Cranky’s Owner Seriously Injured

Jim Cadenhead, owner of Cranky’s Bikes, was seriously injured while riding a BMX bike at the A-Town skate park in Atascadero on Saturday night. He was there on an annual overnight trip that he organizes for kids between the ages of 12 and 18. There were about 15 attendees including Cadenhead and two of his employees.

Cadenhead landed sideways while completing a transfer on the half-pipe and impaled himself on his handlebars, which punctured his abdomen. Cranky’s employee Peter Albrecht, who witnessed it, said that doctors initially worried Cadenhead ruptured an internal organ but determined he didn’t.

Cadenhead was released from Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton yesterday, but he has no health insurance. The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition is collecting donations through its Injured Cyclist Fund to help cover his medical bills. Donations can be made at bicicentro.org/ICF.

“He goes the extra mile,” said Coalition Executive Director Ed France, “and hopefully he recovers.” Since opening Cranky’s three years ago, Cadenhead has tirelessly worked to foster a cycling culture in the city and especially for its youth. He has organized bike races and rides, taken kids on trips to A-Town (a park that allows BMX riders, which Skater’s Point in S.B. does not) and the L.A. Velodrome, and brought in BMX exhibitionists Team Soil to perform most recently at Santa Barbara High School. He also lured the international Bicycle Film Festival to Santa Barbara.

A former bike courier, Cadenhead opened a shop in Los Angeles called Orange 20, which helped usher in the fixed-gear craze, but left for Santa Barbara to raise his daughter. Albrecht, who set up a link to the Injured Cyclist Fund on the Cranky’s website, said, “We’re trying to show our support for someone who has done a lot for the community.”