Roger Grooters was bicycling from Oceanside, Calif. to Jacksonville, Fla. and had crossed into Florida and was only a few days from completing the 3,200-mile journey to raise money to help the victims and communities on the Gulf Coast affected by the recent oil spill.
Gooters, 66, never made it.
He was hit and killed by a pickup truck in the Panama City area Wednesday.
Gooters was only 200 miles from finishing his remarkable bicycle journey.
He was pedaling a 2009 Cervelo road bike eastbound on the paved shoulder of State Road 20 when a 2006 Chevrolet pickup driven by Eddie R. Hogg, 41, of Molino struck him from behind.
Here's a newspaper story on his death.
Please check out Roger's blog on his amazing journey.
2 comments:
This sad story sounds so familiar. I know I have read about at least one other cross-country bicyclist killed on the last leg of an eastbound journey in north Florida.
Anyone know who/when that happened?
How very sad. If the bicyclist was on a paved shoulder of the road there was no reason for the truck to veer so far off the road unless he was texting, on a cell phone, falling asleep, deep in thought, or just not paying attention to his driving.
Another life lost tragically.
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