S2KRAY

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.

engifineer

I love riding bikes

I give all the right of way to bicyclists and hate it when people do not see or notice them

I also know that a LOT of bicycle riders (especially "serious" ones) are complete and total assholes and should be forced to walk everywhere they go. I really hate to hear about his story and am sorry your wife had to go through this.

I cannot count the number of times I have been almost run over by bicyclists (All donned in spandex riding suits with cool graphics all over them) who completely ignore the rules of the road or trail when I was walking, running or even on a bike. I also have driven half into ditches to avoid asshats on bikes coming the other direction ON THE YELLOW LINE, twice having them scream and cuss me out for almost hitting them (Aka for saving their life by nearly crashing into a ditch to avoid them). We have a very high number of bikes per capita here and so I guess along with that you get higher numbers of idiots mixed in just like everything else.

It is those people who ruin it for others and get people hurt. I hope she heals up well and is not having to be paranoid from now on when riding due to this!

Lainey

Wow, Ray! I'm glad she's OK.

fltsfshr

Glad she's OK. I know you'll take good care of her. I have watched the police here pull over a couple dozen bike riders at a time for hogging the road and not paying attention to stop signs,.

fltsfshr

dlq04

Ray, that had to be terrifying. You did the right thing by reporting it. Don't try to resolve it by taking any stupid action; much as I am sure you would like to. Thankfully the wife is ok.

buckeyesue

Ray, I am so sorry that this happened to your wife.

That sure must have been scary.

I hope that your wife is okay.

ralper

I hope she heals quickly and both of you get to ride the trail again soon.

Emil St-Hilaire

Glad she is O.K.
Take good care of her.

Scooterboy

Ray, glad your wife is ok. As with cars there are some asshat bike riders out there.

MsPerky

Glad she was not more seriously hurt. Can the last two riders be identified? Any action other than publicizing the incident?