Comments on: Short Track for Rookies: Dedicated to the Speedy Recovery of Colby Brooks

By: iride

iride — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:56:13 +0000

Great writing. I was able to follow you through the race so well… Good to hear Colby is doing well.

By: Mark C

Mark C — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:55:45 +0000

In reading through the report and the following comments at BikePortland, I think they did the right thing by continuing the race. This sounds like one of those deals where the electrical signals in the heart got disrupted for some reason – nothing to do with fitness. Hopefully it can be corrected so it doesn’t happen again. That’s what I’m praying and hoping for.

By: Aimee

Aimee — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:39:54 +0000

Holy Shit. That’s scary. And I would assume this man trained and did lots of healthy type things being in a bike race. Wow! I’m glad that woman was there to keep the oxygen and blood pumping while his own body gave out.

By: kristin

kristin — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:14:31 +0000

Great job on your first mtb race! I will be joining you next week.

By: K-Man

K-Man — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:01:38 +0000

I gotta come up and try those camel bumps of death.

Don’t worry about not stopping… it’s a natural reaction. Those in our bike community care deeply about each other- and your response exemplifies our concern.

I wished I was up there to help, but there’s not much I could have done even if I had been there. Everyone involved did their job well.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:30:39 +0000

An amazing write-up Heidi. On all counts.

I love your machine gun recount of the race itself. It’s such a fast pace compared to the typical mountain bike race. Maybe next year I’ll be able to do the short track too.

And there’s no way you or any of the other racers could have known his condition. At a bike race, you naturally assume that if someone’s down it’s a race-related injury. There are a lot of comments on the article you linked thoughtfully supporting the actions taken.

I’m just so relieved and happy that Colby’s stable. It’s fantastic that he was able to hang on with CPR for 10 minutes before the ambulance arrived. And I hope he recovers quickly.

By: BettyC

BettyC — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:29:14 +0000

Wow – so tragic – I am glad he is doing better.

I have also been noticing the parallel events in life – things are not as connected as they seem – different things happen to different people at the same time. It’s not making sense to me right now, but I keep going around the track as well.

By: erikv

erikv — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:30:11 +0000

For what it’s worth, if I ever go down like that, I want the racers to just bunnyhop me until I get off the course. Wouldn’t you?

Of course, any good person would have stopped racing had they known someone was dying on the race course. That would include you.

No harm done. We both know it. Unless the race organizers halted racing, there was no way to know. Any chiding is ultimately directed their way, not yours.

Get well Colby!