| S2KRAY |
06-04-2019 10:34 AM |
Wife has near tragic accident
My wife and a friend from Wilmington attended a ceremony on a new trail that is being built in Lewes. This wonderful train will connect trails in our state park and beach town to the borough of Georgetown, DE. The trail will encompass over 30 miles of trail winding from our beach to Georgetown. The trial is being built on a former railway which is no longer in service. Beautiful forests, sprawling beaches and quaint towns can now be accessed by cyclists, runners, walkers, etc It should be completed by next year. This trail is being dedicated to the founder of our local News station as well as a philanthropist who gave to many charities in Sussex County. He was respected by all. Last year he was tragically killed while riding his bicycle on a quiet public road. The rider said he was distracted. The ceremony held yesterday was for Tom Draper. So my wife, friend and I decided to ride the upper part of the trail yesterday after the ceremony. It was a perfect day and the ride through farmland, forests and over streams was spectacular. A group of about 20 cyclists who attended the ceremony also rode the trail. We were ahead of them but soon heard them coming from behind us. They were playing loud music, talking loudly and riding dangerously fast. We stopped at a road crossing to let them pass. There are signs to stop or slow down at these crossings but they came across at full speed. As we were standing on the side of the trail a reckless cyclist missed hitting my wife and friend by inches. We thought they were gone, got on our bikes to continue riding when 2 more sped through. The flew by and were very close to my wife. She was so startled that she lost control of her bike. She was forced off the trail, went down a ravine covered with large stone and crashed head first into a split rail fence. She laid motionless and we feared for the worst. Her bike was on top of her so we had to move it. She was in shock but was able to get up with our assistance and get back on the trail. Several cyclists stoped to see if they could help. One had a first aid kit so we cleaned her wounds and bandaged them. Her wrist was sore but not fractured. She had a bad scrape under her chin as her face hit the top of one of the split rails which are sharp. If she had hit the the rail in the middle she could have suffered a broken neck. She was extremely lucky and we all thanked God later for sparing her from a catastrophic injury or worse. I knew one of the groups who sped by and one fo the cyclists who yelled for us to get out of the way. I will be contacting him very soon. I sent a letter to our local Newspaper describing this horrible incident to be published in their editorial section. They contacted me and said not only will it be published there ASAP but the letter will also be sent to others in the newsroom. The whole scenario was surreal. We choose to ride the trails to avoid vehicular traffic which took Tom's life only to be put in harms way by these reckless cyclists A beautiful day, ceremony and trail ride turns into another near tragedy because some inconsiderate a--holes rode in a reckless manner. My wife is sore but feels better today.
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