On The Road
by: Bill Oetinger 12/1/2012
End-of-the-year wrap-up
The first real storm of this winter season has arrived, and it's a ring-tailed snorter. Rain is belting down in an Amazonian, frog-strangling deluge, and high winds are lashing it all up into a frothy frenzy. The weather pros say it's supposed to keep on like this for the next six days and may even get worse, with flooding and all the usual big-storm hoohaw. So I had better get this column written before the power goes out. It's that time of year, when minimal daylight and funky weather conspire to make riding difficult. (Why is it that the season of less riding coincides with the season of more eating?)
For lack of any other more interesting topic this month, the last month of the year, I am proposing to tidy up a few loose ends from columns over the past year.
I want to follow up--again--on the unhappy topic of those cars-vs-bikes incidents covered in my July and September columns. It's a tedious topic, but I feel it's a chore I need to do, like taking out the garbage. This follow-up involves the wheels of justice, which, as we all know, grind exceeding slow.
Of all the terrible cases of cars hitting bikes that I mentioned in those two previous essays, only three (that I know of) have led to extensive court proceedings for the drivers. In all of the other cases, either the cyclists--now all dead--were judged to be at fault, or the drivers were judged to be at fault but only in a non-criminal sense: "Oops, sorry about that! Sorry I turned in front of you and killed you. My bad! Have a nice afterlife!"
The three cases involving criminal proceedings are inching their way through the system. The earliest--or longest ago--incident is as yet the least resolved of the three. On June 8, Robert Cowart allowed his full-size pick-up to drift off Petaluma Hill Road and hit a cyclist, retired Sonoma State professor Steve Norwick, who later died of his injuries. According to witnesses, Cowart never even slowed down after striking Norwick. When apprehended later, he said he didn't stop because he was late for work.
At his arraignment on June 13, 68-year old Cowart appeared incapacitated by medical infirmities, and his attorney noted that he had recently suffered a stroke and possibly an aneurysm that may have affected blood flow to his brain. (As I noted in my prior column, this begs the question: if this is true, why was he allowed to drive at all?) It was also reported at that time that Cowart has three prior convictions for DUI, but he claims to have not had a drink since the last conviction in 2005. He has been through two rounds of psychological and medical examinations to determine if he is competent to stand trial on the hit-and-run charge. There is supposed to be a decision on that matter any day now.
In the second incident, driver Arthur Yu plowed head-on into young pro racer Michael Torckler while out joy-riding in a stolen car on Pine Flat Road. Torckler was severely injured. Yu fled the scene but was tracked down and arrested. (All this is detailed in my September column.) In October, Yu pleaded no contest to all the charges against him, which include hit-and-run causing great bodily injury, reckless driving causing great bodily injury, stealing a car, and driving on a suspended license. He was due to be sentenced a few days ago, but his attorney asked for a continuance, and his sentencing is now scheduled for November 30. His assorted crimes could earn him over ten years in prison.
Meanwhile, on a more positive note, I am pleased to report that Michael Torckler is back in the saddle, on his way to recovery from the horrible injuries inflicted on him in this crash. He has signed with Santa Rosa-based Bissel Pro Cycling and completed the Tour of Southland, an eight-stage race in New Zealand in October. He didn't do anything too spectacular in the race. He finished 61st on GC. But that's ahead of half the peloton, and considering how badly mauled he was just a few months ago…how close to death…this is a great result.
The third case--also covered in my September column--continues to move along. On November 9, there was a hearing to decide if Harry Smith could be tried for attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon (his car), and hit-and-run in the case where he harassed and struck cyclist Toraj Soltani on August 15, including racing his car down a golf course fairway in pursuit of the fleeing cyclist. A report on that hearing, including extensive testimony about the incident, is available at the Santa Rosa Rosa Press Democrat website. The judge in the case agreed with the prosecutor that Smith could be tried on all charges, also including driving on a license that had been suspended because of a prior road rage case. If convicted, he faces over 13 years in prison.
Meanwhile, Soltani has recovered from his injuries and is back at work. He has sued Smith in civil court, asking for, among other damages, compensation for $140,000 in medical bills. That segues nicely into the next item on this sorry subject: the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition has put forward a proposed new ordinance that would make it easier for cyclists to make claims in civil court against drivers who intentionally harass them. Called the Vulnerable Road User Protection Ordinance, it is modeled on one adopted in Los Angeles last year. It makes it easier to sue for damages and increases the possible financial penalties, making any such cases more attractive to attorneys.
The proposal is being submitted to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors and to each of the cities within the county. I am happy to report that my hometown of Sebastopol is the first city in the county to formally adopt the ordinance. I have high hopes for the other cities and the county on this front. There are now avid cyclists on the Board of Supes and various city councils.
Now, on to other, more enjoyable topics, if only briefly…
In October, I reported on what I thought was the best grand tour of the year: the Vuelta a España. I felt bad for nice guy Joaquin Rodriguez, who had the overall victory snatched away from him so unexpectedly, near the end. It's nice now to note that the likable Spaniard gained some consolation after that disappointment by winning the last monument of the season, the Giro di Lombardia.
Overall, I don't think the guy has much to feel bad about for his 2012 season. Besides winning Lombardia and a number of stages, he finished second at the Giro (by a scant :16) and third at the Vuelta, and thus becomes the only rider to stand on two grand tour podiums this year.
Speaking of grand tours, who would have predicted, just two or three years ago, that two out of three of the big races would be won by members of the British Commonwealth? Canadian Ryder Hesjedal won the Giro and Brit Bradley Wiggins won the Tour. Or, for that matter that Commonwealth riders would win the Tour two years in a row?
Now Team Sky is teasing us all with the suggestion that, in 2013, Wiggins will focus on the Giro (to round out his palmares), and another Brit, Chris Froome, will be the team leader at the Tour. They say a hillier parcourse for the next Tour favors Froomey. I've taken quick squints at both the Giro and Tour courses for 2013 and can't really form a solid assessment of what it all means yet. But just looking at the profiles and rolling those names around whets my appetite for the races to come: Galibier (in the Giro, not the Tour), Gavia, l'Alpe du Huez, Stelvio, Ventoux…
And then there's the Tour of California: we're just learning about the course for next May; learning that it will start--for the first time--in Southern California and end in Santa Rosa, and that its queen stage will be a mountaintop finish on Mount Diablo in the East Bay. Heady stuff! All of the anticipation is enough to make me almost forget the dreary news stories about doping. (As I said last month: time to move on.)
As I sit here, in the last, dark month of the year, looking out at the rain, thinking about my rides that may be washed out in the next week or two, I am also thinking about the new year: about the rides I will be doing and the races I will be enjoying when springtime rolls around again. But while we await those balmier, palmier days ahead, let us not forget to live well within this holiday season, remembering what it is supposed to mean for all of us: peace on earth and good will to all men, women, and children, and to cats and dogs too. Best wishes and good cheer to all of you!
Bill can be reached at srccride@sonic.net