American racer Nicky Hayden passed away today from injuries suffered in a bicycle crash last week in Italy.
A statement released by the hospital confirmed the news. Hayden never regained consciousness after the impact of the crash between his bicycle and a car. He had been kept on life support for nearly a week while his family sought solutions to his very dire diagnosis.
Read the rest over at Superbike Planet.
Oddly, the whole story was basically ignored by the Bicycling Media. Yes, Hayden was an alien to bicyclists, being he was a Motorcyclist, first. However, people would be amazed at the huge cross-over between Cyclist/Motorcyclists and Motorcyclist/Bicyclists. They are not mutually exclusive as many people believe. Specialized, for one, sponsors a whole lot of Professional Motorcyclists, and they understand the benefits of bicycling to a racers overall fitness.
I, myself, have seen the benefits of combining bicycling with my motorcycling life, and I have been doing both for years now. And, I am not alone in this philosophy among motorcyclists.
To sum it all up, you'd think the Bicycling Media would get it, too. Nah, they don't. They're part of the whole Bicycle Racer/Snob mentality that pervades the sport. In short, the Bicycling Media sucks!
Godspeed, Nicky.
