Another rider passes away

[g-boaf]

https://cyclingtips.com/2017/04/a-tribu ... had-young/

Another rider passes away. Chad Young. That was a great tribute article that must have been hard to write.

[Derny Driver]

I was there mate. I was with Mobius. One of our boys crashed with Chad and a couple of others. They were in a small break and simply misjudged a tricky corner on a descent and ran wide and hit a small rocky embankment on the outside of the corner. Our team car pulled over immediately and I rushed over to our rider who was complaining of back and neck pain. The Tour doctor was already screaming for the ambulance to be placed next to Chad and they got him in there pretty quickly as it was clear he was badly hurt. Before the ambulance left we grabbed a spinal board out of the back and put our guy on it. Chad got taken to a helipad but we had a 45 minute wait for a second ambulance and then a 2 hour drive to hospital. It was a very remote location. Anyway our guy was cleared of anything serious but was pretty banged up.
In my opinion Chad hit the embankment hard face first and so his helmet protection was compromised. It was unlucky really. Of the 4 who crashed, 3 were okay. Our rider's helmet was smashed but he was not concussed. Chad was 21, same age as my son who does this sort of thing. So very sad. He was a nice kid.
Tour of the Gila was an amazing race but the things that make it exciting and unique - the climbs and descents and twisty country roads - also make it dangerous. There was a lot of crashes all week.

[find_bruce]

Cheers g-boaf, I had heard of Chad's passing, but not read that article. While it would have been emotionally tough to write, you get the impression there were plenty of good things to say about him.

It is easy to forget from the comfort of TV that racing is about pushing the limits & sometimes crossing them - as DD says what makes racing exciting can also make it dangerous & a long way from help. Glad to hear the other riders are okay.

[MichaelB]

Another really sad ending. It's hard enough to read as someone who is completely separte from the incident, but to be there, as DD was, must be a whole other level again.

Shows sometimes how lucky some are (Keegan Girdlestone for example) and how some are not.

RIP

[g-boaf]

Another really sad ending. It's hard enough to read as someone who is completely separte from the incident, but to be there, as DD was, must be a whole other level again.

Shows sometimes how lucky some are (Keegan Girdlestone for example) and how some are not.

RIP

I hadn't heard about his accident until you mentioned it, and SMH had an article on him today:

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cycling/cyc ... w48at.html