Robert Conatser is lucky to be alive, friends say, after a cycling accident Wednesday night on Tribble Gap Road.
Chris Shadburn said Conatser was riding his bicycle from Sawnee Mountain when the front tire blew out. The blowout caused him to lose control and strike an oncoming Chevrolet Silverado pickup.
“The truck didn’t even have time to react to Robert coming at him,” said Shadburn, manager of Reality Bikes & Skateboards in Cumming.
“[Conatser] flew over the top of the truck and is at North Fulton Medical Center, fortunately, with no head trauma.”
The cyclist does, however, have severe cuts, a broken tibia and fractured femur, Shadburn said.
Karleen Chalker with the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office said the collision happened about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 2500 block of Tribble Gap.
The official report of the incident was not available Thursday afternoon, but Chalker confirmed the bicycle crossed into the path of the truck.
Conatser was riding with a group of people, several of whom Shadburn said have visited him in the hospital.
Shadburn, who was with Conatser until late Wednesday night, said the injured man was in “good spirits."
He said Conatser has been riding for several years, but it "wouldn’t have mattered if he was a professional rider or a guy who got a bike a week ago."
"It wasn’t anything due to him mishandling the bike, it simply was a freak accident," Shadburn said. “The driver of the car was just as freaked out as anyone else that saw it happen.”
Chris Shadburn said Conatser was riding his bicycle from Sawnee Mountain when the front tire blew out. The blowout caused him to lose control and strike an oncoming Chevrolet Silverado pickup.
“The truck didn’t even have time to react to Robert coming at him,” said Shadburn, manager of Reality Bikes & Skateboards in Cumming.
“[Conatser] flew over the top of the truck and is at North Fulton Medical Center, fortunately, with no head trauma.”
The cyclist does, however, have severe cuts, a broken tibia and fractured femur, Shadburn said.
Karleen Chalker with the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office said the collision happened about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 2500 block of Tribble Gap.
The official report of the incident was not available Thursday afternoon, but Chalker confirmed the bicycle crossed into the path of the truck.
Conatser was riding with a group of people, several of whom Shadburn said have visited him in the hospital.
Shadburn, who was with Conatser until late Wednesday night, said the injured man was in “good spirits."
He said Conatser has been riding for several years, but it "wouldn’t have mattered if he was a professional rider or a guy who got a bike a week ago."
"It wasn’t anything due to him mishandling the bike, it simply was a freak accident," Shadburn said. “The driver of the car was just as freaked out as anyone else that saw it happen.”