Johnny Gaudreau Cyclist

[cah485]

Such a horrible event where Johnny and his brother were killed by a drunk driver. I am by no means trying to take anything away from the loss that his family must feel. Or the horrible nature of the event. I do have a couple of questions. Again, these are obviously not important at all in the grand scheme of things.

1. Was Johnny an avid cyclist? I'm just curious is he was an avid rider, or just something he was doing for fun that day, but didn't ride very often. Every now and then you hear about professional athletes in other sports being very big into cycling (Bill Walton comes to mind), but had never heard anything about Johnny.

2. I think I saw in a crash report that the accident happened around 8:30 pm. I live in the Philadelphia area. This time of year, its full dark at 8:30 pm. Johnny and his brother being killed was the result of a drunk driver who was violating traffic laws. And I'm not trying to take anything away from that. Its just when these types of things happen I'm always curious about the details to learn if there are safety measures that others can take to hopefully avoid getting killed on the roads. Does anyone know if they had lights on their bikes?

[meyatt]

I'm a pretty avid hockey fan and cyclist. Based on what I read nothing would have helped.

The car in front of the drunk driver went over the centerline to give the cyclists space, the drunk driver was tailgating hard and tried to pass on the right into the part of the lane that was open and the shoulder just as the car in front was passing them cycling.

I have not read anything saying they had lights, however the car in front clearly did see them.

Unfortunately, I'm sure the drunk driver's lawyer will try to discredit everything from the lights to the sobriety accident. He ironically worked in a substance abuse facility.

It's a tragedy for their respective families. All of us who ride on road have had our fair share of close passes, I am grateful for every time I come home on a ride and my fiancee asks me how it was and I don't have a story to tell.

[Pumablk]

As a Caps fan, he's the reason I'd buy a ticket vs the Jackets. Condolences to his family, friends, teammates, organization, and fans.

There's also a 5 page thread here, fyi -

https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=309745

[cah485]

Thanks for your replies. I've seen that thread, but wanted to start a new one with a different focus (the other thread seemed to have focused in on possible repercussions for the driver). Just curious if anyone had any information specific to my two questions in the original post.

[trener1]

I had the same 2 questions that you did but have not seen anything that talks to either of those points.

[LIRider]

I’m a big hockey fan and also do fantasy hockey. I’ve had Johnny Hockey on my fantasy team every year that he’d been in the league. I’ve never seen or read anything about him being a cyclist, though I guess many hockey players use it as a form of cross training. I do know many ride a stationary bike after games.

I wondered too why they were on the road that late. Maybe they were almost home from a ride? That would make it even more tragic…

[jemoryl]

Originally Posted by LIRider

I’m a big hockey fan and also do fantasy hockey. I’ve had Johnny Hockey on my fantasy team every year that he’d been in the league. I’ve never seen or read anything about him being a cyclist, though I guess many hockey players use it as a form of cross training. I do know many ride a stationary bike after games.

I wondered too why they were on the road that late. Maybe they were almost home from a ride? That would make it even more tragic…

Yeah, I know there are some NHL players who are serious cyclists. Two I can think of are Zdeno Chara and Mike Richter. I'm sure there must be others, but don't know about Johnny G.