(Photo: Oregon State Police)
22-year old Laura Sherrod remains in critical condition today after she crashed her bike on Timberline Road Saturday afternoon while riding down from Timberline Lodge and Ski Area on Mt. Hood.
According to the Oregon State Police (OSP), at about 3:15, Sherrod and a group of riders departed from the lower parking lot of the ski area. Sherrod was riding a 16″ Trek “Mountain Cub” bicycle when she collided with a fog marker. The police say she was found by a passing motorist on the highway shoulder and the incident was, “apparently not witnessed by any of the other bicyclists”.
(Photo: Oregon State Police)
Sherrod was transported by LifeFlight to Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) where, according to a friend of Sherrod’s, she was given “live saving surgery”.
The OSP says Sherrod is from Panama City, Florida, but is currently living in the Portland area.
(Photo: Aaron Tarfman)
Sherrod was on a “Hood Bomb” when the incident occurred. Hood Bomb is an unofficial ride where participants drive up to Timberline Lodge and then ride down the hill on mini-bikes.
A friend of Sherrod’s tells BikePortland that, “she got going way too fast at the start, lost control, and slid on her left side into a post.” Sherrod hit the fog pole with her chest, causing several broken ribs, a broken shoulder blade, a collapsed lung and a punctured lung. The friend also says that doctors at OHSU say she is stabilizing and has been taken off a breathing apparatus.
Groups of Portlanders have been doing the Hood Bomb for several years. Here’s a photoset on Flickr from a Hood Bomb last summer.
Here’s coverage of this crash in The Oregonian.
Get well soon Laura.