07-14-2018, 03:53 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-15-2018, 01:37 PM by Drunk Monk.)
When my iphone show me I'm getting a call from 'yeti', is it something nice? Something like "Hey, I finally got that money I owe you," or "Hey, someone left me a nice katana blade - wanna trade for a bag of Verve coffee?" or "Hey, Beyonce was just in the shop and she wants to make a music video with swords but she thinks knickers makes her ass look fat, so I'm sending her down to you." Nope, nothing like that. It's that our dear teammate was killed in the Cruz. A bike accident. Probably right in my hood because he lived about 5 minutes from me. Fuck.
The weird thing is that I was just planning to reach out to him to get lunch again. I was waiting to close my deadline last Thursday. Thursday, my heart felt sore. For a fleeting moment, I thought I might be experiencing one of those micro-infarctions or something. But no. Now I think it was some sort of psychic sympathy vibe, because Ben died with a laceration to his heart.
Ben was a very dear soul. We were on the epee squad together, and shared many glorious moments of debauchery. One of my fondest memories was when on some lark, we hit up Watercourse Way, where my wife worked years later, back in the day when it had a sushi restaurant. Ben had some hook up there - he was an affable sort that you just couldn't help but befriend. We were shit-faced, so much so that we probably shouldn't have driven there. Somehow, we wound up with a free bento box of sushi and a free tub. It was great.
Ben worked for UCSC doing maintenance job until his epilepsy put him on disability. He had a petite mal seizure the last time we were at lunch. He was on meds, so it was just like a moment of stall. I knew he loved to ride his bike around our hood - in fact he said he often cut down my street, and I asked him what he did when that happened when he was riding. He said he just stopped and waited it out. He could feel when they were coming. But traffic down here is crazy. The roads are designed by the shape of the sea so none of the streets really line up and peds, bikes, and tourists travel wherever they please with complete disregard to right of way, not to mention the insane skateboarders. You'd think an epeeist wouldn't mind no right-of-way. I'm blaming the tourists. I'm debating about searching the crime reports to see if I can find where there was a bike accident recently. If I do, I'll go lay some flowers or a joint or something.
Many of you beyond me, PPFY & HK met Ben because he was our connect into one of the most glorious days for DOOM, our astounding victory at Free the Fool, deep in the Stanford hills, so many decades ago.
Correct me if I'm wrong, Yeti, but is the first death from our team aside from Stro?
Damn. Murray street bridge is about a ten minute walk from my bungalow.
The weird thing is that I was just planning to reach out to him to get lunch again. I was waiting to close my deadline last Thursday. Thursday, my heart felt sore. For a fleeting moment, I thought I might be experiencing one of those micro-infarctions or something. But no. Now I think it was some sort of psychic sympathy vibe, because Ben died with a laceration to his heart.
Ben was a very dear soul. We were on the epee squad together, and shared many glorious moments of debauchery. One of my fondest memories was when on some lark, we hit up Watercourse Way, where my wife worked years later, back in the day when it had a sushi restaurant. Ben had some hook up there - he was an affable sort that you just couldn't help but befriend. We were shit-faced, so much so that we probably shouldn't have driven there. Somehow, we wound up with a free bento box of sushi and a free tub. It was great.
Ben worked for UCSC doing maintenance job until his epilepsy put him on disability. He had a petite mal seizure the last time we were at lunch. He was on meds, so it was just like a moment of stall. I knew he loved to ride his bike around our hood - in fact he said he often cut down my street, and I asked him what he did when that happened when he was riding. He said he just stopped and waited it out. He could feel when they were coming. But traffic down here is crazy. The roads are designed by the shape of the sea so none of the streets really line up and peds, bikes, and tourists travel wherever they please with complete disregard to right of way, not to mention the insane skateboarders. You'd think an epeeist wouldn't mind no right-of-way. I'm blaming the tourists. I'm debating about searching the crime reports to see if I can find where there was a bike accident recently. If I do, I'll go lay some flowers or a joint or something.
Many of you beyond me, PPFY & HK met Ben because he was our connect into one of the most glorious days for DOOM, our astounding victory at Free the Fool, deep in the Stanford hills, so many decades ago.
Correct me if I'm wrong, Yeti, but is the first death from our team aside from Stro?
Damn. Murray street bridge is about a ten minute walk from my bungalow.
Quote:Longtime cyclist dies after being struck on Murray Street bridge
1/4
Benjamin Doniach shares a laugh with his family at his Santa Cruz home in 2017.
By Michael Todd, Santa Cruz Sentinel
POSTED: 07/13/18, 4:59 PM PDT | UPDATED: 9 HRS AGO
36 COMMENTS
A cyclist was struck on the Murray Street Bridge over the Santa Cruz Harbor on Tuesday. He died from his injuries. (Dan Coyro -- Santa Cruz Sentinel)
SANTA CRUZ >> A longtime Santa Cruz cyclist died of internal injuries about eight hours after being hit by a car about 11:15 a.m. Tuesday on the Murray Street bridge over the Santa Cruz Harbor — in plain view of three iconic yachts he helped build years ago.
Benjamin Doniach, 61, was cycling his regular daily route — while returning west toward Seabright from Pleasure Point — and crossing the bridge. The details are under investigation, but Doniach allegedly veered into eastbound traffic and was struck by a Volvo occupied only by a driver, Lt. Warren Barry said. The case was not a hit-and-run and police reports include one witness, Barry said. The investigation is continuing and police want anyone with information to call 831-420-5820 or the anonymous tip line at 831-420-5995.
The coroner reported that Doniach died of blunt-force trauma and an aortic laceration, Barry said.
After the wreck Tuesday morning, Doniach was conscious and talking at the scene, Barry said.
In 2015, Santa Cruz was ranked worst out of 105 California cities for bicycle collisions causing injury or death, according to the Office of Traffic Safety. On Monday, the city’s Transportation and Public Works Commission will discuss adopting Vision Zero, an international program which would give the city a strategy and policy for reducing bike-related injuries and deaths.
FAST RIDER
Doniach’s wife of 25 years, attorney Tutti Hacking, received the news about her husband about noon Tuesday. Doniach died about 7:20 p.m. at Dominican Hospital, where she said he was flown that day.
“He really loved this route,” Hacking said. “It was a nice conditioning ride for a person his age. He had a helmet. He had a nice titanium Lightspeed bike. He has every right to be in the middle of the road. Do the police know that? If you’re in a car, you’re second in line.”
Cyclists in California have the legal right to take up the lane if overtaking or passing, preparing for a left turn at an intersection, or when reasonably necessary to avoid hazards or anywhere a right turn is authorized, according to state law.
“It’s narrow there,” Hacking said of the Murray Street bridge. “He’s a fast bicycle rider. He’s a very systematic rider. He timed all of his rides and kept them in a log in Excel.”
Normally, the route takes 38 minutes, she said.
“I knew something happened. Maybe he had a flat tire,” Hacking said. “He was riding a very nice road bike with new shoes for his pedals. He had the whole kit. Riding was his meditation.”
CRAFTSMAN
Doniach previously worked in building maintenance at UC Santa Cruz.
“He can fix and make anything,” Hacking said.
Doniach worked with multiple local boatbuilders and loved sailing, she said.
“He was voted by the students three times to hand out diplomas at graduation at Crown College,” she said.
Doniach’s deep voice helped him belt out tunes by Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, Hacking said.
Friend and fellow cyclist Michael Veglia, who works at UCSC, used to ride with Doniach competitively in Menlo Park and Palo Alto decades ago.
“He was a very serious rider,” Veglia said.
The former machinist, woodworker, laminator and painter was “a master at everything he put his mind to,” Veglia said.
Doniach is survived by his wife, daughters Hannah and Zoë Doniach and Rori Launspach and granddaughter Madison Jane Garfinkel-Launspach.
Hacking asked anyone with information about the wreck to contact attorney Brad Wiles at 831-426-3140.
![[Image: bilde?Site=NE&Date=20180713&Category=NEW...exactW=800]](http://image.santacruzsentinel.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=NE&Date=20180713&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=713009999&Ref=PH&Item=1&NewTbl=1&exactW=800)
![[Image: AR-180719857.jpg&maxh=400&maxw=667]](http://image.santacruzsentinel.com/storyimage/NE/20180713/NEWS/180719857/AR/0/AR-180719857.jpg&maxh=400&maxw=667)
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
