Mountain bike bridge safety gets second look after Austin doctor's death

A rare fatality on a Minnesota mountain biking trail last weekend threw a spotlight on trail safety in the sport, which has seen rising popularity among high school racers as well as a host of new trails statewide.

Retired doctor and mountain bike enthusiast Richard "Dick" Schindler, 72, slipped off a bridge he was crossing Saturday on his mountain bike, falling face-first to the ground. According to the Mower County coroner, Schindler broke his neck and died instantly. He was wearing a helmet.

The wooden bridge was part of a small mountain bike trail system Schindler had helped build at Riverland Community College in Austin. The bridge had no guardrails, and was designed to help bikers cross a small stream.

Wooden ramps and bridges are common features of mountain bike trails in Minnesota and elsewhere, and with a renewed interest in the sport driven in part by a popular high school mountain biking league that's drawn hundreds of riders into the sport in its three years of existence, new trail systems are sprouting up across the state.

Strobel said he had heard some high school riders with the Austin Mountain Bike Team had had troubles with the bridge as well, but the team's coach, Spencer Salmon, said that wasn't the case. Salmon said that the team likely would modify the bridge surface by laying chicken wire across it to give bike tires more traction, but that it's unknown if that would have prevented the fall that killed Schindler. No one witnessed the crash.

"This type of accident could have happened if you were walking, running or skiing," he added.

Many of the new mountain biking trails in the state will be built according to safety guidelines established by the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA), according to trail builders and parks officials.

"Just in our basic trail design, there's lots of protocols that we follow that help manage that risk," said Matt Andrews, executive director of the Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists (MORC), a nonprofit group and IMBA chapter that has helped build some of the most popular mountain biking trails in the state.

Volunteers who want to work for MORC first take a daylong trail-building course that covers safety, along with erosion control and other topics, said Andrews. MORC also carries its own insurance, which limits the types of features the group can build.

"When we have this growing and popular and successful cycling league happening in Minnesota, I can see where an unfortunate accident like what happened to Mr. Schindler raises some concern, but with the high school league they have coaches, training; they're teaching these kids how to ride and how to maintain that bicycle," he said.

"Cycling is relatively safe; it remains one of the safest recreational experiences you can have with fewer reported injuries than cheerleading and football."

Minnesota High School Cycling League director and co-founder Joshua Kleve said the group plans to connect the Austin team with trail-building experts from the IMBA to review the wooden bridge.

Schindler, a veteran bicyclist, was biking to the team's trails near Riverland Community College when he crashed; he had planned to spend time that day expanding and improving the trail network with others, according to coach Salmon.

It was typical of Schindler, who was known as a tireless volunteer, willing donor and broad supporter of his southeastern Minnesota community. "He was our fearless leader," said Salmon.

Schindler's family now plans to paint a rainbow on the bridge in Schindler's memory, the coach said.

Also, at the last race of the Minnesota High School Cycling League season this Sunday, riders will wear red and green ribbons, the colors of the Austin team that Schindler helped create.

Matt McKinney • 612-673-7329