Update: 2:24 p.m. - A friend of Mr. and Mrs. Combs has shared some additional details about them. They were no ordinary couple. "David is disabled; Cindy was blind. Their bike was their freedom," said SiouxGeonz, who apparently met Cindy Combs through a singing group. Despite their disabilities they were passionate about cycling and rode just about everywhere. "David is disabled and doesn't drive. I remember one day when he told me that Cindy had screamed on their way to the ride... because she was so glad to be going on a ride with us," SiouxGeonz wrote in a comment made on this blog. (Click on the Comment link below the main post to read more.)
Main Post - A 53 year old woman was killed and her husband, 51, was seriously injured when they were struck from behind by a motorist as they rode their tandem bicycle in rural Champaign County yesterday. Cindy C. Combs and David Combs were riding south on County Road E., just north of 1800 North near Bondville, at around 4:30 p.m. when they were hit from behind by a driver who "may have been distracted by reading a map," according to the Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette. The driver was identified as 31 year old Errol T. Maul, 31, of nearby Tolono, IL.
Mrs. Combs was pronounced dead at the scene. Her husband is in critical condition at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana.
