LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
It started as a nice ride on a little known mountain bike trail in Newport News, Va., on the Fourth of July.
Shortly after 10 a.m., four Langley sergeants rolled off into the woods. Senior Master Sgt. Tim Baba, Master Sgt. Tobey Sizemore, Master Sgt. Don Zehner and Staff Sgt. Jason Hofferbert made up the group of riders.
After ten miles of single track cardio riding along the edge of Lake Maury, they doubled back to a section of the trail called the "bowl." Sergeant Sizemore and Sergeant Zehner had been to the bowl a few times before, and they wanted to share the section with the other two riders.
Sergeant Baba was quite surprised at the quality of the trail. He'd been an active mountain biker while stationed at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., but he hadn't ridden since moving here.
They soon reached the edge of the bowl where the drop-off sloped down almost 20 feet into a gully. All four riders took their turn heading down the slope.
As each person began the descent, the other three would stop to watch that rider tackle the slope and hit the jump at the bottom. The group discussed how easily their bikes elevated over the dirt mound at the bottom with the speed they had gained coming down the slope.
"I guess it made us feel like kids again," said Sergeant Sizemore, a four year member of the local Eastern Virginia Mountainbike Association. "But, having ridden most of the trails in this section of Virginia, I know it only takes a second to get hurt."
The second run through the bowl would quickly change the rest of the day for all four riders.
Sergeant Zehner proceeded to drop off the edge and hit the dirt mound as the others watched. Due to the dry weather, the soil was a little sandier than normal and it appeared he landed too far forward on the front tire causing his bike to veer off course directly into a tree.
Sergeant Zehner's head swung around smashing into the side of the tree. The impact was very hard, and the other three riders quickly dismounted their bikes to help him.
"We began talking to him while assessing his condition and keeping him stationary," said Sergeant Sizemore. "His helmet was obviously busted, but it cradled his head and kept it from moving."
Sergeant Sizemore immediately pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911. Familiarity with the trails helped him direct emergency medical services personnel into the woods. Sergeant Hofferbert ran out to the roadside to flag down the responders, and the Newport New Fire Department and EMS were on the scene in less than four minutes.
The EMS team prepared Sergeant Zehner for transport and he was on his way to Riverside Hospital, fortunately located on the opposite side of Lake Maury.
The initial assessment was mixed. Sergeant Zehner did not have any severe brain trauma, but he did suffer a concussion, causing short-term memory loss and a broken jaw. Remarkably, Sergeant Zehner was released from the hospital around 6 p.m. the same evening.
While sore and bruised from the accident, he was doing well physically except for the confusion from his memory loss.
Sergeant Zehner recently had a lot of changes in his life. He was promoted to master sergeant June 29, and many of his family members made the trip into town from Ohio and Kentucky for the ceremony and celebration. He had also recently purchased his life long dream car, a Ford Mustang GT convertible, and he had won Langley's Yard of the Month. Additionally, two of his three children had taken off for summer trips to visit family since his promotion.
He could not recall any of these facts - he was disoriented to say the least.
For the next 48 hours, Sergeant Zehner's family and friends continuously reminded him of his fortunate recent happenings, including his relatively minimal injuries given the severity of the impact during the accident. He was elated each time he came to realize he had won yard of the month, owned a new car and was now a Master Sergeant.
Over the next few days details of the incident were a little fuzzy, but one thing was clear to all - had he not worn the proper safety gear and taken the proper safety precautions with his fellow riders, Sergeant Zehner's life could have been lost.
Sergeant Zehner will ride again soon, and you can be sure he'll always be with a buddy, always have a cell phone and always wear a helmet.