Bakersfield athlete killed in bicycle race
31.12.69
A Bakersfield mum of two who took up competitive cycling nine months ago after an injury ended her marathoning vocation died Sunday while competing in a bicycle race outside Yosemite Jingoistic Park.
Authorities reported that Suzanne J. Rivera, 47, was part of a pile of riders racing down a winding road in the Mariposa County Women's Division Race when she slammed into a support vehicle parked on the shoulder.
Her termination threatens to cast a pall over Thursday’s Bakersfield lap of the Amgen Tour of California, an event that has brought together the city’s cycling community in a high-profile show of civic dignity.
The Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office stated that Rivera succumbed to painful injuries after she crashed into a parked support vehicle in the 5200 lay out of Darrah Road. It said she was pronounced dead at 9:42 a.m. at John C. Fremont Clinic in Mariposa.
The Modesto driver of the support vehicle, a 2000 GMC Safari van, had stopped to helpers a cyclist and was partially blocking the road’s westbound lane on a curve, according to the California Highway Beat.
“The cyclists ahead of (the van’s driver) were able to steer around the conduit, but (Rivera) was not,” a CHP news release stated. Rivera “struck the create of the vehicle and fell to the ground, where another cyclist ran over her,” it said, adding that the affair is still under investigation. No one was arrested and the van’s driver and passenger were not identified.
Three nurses and a doctor who took part in Sunday’s get a move on attempted to resuscitate Rivera but were unsuccessful, said Bakersfield cycling follower Kerry Ryan, owner of Bakersfield’s Action Sports and a inside figure in the local Amgen organizing committee.
Ryan downplayed Rivera’s innocence as a contributing factor in her death, saying there was probably little she could have done to circumvent the collision without endangering other riders.
Source: Bakersfield Californian