First City Cycling’s Paul Bass is in the ICU at the Medical Center of the Rockies following a collision with a car during a training ride Sunday morning.
Less than 30 minutes into their ride Paul, his brother Joel, Greg Thornton, Dave Heuter, Trace Whitcomb, Thomas Popple and Jim McChesney were riding two abreast and heading North on Overland Trail at an estimated 15mph. At approximately 10:23 an 87 year old male driving a 1997 Chevy Lumina turned East on to County Road 54G from Overland Trail (the driver was heading South on Overland Trail and turning East onto 54G. This is the intersection where the Swing Station is.). Tom tried to alert the driver by “screaming at the top of my lungs”. According to other riders, the driver never saw them and didn’t use a blinker. “He kinda came to a stop and just gunned it,” says Dave Heuter. “He was looking West”. Tom Popple slid over the hood and managed to land on his feet and briefly gave chase since the elderly driver didn’t stop right away. Paul Bass impacted the hood, windshield and was launched 6-8 feet into the air. Firemen from the Poudre Fire Authority Station 7 heard the impact and had responded to the accident in about one minute. Popple refused medical transport but Paul Bass who was unconscious for an estimated 10 minutes was transported to the Poudre Valley Hospital and then the Medical Center of the Rockies with; a broken C5 vertebra, a broken right elbow and most seriously a intraventricular hemorrhage in the brain. He is currently in the ICU being evaluated but is able to move both arms and legs and is conscious but medicated.
None of the other riders were hit. The driver of the Lumina who was reportedly visibly shaken was cited for two counts of wreckless driving by the Colorado State Patrol.
