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Cyclist Hit, Killed By Car During Time Trial Near Esparto

ESPARTO (CBS13) – A bicycle race time trial turned tragic Sunday when a cyclist was hit and killed on the route by a driver who cops say was obeying the law.

On his LinkedIn page, 57-year-old Allen Brumm describes himself as an avid amateur cyclist and a consultant at Oracle in Silicon Valley.

Brumm was competing against 60 riders on an 18-mile time trial race on a rural Yolo County road when he was hit and killed by the driver.

"A time trial is usually the safest kind of race because you have one rider at time, not a group close together," said race organizer Robert Leibold

But the organizer of the Esparto Time Trial explains the race is an open course, free to traffic. There were riders going in both directions, east and westbound.

CHP says the driver was following the "move over law" for bicycles when she went around one cyclist on her side of the road, but didn't see Brumm in front of her.

"He was actually riding right up against the center line. So when she moved over, she moved over at his path of travel," said CHP Sgt. Andy Hill. "At the very last second, the rider looked up, saw the car coming [and] tried to avoid it by laying his bicycle on his far right side."

An instinctual move many experienced cyclists are familiar with.

"You can stop faster. The breaks can only slow you down so quick," said cyclist David Ichikawa. "But if you drop down, you have the friction of the body along with the breaks."

But it was too late. CHP says the cyclist laid his bike down directly in the path of the driver and she ran over him going 35 miles per hour.

CHP says Brumm's family is out of Nebraska. He leaves behind two brothers, an elderly mother and a girlfriend who worked with him.

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