This picture is from a few years ago, when I helped as a lead cyclist at the Road to Hope for the first time. The guy on the end (left side) with the cowbell is Jeff.
I didn't know Jeff super well, but I saw him at Gulliver's a lot for team swims, rode with him a bit on at least one of the Brian Smith charity rides, and had one very memorable long ride with him, Laurence, and Fab while we were training for Muskoka/Barrelman two years ago. Laurence always liked to call Jeff Big Diesel - if you didn't grab his wheel and hang on, you were going to be left in the dust watching him vanish over the horizon. After the ride, when I griped I'd just barely missed out on a couple of Strava QOMs, Jeff immediately said we'd ride again soon and he'd help me get them. That ride never ended up happening, but that was just sort of the challenge Jeff was always ready to tackle. He'd probably have been able to pull me on his fat bike and pull it off!
On Monday last week we started to hear there'd been an accident on the 7 days in May charity ride, and at least one rider was in critical condition in hospital.
It soon became clear that rider was Jeff. On Friday, he passed away due to his injuries.
It's hard to know what to say about it all. A completely senseless tragedy caused by an impatient, careless driver. Jeff was planning to do IMMT this summer, and there's going to be a big empty space there that no one can fill.
RIP, Jeff. If I ever get those QOMs, I know it'll be because your wheel was there.
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