EAGLE, Idaho — On October 21, Rylan Hoob was hit by a semi-truck and later died at the hospital, the mountain bike community feels this loss and they came together to honor Rylan at the Eagle Bike Park.
Mountain bikers, teams from the Treasure Valley and Rylan's teammates from the Eagle Mountain Bike Team rode for Rylan, showing their support for his family, his friends and the community.
"He was a great athlete he loved riding his bike and that’s why we are all here today," said Lee Scott, the Eagle High School mountain bike coach. "It is such a huge loss when someone like that is taken from us."
Rylan was just 14-years-old, on that tragic day he was riding to the Eagle Mountain Bike park, he stopped to wait at the light at Beacon Light Road and Highway 55, that's when he was struck by a southbound semi-truck turning onto Beacon Light Rode.
"He loved the Eagle Bike park it’s a pretty special place we have here," said Scott.
So the mountain biking community, the Ada County Sheriff's Office and the Eagle Fire Department came out to mourn for Rylan Hoob.
"I’m hoping that we can share some laughs today," said Brian Olsen of the Eagle Fire Department as he addressed a crowd of bikers. "The best way to honor people that we lose is to tell their stories, don’t forget their name and talk about them."
Rylan Hoob competed on the Eagle Mountain Bike Team for two years, he was known as a practical jokester and he loved to ride, sadly it's not the only loss this year for the mountain biking community.
On June 12, Bishop Kelly's Henry Warner and Braden Caldwell both juniors in high school died in a single vehicle car accident so this memorial ride gave the mountain biking community a chance to pay homage to all three boys.
"To have this happen in such a short time span is really crushing," said Scott. "But, again if you look at all these people showing up, words don’t express how we feel about it."
The semi-truck driver did not stop after hitting Rylan, authorities caught up with the driver four miles away from the sight of the accident, at this time no charges have been filed against the driver.
