LAKE PLACID - Two cyclists were sent to the Lake Placid hospital after a pair of car-bike collisions that took place as numerous cyclists and runners train on local roads for Sunday's Ironman triathlon

The latest collision occurred around 12:15 p.m. Friday in front of Howard Johnson's restaurant in Lake Placid.

Another bicyclist was taken to the hospital after a reported hit-and-run collision Thursday afternoon in the town of Keene.

Lake Placid

collision Friday

Marcia Walton, 59, of Lake Placid, was driving her pickup truck across Saranac Avenue from a convenience store parking lot into the Howard Johnson's parking lot when cyclist Christian Caswell, 36, of Barrie, Ontario, struck the truck's side rear quarterpanel, according to a state trooper and Walton.

Trooper Frank Whitelaw said Caswell sufferred bruises and scrapes, complained of back pain and was taken to Adirondack Medical Center in Lake Placid, where his condition was not immediately available.

Whitelaw said Walton failed to observe the group of cyclists Caswell was in when she pulled out. She said she did see them but that they were about 200 yards behind the oncoming vehicles, which she said were far enough back for her to pull out safely.

"I had plenty of time to come across, but apparently the bicycles ... were coming a great deal faster than the vehicles were," Walton said. "One of them hit the back of my truck. I didn't hit him; he hit me. I understand he's all right, which I'm very grateful for."

Walton was not ticketed at the scene, but Whitelaw said she will be, for failure to yield the right of way. Told of this by the Enterprise, Walton said she was "astounded."

"I was there for two hours after the accident, and at no time did they say anything to me about ticketing me," Walton said.

Whitelaw said Caswell was riding with a friend who was competing in Sunday's Ironman. Caswell was reportedly training for a different Ironman event next month.

Keene collision

State police said they received a call from Essex County 911 reporting a hit-and-run personal-injury collision between a car and a cyclist around 1:20 p.m. Thursday. The incident took place near Alstead Hill, but no additional information was available from police as of press time.

Fire and rescue personnel from Keene and Keene Valley were called to the scene, according to Keene Valley volunteer firefighter Ron Konowitz.

He said a female bicyclist riding down the hill with a group of people suffered minor injuries and was taken by ambulance to Adirondack Medical Center in Lake Placid.

"I just came down to help out when I heard 'car versus bike,'" he said. "She was scraped up, and we took her to the hospital."

Konowitz didn't know if the bicyclist had been hit by a vehicle, but he said troopers were talking to people inside a truck and a car that had pulled over along the road.

Apart from the two collisions, Whitelaw said state police have had a lot of near-misses between cars and bicycles and a lot of complaints in the Lake Placid area. The complaints have been made by motorists reporting bicyclists riding more than two abreast in the road and not yielding to vehicle traffic, Whitelaw said.