After five years of sliding down Vermont Street on children's toys (and eight years on Lombard Street before that), it was only a matter of time before someone got injured at the yearly Bring Your Own Big Wheel event. It wasn't a crashing racer who ended up in the hospital though: 45-year-old bystander Shiho Schummer was walking across the course between races when she was knocked over by a rider coming around the last blind corner.
When she hit the ground, Schummer suffered a life-threatening skull fracture and was immediately knocked unconscious. "If she wouldn't have gone into emergency surgery right as we got her to the hospital, she would have died," Schummer's husband told ABC7. Bystanders reportedly rushed to help her on the scene and neighbor Kyle Vanderbeek says most of the injuries at the event have been minor up until this point: "they've typically been amongst bystanders and spectators because of the whole not paying attention, not staying off the course and the quickness from which the riders come up."
Although the organizers haven't spoken about the incident, they did release a statement saying the "The guy who hit the first woman felt terrible. She just walked right in front of him and he couldn't avoid her." According to Schummer's husband, the Police officers who were paid to monitor the event won't file a report because the street was considered a closed race course for the event. If you get hit while crossing a race course, "it's kind of your fault," Schummer told ABC7.
Shiho Schummer is expected to survive her injuries. She and Ed do not seem interested in suing or putting a halt to the event, but they would like to see a few more safety improvements.
Organizers ponied up over $4,500 this year to make sure the event was legit with all the necessary permit applications, porta-potties and two police officers to monitor the scene. Participants signed waivers and raced in heats divided by age groups so that no children were getting run over by 200-pound man-babies. For all their efforts, the event was roundly hailed as a success by organizers, participants and neighbors. Even local grump Chuck Nevius, known for biking to work with headphones on and scolding poorly behaved cyclists, found something to like about the event.
The ABC7 video report:
