It was a ride Petaluman Peter Leabo takes almost every day. He was headed downhill on McNear Avenue, near his home, just getting started on a Saturday bicycling excursion.
As he slowed, preparing to turn onto Mountain View Avenue, his front wheel suddenly twisted 180 degrees and his back wheel left the roadway. "It was violent. There was nothing graceful about it," he recalls.
He had hit what he describes as "one giant pothole."
He says the hole was obscured by white lettering warning motorists that they were approaching a school crossing.
When Leabo, a 54-year-old Petaluman who works in industry software development strategy, crashed to the ground, he shattered his collar bone, broke several ribs, punctured a lung and had multiple cuts and abrasions.
He also suffered a concussion. "I didn't know my way home, even though I live close by," he says. "Fortunately, I always wear a helmet. It was pretty messed up."
An avid wake boarder and scuba diver, as well as bicyclist, Leabo's biggest concern now is that his injuries, particularly the shattered collarbone, not limit his ability to participate in his outdoor activities.
His accident points to the danger not only to cars and trucks, but also to bicyclists from Petaluma's notoriously bad roads.
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission pavement condition index ranks Petaluma's roads the worst in Sonoma County.
The Petaluma roads are so bad that a section of the 2010-2011 Sonoma County Grand Jury Report is titled, "Petaluma Potholes." The Grand Jury report states, "staff reductions, due to budgetary priorities, have left the city without the proper resources required to adequately maintain all city infrastructure."
Leabo says potholes aren't only a danger on the street where his accident occurred.
"It is unbelievable," he says. "There are certain roads I will not ride. There are a number of large-size potholes on Petaluma Boulevard. Coming down the hill on Western Avenue, you really, really have to slow down. You have no idea what potholes are ahead.
"Anybody who rides in Petaluma should be aware of certain roads."
Most accidents involving solo bicyclists go unreported.
Rick Moeller, one of the founding members of the Petaluma Wheelmen, has broken two seat posts on his bicycle from pothole-related accidents on C Street.
"As cyclists, we have to be ever vigilant," he says. "Even if you don't get hurt, you can get a flat tire or ruin a wheel, and they are expensive."
He says coming upon a pothole in traffic is especially dangerous. "When you put the two (traffic and potholes) together, you have a really challenging situation. You either have to stop or go out into the traffic."
Moeller says the best thing cyclists can do is be aware of the danger. "Most of us get around them," he explains. "You pretty much have to take what you find."
Lt. Tim Lyons of the Petaluma Police Department says Petaluma police have received reports of 11 accidents involving bicyclists this year; of those, two were pothole-related.
Ironically, they both happened on the same day. While Leabo was being treated at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, a 52-year-old man was in the same hospital being treated for injuries he received in a pothole-related accident on Western Avenue. Details of his accident were not immediately available.
Lyons said that on Oct. 1, Petaluma police, using funds obtained from a grant from the California Department of Traffic Safety, will begin a campaign focusing on bicycle and pedestrian safety.
(Contact John Jackson at johnie.jackson@arguscourier.com)
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