Wow, that's horrible!

Hope his family and friends are doing okay.

 

Thats really sad to hear. R.I.P my friend!

 

Terrible news ... another rider down. :sad: I enjoyed reading his race reports ... he will be missed. Be careful on the roads everyone.

 

Geez, that's horrible my condolences go out to his family. Seemed like a really nice, dedicated guy from all his posts.

This seems to be something we're reading about more and more and really has me wondering about the whole "commute" thing. Roads these days are just to damned dangerous.

 

Geez, that's horrible my condolences go out to his family. Seemed like a really nice, dedicated guy from all his posts.

This seems to be something we're reading about more and more and really has me wondering about the whole "commute" thing. Roads these days are just to damned dangerous.

I was commenting a week or two ago on f-88 on how I was watching the Kona Ironman on tv and was shocked and concerned at how many of the disabled athletes in the race used to be elite triathletes who had been hit by cars while training on their bikes. :eekster:

 

Holy christ

This is just awful. It took a few minutes to process this was Sean. Dead. Gone forever. I just read his advice to a fellow racer regarding base/rest period training and structure.

No. Way.

I feel like we were on, a lot of times, similar trajectories (late 30's, racer type / wanna be's, family stuff, training outlook, and so on...) and much closer than this 'virtual' community would perhaps imply. Doesn't matter if he lived on Mars - he was a buddy, and despite never meeting him but simply exchanging stories and bikey-bike miscellany, he felt like another brother-in-arms out there, and as such hurts. A lot.

Goddamned awful. Unreal.

To any of his friends, family, coworkers, and any other associates that may stumble in here - know my deepest sympathy and condolences go out. This is just sickening.

 

This is really really sad. SeanL just replied to one of my post this past week and gave me some really helpful, sincere advice on training. I couldn't help but to notice his little catch phrase that goes at the bottom of all of his post. "What doesn't kill us, only postpones the inevitable". How true those words are. My sincerest regards go out to his family and friends.

 

Well said Glen. I read a lot of his stuff as well, and it was great getting his input.

Here in Utah we had a death of a young lady (Josie Johnson, a PhD candidate at the University) that made quite a bit of waves in the community. She was hit from behind on a low traffic road (Big cottonwood canyon), hit on the center of the bumper of an SUV, while she was on the right of the white line. The woman that killed her wasn't even ticketed (she was charged later). The cycling community as well as politicians were outraged by her death and lobbied to pass a law. In Utah, if a car passes a cyclist, the car has to leave 3 feet of room between you and the car.

More Info:
http://www.utahbikes.org/memory.html
http://www.utahbikes.org/ken2005.html

I won't say the 3-foot law has stopped deaths on the road and don't think any driver has received a ticket for violating it, but since 2005 after the law was passed, I noticed a big difference in driver's attitudes towards cyclist. No more rear view truck mirrors nearly hitting my shoulder. Utah's law can hopefully set a precedence for other states to have similar laws, increase driver awareness, and reduce cycle related deaths on the road.

RIP SeanL, you will be missed.

 

Omg

that's terrible. my heart goes out to his family and friends. i met Sean several times at races. i am saddened by this news.

rt

 

Like many others I also train on the road bike and this is the nightmare that is always in the back of my mind. It is incredibly sad and discouraging to read about such accidents. My condolences to SeanL's family and friends.

RIP

 

Like many others I also train on the road bike and this is the nightmare that is always in the back of my mind. It is incredibly sad and discouraging to read about such accidents. My condolences to SeanL's family and friends.

RIP

+1. My thoughts exactly.

 

I read this right after it was posted yesterday and thought, is Seanl the guy with the pirate avitar? I exchanged posts with him many times over the years and I'm shocked and saddened to hear what happened to him, so much that I could not even post anything yesterday. After having the night to sleep on it all I say is what everyone else has already said. I also do most of my riding on the road and every time I hear of something like this it scares the sh%t out of me All I can say to myself is that if i do go down riding at least I'm doing something I love and am passionate about, and it sure beats the alternative, not riding. Giving up something that has changed my life for the better out of a fear that I may get hurt or die is something I'm not willing to do. So, on I go , cautiously on my road bike. I feel sad today for loosing a fellow bike racer that I have never met, but still felt a connection and also fell greatfull to be alive and ride my bike. RIP SEAN!

 

If anyone is considering quitting riding on the road, read this webpage. Puts cycling deaths in perspective using real data:

http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/health/risks.htm

Summary from webpage author:
"I have decided that I better add a summary to this discussion, since some people still don't get it. To the question, is bicycling dangerous, we have to acknowledge that there are between 700 and 1,000 fatalities in the US each year, which is a small number compared to the million or so who die from diseases that cycling could help prevent and the approximately 150,000 people killed in other kinds of accidents. In comparing the fatality rate of cyclists and motorists, we find that the statistics about bicycle use do not all agree; however, it seems that bicycling is less dangerous or no more dangerous per hour than driving a car, and since motorists spend more time driving, the lifelong risk of the average motorist is two to four times greater than that of the average cyclist without the 20X compensating health benefits of cycling. In addition, motor vehicles kill over five thousand pedestrians each year while bicycles kill at most one or two. Finally, the majority of cycling deaths occur to the minority who are not following such simple safety procedures as riding with the traffic, stopping for traffic lights and stop signs, and using lights at night. Then, when looking at injuries, we find that the serious injuries are only a small part of the total, and that the amount of time between injuries is great. Again, the number of injuries can be reduced by being careful.

Putting all this together, a person who chooses a bicycle over an automobile for daily travel and who obeys the traffic laws and uses care at all times will experience greatly improved health and a greatly reduced risk of death as a result. Thus rather than being dangerous, cycling greatly reduces major health risks."

 

Sean lost 113 pounds in a little over a year, and clearly embraced MTBing and racing as much as anyone I've seen on here. What a shame. We should be wearing full-face helmets on the road and not just for downhill.

 

Wow. I haven't been in the XC Racing and Training forum too much these days. This is horrible news.:sad:

Godspeed Sean.

 

Devestating news. Never met the man, but I always marked Sean on this forum as someone who seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. Sorry for the loss to those close to him.

Often it's just the wrong place at the wrong time and nothing that the cyclist can do to avoid an accident or poor driving by motorists, but please everyone treat this as yet another call to keep your heads up and always ride under the assumption that the vehicles/drivers around you are going to do something wrong.

 

If anyone is considering quitting riding on the road, read this webpage. Puts cycling deaths in perspective using real data:

http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/health/risks.htm

Interesting, but raw data can be interpreted in a number of ways...

The one thing that is true about riding on the road is that you're putting your life in someone elses hands. It doesn't matter how attentive and defensive you are all it takes is one distracted/careless driver and the next second you're gone forever.

 

Tragic

What a tragic freakin' story
But you know what? He went out doing something he loved.
I'm sure Sean is ripping it up somewhere where the singletrack never ends, its always sunny, no flats, and eternal bliss.
Flog on you Pirate. Flog on!!!
paz afuera

 

Wow what horrible news.....having conversed with him on several occasions about SERC races and met a couple times...he was a real solid guy.

It's terrible to lose another cycling brother....my condolences to his family and friends.

 

Wow...that sucks. Sounded like a truly nice guy based on posts here and on his racing blog.

 

A message to those who know SeanL

I read his posts and thought of Pirates in the Caribbean because of the picture, but the meaning of his words always struck good posture.

I thought of writing a response to one of his posts debating his perspective, but declined to do so because he was obviously trying to help people. This is something I have smuggled with many times on these forums, but have realized the value-add of biting the tongue.

My sincerest condolences to his family and all that knew him.

Scott Conchieri

This is a good reminder -- while on the bike... be defensive! never assume anything! always be looking forward and peripherally!

 

If anyone is considering quitting riding on the road, read this webpage. Puts cycling deaths in perspective using real data:

http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/health/risks.htm

Summary from webpage author:
"I have decided that I better add a summary to this discussion, since some people still don't get it. To the question, is bicycling dangerous, we have to acknowledge that there are between 700 and 1,000 fatalities in the US each year, which is a small number compared to the million or so who die from diseases that cycling could help prevent and the approximately 150,000 people killed in other kinds of accidents. In comparing the fatality rate of cyclists and motorists, we find that the statistics about bicycle use do not all agree; however, it seems that bicycling is less dangerous or no more dangerous per hour than driving a car, and since motorists spend more time driving, the lifelong risk of the average motorist is two to four times greater than that of the average cyclist without the 20X compensating health benefits of cycling. In addition, motor vehicles kill over five thousand pedestrians each year while bicycles kill at most one or two. Finally, the majority of cycling deaths occur to the minority who are not following such simple safety procedures as riding with the traffic, stopping for traffic lights and stop signs, and using lights at night. Then, when looking at injuries, we find that the serious injuries are only a small part of the total, and that the amount of time between injuries is great. Again, the number of injuries can be reduced by being careful.

Putting all this together, a person who chooses a bicycle over an automobile for daily travel and who obeys the traffic laws and uses care at all times will experience greatly improved health and a greatly reduced risk of death as a result. Thus rather than being dangerous, cycling greatly reduces major health risks."

I don't think that we should deny the risks of riding our bicycles. Every so often someone in an automobile almost takes me out.

The author that you quote, who's wonderful web site lives on after him, died tragically on his bicycle. See the link below.

http://www.kenkifer.com/death.htm

Please be careful out there. Especially when you're driving your car.

Dave