I headed out for a ride this afternoon (Sat). I wasn't sure as I rolled off my driveway where I was headed, but wanted to get in a couple of hours, then come back home and throw in a 30 min brick run. I've been enjoying this less structured approach to training, so deciding to workout on the weekends based on feel has been a fun experiment.
I decided to head south around the lake, through Grapevine and then to head west through Southlake until I hit an hour, then I'd turn around and head back. This is my favorite 3 hour ride route, and I figured I'd give it a go, cut out a 20 minute add on loop I do, and see how far I could make it before I hit an hour and then turn back.
As you make your way along the east side of Lake Grapevine, you actually get up on the dam and ride about 2 miles on a two lane road up on top of the dam. Great views of the lake to the west, and most of the metroplex to the east.
Up on the dam, the lanes are pretty narrow, there is only one each way, no shoulder, but always lots of bikers on the weekends. It is the safest way to get from the north to south side of the lake.
When cars come around bikers, they typically swing into the opposite lane and go around. Traffic is thin enough that passing is usually not a problem.
So here is what happened as best I can tell. It all happened behind me, but I'm certain I know how it all went down.
As I was starting to make the small climb up on to the dam (heading south) there was a stream of maybe 4-5 cars coming in the opposite direction. There was also a group of cars behind me coming up on me. Since the three groups were going to meet at the same time, the first car behind me had to slow (rather than swing into the opposite lane and go around). As this car, a red jeep cherokee slowed, I heard screeching breaks, then a lound smash, the sound of two cars slamming in to each other, then the sound of a car horn stuck "honking."
A white late 80s model buick didn't notice the cherokee had slowed because it couldn't get around me in the opposite lane due to oncoming traffic, and slammed into the back of the red cherokee. The buick hit the cherokee hard. After realizing the screeching tires weren't coming at me, I rode another 20 yards before looking back to see what happened. That is when I first saw the cars involved.
As I slowed my bike to hop off, I saw the red cherokee sputter, then speed away. The car was in drivable shape, but it wasn't a well kept car, and my first thoughts were, they don't have insurance and don't want the police to know they are driving uninsured. I figured it was a classic uninsured motorist fleeing the sceene case. The car was gone before I could get a plate.
The white buick that hit the cherokee was in pretty bad shape. Both airbags deployed, the front end was mangled, and about the time I was able to throw my bike over the gaurd rail to head down to the car, I saw people start piling out of the passenger side.
They were kids. Mexican kids. Three climbed out of the passenger side. I couldn't see who the driver was, but after a few seconds (it seemed like an eternity) a guy in his 40s got out on the driver side.
It looked like everyone was okay and I grabbed my phone to call it in to the cops. The car was clearly not going anywhere, and if nothing else, they'd need a tow.
As I was on the phone with 911 trying to explain where I was over the sounds of the blarring horn, I saw a 5th person, a girl, flop out of the passenger door and onto the ground. I realized someone was hurt and told the dipatcher we were going to need parametics too.
It was confusing. My adrenaline was pumping, it was lound, there were cars around, someone was hurt, and I had been uncomfortably close to this hole thing when it happened. As I was stammoring to give all the info the 911 dispatcher would need, I glimpsed back at the car and saw the man reach into the car, pull out a big brown grocery bag and fling it down into the ditch about 20 feet below the road. As the bag went down, out flew a big bottle of liquor. I couldn't make it out, but it was easily the size of a 1.5 liter handle of bourbon or tequilla.
Just a quarter mile back behind where we had come from was a park on the lake called Rock Ledge Park. There is a parking lot there, a great lake side hiking/mtn biking trail, picnic tables, etc. It is a pretty popular place for families to picnic on the weekend. I'd guess that the family was spending the day over at the park and had probably been doing some drinking.
I finished up with the dispatcher and headed down to see how badly this girl was hurt. She had clearly been drilled by the airbag and as I looked at the passenger side of the car, the windshield was shattered.
I figured she'd hit the windshield, but she wasn't bleeding, and I decided it was the bag deploying that shattered the window. About this time, a woman in one of the cars backed up in the traffic hopped out to attend to the girl. She clearly had a medical background and started checking the girl for head trauma.
It was all surreal. The family (a father and 4 kids, two girls in the 15-17 range, and two boys in the 13-14 range) weren't talking. the father didn't talk, the boys didn't talk, the oldest daughter was hurt, and the other daughter just sobbed quietly.
The parametics showed up, got the girl stabilized on a back board and were preparing to load her into the ambulance.
Around this time, the police showed up and I told them the story of what appeared to have happened, the make of the cherokee fleeing the scene, and the fact that I saw the guy chuck a bottle of booze down into the ditch. They took my contact info, and I was on my way.
I'm summarizing a bit, as it took a while for the parametics and cops to show up. I was probably there for 30 minutes total, and the entire time, it was just strange. I could tell this guy was dreading the cops showing up for one of possibly several reasons. But he couldn't leave. His kids were with him, and one of them was hurt. I was experiencing a guy who had realized he had messed up badly and it not only was going to cost him, but it had caused one of his children harm. He clearly loved his kids, which made the gravity of the situation that much greater.
As I rode off, I tried to make sense of what had happened. Here are questions I have:
- Was the father acting strange because he was illegal, he was uninsured, or he was drunk? I feel as if all three were quite possible based on the way he handled himself. Particularly the latter. On a couple of occasions, I thought I smelled booze on him, but there was also a strange smell from the airbags that I was sensing as well.
- Was the red cherokee an innocent victim, uninsured, also drunk? I actually think the cherokee may have been with the buick. I found it strange that this guy was with these kids, and there wasn't a mother there. Perhaps he had weekend custody, but perhaps the rest of his family was in that car. He didn't seem very upset about the hit and run issue, and I sure would have been.
- I rode off before the cops began to check his sobriety, but after I told them that I saw them throw the booze, the officer immediately called for backup. I assume they gave him a field sobriety test, and am not sure how he fared.
It makes me want to do fewer solo rides, but to ride with a group more often. I'm fortunate to have that luxury here. I can do 3 group rides a week if I want to weather permitting.
Like I said, I'm not sure what to think about it all. I realize that riding on the roads comes with risks. I do as much as possible to minimize the risk, but it is still there.
I'm not ready to count my blessings yet for fear of placing some kind of jinx on myelf. So lets just leave it at this. Be careful out there!
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