Elk Grove race goes on without mayor

It took only a split second, but Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson's June 29 crash changed his outlook on life.

Johnson, who trains rigorously every year for the Alexian Brothers Tour of Elk Grove, was riding with about 15 bicyclists on Cosman Road near Lake Cosman in the village when his front tire clipped the back tire of the rider ahead of him.

He was catapulted over the bicycle's handle bar at 32 miles per hour, his body tumbling a few times in mid air before his head struck the pavement.

"I think after this accident - I'm going to learn to scale back," conceded Johnson, who turned 50 in February. "I will not be going to the same level that I have done in the past. I'm not going to quit riding by any means. I may not be quite as aggressive or quite as gung ho on some of these group things."

Johnson suffered a concussion, a punctured lung, a broken collar bone, five broken ribs, a muscle tear in his hip joint, and numerous scrapes and cuts. He was unconscious for several minutes and was not breathing until fellow riders came to his aid.

He doesn't remember what happened afterward until he woke up at 4 a.m. the next day at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital's Level I Trauma Center in Park Ridge.

Johnson won't be riding today in his race, the Mayor's Challenge Charity Time Trial Fundraising Ride.

"I was really gung ho this year, that's what's disheartening," said Johnson who began training in February. "This was going to be my best year by far. I started (training) earlier. I was more committed."

The mayor's team will be led by Johnson's brother-in-law Billy Beaupre. Team members include Craig Johnson Jr., Mike Cavallini, village director of health and community services, and two new riders.

"He will be with us in spirit," Cavallini said. "We're just going to have to try to do our best."

Johnson had never been an avid cyclist. In 2006, he bought his first bicycle since graduating from college to kick off the Mayor's Challenge charity fun ride in the first Tour of Elk Grove.

Each year, Johnson would train harder to the point where he admits it became a bit of an obsession.

"What happened is it got into our blood," Johnson said. "I started to really enjoy it. It kept my weight down. I was in the best shape of my life. I got kind of hooked on it at that point."

For now, Johnson is forbidden from getting on a bike. He will know this week whether he needs surgery for the broken collar bone and shoulder injury.

"It's very aggravating," he said. "I love the race."

'They saved my life'

It was perhaps fate that put Jay Chauhan, a head and neck surgeon at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village and St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates, in the right place at the right time.

Chauhan, who sometimes joins the mayor's Tuesday and Thursday night practice rides, was the first to rush to Johnson's aid after the crash.

"I frequently miss these rides because I end up (being) late at work," Chauhan said.

He saw one rider go down, and then another.

One rider landed on a grassy area. The other cyclist tumbled to the pavement. As Chauhan raced to the fallen rider, he knew by looking at the bicycle seat that it was Johnson.

Chauhan stooped down, asking Johnson whether he could move. There was no response.

"Craig was absolutely still," Chauhan said. "The way he landed, his arm had contorted underneath, and the helmet strap was kind of pulling up on the soft tissue of the neck. His face was flattened onto the pavement."

Chauhan gave him a few seconds to regain consciousness and move on his own. He didn't stir.

"I had to do something to kind of get his airway opened up for him," Chauhan said.

Chauhan took Johnson's arm and head into his hands and began to roll him like a log. Chauhan maintained Johnson's neck position and rotated him onto his side, taking caution not to move him too much. He undid Johnson's helmet strap to relieve the pressure on his airway. A couple of other riders helped Chauhan prop Johnson up.

"Probably about a half a minute and he still wasn't breathing at that point," Chauhan said. "Honestly, I thought I was going to have to give the mayor mouth-to-mouth resuscitation."

At last, Johnson started breathing on his own. If his brain had been starved of oxygen any longer he could have suffered serious damage, Chauhan said.

It wasn't until later that night that the severity of Johnson's fall sunk in. As a surgeon, Chauhan is accustomed to reacting, but most people are not trained to think that way.

"What I would like other people to learn from this is you have to make sure that the patient is breathing," Chauhan said, even when that goes against the idea that a person shouldn't be moved.

And he reiterated what Johnson has said numerous times since his crash, that his helmet saved his life.

A lesson learned

Perhaps the person most shaken by Johnson's crash, other than himself, is Jeff Curtin, Johnson's fiercest competitor in the Mayor's Challenge, with his team beating the mayor's all four years.

They have been friends since junior high. They wrestled together at Elk Grove High School. They graduated together. And, they both turned 50 this year.

Curtin was riding behind Johnson when he crashed, and for him too, the event was a wake up call.

"That could have been me laying there," said Curtin, who still is sore at night from bruised ribs and chest contusions from a crash earlier this year. He said this year will be his last Mayor's Challenge.

Still, he understands why not being able to ride is killing Johnson, who was always trying to improve his performance and who had just bought himself a new bike.

"This whole weekend is his baby," Curtin said. "He's a very competitive person - that's just his nature. It's a hard thing because it's the one thing you look forward to all year long and you train so hard for it."

But, Curtin added, "He's fortunate. It could have been a lot worse."

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