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Spectator injured at Tour de Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/22/07 9:22 AM
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A cycling fan who ascended Brasstown Bald on Friday to watch the end of the steepest stage of the Tour de Georgia bicycle race nearly died after losing control of his bicycle on the way down and crashing into a rock embankment. Rescuers kept Thomas Kinnebrew alive with chest compressions, said Trooper Johnny Ensley of the Georgia State Patrol.
Kinnebrew, 53, of Helena, Ark., was wearing a helmet, but suffered severe injuries to his head and spine and a collapsed lung, the trooper said. Kinnebrew was in critical but stable condition at North Fulton Regional Hospital on Saturday. He was paralyzed from the waist down and on life support, said Ensley, of the patrol’s Blue Ridge Post 27.
Cycling-related injuries have occurred before on the steep, snaking turns of Georgia’s highest peak. A fan died after last year’s Tour stage there, Ensley said. “We have something going every year, and it’s not the ones involved in the bicycle race — it’s the spectators.”
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