Shipeng’s commute (Email By Patrick Born)
Here’s the data I pulled from Shipeng’s Garmin:
He was riding at 28.5 MPH, pedaling at 100 revolutions per minute, and his heart was beating at 150 beats per minute.
Those numbers are amazing and he’d give such a big smile if asked about this commute. He was doing what he most loved, riding as fast and as hard as he could.
I walked the road just after 7:00 AM this morning. It’s a high-speed downhill sweep to the right.
Shipeng knows this road really well and based on his other ride data he usually took this corner at speed on the way home.
The attached rRiverSite.jpg file is annotated with my opinion of what could have happened.
The attached rriverRoadSquirrel.jpg shows the squirrel I saw trying to cross the road this morning while I was walking the area, trying to understand how I would ride the road and perhaps how Shipeng may have taken the turn at speed.
The attached rriverRoadView.jpg shows what a cyclist sees looking over the handlebar.
The road has damage to the lane so when entering the corner, he would have to either choose an outer or inner line to ride his bicycle and not change this line else he’d go into oncoming traffic or cross over the road damage in his lane.
I suspect he was taking the inner line and either road debris or something caused him to shift his position slightly, potentially riding over the damaged road and losing control.
Regards,
Patrick—
Shipeng often spoke of his biking friend Patrick’s athletic quality: Patrick is not only a high performance biker, he is also a fast long distance runner.
Patrick and Aurea created this ghost bike memorial for Shipeng.
