Dave Dhillon of Lafayette and his biking buddy Ray Diaz were coming down winding Pinehurst Road, toward the end of a 35-mile Skyline-Pinehurst loop, when they came upon the accident scene Sunday afternoon in Canyon.
Under the canopy of redwoods, they braked to a stop where a motorcyclist was lying on the side of Pinehurst Road after a collision with a sedan that came to rest atop a little embankment. The injured motorcyclist was being tended by a couple of other bikers who happened on the scene and the woman who had been driving the sedan, Dhillon said.
The motorcyclist had serious injuries and was transported by helicopter to a hospital in Walnut Creek. "I feel horrible for the motorcyclist and scared 'cause I ride my bicycle on that road often," said Dhillon. "Hope the rider didn't sustain any permanent injuries … the front end of the bike was laying over on the side. The bike was just demolished."
While they were there, a little flame started under the sedan on the embankment. Dhillon and another biker squirted the fire with water bottles. The flames appeared to go out, but about three minutes later another fire broke out and soon the car was engulfed, Dhillon said.
Dhillon said the sedan had come from the uphill side, from the direction of the Canyon School, and the motorcycle came from the downhill side, from the direction of the intersection of Pinehurst and Canyon.
After police and firefighters arrived to tend to the injured motorcyclist, Dhillon and Diaz went on their way. The driver of the sedan was later arrested on suspicion of DUI by CHP, Moraga police reported.
