Bike riding can be as dangerous as climbing Mount Rainier or horseback riding in the Rockies? That's the preliminary finding by a National Park Service team that assessed the risk of commercial cycling at Haleakala National Park.
The assessment, prepared in the wake of the death last fall of a woman pedaling down from the summit of 10,023-foot Mount Haleakala, was presented earlier this week to the Park Service's West Region Board of Review.
“Based on accidents and fatalities, it rates as one of the highest risks,” park Superintendent Marilyn Parris said about the bike tours in an interview with The Maui News.
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I am so tired of hearing that when an accident happens it is always rider error. My husband and I were married in Maui and decided to go back to celebrate our 10 year wedding aniversary. We really looked forward to this 2 week vacation and made a lot of plans, including the bike tour through what was referred to as the safest bike company. We went on the first full day of our vacation and wore bike helmets. My husband says that my bike appeared to hit a reflector in the road and I went down with the bike, hit my head, and went unconscious. I am in shape and have ridden a bike for years without any issues. I spent the entire two week vacation in the Maui hospital and went home in a wheelchair with a serious closed head injury. I missed 3 months of work and still can't remember anything around the time of the accident. It has been a nightmare recovering and definitely was not worth it!!! And I am a lucky one who did recover!
If they just ban commercial bicycle use, that's fine. To keep private citizens from using the road would be a horrible mistake.
My husband and I went back to Maui to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary last year (we got married on Maui) and the first full day of our long planned vacation we did the bike ride through a tour company with safe bikes and helmets. I am fit and have ridden a bike for years without ever getting hurt. My husband is an avid bikest. On the ride my bike hit something in the road and the bike went down. I was unconscious for a few minutes and spent our entire vacation in the hospital. I went home in a wheelchair. My husband says the people at the hospital said there are people admitted all the time who were hurt on the bike ride. I have since found out that a few people have even died. I couldn't work for a few months and the recovery process was a nightmare. It's a year and a half later and although I'm 99% recovered it still haunts me (even though I can't remember anything regarding the accident or the first couple of months after). My husband wasn't that impressed with the ride and there is no way I would recommend doing it. I never in a million years thought this would happen to me and as far as I'm concerned it is not at all worth the risk.