Close Call

I posted this to my Twitter account a few minutes after returning to the motorcoach.

We knew it was going to rain – actually storm – hard near the end of tonight's stage of the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah in Salt Lake City.

What we did not know was that the rain would hold off until after the race, which was great for the riders. But in the end, it was equally as dangerous for the people who stuck around for the awards ceremony.

Just as the podium ceremonies were getting going, a huge guest of wind rose up. One worker scrambled to get the photo-finish equipment taken down from the truss. He happened to catch my eye as they were starting to make a jersey presentation on stage. Just then, I saw the truss start leaning my way – with the worker still on a ladder near the top. I immediately pulled at the photographer sitting to my left and yelled at him and another guy next to him to "Move! Move!"

The truss gave way and came crashing down, narrowly missing me and the guy I pulled to safety by mere inches. But the photographer sitting farther to my left was not as lucky. He was crushed by the framework (along with my backpack).

People scrambled immediately to help. I yelled to people around me that someone was underneath the truss and we needed to lift it up. Apparently, more than one person was trapped and we needed to get them out and evaluated before the heart of the storm struck. By the time they were rescued (along with my backpack), it was starting to rain.

I rode my BMC down to the motorcoach and strapped it on the Thule rack just before it started pouring. And what a storm it was. Wow, sheets of rain.

These helmets were attached to my backpack, which was crushed by the fallen truss.