Close To Home

Yesterday I was out riding my bike when my good friend Evelyn called on the cell. I don't usually hear the phone when I'm riding, but I'm glad I did this time. I came to a stop on the side of 24th near 192nd st. She asked me if I read my emails this morning. Right away I knew it was something bad, don't ask me how, I just knew. I said I hadn't seen my emails since around 9am. She broke it to me that Doug Preston, whom we used to ride with a few years ago (and whom I hadn't seen in a year, but she talked to him at Costco a couple weeks ago) was hit head on by a car while riding his bike down Old Yale Road between 128st and Scott Road on Wednesday. He was killed instantly. If anyone knows that stretch of road it's a very steep hill and one can easily reach speeds of 60kph or more. Apparently the woman who hit him had fallen asleep at the wheel and drifted across the road and hit Doug. She had two small children in her car so it would have been much worse for her had she hit a car instead. It's strange to think that literally one or two seconds sooner or later and he would have either had more time to swerve out of her way or she would have drifted across the road behind him. I know how your reactions suffer at high speeds and I just hope Doug didn't have too much time to consider what was happening.
Needless to say I was not in the best mood for riding after that but as I continued on I thought a lot about Doug, life, and how things can change literally in a heartbeat.