there isn't much to say.  my form is completely gone.  i've only taken 3
weekends off in the past 6 months.  the season is over and it will be a
while before i ride my bike again.

and as many of you know, nicole reinhart died at bmc.  i didn't know her,
just started in a few races she was in.  she was a fantastic cyclist.  i
can't stop thinking about it, partly because it's so close--i was in that
race (only 3 mi from my house) for the first third, i skidded out on at
least two of the turns myself, and i was watching the finish line, waiting
for her to appear.

this is the best coverage i've seen so far.  don't report me to the globe
for infringing their copyright.  i just wanted you all to know what       
happened.


Cyclist killed in Arlington race

Crashes near end of pro tour event

By Tony Chamberlain, Globe Staff, 9/18/2000


ARLINGTON - One of the most promising professional bicycle racers of her
generation died yesterday following a high-speed crash near the finish of
a 45-mile road race.

Nicole Reinhart, a 24-year-old two-time US national track bicycle champion
from Mertztown, Pa., was point rider on the highly successful Team
Saturn. She seemed poised to make a miracle come-from-behind finish in     
yesterday's BMC Tour of Arlington that would have paid her $250,000 for a
four-race sweep.

But about a mile from the finish, on Highland Avenue, as the lead pack of
about a dozen cyclists lined up on the left side of a straightaway to
prepare for a tight 90-degree righthand turn, Reinhart lost control of her
bike and fell, striking a tree headfirst.

''The accident remains under investigation,'' said Arlington police chief
Frederick Ryan. ''We do have film footage we will use to make our
investigation.''

Race officials who saw the footage shot on the course for ESPN said that
Reinhart appeared to be squeezed out by the pack of riders around her, and
that her left pedal looked as though it struck the curb, sending her bike
out of control.                         

Race officials speculated the lead pack was moving at about 30 miles per
hour at the time.

First-aid officials tried to revive Reinhart with CPR at the scene before
she was taken to Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, where she was
pronounced dead at 1:27 p.m. as a result of massive multiple trauma. The
crash occurred shortly before 1 p.m.

At least one other competitor fell in the crash. Saturn teammate Sandy
Espesth was treated and released from the Lahey Clinic in Burlington.

''This is just so difficult,'' said Dave Chauner, a friend of Reinhart and
president of Threshold Sports, which produced the event. ''She was so
talented in so many ways, and was one of the most promising riders in the
sport for many years. She could well have been racing into her 30s.''

Terming the fatality ''very unusual'' in cycling, Phil Milburn, chief  
operating officer of US Cycling, the sport's national organization,
added: ''This cuts very deeply through the whole sport of
cycling. Everyone feels it.''

In the midmorning sunshine, several thousand spectators had gathered near
the start in front of town hall and spread out on the course, which made a
3.5-mile loop around the town - 12 laps for the women's race. (A men's
race that was scheduled to follow was canceled.)

With music pumping, vendors working the streets, and child amusements in
full swing, the day had all the promise of a late-summer holiday, one
officials said they had been anticipating with excitement for many months.

The heavily favored Saturn Team, with Reinhart at the core, had won the
three previous circuit races on the BMC Software Grand Prix Circuit. With
a win yesterday, Reinhart would have collected a $250,000 bonus offered by
BMC Software.                                                             

So all eyes were on Reinhart and the canary-clad Team Saturn members as
they streaked off down Massachusetts Avenue from the start line.

Problems began right away as, halfway through the first lap, in a downhill
90-degree turn, a crash occurred that sent Reinhart and several other
bikers from her team to the pavement. In disarray for more than a minute,
Team Saturn was more than 80 seconds off the pace by the time it regrouped
- a nearly impossible deficit to overcome.

But with her team closing around her, with several taking turns as leader
so she could draft off them, Reinhart began a slow, steady recovery.

Cutting the deficit from 120 seconds to 60 and then 25, Reinhart and Team
Saturn stormed back. Late in the race, they caught the lead pack in the
steep uphill section.             

As the bell clanged for the start of the final lap, Reinhart had lost
several of her teammates to fatigue, and was in sixth place with only two
Saturn riders still with her. As the leaders scrambled up the steep Park
Avenue hill, Reinhart made the turn onto Eastern Avenue, taking a slight
lead for the first time.

When that was announced, the big crowd at the finish sent up a roar, but
confusion reigned moments later. Tina Mayolo from Team Auto Trader
streaked across the finish at the head of the lead pack, without Reinhart
and her No. 1 bib among them.

Within the hour, as the men's race was assembling, officials announced to
a stunned crowd that Reinhart had been pronounced dead after a crash.

Riders and officials agreed to cancel the men's race in Reinhart's memory,
and the $250,000 prize will be used to set up a foundation in her honor.     

''Those kinds of falls happen all the time,'' said race spokesman Shawn
McBride. ''[Lance] Armstrong caught a pedal and went down just the other
day. But the result is never like this one. There were just too many
bicycles in one place and Nicole just got squeezed out.''

At age 12, Reinhart won nine US national junior championships, and began
winning bike track titles in 1997. Though she fell just short of this
year's Olympic team, she had won circuit races in Austin, Houston, and San
Jose entering yesterday's tour finale.

''Nicole was on a mission to win the race today,'' said Saturn team
director Tom Shuler. ''That was the way she lived her life ... to do great
things in life, cycling, and beyond.''

Noting the moment of tribute paid to Reinhart after the accident, when
teammates rode to the scene and joined hands for a moment of reflection,
Shuler said, ''Nicole will forever be a member of the Saturn cycling         
team.''