A death of a Mountainbiker at Big Bear today!

[Reggaeman]

Horrible news to hear!!!

The word that has gone around today is the death of one our poeple. Aparantly she had cased a step down at the bottom of the DH course during pro practice and broke her neck. That's all of the info I've gotten from word of mouth. Everyone seems to have the same story.my thoughts go out to her.

**Courtesy DHrace.com forums**

Another witness said that she had cased a step down at the bottom of the DH and broke her neck. She was given CPR where she was revived for a short time and was yelling and screaming and then taken to hospitial where she has apparently (according to word of mouth, no official press release yet) pronounced dead.

EXTREMELY HORRIBLE NEWS!

Thoughts and prayers go out to her family and everyone who knew her!

[TokSik]

Oh god. That's horrible. Thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends.
:(

[ouch!!]

My thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family.

[blinded]

RIP :(

[the flying moose]

thats sad to hear. RIP.:(

[Orkje]

My thoughts are with her family and friends :(
RIP

[builttoride]

Thats horrible to hear!

RIP:(

[Tony G]

wow its a rare occurance when a biker gets killed. my thoughts and feelings go out to her family and her soul.

[jack]

bad news to hear thoughts and sypathy family and friends

[Big_Air_Smite]

My thoughts and prayers go out to her familly :(

Horrible news, that the first of the season?

Horrible :(

[CrazyScottishBiker]

That is so hrrible to hear when someting like that happens:(

condollences to the family and friends...

[IFO]

UGH, its always sad to see a MTN Biker taken away from us....

Condolences to the family...

hopefully the fallen rider continues to ride the "best trails on teh other side" forever....

[biker_bob]

this is horrible
RIP our fellow mountain biker

[PhotoFyffer]

thoughts go out to her family and freinds RIP

[Pennywise]

RIP whoever you are :(

[8-balled]

hate to hear that first thing in the morning, very bad news:(

[Desloc]

Dear God.... very sad if true :(

I hope they got their info wrong :(


Des

[snow_homie]

Originally posted by Tony G
wow its a rare occurance when a biker gets killed. my thoughts and feelings go out to her family and her soul.

[the bicycle boy]

sad to hear...my prayers go out to the family and friends

[theoriginalhardcore]

my prayers t tha family

iv never heard of anything like this happinging

[rcoope]

I've copied this article from

http://www.velonews.com/race/mtn/articles/3931.0.html


Big Bear: Rider dies during downhill practice

By Jason Sumner
VeloNews Associate Editor

This report filed May 18, 2003

Haruko Fujinaka was in the United States on her honeymoon. But instead of heading to the beaches of California or some other romantic destination, the native of Japan made the trip to Big Bear Lake, because just like almost everybody else who drove up Highway 18 this weekend, Fujinaka loved bike racing. Sadly it was that love that ended the 33-year-old's life, the victim of a bad crash in the Naked Falls section of the Snow Summit Resort downhill course.

"From what I was told, it was just a classic endo," said Tom Spiegel of Team Big Bear, the local organizer of the opening round of the NORBA National Championship Series that was taking place here in Southern California over the weekend. "This isn't an overly difficult course compared to some of the others out there. But everybody who is up here knows what they're getting into."

According to Big Bear fire department captain Richard Flint, the 33-year-old Fujinaka was unconscious and not responsive to any stimuli when he arrived at the scene.

The Associated Press reported that Fujinaka was then taken to a local hospital before being flown by helicopter to Loma Linda University Medical Center in Riverside County. The Kyoto native was pronounced dead at 11:51 a.m. Deputy coroner Jim Sedgwick said Fujinaka died from multiple injuries, but official cause of death would not be known until an autopsy was performed later in the week.

Fujinaka was registered in the pro category and in 2001 she scored top-10s in the downhill and dual at the Arai, Japan World Cup. But according to Trek-Volkswagen pro Mio Suemasa, who considered Fujinaka a good friend, racing was more of a hobby for Fujinaka.

"This was the first time she ever got to race in America and she was very excited," said Suemasa, who went to dinner with Fujinaka on Friday night. "She had practiced in the course and thought it was fun."

Suemasa added that Fujinaka spent her days working for the city government back home in Japan, while her free time was dedicated to riding her motorcross and mountain bikes.

"She was so tough and she never gave up," added Suemasa, who despite the tragedy qualified ninth on Sunday and was planning on racing the pro downhill final. "She loved it all, downhill, mountain cross. I worked with her a lot back in Japan and she always pushed very hard."

Team Big Bear's Spiegel said this was the first time someone had died during the long history of mountain-bike racing at Big Bear Lake, but this is not the first mountain-bike-racing related death in the U.S. An amateur rider lost his life during the mid-90s racing the Kamikaze downhill at Mammoth Mountain, California, and another amateur rider suffered a fatal heart attack at the Mammoth cross country in the late ‘90s. The only other pro rider to die racing was "Earthquake" Jake Watson, who lost his life during downhill practice for California's Keysville Classic.

[REID2003]

thats sad RIP

[nick1111]

This is very sad to hear. :( It's hard to believe that such an experienced rider could die this way. My thoughts are with her family.




Does anyone know the exact circumstances of the crash? And was she using clipless pedals? Can't imagine an endo resulting in this.

[Shivers]

A sad day.... condolences to family and friends
Rip

[Nelson]

At least she crossed the gates doing something she loves.

:angel: R I P :angel:

[Lady Gravity]

My condolences to her friends and family. RIP

[Scarface]

:( my condolences go out to her realtives and friends,
today at whislter wasnt too good either 3 people got hauled off the mountain in an ambulance I belive one of them being Andrew Arnold, he was taken down on a backboard as a precaution. kind of scary cause he didnt know why he was there and when he came up there but provided his home number. b day an all that sutff.. hope your alright bro. best wishes

[Brad Dawg]

its always terrible to hear things like this.

that arnold kid is a goon, he is pretty bunged up and got major sympathy points from the lady at white spot! His shoulder is pretty messed, and has a severe case of road rash all over his body. From what i heard from people coming down from behind him, they told me that he wasnt coming off of the mtn anytime soon. Luckily, he is alright, and should be out riding very soon. With the X games going on, mtb'ing and spring skiing, there are busy times ahead for that hospital in Whistler

[Lady Gravity]

shit...was andrew the one that crashed at the a-line drop? that looked HARSH :(

[KenN]

Very sad story. Always tough to hear about someone paying the ultimate penalty, but at least she was doing something she loved.
And a newlywed too! Poor guy.

Whistler was pretty much carnage city today. Worst I saw was on my first ride up the chair, some poor guy was on his back on by the first little table on A-line, face totally covered in blood. His little XC helmet on the ground beside him. I'm pretty sure he had a broken nose. (ow)

Kn.

[DangerBoy]

RIP

[Shore Rydah]

RIP, thats really horrible :(

what makes it worse is the fast that she was just married, vacationing. My sympathy goes out to the family and her husband.

[Fast&Smooth]

would you even want to be revived if it was that bad? not me, paralized, no thanks

[Big_Air_Smite]

Originally posted by Fast&Smooth
would you even want to be revived if it was that bad? not me, paralized, no thanks

I wouldn't, I've been in some serious pain and its the most disgusting feeling in the world. I honestly really do want someone to knock me out when I'm in that much pain :S I can't imagine what she must have been going through :(

This is such a hug blow, its shaken me a lot. So many injuries last season, bad ones, and to start the season of with this has just reminded me to stick somewhere near my limits.

[scab12]

can i have her bike and rip to her

[Shore Rydah]

Originally posted by Big_Air_Smite
has just reminded me to stick somewhere near my limits.

but if you think about it, it had nothing to do with that, sometimes you can't really control how u bail, especially on a dh course, thats a 1/million chance that someone would die from that, probably the shock. :(

[Alexey]

very sad RIP:(

[seand]

It is better to die doing what you love...

She loved biking, and the biking gods took her soul...its sad news, but atleast it was doing what she loved to do....

[parksvilleguy]

RIP


hopefully ur riding in heaven

[free ryder]

My thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family.

[sir HUCK-A-LOT]

Originally posted by Brad Dawg
its always terrible to hear things like this.

that arnold kid is a goon, he is pretty bunged up and got major sympathy points from the lady at white spot! His shoulder is pretty messed, and has a severe case of road rash all over his body. From what i heard from people coming down from behind him, they told me that he wasnt coming off of the mtn anytime soon. Luckily, he is alright, and should be out riding very soon. With the X games going on, mtb'ing and spring skiing, there are busy times ahead for that hospital in Whistler


hey she was digging it....that one ad a nice ass. got the extra fries cause of the injuries. chicks dig scars.


as for the racer in cali....prayers go out. this has been a sad weekend. i leanred yesterday that a kid from argyle died in a car crash outside of squamish. he was 2 weeks away from grad. that sucks. prayers to all that need them.