first accident

Chris raced in the Rockwell Relay June 10-11. He, along with his 3 other teammates, raced from Moab to STG. His last section of the race was Cedar Breaks and down into Cedar. He was trying to make up some time, so he was going down the canyon road at about 40-50 mph(on a BIKE!!!). He came to a S turn, was "in perfect position", when a wind gust blew him off. He tried to save it but he clipped his bike on a cement barrier and his tire went down in between the asphalt and the barrier. His tire blew and he went crashing into the barrier and flew/summersaulted, with his bike, about 40 feet before hitting the ground. His bike went over the barrier, but he stayed on the road side. A man from another team was right behind him and watched it happen. This man's support vehicle was also not to far behind, so once Chris was up and his bike was retrieved, they drove him down to the exchange where his team was waiting for him. Aniston and I were waiting in STG for him, so I drove up to Cedar and meet him in the ER. He broke his collar bone(now they match!), and has some road rash and a lot of bruising. He was lucky, we were all blessed. We went back to see where it happened and I was sick, I couldn't believe he got off so easy. It could have been so much worse considering the speed and the area he crashed. The first few days were hard and painful for him, but he's feeling better every day. I'm so glad he's ok, but not so sure I'll let him back on the bike(which received only minor damage)!

Chris said he wished he could have paid more attention to the scenery. They rode all day, all night, and into the next day. During the night ride they all had problems with their lights, some of them rode in the light of the moon with some help from headlights. One racer hit a dear during the night. Chris did catch this shot...

Chris went to the ER, got all fixed up, and we got back to STG in time to watch his teammates ride in.



Bonktown Boosh-Corey, Ty, Shane, and Chris

All the backcountry.com racers


the other side/ non-road side of the barrier(so glad Chris didn't end up on this side)

you could see the tire mark, the spot Chris landed, where his bike landed, and the marks his shoes left on the cement barrier


the damage