Colby Brooks, Portland, OR – 30 at time of event (2008)

Colby Brooks is an athlete, just like his brothers. “I’m super-active,” he says with pride, describing how he goes hiking and biking alone into the mountains with 80 pounds of camping gear on his back. While he wouldn’t class his physical exertions as extreme sports, you could certainly say they are at that end of the spectrum. His specific interest is bike racing—the kind that requires you to pump hard with your legs. In fact he was doing just that one Monday last month in the Mountain Bike Short Track Series at PIR (Portland International Raceway). Today, he can’t really remember that fateful evening. He can only relay the story he’s been told.