IT SHOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED

THERE WAS A PILE UP TODAY, and my friend is very hurt.  He'll need surgery on his neck.  He should be okay.  Whether or not you're the praying type, now would be a good time to fire one up on his behalf.

My spider sense gave no warning.  Very, very unusual - normally I have a really strong advance feeling.  I've done this ride many times and there was nothing special about the pace.  In fact, other days on this particular section - La Costa - have seemed much sketchier.

Less than a minute before I was joking about having him bring some of his awesome WEND product to me on the ride.  He was jazzed to go Long with a group of us from OC.

It was supposed to be fun.
But, it wasn't.

Emergency professionals were quickly on location.  First a doctor who was driving by, then paramedics.  Quickly he was rushed to a fantastic medical facility.  Diagnosed. Scheduled.  What a country we live in!

Many others went down, but he was in the worst shape.  His forks sheered off at some point in the crash - not the cause.  Of those I know, all were able to go on about their day.

It's terrible for this to ever happen to anyone,
it seems extra awful because Ryan is such a nice dude.
Always happy.
A truly sweet demeanor.
The kind of guy you just like to see and hang out with. 

If you're so inclined, today would be a good day to try out his products.  I can't go without his  Wax Off Chain Cleaner.  If you use any kind of wax lubricant, Wax Off has got to be in your tool box.

Follow up:  Someone didn’t point out a pot hole, someone hit it launching their bottle into their wheel and the wheel locked up. From there all hell broke loose.  There's not much anybody can to to prepare for that.