Blumenthal dies following Colo. cycling accident
6:51 p.m.
Toolbox
Thatcher Moats
Times Argus Staff - Published: June 24, 2010
MONTPELIER -- A Montpelier resident competing in a long-distance mountain bike race in Colorado died Thursday from injuries he sustained when he collided with an oncoming pickup truck on a remote dirt road.
David Blumenthal, 37, died at 11 a.m. on Thursday morning at St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver, a hospital spokeswoman said last night.
Blumenthal, who lived on Tremont Street, was riding in Routt County, CO near Steamboat Springs on Wednesday morning when he hit a pick-up truck that was coming in the other direction, according to a Colorado state trooper.
“What happened was they were on a narrow mountain dirt road, and he was riding in the opposite lane and collided with the side of a pickup that was coming in the opposite direction on a curve,” said Matthew Velasquez, the Colorado State Patrol trooper who went to the scene.
Velasquez said he determined Blumenthal was riding in the opposite lane based on where the bicycle, Blumenthal and the truck came to rest.
Blumenthal was taken to a hospital in Steamboat Springs and then airlifted to Denver, Velasquez said.
The Tour Divide race Blumenthal was competing in runs the length of a 2,745-mile trail that crisscrosses the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains.
It has been described as the toughest mountain bike race in the world.
The Tour Divide web site quickly posted a brief write-up about the accident on its website and an audio webcast talks about the crash, noting that Blumenthal sustained a serious head injury.
People from Vermont and elsewhere posted messages on the Tour Divide website wishing Blumenthal and his family the best.
“We’re all pulling for you, Dave, and hoping to see you at home in Montpelier soon,” one person wrote on the website.
Blumenthal was well-known in the central Vermont cycling community, and news of the collision quickly spread around town.
Blumenthal was a member of the local cycling team Onion River Racing, according to Nick Petterssen, who is a member of the team and also the director of The Confluence gym in Montpelier.
Petterssen, who was reached before it was clear Blumenthal died, described Blumenthal as an excellent athlete with a range of skills whose company everyone seemed to enjoy.
Known as “Big Dave,” Blumenthal would sew his own sleeping bags and tents and was helpful as The Confluence gym opened last year, according to Petterssen.
“When we were launching the gym here he designed us a climbing gym, and he painted our signs,” said Petterssen.
He was someone with a “lot of hidden talents,” said Petterssen.
The Central Vermont Cycling Tour, which is organizing a tour that starts in East Montpelier this Sunday, has now dedicated the event to Blumenthal.
“We would like to dedicate this event to Dave Blumenthal…who has been pivotal in helping to make this event happen,” the website says.
Velasquez said a ranger from a nearby state park was at the accident scene within 10 minutes of the collision.
Ambulance crews made it to the scene within 20 or 30 minutes, said Velasquez.
Velasquez said it appears that the driver of the pickup truck is not at fault in the accident.
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