"Local couple seriously hurt in Nisene Marks mountain bike accident"

Another reason not to allow mountain biking at night. Or at ANY time!

Mike


http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/arc...es/10local.htm




Local couple seriously hurt in Nisene Marks mountain bike accident

By JENNIFER SQUIRES
Sentinel staff writer

APTOS * An evening bike ride in the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park
turned perilous for a local couple Monday when the woman rode off an
80-foot cliff and her husband plummeted nearly as far trying to rescue
her.

Both suffered life-threatening injuries, but were listed in stable
condition at Regional Medical Center in San Jose on Tuesday afternoon,
according to State Parks supervising ranger Bill Wolcott.

State Parks rangers say the mountain biking accident is one of the
worst they've seen in recent memory.

"It had more severe injuries than we normally get," Wolcott said.

Rangers respond to a handful of mountain biking accidents a month,
mostly riders who fracture arms, legs and "a lot collarbones," Wolcott
said.

The riders injured Monday, who are both in their 50s, suffered
possible back fractures when they fell from the Aptos Creek Fire Road
into the creek bed, fire officials said. The woman broke ribs and her
nose; the man suffered a broken hip and a dislocated or broken
shoulder.

Authorities, who have been unable to interview the couple yet, are
trying to piece together how the accident happened. Their names have
not been released.

"Some witnesses said they'd seen them up at Sandpoint Overlook within
an hour" of when the riders were found, Wolcott said.

Apparently, the woman rode off the cliff and the man thought he could
slide down to reach her, but he ended up falling as well, according to
fire officials. It's unknown what time the pair actually fell, but
Wolcott estimated it was near dusk.

"Around 8 p.m. an off-duty park employee was riding his bike in Nisene
and he heard cries for help and located the two patients down in the
creek bed," Wolcott said. "He went and summoned help and emergency
crews from State Parks, Cal Fire and Aptos/La Selva Fire District
responded"

The mountain bikers crashed about three miles from the kiosk at the
entrance of the park and, once they were discovered, people hiking
nearby gathered to help. Two bystanders, including a Santa Cruz city
park ranger, hiked up the creek bed from the Mill Pond Trail to
provide first aid to the couple while they waited for rescuers.

Fire crews and State Parks rangers used a pulley system and a basket
to haul the couple up the cliff. The woman was pulled out around 10
p.m. and the man about an hour later, according to Wolcott. Both were
flown from Seacliff State Beach to Regional Medical Center for
treatment, he said.

State Parks rangers are called out to two or three mountain biking
crashes in the county each month, authorities said, although they
estimate more riders are hurt on local trails.

"I'm sure that for every accident that we actually respond to I'm sure
there's probably three or four more where people take care of
themselves," Wolcott said.

Keith Bontrager, 52, a world-class mountain bike racer who lives in
Santa Cruz, said "Crashing is part of cycling. If you ride a lot,
you're going to crash"

The area where the couple crashed is not a particularly bad spot for
riders, authorities said, but accidents happen on most local trails
and fire roads that are open to bikes.

"The highest concentration of mountain biking in the county would be
at Wilder Ranch, then Nisene Marks," Wolcott said, adding a lot of
riders also go down in the Soquel Demonstration Forest, just beyond
Nisene Marks.

Changing trail conditions, mechanical failures and the time of day are
big factors in mountain biking accidents, authorities said. Darkness
comes significantly earlier in Nisene Marks because of the steep
ravines and heavy foliage, and it's unknown if the mountain bikers
were using lights.

Bontrager, who laughed when asked if he'd crashed before, said
mountain bikers go down for a variety of reasons.

"It depends on the rider," Bontrager said, emphasizing he didn't know
the details of Monday's crash. "If it's an experienced rider it can be
a misjudgment and you don't make it, but that doesn't happen very
often. ... If it's a novice rider, they can just get in over their
heads"

Contact Jennifer Squires at .
--
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)

Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of!

http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande