Riders take to the road and take their chances. There, they can encounter distracted, impatient or drunk drivers, lane-hogging SUVs, deteriorating pavement and traffic-clogged grids. Multiple dangers exist from coast to coast.
So wrote Andrew Tilin in a 2014 issue of Outside magazine. A frequent contributor to that magazine, Bicycling and other related publications. A dedicated cyclist and amateur racer, he knew the hazards he described as well as anyone did.
Well, he became a victim of those very dangers. On Saturday morning, he was riding in fog with the Gruppo VOP Cycling Club, based in Austin, Texas, when he got a flat tire. He pulled to the side of the road to change a flat tire. Meantime, a car skidded on the slick pavement and crashed into a truck, sending it careening into the side of the road--and Tilin. He died soon after.
In addition to his columns, he is known in and out of the cycling community for what may have been our equivalent of Super Size Me. Several years after Morgan Spurlock lived on McDonald's food and made a documentary of his resulting weight gain and other health issues, Tilin spent a year taking testosterone and wrote about how it affected his athletic performance and life in The Doper Next Door.
Members of Gruppo VOP are planning a memorial for him.
So wrote Andrew Tilin in a 2014 issue of Outside magazine. A frequent contributor to that magazine, Bicycling and other related publications. A dedicated cyclist and amateur racer, he knew the hazards he described as well as anyone did.
Well, he became a victim of those very dangers. On Saturday morning, he was riding in fog with the Gruppo VOP Cycling Club, based in Austin, Texas, when he got a flat tire. He pulled to the side of the road to change a flat tire. Meantime, a car skidded on the slick pavement and crashed into a truck, sending it careening into the side of the road--and Tilin. He died soon after.
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| Andrew Tilin (center) |
In addition to his columns, he is known in and out of the cycling community for what may have been our equivalent of Super Size Me. Several years after Morgan Spurlock lived on McDonald's food and made a documentary of his resulting weight gain and other health issues, Tilin spent a year taking testosterone and wrote about how it affected his athletic performance and life in The Doper Next Door.
Members of Gruppo VOP are planning a memorial for him.
There is a dislike button. Do I click if I dislike the post or the loss of yet another dedicated cyclist, I never know.
ReplyDeleteA cyclist would have had greater awareness of the nature of the road surface, so few sitting in their comfortable cars isolated from the world, ever do...
Coline--I experience the dilemma you describe in your first two sentences. Do you dislike the news or the post itself?
ReplyDelete