Last Gasp of Summer; A reflection on biking safety

It was a bit of a rough summer for cyclists. Three elite cyclists in the Traverse City area were hurt in accidents, but thanks to their great fitness levels, rebounded quickly.
Also, the case against pick–up truck driver Darren Zimmerman, who hit two cyclists last summer in Antrim County on M–32, came to a close last week. He was being cited for careless driving. Zimmerman told police at the scene that he had looked down for several moments to pick up papers on the truck floor just prior to hitting the cyclists. But at last week’s hearing, he said the sun blinded him (although the sun was behind him). He also said that he never took his eyes off the road as he was picking up the papers, and he could have done nothing to avoid the accident.
District Judge John Foresman didn’t buy it and slapped him with a $100 fine. “It was a victory for bicyclists who want drivers to share the road safely with cyclists and courts to enforce that obligation,” said the cyclists’ attorney Blake Ringsmuth, who is suing Zimmerman and the Manthei Development Corp. (the truck owner) for damages. Both cyclists are back on their bikes again, but Bill Aten will likely need spine surgery and Brandon Inglehart is suffering serious back pain and receiving treatment for a traumatic brain injury.
So read on. Cary Adgate of Boyne City submitted the guest editorial on the Antrim County accident, and the recovery stories of the Traverse area cyclists are nothing short of inspiring.


A Tale of Three Cyclists

By Anne Stanton

DR. NORM LICHT
Norm Licht, a doctor, was introduced to serious pain on June 22 when he suffered his first road bike accident.
Licht was racing in a Marquette criterium, in which cyclists ride laps around a downtown area with crowds lining the streets. The “twilight” criterium began at 9:45 p.m., just as the light was waning. Licht was going down the last downhill of the night after an hour of high–speed laps when he hit a bump in the road and crashed.
“The light was bad, I was tired, and the race was stressful. I was going 30 miles per hour, making a left hand turn on a downhill and hit a bump on the road that I couldn’t see. The road was getting a little slippery, and the mist had come off the bay.”
He lost his rear wheel and went over the handlebars, hitting his head, shoulder and hip. Knocked out for a few minutes, he bruised his pelvis and broke his scapula, the bone that you can feel in the middle of your back.
“It was the most pain I ever had. It was miserable for a couple of days, and then I stopped taking my pain meds because they made me goofy.”
An orthopedic surgeon himself, Licht required a three and a half hour surgery on his scapula. Two weeks later, he figured out he could walk with a cane. And as soon as he could walk, he got on his trainer—a bike locked into rollers—even though his arm was still in a sling.
He’s a man who’s passionate about biking, and he never doubted that he’d get back in the saddle. The only concession he made was to give up on the Tour de Leelanau, which he was hoping to race in the fall. He didn’t want to risk breaking bones that were still healing.
Licht, 50, is one of a small handful of Traverse City riders who have qualified as Category 2 racers in the national racing circuit. It’s just two levels shy of the top pro echelon. He’s a member of the Hagerty Cycling Team and competes with men 30 years younger than himself.
Licht started formally road racing three years ago, seven years after switching out of mountain biking, which he considered a little too dangerous. Last summer was his first road bike accident, which he figures is pretty good considering that he’s ridden about 70,000 miles in the last 10 years.
So why are so many doctors competitive cyclists?
“I think it’s our nature,” Licht said. “We had to be committed to get through med school, and we’re committed to doing the best job we can. I think that attitude carries over to other things we do… I like the solitude of a bike – your heart’s pumping, your legs are moving, and the world’s flying by. It’s a great way to cleanse your mind.”

BOB OTWELL
For a guy with the “humorous” distinction of getting hit by a deer on a bike, Bob Otwell is doing just great. He just cycled the 27–mile Iceman race in Kalkaska County, finishing in 2 hours and 18 minutes.
It was just a few minutes slower than what he normally rides, said Otwell, who is soft spoken and not given – at all – to talking about himself.
But we leaned on him to recap life after the morning of June 7, when he was riding his bike with a group of his friends near Cedar. A confused deer came bounding out of the woods and crashed into his bike. As Otwell was knocked over, he thought, how or why did the cyclist right next to him, Dan Hofstra, hit him so hard. It never occurred to him that it was a random deer – he never even saw the deer. Hofstra was hit first. Dr. Bill Smith, who was right behind Otwell, flipped over both of them.
Jim Woodburn, a retired physician, said it happened in seconds – he looked down briefly and when he looked up again, the deer was gone and several bicyclists were down.
Otwell and Hofstra were taken to Munson Medical Center in an ambulance, which arrived within 10 minutes. Otwell had a broken pelvis and was hospitalized for four days.
“It was hard because there was a lot of pain. I remember lying in the hospital wondering, ‘How am I ever going to climb the stairs at work again?’ A pelvic injury is especially painful because it’s in the middle of your body, and so any time you move, you feel it. Laura, my wife, was my savior. She did everything for me.”
A nurse’s aide and physical therapists came to his house for several weeks. They gave him the confidence that he’d be able to walk again, first getting him into a walker and then on crutches. Otwell, who is the executive director of TART trails, was back to his Traverse City downtown office by June 25. And he walked the stairs without assistance. “It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be,” he said.
In August, he cycled back to Schomberg Road north of Cedar – the scene of the accident – and saw that there was a well–worn deer trail running next to a creek.
Otwell hopes that cyclists aren’t dissuaded from riding to work after the few high–profile accidents last summer. He was back on his bike by early July, shrugging off the fear of another accident. Getting hit by a deer is more rare than getting hit by lightning, although a deer did bound into another cyclist in the area – Tim Brick.
Otwell said that compared to driving a car, bicycling is quite safe. More than 100 people die in car accidents each day in this country, compared to two cyclists. Half of the bike accidents occur from hitting a pothole or running into a fellow biker. Only rarely are cyclists hit from behind by a car. Otwell admits, however, that drivers talking on cell phones are more dangerous statistically than drunk drivers. His advice: be as visible as you possibly can, ride predictably, and stay off sidewalks. And drivers – resist your cell phone.
“You need to enjoy life, and I hope people never get to the point where they sit home because they’re too scared of the outside. A lot of bad things can happen to them from sitting too much, too – such as diabetes and obesity.”

MEGAN MADION
When Megan Madion got on her bike to ride with her friends in Leelanau County on May 27, she felt a little tired. Maybe it was because she had just run the Bayshore Marathon the day before, nailing first place (master’s class) in the half marathon with 6 minute, 54–second miles.
Madion said her muscles felt a little tight as she pedaled and struggled to keep up with her friends. To make up for her slower ascents, she pushed herself on the downhills. She remembers flying down Lee Point Road at a speed of 45 mph (yup, you read that right). Suddenly, a small, bright neon green car jerked out in front of her. 
“I was going so fast that I panicked and slammed on the brakes.  It was weird, I was flying down the hill and the next thing you know, it was right in front of me. My bike fishtailed and flew in the air. As I was flying through the air, I remember thinking that I may be in some serious trouble, and then I landed!”
Her feet stayed clipped to the pedals, and Madion crashed on the side of the road. The driver of the car continued down the road, apparently oblivious to the accident he caused. Madion didn’t even try to move, knowing she might be badly hurt. After arriving at Munson, she learned she had broken her pelvis and tailbone.
Madion was heartened by the notes, phone calls, and flowers she received from friends. Her skiing and running buddies stopped in at her bedside and told her their own war stories. Even the neighbor who called the ambulance came to the hospital to check on her.
Today, back in her office at Hagerty Insurance Agency, Madion can’t say enough about Munson and the incredible support from everyone. Their gestures helped keep her spirits up, and her spirits were definitely challenged. On the very first day in the hospital, for example, the doctor made her get up out of bed and walk a couple of feet. “Can you believe that!” she said, now that she’s able to laugh about it. It took six weeks of physical therapy and painkillers to progress from a walker to a cane to walking on her own. Thanks to her fitness level, Madion was able to rebound within several months. Today, she has no pain, no limp, no anything.
She received the go–ahead from her doctor in early October to ride her bike, run, do anything she wanted to do. So physically, Madion is ready to go, but she’s finding it a little difficult psychologically to start over again. Breathing hard on a two–mile run is an ego buster. And she hasn’t had the urge to ride again.
But it’s snowing today. A perfect day to start riding a bike again… not, Madion said, looking out the window and laughing.
“For most of my life, I’ve been a competitor – running, skiing, biking. So I’m trying now to figure out how I want this next decade to look,” said Madion, 41.

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