Unalaska, AK – Unalaska resident Bobby Johnson died on Saturday from a bicycle accident when racing in the Fireweed 400, a four-hundred mile race in south central Alaska. According to an Alaska State Trooper report, at about 11 am on Saturday Johnson was cycling downhill from the Eureka Summit on the Glenn Highway when he "fell over the front of the bicycle for no apparent reason." He slid under the guard rail where his head struck the steel guardrail post. He was wearing a lightweight bicycle helmet but he still suffered a severe head injury. He was immediately attended to by three physicians, a nurse, a paramedic, and an EMT at the scene of the accident. He was medevacked to Anchorage where he died around 5 pm.

This is the first death during the Fireweed 400 since it began 7 years ago. The route goes from the Sheep Mountain Lodge just east of Palmer to Valdez. Sixty-four-year-old Johnson was an experienced competitive cyclist and was on the second day of the race.