Road conditions: Lots of sandy dry dirt, and small pebbly rocks on the road. Use caution descending. Lots of slippery silt on the road. Slow down. Keep to the proper lane.
Kevin Unck at San Dimas Stage Race - Glendora Mountain Road Time Trial March 2010
"A Rancho Cucamonga man died Sunday morning as he rode his bicycle on Glendora Mountain Road. Kevin B. Unck, 44, was riding his Felt road bicycle south on Glendora Mountain just north of Sierra Madre Avenue when he struck a Toyota Land Cruiser that was traveling northbound.
The Land Cruiser was traveling about 20 mph while the cyclist was traveling approximately 30 mph when they both approached a blind curve.
Unck was unable to negotiate the curve in the road and his bicycle drifted into the northbound lanes where he struck the vehicle head-on, according to the release.
Unck was airlifted to USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he later died.
Habern was not injured.
The CHP is investigating the collision.
-Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Read more: http://www.sgvtribune.com/ci_17055896?source=rss_viewed#ixzz1Ayjyye8w"
His sister wrote:
" Kevin was riding with his cycling team and was 4th in position, the guy in front of him slipped on mud and gravel that was on the road. He fortunately pulled out of his near fall, however, my brother wasn’t so lucky. He hit the mud and gravel, lost control, took a spill and slid across the lines, he was then run over by the vehicle.
I write this to you again, not complaining, but simply hoping that a reminder might be made to even the most experienced and talented riders; as you said, you never know and road conditions are a HUGE obstacle in the cycling world.
Kevin passed away doing what he absolutely loved, cycling." From Rancho Cucamonga man dies in first SoCal biking fatality of the new year
Saturday the day before the unfortunate incident I noticed a squirrel in the middle of the southbound lane at mile marker 14.00. Little did I know that within 24 hours another cyclist's fate would have the same outcome. As I passed the flattened body, I could feel my heart softening. The steep down hill slope combined with a blind bend became the downfall of this little guy. The living buddy hovered confused and worried along the guard rail by the forest ranger station chirping, poised in fright, hoping it's fallen friend would wake up and run amongst the trees. My evil dread of those little dudes softened as I realized our eventual fate is shared. A loved one is missed.
To the Unck family our heart felt sympathy for your loss.
which blind curve did this happen on? Such a terrible thing to happen. The roads should be clear by now.Chantry has been mostly cleared, hwy 39 is totally clear up till the 37 or 38 mile marker. That is as far as we hiked up.
ReplyDeleteTo run a truck up with dozer blade doesn't require much and maybe it could of saved a life. They run one down Chantry almost every day. The guys who do it there even did a extra run on the rode when they saw I was gonna skate down it one day. I mean they do miss a small layer of dirt but whats left isn't enough to cause u to crash.
Which blind curve -- Answer: between mile marker 10.2 and 10.49
ReplyDeleteThe roads should be clear by now. -- Response: the debris is small stuff not the large rocks that a "rock run" truck would get. The fatal corner is now very clean and free of any sand, dirt or rocks. However three other lower sections of road have plenty of dirt to get in one's chain or wheels of skate boards.
The DPW did daily rock runs during the rain. Again it is the silty dirt left from the hillside excavation due to erosion from the recent rainfall in December.
-- GMR
I was up there around 7am and it was very very clear and clean!
ReplyDelete