Catwonsports

Thursday, October 25, 2007

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.

5 Comments:

At 8:57 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i heard another story from a mountain bike on Saratoga ascending when a car approached him and pushed him, luckily he didn't get hurt...it was a bunch of teenagers

those incidents are scary specially when descending...keep your guards and hopefully I don't run into those deadly drivers

 
At 11:18 AM, Blogger Kimberly (aka. DrKim) said...

wow, that's awful! 4 fractures doesn't really sound 'okay' to me, but I guess it could have been a lot worse!!! Being that I have one measly shoulder fracture to worry about right now (from a student riding a cruiser on a cell phone nonetheless...), I feel for the guy with 4...

I hope they find the motorcyclist!!!!

 
At 11:22 AM, Blogger EB said...

What is up with the motorcyclists on Skyline? First they hit-and-run Ed Weiss, now this? Aren't the two-wheels supposed to stick together?

 
At 11:48 AM, Blogger marscat said...

maybe the same motorcyclist

 
At 3:04 PM, Blogger Ippoc Amic said...

really lame and a few years ago melodie got hit by a lady in a car who responded "I thought you were turning" which meant she saw her and still hit her...

get better Kimberly, that's a bummer

some of the motos on skyline are pretty cool and others are just too impatient-just like cars

 

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