Cyclists Call For Safety Improvements After Injury Crashes At Tulsa Tough

Some cyclists said changes need to be made to future Tulsa Tough events after crashes during last weekend's race resulted in several serious injuries.

Cyclists said Tulsa Tough is one of their favorite weekends, but many believe it's getting more dangerous, and some things need to change.

Kimberly Pettit is no stranger to cycling, or Tulsa. “I started racing, been doing Tulsa Tough for the last 6 or 7 years," she said.

She's a cycling coach and although she watched from the sidelines this year, she said Tulsa Tough is always a great event.

But this year, she said there were quite a few things that went wrong.

“I didn't expect to see so many crashes," she said.

Video taken by cyclists shows crashes creating pileups on Friday night that sent people to the hospital.

On Saturday, video from the race shows a man walked onto the course, creating a massive pileup, injuries, and delays.

"It was almost in slow mo. Two riders ricochets and bounced, and one guy went headfirst into this guy standing there," said Grayson Keppler. "He went from vertical to horizontal in a split second.”

Grayson Keppler was riding in that race. He’s a category 1 cyclist and agrees Tulsa Tough felt more dangerous this year.

“People with a broken back, one of my old teammates might lose her eye, somebody with a slash down their head taken to ICU," Pettit said.

Grayson and Kimberly both point to narrower streets, more riders, dangerous barriers, and less experienced riders as problems that need to be addressed.

“The event's great, they need to just take some steps to make it safer," Keppler said.

"I think things will change, especially with everything that happened here," Pettit said. "It's been brought to the attention of a lot of race promoters.”

STATEMENT: Tulsa Tough takes the safety of participants and spectators seriously. We will be working with USA Cycling to evaluate incidents from this past weekend and determine whether any new safety measures are recommended going forward.  – Malcolm McCollam, Executive Director, Tulsa Tough, Inc.