A RAGBRAI cyclist died after falling from his bicycle and two others suffered injuries from collisions with motor vehicles in the latter half of the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.
A 68-year-old RAGBRAI veteran died Friday from injuries he suffered when he clipped the tire of another bicycle and fell.
The man, Stephen Briggs of Waverly, Iowa, struck his head on the pavement. He was wearing a helmet, but doctors told his daughter that there was too much swelling around his brain.
Briggs daughter, Karen Moore, told the Des Moines Register that he had ridden the entire RAGBRAI five different years, and parts of the route five other times:
“I had to stop and realize that if he had to go, he went doing something he absolutely loved to do. One minute he was riding his bike, the next he went to heaven.”
He was a member of the No Name Bike Club.
The Register reports that 28 people have died on RAGBRAI over its 38-year history.
Injuries
Two other collisions with motor vehicles left RAGBRAI cyclists with injuries.
About 12:30 p.m. Friday, a car turned left in front Mohammed Al-Marima, 49, of Bloomington, Illinois, and struck him. He suffered injuries to his leg and shoulder in the collision in Washburn in eastern Iowa.
The driver of the car was charged with failure to yield on a left turn.
At about 1 p.m. Friday, a 16-year-old RAGBRAI cyclist ran into the back of a pickup truck that had failed to yield at a stop sign in Manchester. The condition of Jordan J. Johnson, 16, of Stratford, Texas, was unavailable.
Charges are pending against the motorist, who drove away after the crash.
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