BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — Investigators are trying to find the driver who struck Andrew "Bernie" Bernstein on Saturday as the industry veteran was riding home from a velodrome workout. Bernstein, an account director at True Communications and a former journalist and marketing director at Bicycling magazine, is in critical condition at an area hospital.
Gloria Liu, Bernstein's fiancee, told BRAIN that it appears Bernstein was hit from behind at about 4:30 p.m. on Arapahoe Road east of Boulder. Bernstein was headed west following a workout at the Boulder Valley Velodrome in Erie. He texted Liu to tell her the workout was cut short by rain before he started the ride home. Bernstein was found a bit west of a significant hill near Legion Park. Arapahoe has a wide shoulder but is often very busy. However no witnesses to the collision have come forward.
"It's really the worst nightmare of every cyclist, and every person who loves a cyclist, to get that call," she said.
A passing motorist saw Bernstein in the ditch on the side of the road and called 911. Bernstein was taken to a Boulder hospital then airlifted to one in Denver. Liu said he has been sedated since soon after he was taken to the hospital. But she said he told doctors before he was sedated that he never saw the vehicle that hit him.
Investigators found auto parts at the scene that they determined came from a Dodge Ram van from about 2000 model year.
Liu, a journalist who met Bernstein when they each worked at Bicycling, said finding the driver is a priority.
"We are here at the hospital to help Andrew ... and part of our focus is to try to find this driver. This is a person who literally hit someone and left them him there to die; that person should not be on the road," she said.
Anyone who saw anything related to the crash is asked to call Colorado State Patrol at 303-289-4760.
