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Police are calling for witnesses after a cyclist died colliding with a stone wall near Harrogatepolice line (CC licensed by hugovk_Flickr)

Police are calling for witnesses after a cyclist died colliding with a stone wall near Harrogate

The 38-year-old Lancashire man lost control of his bike on a steep descent on the Way of the Roses route
by Laura Laker
Sun, Jul 12, 2015 14:21
19

Police are calling for witnesses following the death of a cyclist who collided with a stone wall on Friday near Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

Police say the 38-year-old man, from Lancashire, was riding with a friend when he lost control of his bike and crashed into the wall at around 16.00 BST on Friday.

The riders were coming down Red Brae Bank on the B6265 outside Lambs Hill Farm, towards Pateley Bridge, when the accident occurred. The man sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police are calling for witnesses and have particularly asked anyone who may have spoken to the pair at Toft Gate Barn cafe, Bewerley, to call North Yorkshire Police on 101 and ask for Traffic Constable Mark Hutchings. Officers are keen to track down a woman driving a small blue car, who stopped at the scene to assist.

Red Brae Bank is on the popular Way of the Roses route, a descent described as "long and progressively steep" with gradients of 16% in places, and tight bends. The road was closed until 19.15 for collision investigators to examine the scene.

The dead man was riding a blue Carrera bike, his friend a Raleigh, and both carried hi-visibility rucksacks.

North Yorkshire
Fatality
Laura Laker

Laura Laker is a freelance journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering cycling, walking and wheeling (and other means of transport). Beginning her career with road.cc, Laura has also written for national and specialist titles of all stripes. One part of the popular Streets Ahead podcast, she sometimes appears as a talking head on TV and radio, and in real life at conferences and festivals. She is also the author of Potholes and Pavements: a Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network.

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19 comments

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scrumpydave | 9 years ago
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The Dales are a wonderful place to ride but those descents are tricky. I'm not sure it's a simple as saying that caution is necessary since excessive braking and a rigid upright position can bring you down as easily as excessive speed (although granted usually with less severe consequences). Unfortunately when things start to go wrong on that sort of terrain things can quickly escalate.

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fustuarium | 9 years ago
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Ugh, as someone who's been in to a stone wall at 30mph on a 16% that makes my stomach churn. RIP.

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vonhelmet | 9 years ago
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I've descended worse on a Carrera.

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Angelfishsolo | 9 years ago
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R.I.P fella. 2

I will not lower myself to discuss whether or not he should have had a more expensive bike! 14

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carytb | 9 years ago
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I did that decent on the WoR last year. On a bike with 2 panniers into a cross wind it was quite scary to say the least. With all the weight the bike picked up speed very quickly and it was all over the place in the gusts of wind. Very sorry to hear of this fatality.

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21pavone | 9 years ago
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An awful incident on such a wonderful route. My sympathies to the family and friends of a fellow cyclist.

The WOTR website does contain information and a warning about Greenhow Hill (the local name for the descent into Pateley Bridge) http://wayoftheroses.info/route/

rliu is right about taking descents slowly if necessary - walk if you need to! - especially if your bike is luggage laden. Make sure your brakes work efficiently. And that there's enough of your brake blocks left to stop you. On Greenhow and other long or technical descents your rims will become hot so don't be afraid to stop if safe to do so.

Safe and happy cycling.

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Malaconotus | 9 years ago
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This is not the first fatality on this descent among people tackling the Way of the Roses. After previous fatalities it was suggested that the Way of the Roses be rerouted, but that does not seem to have happened?

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DAG on a bike | 9 years ago
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Not entirely sure of the reference to Strava. There's no inference in the report that this unfortunate rider's demise had anything to do with it. Just a salutary lesson to all.

Condolences to his family & friends.

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rliu replied to DAG on a bike | 9 years ago
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DAG on a bike wrote:

Not entirely sure of the reference to Strava. There's no inference in the report that this unfortunate rider's demise had anything to do with it. Just a salutary lesson to all.

Condolences to his family & friends.

I have no evidence Strava was at play here, but rather I was making a general point that it never hurts to apply caution on a descent, after all out of a race situation a descent doesn't really test your fitness, which is what recreational cycling is all about.

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rliu | 9 years ago
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There's never anything wrong with taking a descent slowly and applying the brakes frequently, in fact I don't think there should be any Strava segements allowed on descents steeper than 5%

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ianrobo replied to rliu | 9 years ago
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rliu wrote:

There's never anything wrong with taking a descent slowly and applying the brakes frequently, in fact I don't think there should be any Strava segements allowed on descents steeper than 5%

First RIP to the cyclist

But are you being serious ? good cyclists know what to do ...

in this report I note

"The dead man was riding a blue Carrera bike, his friend a Raleigh, and both carried hi-visibility rucksacks."

First WTF has hi vis rucksacks got to do with this ? Next will say no helmet eh ?

Secondly coming downhill on a cheap bike, now that should be caution .... I do mean that seriously, took me ages to master descents and I have top gear, you have to trust the bike, tyres, braking etc fully. I can not believe you can do that on a Carrera

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giff77 replied to ianrobo | 9 years ago
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ianrobo wrote:
rliu wrote:

There's never anything wrong with taking a descent slowly and applying the brakes frequently, in fact I don't think there should be any Strava segements allowed on descents steeper than 5%

First RIP to the cyclist

But are you being serious ? good cyclists know what to do ...

in this report I note

"The dead man was riding a blue Carrera bike, his friend a Raleigh, and both carried hi-visibility rucksacks."

First WTF has hi vis rucksacks got to do with this ? Next will say no helmet eh ?

Secondly coming downhill on a cheap bike, now that should be caution .... I do mean that seriously, took me ages to master descents and I have top gear, you have to trust the bike, tyres, braking etc fully. I can not believe you can do that on a Carrera

I think it makes little odds what bike is used on this type of road. Whenever I'm back in Belfast I borrow my mates Carerra and we tackle some fairly challenging roads and I've never had issues with it as it is well maintained. I've also witnessed individuals crashing their high end bikes on fairly average roads. So 'top gear' has nothing to do with it.

It's really saddening to hear of this incident and thoughts are with the family and of the friend who was with him at the time.

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mrmo replied to ianrobo | 9 years ago
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ianrobo wrote:

"The dead man was riding a blue Carrera bike, his friend a Raleigh, and both carried hi-visibility rucksacks."

First WTF has hi vis rucksacks got to do with this ? Next will say no helmet eh ?

I think from how i read it, the police want witnesses, to this end give as much detail as relevant, and a hi viz rucksack might count as distinctive.

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Stumps replied to mrmo | 9 years ago
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mrmo wrote:
ianrobo wrote:

"The dead man was riding a blue Carrera bike, his friend a Raleigh, and both carried hi-visibility rucksacks."

First WTF has hi vis rucksacks got to do with this ? Next will say no helmet eh ?

I think from how i read it, the police want witnesses, to this end give as much detail as relevant, and a hi viz rucksack might count as distinctive.

Yep, totally agree. The more the officer can describe the cyclist the better chance people will remember them.

Regardless of that though this is a very sad incident.

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KirinChris replied to ianrobo | 9 years ago
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ianrobo wrote:

Next will say no helmet eh ?

Oh I'm sure we would have heard about it in that case.

Terrible accident and one that is always in the back of my mind on fast descents.

But I do wish for some equitable reporting on these things. Not blaming Road CC but seriously if he'd not been wearing a helmet it would have been prominently noted.

It would be nice if when people are seriously injured wearing a helmet it was also noted, if nothing else so the general public and politicians who think we should all wear them all the time might realise it isn't a magic hat.

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Laura Laker replied to ianrobo | 9 years ago
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Just to clarify - I mentioned the rucksacks as police are asking for witnesses and this is the information they gave to help identify them

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brooksby replied to ianrobo | 9 years ago
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ianrobo wrote:

Secondly coming downhill on a cheap bike, now that should be caution .... I do mean that seriously, took me ages to master descents and I have top gear, you have to trust the bike, tyres, braking etc fully. I can not believe you can do that on a Carrera

"and the award for most tasteless and snobbish comment on this thread goes to..."

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YorkshireMike | 9 years ago
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Rest in peace fella. The consequences of misjudging a corner and 'what-if's are at the back of everyone's mind on a technical descent. All you can do is give your full concentration and know your limits.

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Accessibility f... | 9 years ago
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16% incline, that's certainly a quick descent:

https://goo.gl/maps/3YYbL

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