I had about 8 people who rode with me past Mordialloc towards Frankston. A few of the athletes decided to turn around at Frankston BP with the rest who followed me up Oliver's Hill and up Humphries Road. The ride up Oliver's hill and Humphries Rd did get easier but I am yet to do the Two Bays Loop. Emily who is one of the junior athletes (she is only 16) rode with us and she kept getting left behind. I didn't want to leave her alone so I rode with her (her behind me) from Humphries Rd until Black Rock where she told me to ride ahead as she was just going to head home. I made her text me once she got home (which she did). I then rode by myself to Port Melbourne then to TAHQ which made the total distance of the day at about 110km which took nearly 5 hours due to the pace for Group 4 and also to ensure the safety of a junior athlete.
Once I headed back to TAHQ, I found out that one of my athletes who turned off at BP Frankston was in an accident and was taken to Frankston Hospital. Apparently a group of cyclists rode past and merged too early which resulted in one of the cyclist clipping her wheel. She was taken to Frankston Hospital by an ambulance which happened to be right beside the group at that particulat moment. Once I dropped my bike off for service, I drove home and called the hospital. Due to the privacy laws, I could not get any information from the hospital other than that she arrived and she is currently somewhere in the emergency department. I could not find out if she was ok, in xray, resting or anything. As Geoff (her husband) was next of kin, he was the only one who could see her and unless I am him, no further information was available. This made me frustrated. I had already contacted Coach Sarah to let her know of what happened and she had Geoff's details so she could contact him to see if she was ok.
A few messages back and forth with Sarah and I found out that her bike was being kept in a shop in Seaford and as I lived along the coast, I drove down to pick it up for her. The bike was in a ridable condition with broken hoods. I tried to shift gears and found it hard to switch between the small and large chain ring but wasn't sure if it was a pre-existing condition of the bike. The bike will be kept with me until further notice.
I was physically and emotionally drained on Saturday. I had not rested until I was sure that the athlete was ok and that there was nothing further I could do to help. I ended up sleeping from about 5pm until 10pm on Saturday and then from 12am to 1pm the next day. This accident has occured too close to the anniversary of Coach JC's death (22nd July 2011) and the incident has hit close to the heart. I was so frustrated at the behaviour of other cyclist and this is something which I see every week when I am on Beach Rd. These large groups ride past and merge way too soon. Once you past another cyclist, you must ensure that there is a safe enough distance before you merge into the line. This is the way we expect cars to drive around cyclist and just because you are riding a bike instead of a car, the behavious is expected to be the same.
The good thing is - the group of cyclist who caused the accident did stop and details were exchanged. She is having her surgery today (Monday 7th July) and we all wish her a speedy recovery. Good thing is that she won an all expenses paid trip to volunteer at the London Olympics in 2 weeks time so it would be a great recovery period for her. We wish her well.
No comments:
Post a Comment