John M. Clare

January 26, 2019

John M. Clare - A California Triple Crown Legend On Sunday, January 27, Melinda shared the tragic news: "Dear friends, Yesterday I posted a rather cryptic message about needing prayer without details. At the time, I didn’t know any details or the status. Now I do. It is with a heavy heart and a profound sense of sorrow that I let you know that my husband of 35 years, John Michael Clare, died last night on Mt. San Gorgonio. Scott and John were on the descent when John lost his footing and fell in hard, icy snow and he started sliding and couldn’t stop. He fell into a ravine estimated at 500 feet down. Scott was able to yell and communicate with him but then had to leave him to get into cell range to get ems moving. He made it off the hill just as ems arrived. San Bernardino Search and Rescue were awesome. They had multiple ground crews that hiked in and they made it a county-wide priority alert asking for volunteers. People were coming up until the wee hours of the morning to assist in the search and rescue. Shortly after 3 am, they found his body and notified us. We are in a state of shock as this was not the outcome we anticipated. I would ask you to please respect and honor our families’ privacy in this time of grief and pain and refrain from calling or texting. I PROMISE if I or my family needs anything, I will reach out (and I already have.) John did not want a church service but he was ok with a celebration of life if that’s what we wanted. I will, of course, keep you posted as more details become available. With love, Melinda" John was inducted into the California Triple Crown Hall of Fame in 2012 in recognition of him completing 50 Double Centuries in the California Triple Crown Series. Just 4 years later in 2016, he was inducted into the California Triple Crown 100 Double Century Club of the Hall of Fame in recognition of him completing 100 Double Centuries in the California Triple Crown Series. He loved these hard rides and he tackled the most challenging of them all as shown in his California Triple Crown History Report HERE John rode his First organized Century on the 1975 Orange County Wheelmen Century. He wrote: "My bike broke down early in the ride so I rode my Dad’s bike while he fixed mine. He caught up with me and gave me a Heath Bar since they did not have Powerbars in those days. Still one of my favorites." His First Double Century was on the 1993 Hemet Double where he rode his 45 pound fat tired Mountain Bike. He remembers a huge peloton lead by Steve Born and the first century was under 5 hours for him. Ed Gallegos wrote: "John and I had some great times on our "ponies" and shared photos: Cheri Walker is a friend of John and Melinda and created a GoFundMe page HERE where you can make a donation to help Melinda. She also made a MealTrain page HERE where you can sign up to help Melinda with a meal. https://www.gofundme.com/supporting-the-clare-family https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/4wv9km Melinda wrote: "I am currently collecting photos of John. Please feel free to upload a few of your favorite photos of him into the Google Photos folder I created." There are hundreds of photos of John there!! A Memorial Bike Ride is being planned for John. We'll keep you posted on the details after we hear from the family. George Chung wrote: "Remembering John Clare. A big man with a huge heart. Will always remember your kindness to me and so many others. You always had time for my questions. You were always there for your friends and willing to help out. You were so genuine and sincere. We will always remember your big smile, heartfelt friendship, and your gentle soul. You will be sorely missed by me and so many!" George shared these beautiful photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/NMGxZRXpZtBi1e7U7 http://caltriplecrown.blogspot.com/2019/01/john-m-clare-california-triple-crown.html