BOULDER, Colo. — Even as he became a rising star on the international cycling scene, Magnus White was still known in his hometown as a kid who simply loved to ride his bike. On trails around town, locals in Boulder often found the teenager training for competition as a junior member of USA Cycling. During his days off, he could be spotted practicing jumps at the city’s bike park or pedaling with friends. After long days of riding, he loved to grab a burrito at a shop near his house.
On the last Saturday of July, White hopped on his Trek Émonda SL 7 for a training ride to prepare for this month’s junior men’s mountain bike cross-country world championships in Scotland. He was pedaling south on Highway 119 — known as the Diagonal Highway — shortly after noon when a 23-year-old woman driving a Toyota Matrix drifted from the right lane onto the shoulder and struck White from behind. The collision threw White, who was wearing a helmet, off his bike, and he was later pronounced dead at a hospital. He was 17.
The Toyota’s driver was not injured. Alcohol, drugs and excessive speed were not immediately suspected to be factors in the crash, according to Gabriel Moltrer, a public information officer with the Colorado State Patrol. An investigation is ongoing.
White’s death devastated the cycling community; tributes poured in from around the world to remember the teen’s warm spirit, boundless potential and love for biking. The tragedy also left many in Boulder, a picturesque college town that sits in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and is known as a playground for outdoor enthusiasts, searching for answers about the safety of local bike paths, including on the popular Diagonal Highway, where local and state officials are planning a project to build a new commuter bikeway next year. This week, near milepost 47 on that road, people left flowers as a memorial to White.
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“I know people in our community are really questioning cycling. They’re scared to go for a bike ride. They maybe feel guilty if riding a bike feels good. There’s just a lot of uncertainty,” said Pete Webber, director of Boulder Junior Cycling, the club White competed for. “But I know that the power of bike riding is real, and the positive benefits of cycling are powerful — and that Magnus would want us to ride our bikes.”
White started riding at 2 when his parents, Michael and Jill, put him on his first Strider bike. He continued to fall in love with the sport when he joined Boulder Junior Cycling before he was even a teenager, flashing early signs of his talent. When he was in sixth grade, his teacher went around the class and asked each student what they wanted to be when they grew up. Most kids had no clue. White said he wanted to be a professional biker.
“And the teacher goes, ‘Okay, guys, but you can’t choose professional athlete; you have to consider something more realistic and attainable,’” said Jude Scarbrough, a close friend of White’s. “And I remember Magnus saying: ‘No, you don’t get it. I’m going to be a professional biker.’ ”
White was on his way to accomplishing that vision. When he was 15, “a lightbulb went off,” Webber said, and all of the thousands of hours of bike riding in his youth aligned with his training and endurance. He won the 2021 junior cyclocross national championship and competed for the national team for a full season in Europe in 2022. He represented the United States at the cyclocross world championships this year and was preparing to show his versatility at the junior men’s mountain bike cross-country world championships this month.
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“The bike was his best friend,” Webber said. “Magnus showed me that the power of the bicycle is way greater than I ever imagined, because that character, the person that he became, he became that way in part because of his love of the bike.”
Last year during a race in Arkansas, White was pulling away from the field and, on one stretch, noticed his coaches out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head and flashed a cheeky grin, then pedaled away as fast as he could.
“It just told us he was having fun,” said Michael Robson, White’s longtime coach. “Even when he was competing and winning, he was so playful about it. I’ll never forget that little smile. It was absolutely brilliant. It was pure Magnus.”
Among those who offered their condolences to White’s family and the community this week was Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D), who ended his statement with a reminder: “Please remember to give cyclists space as you drive.”
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White’s death only renewed calls for more safety for bicyclists in the region. Drivers have hit and killed other high-level cyclists in Colorado in recent years; in 2021, Gwen Inglis was hit and killed on a road just south of Greenwood Mountain in Lakewood. A year earlier, pro cyclist Ben Sonntag was struck and killed by a driver in La Plata County.
The stretch of Highway 119 between Boulder and Longmont, where the collision that killed White occurred, has had the second-highest number of bike crashes on any road in unincorporated Boulder County, according to the Boulder Reporting Lab. This area is frequented by cyclists who ride on the shoulder of the road as cars pass by; the county and state are designing a 12-foot-wide bike path in the middle of the Diagonal Highway, with construction set to begin next year.
Boulder County provided an update on those plans Thursday, announcing that the project was fully funded and that it would allow a public comment period on the final designs.
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“We at Boulder County join the community in grieving the tragic loss of Magnus White,” the statement read.
White’s magnetism drew everyone to him, whether they were involved in cycling or not, said Scarbrough, who called White his best friend. A rising senior in high school, White carried a 4.2 grade-point average and planned to graduate early this year to travel internationally for competition. He wanted to eventually attend business school. But he also loved to ski and hike with his dog, Zuma, and when he wasn’t on his bike, he was a normal teenager looking for adventures with his friends.
“He works hard, but he plays just as hard,” Scarbrough said. “I sort of knew he was a big shot — and I knew he knew it, too — but he would never really say it to me. Everyone knew who he was ... but he was super humble.”
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Webber, who has been cycling in Boulder for 30 years, said White taught him that introducing young people to wholesome pastimes such as cycling was worth it. He has long been an advocate for better bike facilities and safer streets, and he believes in the coming months the tragedy will encourage the community to fight for safety for cyclists. But as he mourned White, he also vowed to keep riding his bike, even though he knew some in the community might be afraid to.
“I know that right now this tragedy makes people want to maybe pull back,” Webber said. “But I know that Magnus would want us to actually step forward, to be like Magnus, to just stay positive, to live your fullest life and to bring people along for the ride.”
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