I'm sad tonight-- a friend and neighbor was killed Monday....

[mike_c]

He was bicycling home from work and was hit less than a mile away. That stretch of road is just about the best a cycle commuter can hope for-- wide paved shoulders, level and straight. Not many details have been released yet, but I rode right past the accident Monday evening on the other side of the highway without realizing that a cyclist had been hit (the pickup that killed him was pretty badly scarred from earlier accidents, so I assumed it had hit another car that had already been removed). Greg was a former student-- I wasn't his adviser but I was on his grad committee and worked with him on some mutual research interests for several years. He's been my neighbor for six or seven years. We weren't close, but I liked him and respected him a lot. He was doing important conservation work at the Headwaters Forest. The cops just released his name today.

Witnesses say he was doing everything right-- very visible and well away from traffic. He was an accomplished and knowledgeable cyclist, not some kid riding the wrong way without a helmet. The truck that hit him was driving erratically and had drifted onto the shoulder. No rumble strip there. The guy who hit him was probably fucked up-- a passenger fled the scene on foot before the cops arrived and has not been caught yet. Greg died instantly, I think. The truck evidently hit him at sixty or seventy miles per hour. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Please don't turn this thread into a screed against bicycling. If anything, it should condemn idiots in automobiles who mow down the innocent because they just can't be bothered to pay attention to the rest of us who use the public roads.

An impromptu memorial has sprung up beside the highway where he died. I rode past it on my own commute today, and stopped for a while. I've bicycled past that spot a hundred times, and I pass it every day on the way home. Ironically, Greg used that route for the same reason I do-- it's the safest alternative, by a long shot. That particular stretch of road has always seemed comfortably safe, at least until now. Riding past that spot is going to suck forever now.

Greg Jennings was 42 years old.

RIP.

http://www.times-standard.com/ci_10314285?IADID=Search-www.times-standard.com-www.times-standard.com

:cry:

[bicentennial_baby]

1. I'm SO sorry...

My condolences to you and safe passage to your friend. :hug:

How terrible. x(

[mike_c]

7. thanks-- I feel awkward accepting condolences....

It's his family who is really suffering. He and I haven't spoken in a few years-- his house faces away from mine and he's moved on professionally from the university so we don't work together any longer. It's just such a terrible waste, dammit. He died because someone was an absolute fucking dimwit shit-for-brains. Just stupid.

[Fran Kubelik]

2. I am so sorry.

:( :hug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear mike_c...

How dreadful...

So young, what a waste...

Sudden death like that is such a horrifying shock...

Whatever he felt was over in an instant, for which we can be grateful.

But he didn't get to say goodbye, and that will be so hard on his family, and all who knew and loved him...

Safe passage to him...

My deepest condolences, mike... :hug:

[mike_c]

9. thanks Peggy, and to everyone else who offered condolances....

I feel so sorry for his family and his co-workers. I spoke to one of his work mates at the memorial beside the road this evening-- he was mad, and sad, and at a loss. It's just so damned senseless. But yes, it's unlikely that he suffered any but the briefest pain, if that.

[AlCzervik]

4. i'm so sorry to hear that.

My condolences to his family and to you.

[OmahaBlueDog]

5. As a wannabe accomplished cyclist, I am saddened

As with a motorcycle, you're incredibly vulnerable.

I'd ask everyone 2 things:

1) Please, please, please be aware of cyclists -- even the idiots. More people than ever have been forced/chosen to commute by bike, and not all of them have the best gear or riding technique. Always be watchful and patient.

2) The next time your city/county wants to spend a few bucks on bike lanes and bike paths, be supportive of those efforts.

[1]

6. i'm sorry. and its got nothing to do with biking. death can happen in just about any moment...

of life. i have known far more people who have died in cars than on bikes.

we all have this illusion of living into our old age. sometimes that does not happen. it is still sad, no matter what age.

i know, but i don't know, the pain you are going through now.

cherish everyday you are alive for your friends that cannot.

that is the greatest gift you can give to them...

[ThomCat]

8. I'm very sorry for your friend.

People are dangerous when they're driving, and far too many people don't remember, or don't care. :(

[pokerfan]

10. That's terrible

I'm am so sorry.

[XemaSab]

11. I'm sorry to hear that

:(

[mike_c]

12. I was wondering if you knew him....

Did you? He was Sillett's student. You and he were there at the same time, IIRC.

[XemaSab]

16. The name is familiar

But if I knew him, it was only casually.

Still a downer though. :(

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. I'm sorry for your loss...

and for Greg's family. :hug::hug::hug:

[emilyg]

14. I am so sorry.

[Danger Mouse]

15. I'm sorry for your loss, and I hope they catch the idiot responsible...

and bring him to justice.
May the guilt and shame of what he did weigh on his soul.

[Indi Guy]

17. I'm Dealing With Something Very Similar...

My friend Frank is in a coma & on a respirator with his lungs full of blood clots, deep flesh infections, & pneumonia...

I wish you peace of mind...

[enigmatic]

18. I'm sorry, man

This is heartbreaking; I cycle3 seasons a year and this kind of stuff is always on the back of my mind.

:hug: