SILVER CITY, N.M. (BRAIN) — The cycling and business community in this small city in southwestern New Mexico have been devasted by the deaths of the husband and wife who owned and ran the Gila Bike & Hike, a long-standing local bike shop.
Martyn Pearson (38) and Alex Olsen (40) died Friday when the Toyota Tacoma they were riding in collided head-on with a pickup towing a camper on N.M. 26 near Deming. The couple leaves two teenage children.
In addition to running the store, Pearson was the race director of the Signal Peak Challenge, a cross-country mountain bike race; he was also a musician. Olsen coached a swim team and taught culinary arts at a local school.
"This is a huge loss personally, for their kids, for the cycling community as a whole, and for Silver City. These two are irreplaceable and our hearts are broken," read an email to the community from Ziarides, a regional mountain bike race series.
Friends have established a GoFundMe page to support the two children and their mother, Melissa Woods. More: Gila Bike & Hike Facebook page.
