Incident on Skyline in the Berkeley Hills

from a local cyclist

Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 8:51:51 AM
Subject: motorcyclists assaults cyclist on Skyline

This was also witnessed by a car driving behind the cyclists. The story from the driver is essentially identical to the one below.

Today a friend in my graduate program was riding Skyline with 4 or 5 other riders. They were headed towards Redwood from Tunnel Rd. and had just crested the last small climb before the big decent to the light at the Skyline / Joaquin Miller intersection. Apparently a motorcyclist, for an unknown reason, approached the riders who were riding in two lines, came up next to my friend, grabbed his shoulder and physically pushed him off the road. Experienced riders in a group, they were ascending the last rise with a good deal of speed, so my friend went down pretty hard.

I was riding Skyline solo, and came upon the scene as the ambulance pulled
away, so all of this information came from the other eyewitness riders, one
of whom is a Berkeley professor. Thankfully, I just found out that my friend is, for the most part, ok. He suffered 4 fractures, two in his collarbone, and two in his shoulder. The other riders didn't get a good look at the motorcycle rider, or his license plate so they didn't have much to tell the police, other than the motorcyclist was on a red and black sports bike and had a matching red and black outfit and helmet.

I'm still having a hard time comprehending what this motorcyclist did. By all accounts, there was no oncoming traffic in the other lane, and there was plenty of room to get around the bikers even in the proper lane. Considering the fact that the motorcyclist didn't stop, it sounds like it was a clear act of aggression. Fortunately my friend was wearing a helmet.

I don't know if there is a lesson to be learned here, because this act was so violent and random, other than, watch out for aggressive drivers and motorcyclists, and wear a helmet. This is a long shot, but if you see a motorcyclist that matches the description I've posted, watch out, and if they act aggressively, please pass along any info you can to me or the police.