RAAM Suffers The Tragic Loss of One of its Greats



J

Jim Flom

Guest
RAAM Suffers The Tragic Loss of One of its Greats

Trinidad, Colorado - Tragedy hit the Race Across America today around
12.15 - 12.30 p.m. EDT, when Bob Breedlove, competitor #188, collided with a
westbound pickup truck 28 miles west of Trinidad, Colorado. When paramedics
arrived on the scene they pronounced him dead.

The accident took place on a section of road that sloped very gently
downhill for cyclists in the race. According to the driver of the pickup
truck, Bob Breedlove appeared to slump on his bicycle and swerved into the
path of the oncoming vehicle.

The driver attempted to avoid Bob Breedlove, but the significant impact was
made at the lower left part of the windshield.

At the time of the accident, Bob Breedlove was leading the 50+ category, and
was 12th overall in the race.

Jim Pitre, the race director, decided after consultation with Bob Breedlove's
brother, Bill, to continue the race. Bill Breedlove considered that his
brother would have wished this.

If a rider or team decides to pull out of the race, the management and
officials will provide assistance wherever practicable.

Talking about Bob Breedlove, Jim Pitre said: "This is a terrible tragedy,
just terrible. We all stand in awe of the memory of Bob Breedlove, who was a
supreme cycle racer, an outstanding surgeon, and just a great human being.
Speaking both personally, and on behalf of the entire management and all
those associated with the race, I extend my most sincere sympathy to the
family of Bob Breedlove."

The support vehicle was providing leapfrog support to Bob Breedlove at the
time of the accident. Bob Breedlove was last seen by his crew members about
a mile before the accident took place.

They reported that he seemed fit to continue the race. "He seemed fine, we
passed him a PowerBar and a Spizz (energy drink), and he went on his way,"
said one of the crew members.

Skidmarks leading off the road to the right suggest that the driver of the
vehicle did what he could to avoid a collision. "It seemed like he must have
passed out, he slumped on his bars. He just swerved right into our lane."
Said the distraught driver of the vehicle, who hurried to the next town
immediately after the accident and made the 911 call himself.

From the evidence and accounts, the accident is thought to have happened
very quickly. While it is unknown whether or not it would have made a
difference if a support vehicle had been present for Bob Breedlove, as an
additional precautionary measure, a directive was issued from race
headquarters that safety continues to be a primary concern and that all crew
members are required to pay special attention, and to continue to conduct
the race in a safe manner.

Crew members and riders have been instructed that if they feel the need to
do so, to pull off the course to process their thoughts and gather
themselves to continue. A 15-minute time allowance is provided for this.
Riders and crew members who require more time will be granted this on
request.

-30-



Paul Skilbeck

Media Communications Director, Insight Race Across America
 
RIP

"Jim Flom " <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:yXGue.97368$on1.71354@clgrps13...
> RAAM Suffers The Tragic Loss of One of its Greats
>
> Trinidad, Colorado - Tragedy hit the Race Across America today around
> 12.15 - 12.30 p.m. EDT, when Bob Breedlove, competitor #188, collided with
> a westbound pickup truck 28 miles west of Trinidad, Colorado. When
> paramedics arrived on the scene they pronounced him dead.
>
> The accident took place on a section of road that sloped very gently
> downhill for cyclists in the race. According to the driver of the pickup
> truck, Bob Breedlove appeared to slump on his bicycle and swerved into the
> path of the oncoming vehicle.
>
> The driver attempted to avoid Bob Breedlove, but the significant impact
> was made at the lower left part of the windshield.
>
> At the time of the accident, Bob Breedlove was leading the 50+ category,
> and was 12th overall in the race.
>
> Jim Pitre, the race director, decided after consultation with Bob
> Breedlove's brother, Bill, to continue the race. Bill Breedlove considered
> that his brother would have wished this.
>
> If a rider or team decides to pull out of the race, the management and
> officials will provide assistance wherever practicable.
>
> Talking about Bob Breedlove, Jim Pitre said: "This is a terrible tragedy,
> just terrible. We all stand in awe of the memory of Bob Breedlove, who was
> a supreme cycle racer, an outstanding surgeon, and just a great human
> being. Speaking both personally, and on behalf of the entire management
> and all those associated with the race, I extend my most sincere sympathy
> to the family of Bob Breedlove."
>
> The support vehicle was providing leapfrog support to Bob Breedlove at the
> time of the accident. Bob Breedlove was last seen by his crew members
> about a mile before the accident took place.
>
> They reported that he seemed fit to continue the race. "He seemed fine, we
> passed him a PowerBar and a Spizz (energy drink), and he went on his way,"
> said one of the crew members.
>
> Skidmarks leading off the road to the right suggest that the driver of the
> vehicle did what he could to avoid a collision. "It seemed like he must
> have passed out, he slumped on his bars. He just swerved right into our
> lane." Said the distraught driver of the vehicle, who hurried to the next
> town immediately after the accident and made the 911 call himself.
>
> From the evidence and accounts, the accident is thought to have happened
> very quickly. While it is unknown whether or not it would have made a
> difference if a support vehicle had been present for Bob Breedlove, as an
> additional precautionary measure, a directive was issued from race
> headquarters that safety continues to be a primary concern and that all
> crew members are required to pay special attention, and to continue to
> conduct the race in a safe manner.
>
> Crew members and riders have been instructed that if they feel the need to
> do so, to pull off the course to process their thoughts and gather
> themselves to continue. A 15-minute time allowance is provided for this.
> Riders and crew members who require more time will be granted this on
> request.
>
> -30-
>
>
>
> Paul Skilbeck
>
> Media Communications Director, Insight Race Across America
>
>
 
This is a true trajedy, and starting to be a habit in RAAM. I
personally think there should be mandatory 4 hour sleep times per 24 hours.
From the story it's hard to tell what happened. It could be the cyclists
curse, the heart attack, or from inattention due to exhaustion. I'm
guessing the latter. It's time to change RAAM.
 
> From his Bio:
>
> What intimidates you most about RAAM?
>
> "Illness, injury or death"
>
Being a veteran of RAAM, he obviously knew the extreme risks he was
taking. It's the Mt. Everest of cycling. I'm thinking now, he went to
sleep at the wheel, on the descent. I think they want to keep the sleep
deprivation thing in, to keep the crit monkeys out of it, but I think it's
too dangerous in it's present format. It took a death years ago, to mandate
that the support vehicle protect the backside of the rider, so sometimes a
tragedy like this, creates change.
 
"Claudius Vitalis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> This is a true trajedy, and starting to be a habit in RAAM. I
> personally think there should be mandatory 4 hour sleep times per 24
> hours.
> From the story it's hard to tell what happened. It could be the cyclists
> curse, the heart attack, or from inattention due to exhaustion. I'm
> guessing the latter. It's time to change RAAM.

You've got to think they'll be looking at it after deaths like this in back
to back years.
 
"Jim Flom " <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:yXGue.97368$on1.71354@clgrps13...
> RAAM Suffers The Tragic Loss of One of its Greats
>
> Trinidad, Colorado - Tragedy hit the Race Across America today around
> 12.15 - 12.30 p.m. EDT, when Bob Breedlove, competitor #188, collided with
> a westbound pickup truck 28 miles west of Trinidad, Colorado. When
> paramedics arrived on the scene they pronounced him dead.
>

This is very sad, and I wish his family well.

Do you think that the organizers might reevaluate the format of the race. I
only know of this, and the death of Brett Malin outside of Pietown, NM, in
2003 but it seems that with the small number of competitors in the race that
it has had a astronomical per capita death rate the last few years.
 
>
> You've got to think they'll be looking at it after deaths like this in
back
> to back years.
>
These people are competitors, and they'll try to get away with anything
that you let them. They have a RAAM official in every support vehicle, so
it would not be difficult to enforce some sort of mandatory sleep rule. I
think it would only add a day to the race, because people go, of course,
faster if they've had some recharge time. Brevets, have cut off times, but
they're generous, and there are no winners and losers, just finishers. I
think they do this, because they don't want some guy skipping sleep, or
taking chances in an exhaused state so he can finish first and kill himself
in the process. This is suppose to be fun folks. But RAAM is a race, so it
does make it more complicated, where there are winners and losers. So if
they could figure out a way of how to ride the bike, while sleeping, they'd
do it.
 
Claudius Vitalis wrote:
> This is a true trajedy, and starting to be a habit in RAAM. I
> personally think there should be mandatory 4 hour sleep times per 24 hours.
> From the story it's hard to tell what happened. It could be the cyclists
> curse, the heart attack, or from inattention due to exhaustion. I'm
> guessing the latter. It's time to change RAAM.
>
>

While 4 hr sleep times are a reasonable suggestion, from the account of
the accident his crew claims to have given him nutrition just a mile
before and the driver claims that he seemed to slump over the bar. It
seems to me that both of those factors make it unlikely that he went
into the other lane from inattention due to exhaustion. However, we are
all just speculating until if and when an autopsy is done.

Wayne
 
In article <[email protected]>,
"Callistus Valerius" <[email protected]> wrote:

> > From his Bio:
> >
> > What intimidates you most about RAAM?
> >
> > "Illness, injury or death"
> >
> Being a veteran of RAAM, he obviously knew the extreme risks he was
> taking. It's the Mt. Everest of cycling. I'm thinking now, he went to
> sleep at the wheel, on the descent. I think they want to keep the sleep
> deprivation thing in, to keep the crit monkeys out of it, but I think it's
> too dangerous in it's present format. It took a death years ago, to mandate
> that the support vehicle protect the backside of the rider, so sometimes a
> tragedy like this, creates change.

I think the problem is, as several have derisively suggested, it's not
so much the Mt. Everest of cycling as the Mt. Everest of sleep
deprivation. It looks likely Bob died because he fell asleep on his
bicycle. That's not quite the same thing as, oh, crashing on a mountain
descent, in terms of normal cycling risks.

The crit monkeys don't come out to play because the event essentially
exists outside of all established cycling traditions. It's hardly an HPV
event, it's too daft for the randonneurs, and it has no relation to any
other bike race I'm aware of.

Even in the motorcycling world, where long-distance endurance events
(rallies) are popular, more sanity prevails. The notorious Iron Butt,
basically an 11-day 11-15,000 mile ride, builds in sleep incentives in
the form of a "rest bonus" for taking a certain number of breaks of a
certain duration.

http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/default.cfm

If these riders were, oh, doing an equivalent running event (I
dunno...run from Oregon to Mexico?) the sleep-deprivation aspect would
have fewer consequences: you'd collapse sooner, and you'd fall down
pretty much where you were running, presumably not in traffic. Not so
our fearless RAAMers.

The person I feel for here is not Bob, who took a risk and paid for it,
or his heartbroken compatriots, who should understand the risks
involved. I feel pity for the poor sucker Bob ran into, who will likely
get a heaping helping of unwarranted mental trauma as their penalty for
driving along the road at the wrong time to get hit by a fatally
impaired cyclist.

It's just a woefully goofy event, a high concept defeated by an awkward
execution and conditions that encourage impairment by sleep deprivation.

Watch on the animated map as Jure Robic's overall average pace drops
from 20+ mph to ~15 mph by the halfway mark. That may be close to
stable, though, as last year he averaged 14.66 mph for the whole race.
The record is 15.40 mph, set in 1986 by Pete Pensyres:

http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/files/raaminformation/RAAMrecords.html

--
Ryan Cousineau [email protected] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos
 
In article <[email protected]>,
"Callistus Valerius" <[email protected]> wrote:

> >
> > You've got to think they'll be looking at it after deaths like this in
> back
> > to back years.
> >
> These people are competitors, and they'll try to get away with anything
> that you let them. They have a RAAM official in every support vehicle, so
> it would not be difficult to enforce some sort of mandatory sleep rule. I
> think it would only add a day to the race, because people go, of course,
> faster if they've had some recharge time. Brevets, have cut off times, but
> they're generous, and there are no winners and losers, just finishers. I
> think they do this, because they don't want some guy skipping sleep, or
> taking chances in an exhaused state so he can finish first and kill himself
> in the process. This is suppose to be fun folks. But RAAM is a race, so it
> does make it more complicated, where there are winners and losers. So if
> they could figure out a way of how to ride the bike, while sleeping, they'd
> do it.

Brevets don't last any longer than 90 hours and 1200 km, either. The
finishing standard for virtually all brevets mandates a minimum pace of
15 km/h, breaks included, but as you can imagine, that's a pretty easy
standard, even with some stops, for anyone who can ride 1200 km in one
go. The fastest finishers are done in 45 hours.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email protected] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos
 
"Callistus Valerius" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>> From his Bio:
>>
>> What intimidates you most about RAAM?
>>
>> "Illness, injury or death"
>>
> Being a veteran of RAAM, he obviously knew the extreme risks he was
> taking. It's the Mt. Everest of cycling. I'm thinking now, he went to
> sleep at the wheel, on the descent. I think they want to keep the sleep
> deprivation thing in, to keep the crit monkeys out of it, but I think it's
> too dangerous in it's present format. It took a death years ago, to
> mandate
> that the support vehicle protect the backside of the rider, so sometimes a
> tragedy like this, creates change.
>
>

I don't think it was a death. Rather, it was a 1985 accident involving an
unsupported Canadian (name?) who was paralyzed from the waist down. He was
hit by a semi and maintained that it was intentional.
 
>
> While 4 hr sleep times are a reasonable suggestion, from the account of
> the accident his crew claims to have given him nutrition just a mile
> before and the driver claims that he seemed to slump over the bar. It
> seems to me that both of those factors make it unlikely that he went
> into the other lane from inattention due to exhaustion. However, we are
> all just speculating until if and when an autopsy is done.
>
> Wayne

He had finished a lot of climbing, and he was on a gentle long descent,
I could easily see him saying, I'll take a break from pedaling, and just
coast for a while. The mind wanders a little, and before you know it,
you're asleep. Happens all the time in cars. Most of the interstate car
fatalities, in Arizona, are from people going to sleep at the wheel.

Look at bottom of this web page to see the topography he was on at the
time
http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/files/raam2005/timestations/timestation20.h
tm
 
>
> Except that there have been a number of successful summits on Everest
> without O2. These ascents are done with the greatest speed possible to
> minimize the effects of the dead zone. There is nothing in RAAM comparable
> to the dead zone of high mountaineering in which the human body literally
> begins to die. Sleep depravation is a far cry from that and the other
> significant risks in mountaineering of altitude sickness and frostbite.
Add
> to that the distance in time and space as to medical treatment (even
though
> mountaineering has improved greatly in team medical services) and you have
a
> much higher risk of death or serious injury in mountaineering. IMO, there
> is a parallel as to the driven nature of the participants in the two
> activities as well as the need for logistical planning if done correctly.

I would agree that the bodies stack up faster for Everest, than RAAM.
But RAAM also limits who can enter, by what they've done before. Not any
yahoo, who shows up and decides he's gonna do RAAM that day is allowed to
enter the race. If Tom Cruise wanted to ride RAAM, they wouldn't let him,
but if he decided to climb Mt. Everest, who could stop him. That's why the
bodies stack up on Everest.
 
It took a death years ago, to
> > mandate
> > that the support vehicle protect the backside of the rider, so sometimes
a
> > tragedy like this, creates change.
> >
> >
>
> I don't think it was a death. Rather, it was a 1985 accident involving an
> unsupported Canadian (name?) who was paralyzed from the waist down. He
was
> hit by a semi and maintained that it was intentional.
>
Very interesting, I knew it was something like that. The ol' Easy Rider
syndrome. Sad that you have to have someone armed in a support vehicle to
protect you from all the nuts out there. I've done some long distance
riding on my own. and one time a guy started blaring his horn, starting 1/2
mile behind me, he timed it so right when we got to the bridge, he tried to
run me into it, but I just put on full brakes, and he damn near hit it
himself (benefits of using a mirror). There are some crazies out there, but
I suspect they're just as crazy when they're not behind the wheel.
 
Callistus Valerius wrote:
>
> I would agree that the bodies stack up faster for Everest, than RAAM.
> But RAAM also limits who can enter, by what they've done before. Not any
> yahoo, who shows up and decides he's gonna do RAAM that day is allowed to
> enter the race. If Tom Cruise wanted to ride RAAM, they wouldn't let him,
> but if he decided to climb Mt. Everest, who could stop him. That's why the
> bodies stack up on Everest.



Dumbass -

A lot of surviving Everest is simple luck - a good portion of the
deaths are low, at the Khumbu icefall, where no one can predict when a
serac is going to fall.

Some climbing Freds have made it while George Mallory didn't.


thanks,

K. Gringioni.
 
>
> Dumbass -
>
> A lot of surviving Everest is simple luck - a good portion of the
> deaths are low, at the Khumbu icefall, where no one can predict when a
> serac is going to fall.
>
> Some climbing Freds have made it while George Mallory didn't.
>
>
You're actually supporting my argument. With my Tom Cruise example, I
would give him a 1 in 4 chance of summiting Everest, but a 0% chance of
completing RAAM in it's present format. There was someone that failed to
complete RAAM last year, who had actually made it to the top of Everest
twice. I guess you could call him a climbing Fred. Asked which was
tougher, he said there wasn't even a comparison, the sleep deprivation part
of RAAM makes it impossible for most people to complete. RAAM is the
toughest thing you can do, period.
 
Callistus Valerius <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> Dumbass -
>>
>> A lot of surviving Everest is simple luck - a good portion of the
>> deaths are low, at the Khumbu icefall, where no one can predict when a
>> serac is going to fall.
>>
>> Some climbing Freds have made it while George Mallory didn't.
>>
>>
> You're actually supporting my argument. With my Tom Cruise example, I
> would give him a 1 in 4 chance of summiting Everest, but a 0% chance of
> completing RAAM in it's present format. There was someone that failed to
> complete RAAM last year, who had actually made it to the top of Everest
> twice. I guess you could call him a climbing Fred. Asked which was
> tougher, he said there wasn't even a comparison, the sleep deprivation part
> of RAAM makes it impossible for most people to complete. RAAM is the
> toughest thing you can do, period.

Henry is talking about surviving, not completing. But you knew that.

Bob Schwartz
[email protected]
 
Thread title changed out of respect for our fallen comorade. Rest in Peace.

B. Lafferty says...

>Except that there have been a number of successful summits on Everest
>without O2.

You mean without supplimental bottled oxygen. Those that do it by fair means do
still breathe the little air that is present.

>Sleep depravation is a far cry from that and the other
>significant risks in mountaineering of altitude sickness and frostbite.

Wrong. Current trends in extreme alpinism involve sustained pushes on big
walls, sometimes 60 hours of near-continuous movement. Sleep deprivation is all
over the reports of Mark Twight, Kelly Cordes and many others. Add in that
there may be little food and water and you have a deadly mix.

>IMO, there is a parallel as to the driven nature of the participants in
>the two activities as well as the need for logistical planning if
>done correctly.

For sure, but the hands-on personal experience for high altitude mountaineering
is hugely different than that of endurance cycling. Think of how the experience
of each is dominated by very different kinds of suffering. While climbing
Everest, one has the acclimitization/camp building phase, where the enemy is
cold, AMS, HAPE, HACE, etc. One's body is starved of oxygen and that makes the
cold seem worse. On the summit attempt, allof the above are magnified and sleep
deprivation is added in. In the RAAM, lactic acid management is part of the
battle and it is combined with sleep deprivation and a multitude of aches and
pains that only grow over time. Two very different worlds. And here's the
kicker - as one ascends big E, along the way lie the corpses of those that
didn't make it down alive. That has to bring a very different mental aspect to
Everest that is not part of RAAM.

But why does every thread that begins as news of an unfortunate death have to
degenerate into a flame fest? Some people are incapable of showing respect.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

CAMPYBOB
Raam: the good doctor rides a masi
Replies
0
Views
937
Road Cycling
CAMPYBOB
CAMPYBOB
CAMPYBOB
Anyone Following Raam?
Replies
20
Views
4K
Road Cycling
CAMPYBOB
CAMPYBOB
M
RAAM --- 12 June 2008
Replies
5
Views
573
Road Cycling
William Asher
W
M
RAAM update
Replies
3
Views
609
Road Cycling
Bob Schwartz
B
C
drastic RAAM route change.....
Replies
5
Views
234
Road Cycling
Kurgan Gringioni
K
Top Bottom Back