Copyright Times Publishing Co. Apr 27, 2005
Adam Smeaton's bike hit a tree root, and then there was nothing but air.
He flew over the handlebars and landed 30 feet away - hard - on his face. From the top of the 45-degree hill, his friends burst out laughing. Quickly, they stopped. Smeaton wasn't moving.
They hurried down the sheer slope to where he lay. One called 911 on a cell phone. The other two laid their hands on his head and asked for God's help.It was 10 a.m. It would be one hour and 56 minutes before rescue personnel could get Smeaton - injured but alert - to an ambulance.That's not unusual for a wilderness rescue at Alafia River State Park, said acting battalion chief Brian Peterson of Hillsborough County Fire Rescue. The park, a former phosphate mine, offers bikers and hikers "steep roller coaster dips, technical rocky sections and very difficult climbs and drops," according to a Web site run by the Swamp Club, a group of mountain bike enthusiasts.
To get to Smeaton, Peterson said, rescue workers had to hike nearly a mile over hilly terrain on one of the park's most forbidding bike trails, carrying equipment packs weighing 70 to 80 pounds.
Rescuers had to load Smeaton into a kind of all-terrain wheelbarrow and push it back up the steep hills. To get down, they put the wheelbarrow on a rope belay and lowered it carefully.
Ordinarily, Peterson said he would consider two hours a long time for a rescue. "But that's average for this type of rescue," he said, "because of the ruggedness of the terrain and the remoteness of the location."
Smeaton had been to Alafia only once before, but his three friends - Kyle Stanford, 35, and brothers Justin and Neil Stalker, 31 and 29 - bike there with about once a week, Stanford said.
The four are childhood friends who grew up in Brandon. The Stalkers and Stanford still live in Hillsborough County, but Smeaton moved to California. When he came back to visit his friends, they took him biking.
They were on Gatorback Trail, the park's most difficult trail, when the accident occurred.
Ranger Chuck Dickerman said the bike trails are marked with the same symbols used on ski slopes, ranging from simple to dangerous. Gatorback is a double-black-diamond trail, the most treacherous marking.
Dickerman said most people would need "at least a couple months, or a couple of years (of biking experience) before trying Gatorback."
He added, "If you lose your concentration, that's all it takes."
The four friends stopped at the top of hill, so they could take it one rider at a time.
Neil Stalker went first, zooming 60 feet. Then it was Smeaton's turn.
Partway down, the protruding tree root flung him into the air.
At first, his friends thought he was faking injury.
Gathering at the bottom of the hill, the men were concerned but calm, Stanford said. Smeaton was unconscious, his face cut and bruised.
While Neil Stalker called 911, Justin Stalker and Stanford, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, performed a blessing on Smeaton, laying their hands on his head.
Stanford said he believes the blessing helped.
A whole lot of equipment and manpower didn't hurt, either. Spokesman Ray Yeakley said five fire trucks, an ambulance and the county's sole heavy rescue truck all responded to Alafia, carrying 20 workers in all. Overhead, a medical helicopter hovered.
Ranger Dickerman said the park might have one or two wilderness rescues a year. But Yeakley said they are a valuable education for rescue workers.
"It doesn't happen very frequently, but every time they go out on these . . . and experience situations like that, it's a growing experience for them," he said. "They gain each time they go out."
When rescuers reached Smeaton, he was conscious but confused. He knew who he was and who his friends were, but not what he was doing in Florida, Justin Stalker said.
By the time he reached the waiting helicopter, Smeaton was more alert. He was taken to Tampa General Hospital, Yeakley said.
As of Tuesday night a hospital spokeswoman said there was no record of Smeaton in the hospital's computer.
Stanford said he and his friends were grateful for the county's swift response.
"They did a remarkable job bringing him out," Stanford said.
Staff writer Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler contributed to this report. S.I. Rosenbaum can be reached at (813) 661-2442 or srosenbaum@sptimes.com.
[Illustration]
Caption: Hillsborough County Fire Rescue crews Tuesday used a kind of all-terrain wheelbarrow to remove Adam Smeaton from where he fell on a rugged bike trail in Alafia River State Park.; map locates Alafia River State Park (ran TAMPA & STATE); Photo: PHOTO, LUIS SANTANA