Just 15 minutes in, the third annual Matamoros-Bagdad Cycling Tour in Mexico plunged into chaos when a drunk driver from Texas smashed head-on into the group of riders.
Brownsville resident Juan "Jesse" Campos, who had spent the prior evening partying with booze and cocaine, fell asleep while driving between the towns of Playa Bagdad and Matamoros near the US-Mexico border.
The cyclists had just started making their way along the opposite side of the highway on the 34km race when, tragically, Campos' 1989 Grand Marquis veered off onto the wrong side of the road and slammed into the center of the peloton.
A photographer documenting the race managed to record the moment immediately after the collision: it's a scene of utter carnage, with bodies and equipment thrown into the air.
Campos claims to have no recollection of the crash, and insists that he woke up only afterwards. He's now being held in a Mexican jail while authorities attempt to sort out the case.
30-year-old Brownsville cyclist Alejandro Alvarez was killed in the accident, while ten other riders were seriously injured.
And another link to this story, with a news report.
Be safe people. If you're gonna be drinking, and doing anything else that can impair you for that matter, then leave the driving to someone else, or another time when you're not so effed.
This has been a HONOR ROLL PSA.
-Mike Baker the Bike Maker
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