Last weekend a mountain biker lost his life while on a birthday bike ride. His wife had notified authorities that her husband was “injured and was not prepared for the cold conditions”, but officials felt that conditions were too dangerous to save the mountain biker. Read Los Angeles Times coverage of this tragic story and let us know what you think in the comments below.
Conditions were too dangerous to save mountain biker, officials say
“When his body was discovered, 34-year-old Andres Marin was still sitting on his light blue mountain bike, leaning against the side of a hill in the Cleveland National Forest.
He had his helmet on and his binoculars were around his neck; his hands were on the handlebars and his feet on the pedals.
“He was still trying, he was still fighting,” his wife, Christyna Arista, said. “He froze to death up there.”
On Tuesday, Arista, 33, said she’s not sure what happened to her husband during his birthday bike ride, but she was angry that the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department had suspended its rescue efforts.
“They devalued the life of my husband,” she said. “They just assumed he’s a young, experienced biker and he could make it.”
Arista reported her husband missing to the Sheriff’s Department about 5:30 p.m. Saturday after she failed to reach park rangers in the mountains.
She shared a map that outlined his route. She said for weeks they studied the maps, including landpoints such as cellphone towers and park ranger stations. Marin was familiar with some of the trails and had four years of mountain biking experience.
“If he thought the conditions were dangerous, he wouldn’t have gone out there,” she said. “He didn’t go out there in foolishness.”
She said something happened to her husband during the ride. During their last cellphone conversation, he told her he had fallen and he couldn’t remember much.
“His speech was low and slow, and his response was delayed,” she said. “I had to ask him things twice. He seem disoriented.”
She told investigators that her husband was injured and was not prepared for the cold conditions, but she felt that they showed no compassion.
Sheriff Lt. Zachary Hall said rescue efforts were suspended because of poor weather conditions, a decision mountain experts backed.
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