{"id":44272,"date":"2021-10-11T19:56:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-12T01:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cyclist-who-died-while-competing-in-leadville-trail-100-mountain-bike-race-is-identified\/"},"modified":"2021-10-12T01:56:00","modified_gmt":"2021-10-12T01:56:00","slug":"cyclist-who-died-while-competing-in-leadville-trail-100-mountain-bike-race-is-identified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cyclist-who-died-while-competing-in-leadville-trail-100-mountain-bike-race-is-identified\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyclist who died while competing in Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race is identified"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Leadville
Leadville is pictured on May 7. (Andy Colwell\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A man who died in a crash a few miles from the finish line at the Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race in August suffered blunt force injuries to his chest, according to a recently released autopsy report.<\/p>\n

Christopher Wood, 47, died of injuries including tears in the veins that carry blood to the heart, bruises to the heart muscles and eight fractured ribs, according to the report released by the Lake County Coroner\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

He was potentially on track to finish in under nine hours, a feat reserved for top athletes, who are feted with a silver and gold belt buckle.<\/p>\n

Wood, a married father of one daughter, had a long career with UPS, according to an online obituary. It also identified him as a former Navy petty officer 2nd class who served as an intelligence specialist.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe enjoyed life to the fullest and was always ready for an adventure. He always wanted others to join in on the excitement of his next outdoor adventure, especially his recent passion for mountain biking,\u201d the obituary said. \u201cChris\u2019 family and friends will miss him more than words can say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several racers said Wood died while biking downhill during the Aug. 14 race, possibly from injuries suffered in a high-speed crash or a medical incident that happened while he was pedaling.<\/p>\n

Al Thresher, who was the first person to discover Wood after the crash, saw Wood\u2019s teal bike 5 feet from the trail, near the top of a long, steady incline, known as St. Keven\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor all of the riders, you spent all day climbing,\u201d Thresher told The Colorado Sun. \u201cBy the time you reach the top of St. Keven\u2019s, it\u2019s kind of like you\u2019re finished. You\u2019ve just got to make it down this hill and roll to the finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described the section of the course where he found Wood as one of the easier parts of the course because of the terrain, which was less rocky than other parts. Even so, the altitude sets the race apart from others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe race starts at 10,000 feet, so the altitude is already risky for some people, if not everyone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Thresher said he rushed toward Wood and began to yell, asking if he was OK, and checked for his pulse. He felt nothing. Shortly after, a second rider arrived and the two took turns giving Wood chest compressions.<\/p>\n

A third rider, who worked as an ER doctor, also stopped to help, Thresher said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was flying because at that point in the race and I think a lot of riders are \u2013 they are getting real close to that nine hours, to that big buckle. I think at that point, people are really focused,\u201d he said. \u201cRiders are usually spread out, so there\u2019s not normally clumps of riders that are together at that point in the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paramedics arrived about 30 minutes from when he first spotted Wood\u2019s body, Thresher said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tricky part is that they\u2019re having to drive up the part of the course where all of the riders are descending, so that made it, I am sure, difficult,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Alexander Krieg, Lake County Coroner, refused to release Wood\u2019s name or any details about the crash before the release of the report. Wood\u2019s autopsy, which was obtained through a public records request, showed that the cyclist also had several bruises to his arms and legs.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the race organizer declined to comment on Wood\u2019s injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur thoughts and prayers are with the athlete\u2019s family and friends during this difficult time,\u201d said Jordan Titus, spokesman for the race owner Life Time, in an emailed statement in August.<\/p>\n

Attempts to reach Wood\u2019s family were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Wood\u2019s death marks the second fatality in the race\u2019s 38-year history.<\/p>\n

In 2015, veteran cyclist Scott Ellis died of an apparent heart attack during the race. Ellis, 55, was climbing the grueling Powerline section of the course around mile 80 when he collapsed.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christopher Wood\u2019s death marks second-ever fatality in event history<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[233,255,28,977],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-44272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-death-and-dying","tag-headlines","tag-mountain-biking"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44272"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=44272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}