Young Rider Passes Away After Accident at BC Cup DH Race

 Crazy that some people downvote this.

 @IntoTheEverflow: sometimes people are tone deaf to grief

 i'd like to assume that those people are on their phones and accidentally hit the wrong button.

 @cuban-b: Could be similar to when, how on other social media sites, the only button you can click is LIKE--as in how can you LIKE someone passing away? Of course I HATE reading about someone dying, so maybe their downvote is that they DON'T LIKE the fact that a young rider passed away, not the fact that someone wrote about a young rider passing away.

 @likeittacky: I don't know man, there's no need to assume anything about the young man who died today. His parents are sick with grief and no one can help them bear that.

 @IntoTheEverflow: I think it's the "Prayers" part. Some people are just against religion at all costs. While I respect all people and whatever they choose to believe in, some people don't and refuse to get out of their little bubble.

 @Sethimus: you're not wrong, but is this the place?

 @rhamej: my thoughts too. Sad to inject your personal agenda / beliefs into a thread mourning the passing of a young rider.

I’m not religious, but I think we can all come up with a version of sending “prayers” to the family. It’s a sad day.

 @IntoTheEverflow: it is for sure, but I'm not overly surprised, some people these days get offended if you hold a door open and smile.

 @Sethimus: dude, this was a bike accident in Canada. Whatever your gripe with the US or the people in it, save it for another thread. Maybe let the loss a a child’s life and the parents grief be the focus on this one

 @Sethimus: Disgusting. WTF is wrong with you?

 @likeittacky:

A word of advice. Be sure to comment in ways that doesn't leave the reader to have to make their own decision about what you mean.

Your comment, "Keep growing cycling this is what we're bound to get if you know what i'm saying.", and it's use of the deliberately vague "if you know what I'm saying", opens you up to being interpreted in ways you did not intend, and explicitly leaves it up to the reader to determine what you were using the word 'this' to refer to.

You need to learn how language on the internet in a forum can and will be taken in ways you do not intend, and that it is your responsibility to express yourself in ways that do not leave your intentions open to misinterpretation. You should consider not blaming others for your lack of ability to communicate clearly.

Reading this thread, I personally understood your contribution (and in particular 'this') to mean that "Injury and death of young riders is inevitably in the sport of DH racing", which I found to be insensitive at best.

If that was not your intention, apologising for not making it clear is also a valuable course of action, possibly better than your chosen response; getting all capital letter furious about how people understood your deliberate use of vague language. If you use language that vague, don't be surprised people take it in ways you don't intend basically.

My condolences to the friends and family of the young man concerned.

 @Sethimus: gfy

 @JapanDave: dude, you have to look at who he responded to. Don’t come down so hard on tacky

Very sad news.

 So sad. My prayers and wishes go to his family and friends even tho I don't really pray, I may just send some love and energy to the universe.

 I just wanna say that I myself am not even religious. I think prayers is a very general term used to show respects.

 @pnwshreddin: Maybe in US, in Europe we just say "condolences" , this has no religious conotation and comes as more genuine in my opinion

 @rhamej: because they don’t understand what prayers really are, they assume they are intrinsically attached to religion when they are not, just a lack of understanding.

 @likeittacky: sometimes it's ok to not say anything.

 @gooral: "Condolences" is also used in the US. And "prayers" definitely implies religion in this context and most others. Looking at the definitions of "prayer", the only atheistic interpretations are "a petition" and "the remotest chance", neither of which applies in this context.

 @likeittacky: This is a comments section, and the topic of the discusison is the tragic death of a young rider. This isn't the place for how you're communicating.

 @likeittacky: You're missing the point. It's probably everyone but you...

 I think it has something to do with "prayers". I personally am not religious, and I don't have an issue with other people praying, but I think some people get a bit butthurt when someone bring religion into things. I'm not saying I care as everyone has their own way of dealing with trauma and I'm sure praying helps them.

 @likeittacky: LOL this fake tough guy routine just shows how much of an insecure pussy you are. Hey good luck with all that - yknow, being irrelevant, poor, and unwanted for your entire life. Need a hug?

 @cuban-b: Your a real class act. Hence, that any of this pushed you to the parameters of total punkness and utter depravity, enveloped with narcissism.

 @likeittacky: Whatever happy shredding, i'm out.

 @likeittacky: and it’s “you’re”… so uneducated as well

 @likeittacky: username checks out

 I am so sorry for your loss.

 As a parent, I can't imagine how hard this must be. All the best, stay strong. It probably is on all our minds at times and I've come to the conclusion that time spent trying to limit them and to be overprotective is time wasted. If there'd be anything I'd regret, it would be if I hadn't have enough fun with them and hadn't allowed them to have their fun. You can't take away the loss if something really bad happens. But at least there should be many good memories to look back on. From what I understand in the article, the parents can be proud that they truly allowed him to enjoy his passion and follow his dream. Yet indeed, it ended way, way too soon.

 I lost my son 10 yrs ago. Nothing you can do as a parent can prepare you for the loss of a child. My condolences to you and your family. I was at the event and I hoped that the parents and family had some support at the mountain with them. My heart goes out to the family and friends of the young man. Clearly taken too soon. RIP young rider. Very sad day for all involved.

 This is so tragic. It's such a tough call whether to encourage your kids to progress in this sport, or to try and keep them safe. The young kid we ride with routinely does things that could get him seriously hurt. We don't encourage this but try not to discourage him either because we know that he has the skills and more importantly the judgment to handle it. We will tell him no if we think he is making a bad decision but this rarely happens. I think he has a better assessment of his skills than I do actually. He loves mountain biking so much there is no way we could tell him to stop doing it.

 Had a chat with my little 9 year old to remind him that it's ok to stop when you're tired, not do a section that your'reunsure about, etc. He's an 'all or nothing' type so it's a hard message to get through but critical to do so.

 This is a tragic situation. Especially as a father of a DH racer/park rat, it really hits home. It's really sad. I mean really sad.

My son and I were at a DH race this past weekend. I think the organizers did the best with what they had to work with, but after the first day of practice, my son said he didn't feel comfortable racing the course, and he is a fairly experienced rider. We opted for the DNS instead of having him push too far out of his skill set.

We frequently have conversations about risk. For the sake of discussion, assessing risk vs your skillset is as important as cornering, braking, etc, etc. I encourage him to push his comfort levels very gradually, and focus on specific skills as a means to bridge between where he is as a rider and what his goals are. Dangerous things become safer and easier the better rider you are, and that's what we focus on. But it's difficult; I frequently feel anxiety about his riding, not because I don't trust his judgement, but because as a lifelong mountain person, I know there will always be hazards out of his control. There are no "freak accidents" in mountain sports in my opinion, it's all real dangerous and anything can take you out at anytime.

 Our whole lives are, from some perspective, a struggle to find the right balance between risk and reward. It's hard enough to strike that balance for ourselves, it can seem impossible when we have that responsibility for our children.

I'm amazed at some of the risks my parents let me take when I was young. They shaped me in a positive way and helped me to become a better, more rounded person. I know the same is true for many of my adult friends.

I try to keep that in mind as I'm raising my own kids.

I also know stories of personal tragedy like this one, when risks that are seemingly very reasonable play out in the most terrible way possible.

I can't help but keep those in mind as I'm raising my own kids as well.

The principle I try and follow is to make the risks count, and take safety seriously even in risky situations. I'm serious about seatbelts, and household chemicals, and helmets and pads and traveling safety in the backcountry and sidecountry and frontcountry. I'm also serious about encouraging my kids to get out there and send it, and compete, and play and be independent and push themselves to go faster and further and higher than they ever thought possible.

I know I don't get it right all the time.

I'm sure the parents involved in this tragedy are great parents who experienced just that: a tragedy that none of us could have planned for.

Good luck to all the other parents out there. I hope you can help yourselves and your kids find that balance.

I hope the parents of this rider find the community, and comfort and support they need.

If there's any way the broader mountain bike community can help to support this family in the future, I'm sure many of us would be thrilled to participate.

 It didn't look that dangerous. Unfortunately, sometimes accidents just happen.

 The feature itself wasn't dangerous, but the consequences for screwing it up and blowing the berm were for sure outsized, as proven by what happened. The recent Val di Sole race has catch barriers in places with lower consequences than this turn at Big White.

 @jayacheess: Definitely a freak accident. As many can attest too the smallest feature or easiest section of a trail is often the most dangerous because we are focused on or distracted by the more difficult sections of track which can lead to some pretty awful crashes. Hopefully this serves as an unfortunate reminder to take rider safety seriously and listen to peoples concerns about the track.

 Was there, rode that section... it's loose, and you can't T bone it in the least. The section looks innocent enough, but so do alot of other areas that have ski netting. Hind sight is always 20/20.. Myself and other team managers have felt this small catch has been "interesting" to manage over the years..but it is managable...The bigger issue for me is, no one listens to what we say about anything on the courses regarding taping or pending conditions (eventual degradation of lines)... just to suck it up. This, being delegated by bureaucrats who don't ride at the speeds we do on the terrain that is dealt to us. That is changing starting right now.

 @blowmyfuse: I feel terrible for the family. And the way I deal with that is to talk about how to prevent this from happening in the future. If my family suffered a similar accident, I would also want there to be discussion about how to make things safer.

It has nothing to do with trying to 'amplify my voice'. I'm not running for office here, bud.

 Yikes. That is a section most people wouldn't spare a second though to. However, having ridden 20+ years, it definitely is one I'd log as a 8/10 max on risk I'd take with my speed entering it. There are lots of spots I've seen in my years that only the old guys would know are dangerous that inexperienced riders wouldn't even see.

 @blowmyfuse: couldn’t disagree more. Thinking of them is kind, but doesn’t help prevent this happening to the next kid. Talking about what happened and what can be changed to prevent a similar tragedy isn’t “using a kid” it’s learning and channeling that sentiment we all have, that this is terrible, towards something positive.

 @sanchofula: When a plane crashes, the NTSB doesn't send just their thoughts and prayers. They investigate the crash and if they find that there was an issue that there wasn't a rule about, they recommend the FAA to create new regulation to better protect the public. We don't have a governing body telling us how to ride, but we should still learn from the actions and mistakes of others (riders, course tapers, trailbuilders, race organizers) to better protect everyone else.

 It's an awful approach to the bridge. The turn should be much earlier to align riders with the bridge, not force the turn while coming onto it.

 That bend looks pretty innocuous compared to some of the stuff this POV rider had just negotiated, but as WestCoastWanderer says, the it's often the easier stuff that catches you out. We're extra vigilant on the tricky sections, and can let our guard down once we're through them. I much prefer XC to DH racing, partly because I'm aware of the injury toll, and partly because I like to see strategy play out. The courses seem to get tougher, and it only takes a tiny mistake to produce a catastrophic result. A few days ago I read Bernard Kerr expressing his unease about continuing in DH due to the injury toll.

 Big Whites track building and risk/terrain assessment has been suspect from the get go. It’s seriously rocky terrain and building trail isn’t easy.

Even in the winter there have been recent deaths from unsafe areas that could have easily been fenced off.

Their summer operations haven’t been operating for very long and can definitely see that more of their dough has gone into events, promotions and marketing of the bike park; rather than the safe and intelligent construction of features, safety fencing and trail network.

Compare this to the more refined neighbouring BC bike parks like Silverstar, Sun Peaks and Whistler and the difference is stark.

Definitely preventable, and course officials should make time for queries from racers and teams about the safety and consequences of sections like this.

We love this sport and it’s inherent risk, however it is only intelligent to mitigate unnecessary risk wherever possible.

Many prayers to the family and friends of this young shredder. Sad day for mountain bike riders and racers in BC!

 I feel that analysis is appropriate for this situation. The climbing community publishes a book every year (Accidents in North American Mountaineering) that analyzes every accident that gets reported every year, and it is a full paperback read last time I checked.

We don't have this in MTB, so the next best thing is discussion boards like this one. Based on this post it seems like easy enough moves but the consequences of missing the mark were just so huge. These sorts of situations are frequent in mountain biking, where the speeds or exposure is high, even if the terrain is easy. These are very dangerous situations, to be honest. There are no freak accidents in mountain sports; anything can take you out at anytime and risk/terrain/consequences need to be taken into account at all times. Kids have underdeveloped judgement, generally speaking, so race organizers need to be aware of sections where the consequences are dire, even if the technique is straightforward to get through the feature. A lot of injuries occur in situations like this.

 I'll probably be fairly heavily downvoted for this, but in the world of both race organizers and trail builders we gotta use our spidey senses and discern what could go wrong and what would create a greater chance of serious injury and at least be mindful of it. I'm not saying everything needs to be a dumbed down highway in the slightest, but having trails that a slightly off line rider would be at risk of leaving the trail entirely and face serious injury as a result should definitely be rethought in some form.

 @vtracer: What you are saying is totally reasonable. Race courses and trails should not be made to be safe necessarily, but the risks and consequences should be reasonably predictable, clear or obvious. This minimizes the chance that you are in a riskier situation than you want to accept or are aware of.

 @MT36: Yeah, I think the key here is to have tough, challenging courses, but to make sure risks are mitigated with smart course design/routing, and catch fencing/bags when there are immediate dangers that need to be minimized.

 @MT36: I've thought for a while that MTB really should have a resource like that--I was actually inspired ("inspired" feels wrong to use in this context but I can't think of another word) by the detailed list of BASE jumping deaths. The least we can do to honor somebody who dies doing a sport is to exhaustively analyze the circumstances of their death and then use that newfound knowledge to do what we can to prevent it from happening again.

On a related note, this is why I watch every Friday Fails: I don't enjoy seeing people get hurt, but I do want to learn from their mistakes.

 @blowmyfuse: just going out on a limb here but I'm gonna guess that you also think that talking about gun regulations in the aftermath of a school mass shooting is also inappropriate. If a young person dies, when is the right time to talk about ways to prevent it in the future. Can you let us know when you deem that it's the right time?

Thx,
Everyone who wants to do something to prevent needless deaths but doesn't know that now isn't the right time according to @blowmyfuse

 @sanchofula: There is no way to prevent the accident but there is/was a way to prevent the consequences of the crash. There should have been netting and pads. No reasonable parent will allow their kid to continue if fatalities are a reasonable and accepted result of crashes. If that happens, the sport dies. And given that the next BC Cup race is in a few days, whether it is or is not the best time for postgame analysis, and consideration of what needs to change, it must happen now. I am a bit dismayed that we are not seeing anything substantive about how Cycling BC is going to change this for next week....

 I was there also I seen them working on the rider.. what they said was true it's a right hand berm.over a bridge to a left hand corner. The rider missed the bridge and hit the giant rocks that run down the creek.. if there would have been pads on the rock face they might have survived..

 @MT36: I got downvoted pretty hard for making that point in regards to someone's build. I know we as mountain bikers like to label the rider as the sole person at fault in regards to such incidents, but I feel we as trailbuilders need to be cognizant of hazards that can inadvertently be created. The injury and lawsuit at mt hood would have never happened had the parties involved just stopped to ask what could potentially go wrong. I'm not saying liabitlity is the correct way to enforce this, but perhaps if it was paid greater attention to in the first place it wouldn't be an issue.

 @Pinemtn: ah, so I'm not a real person bc I have a Ukrainian flag in my bio which you have rightly ascertained means that I support the Ukrainians against Russia's illegal and immoral war of agression.

Now, I'll go ahead and assume that you are not in agreement with me. Care to tell me why I shouldn't hold my position or why it makes me an NPC?

Is it because

A. That's what the lame stream media wants me to believe man. Check out these totally not sketchy websites. Also, support the cause and get yourself some supplements while you are there.

B. I haven't taken the red pill yet, and once I do, this veil of lies which was formally known as reality will be lifted. And up will be down and down will be up and wrong will be right etc.

C. Me kinda dumb and me think Putin is great man. Like Trump. Me love strong men. But like not love like gay way, no. Me big manly man. Me alpha.

 I'd blame bikes as much as builders.

 Track builder and long time downhill racer here.

It's a delicate situation for sure. There's absolutely no way we could make this sport 100% safe. I'm sure everyone agrees that there have been COUNTLESS sections of track where we know that if we or someone else messes up this section up in the right way, they are going to have a very very bad day. We bury this way of thinking down deep to the point where it's almost an intrusive thought (impossible to ride well otherwise), but the number of sections like this on trails we ride are countless and there's just no way around that.

THAT SAID, deaths from accidents (not health related) are extremely rare in this sport - especially when it's a skilled, well equipped and well prepared rider. It's impossible not to dig into a situation like this and figure out what went wrong and how it could have been prevented from several perspectives (track, safety equipment, training, etc). The low number of deaths means that a lot has to go wrong for something like this to happen, and it's difficult not to think about what needs to change in order for that not to happen.

I know those two paragraphs are contradictory, but I think that's what a lot of us contend with when something like this happens.

 @WestC0astWanderer: There is an added problem which people tend to overlook. Easy trail features allow for higher speeds. And speed is the greatest risk factor in our sport. With impact energy rising proportional to the square of velocity. Go twice as fast, crash four times as hard.

 @blowmyfuse: @sanchofula: When is the place and time then? This is a public website and forum to discuss our sport, and is not in any way being pointed directly on to the family of the person who was affected in this case. As long as no disrespect is being paid to those harmed, we need to be able to discuss things. The world seems hellbent these days on preventing anyone from being offended by the opinion of others, but this is coming at the price of real discussion. I respect that you are trying to be respectful to the family, and of course there are people here who aren't being entirely sensitive which is a shame, but let's not them ruin a proper conversation about the issues at hand.

 @vtracer: Wow, I knew about the Mt. Hood Skibowl lawsuit but I didn't know how/why the rider crashed until I just found this newish article on Singletracks... Long story short, a high-speed flow trail had a drainage ditch crossing it shortly before a crossing of a pedestrian trail that was marked with 4" x 4" wooden posts. Rider got bucked by the ditch and broke his back on a post. I'm sorry to say I had always assumed it was a frivolous lawsuit, but this article changed my mind.

www.singletracks.com/mtb-trails/behind-the-lawsuit-that-forced-oregons-mt-hood-skibowl-bike-park-to-close

 @barp: wow excellent article thanks for sharing

 @jayacheess: Could you run for office though? You have way more common sense than The Morons running it now!

 @Jmac888: True and accurate point

 Damn, For sure, if thats where his accident occurred; especially if the berm is cut, hitting the inside line as a race run. There is a bunch baby head rocks that could easily deflect the line and send a rider trajectory straight off that bridge. I totally agree there should be safety netting on that bridge. I bet they flag it and safety net it during winter skiing.

 @jayacheess: it is important that stuff be built right. This is a tragedy. No way out of that. My kids are riders and so many of us enjoy riding with our kids. No one ever wants this to happen to their child or anyone else’s kid. They need to build stuff correctly being aware of how accidents could happen and correct it.

 @freestyIAM: you smell like Portland. Choke on your wokeness.

Someone's child died doing something he loved and all you want to do assign blame to inanimate objects.

 @blowmyfuse: you smell like podunk and bullsh it. Choke on your own ignorance.

Someone's child died and all you can think of is protecting inanimate objects.

 @barp: That article is a really good analysis, and it is terrible what happened to that rider. Skibowl is an example where it proves that some attention to trail design is necessary.

 @Pinemtn: only because of liberalism do you have the freedom to say that liberalism is a mental disorder

 @Dogl0rd: I'm not referring to classical liberalism.... I am a classical liberal.

 Should definitely be a chicane of sorts or something to transition and regulate speed into that corner.

 He plowed straight through the little berm and landed into those giant boulders that line the creek. It's pretty easy to see from race cam footage how that could happen with the speed in that section, the tiny loose berm, and location of the boulders. Very sad situation, and from the few friends I talked to that were there, it could/should have been identified by the organizers/builders, who apparently have been the opposite of receptive to design feedback over the last few years.

 Probably incumbent on us as parents of racers to force changes.

I am concerned that this weekend we will get platitudes, not pads (or netting)....

 With a shovel too! What a dude, RIP

 How about earthquake jake? That was in the early 90’s.

 why the downvotes?

 @hamncheez: Grammar Nazi's perhaps? Rest in Peace in peace....

 @hamncheez: phat phingers, little phones hopefully