 1000 Warrior Race Cyclists
To: 2009 Warrior Cyclist List <2009_Warrior_Cyclist_List%IBMUS@us.ibm.com>
Cc: Brumbys%IBMUS@us.ibm.com, Las Sendas Brumbys <Las_Sendas_Brumbys%IBMUS@us.ibm.com>, rick@rickbennett.com

Please share this update with all cyclists, family and friends who are following Dave Collin’s progress.

On behalf of the 5 injured cyclists in the 1000 Warriors Race last Saturday, thank you very much to all of you who sent get well wishes and shared information helping to clarify important crash details. I have tried to respond to some of you, but may not get the time to thank all of you individually. I wanted to pass along our deep appreciation on behalf of each injured cyclist and their families, as well as from our Red Mountain Brumbys cycling gang in general for your support and prayers. They are definitely having a great impact and I am compiling all of your notes into a document to share with our cyclists and their families.

I’m happy to share a quick update on our two cyclists who were admitted to hospitals and most seriously injured—it is very positive. Steve Beck was released yesterday from IMC Hospital and his lung is improving and his road rash a 30 stitches are healing well. He hopes to be cleared to fly home Thursday and is spending time with family locally in Utah and also visiting Dave Collins at the UofU Medical Center. They are partners and best friends and he said Dave is progressing on the road to recovery. On Monday Dave Collins had a 13 hour surgery to repair all the bones in his face which were broken. He is on a ventilator and his jaw is wired shut, but yesterday as he was coming out of his medically induced coma, he was responding to friends and families voices by squeezing hands and eye movements. The Dr’s and Dave’s family are very positive about his progress so far. He will undergo another surgery on Friday to repair two remaining bones in his jaw and eye socket area which they were not able to finish on Monday. Please continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers going forward.

On that note, I must make a comment on the truly miraculous nature of this accident. All 5 of these cyclists are great men of faith as well as good friends and cyclists. It is chilling to have read and pieced together the emails of those of you who were first on the scene and realize how Dave’s life was literally saved by those who had a perfect compliment of medical skills and training. This was NOT mere coincidence. Without sharing names allow me let me tell you why.

The first on the scene was a cyclist in the race who is in a PhD program and is a “licensed physical therapist in Park City, former US Ski team medical staff trained in first response, race course triage and emergency medical coverage”.

Shortly thereafter followed two University of Utah Doctors who were an hour late getting off on their Sat ride (not in the race) and instead of riding north of Salt Lake City decided to ride south and UP the American Fork Canyon, which put them on the scene precisely at the time of need to help save Dave.

Within a minute or so two other Drs arrived on the scene who were cyclists in the race.

About the same time a Medical Green Beret who’s car was stopped close by due to the accident came to help and another car driver close by had a first aid kit which was used.

It is remarkable to contemplate the breadth of the highly trained team of Pediatrician, Orthopedic Surgeon, Orthodontist, Obstetrician, PT Emergency Triage and Green Beret Medic that tended to Dave and that they would all be in that place at that time. I and Dave and his family believe that this was divine providence to save Dave’s life. All those who helped him have commented that it was a team effort and it indeed was miraculous! I know you will agree when you read one of the accounts from the cyclist who was the Park City Triage PT first on the scene.

“I was about fifty feet behind Dave and saw him and his teammate explode off the back of the SUV. I was first on the scene and began checking vitals while he was face down in the road. He was breathing and had a pulse so I didn’t move him. This went on for a couple of minutes and then two other cyclists came on to help and said that they were both doctors. Maybe 4-5 minutes later as we were all kneeling by him and discussing his condition he began to twitch like he was having a seizure and then he started vomiting. We could hear him start to choke, his breathing weakened and he began to lose his color. The three of us made the difficult decision to roll him onto his back to re-establish his airway. I took his head, the other two (plus one other helper) rolled his body and in normal “log roll” fashion we got him on his back. As I held his head and applied light traction one of the docs lifted his jaw forward, held it, and Dave started to breathe on his own and his color returned. He and I held this position for about fifteen minutes until the ambulance got there while doc #2 was monitoring his pulse. It wasn’t until we turned him over that we realized the extent of the trauma, and as I held his head I couldn’t believe that he was still alive and breathing. He must really be a fighter.
I don’t know the names of the other guys who were helping but it was a team effort. I can’t tell you the relief I felt when I found out later that Dave was ok and had not sustained any significant brain or spinal cord damage considering we did have to move him to keep him breathing.
Please give my best wishes to Dave’s family and other teammates that were injured.”

As a wise man Jeff Holland has said, “Angels are still sent to help us. Most often it is to comfort, to provide some form of merciful attention and guidance in difficult times…not all angels are from the other side, some of them we walk with and talk with –here, now, every day. Some reside in our own neighborhoods.”

I have no doubt that it was not coincidental that these expertly medically trained people were literally “angels”, whose timing and skills were miraculously and divinely aligned to be in the “neighborhood” just in time to administer urgent medical attention to save Dave’s life and tend to the others.

Thank God to all of you wonderful Dr’s, 911 caller & dispatch, the Police, Ambulance responders, Helicopter team & Hospital Staff, Rick Bennett’s response team, fellow cyclists, bystanders and anyone else who assisted for your heavenly help.

Sterling Baer
Red Mountain Brumbys