Cyclist tumbles into river

An American bicyclist suffered a fall on June 16 while participating in the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route in Canada.

The cyclist crashed head-first into the Wigwam River near the Roosville port of entry sometime after noon that day. A fellow cyclist on the tour saw the man fall and helped him get out of the river and into dry clothes before leaving the scene to report the incident.

The victim had a large gash on his forehead.

Since the crash happened in Canada, Roosville border guards called Canadian search and rescue and Canada Border Services Agency employees to find the man.

The cyclist who reported the man gave GPS coordinates but it took rescuers five hours to locate the injured man. The victim allegedly wandered away from the crash site while searchers tried to locate him.

Roosville officers helped coordinate search efforts on the Canadian side by taking calls from the various agencies trying to locate the man.

When the victim was found, he was transported by helicopter to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who then took him to the border.

His tumble into the Wigwam made him lose his identification and passport, but he was able to get back to the American side of the border using the Passport Information Electronic Records System.

The exhausted, chilled cyclist was taken care of by U.S. Customs and Border Protection supervisory officer Richard Rosson and officer Ryan Latozke. Some hot tea, blankets and a warm place to wait for other accommodations to be set up were waiting at the border for the cyclist.

The officers found a local hotel for the man and asked hotel staffers to periodically check on the man, who — after an examination from an  ambulance crew — had declined further medical assistance.

The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route runs from Banff, Alberta, to Antelope Wells, N.M., a 2,745-mile-long route down the spine of North America. 

The route involves more than 200,000 total vertical feet of climbing.

The 254-mile leg from Banff to Roosville is the first of six segments of the bicycle journey.

Tim Hinderman of Whitefish is riding in the long-distance bike trip, although he started from New Mexico and is doing the route from south to north.