Michael Biegalski (Photo courtesy ORNL)
Note: This story was last updated at 12:45 p.m. Dec. 23.
An Oak Ridge man died in what appears to be a tragic mountain biking accident at Haw Ridge on Saturday, authorities said.
Two hikers found the body of Michael Biegalski, 38, near a hiking trail at Haw Ridge at about 4:34 p.m. Saturday, Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi said.
The hikers met Oak Ridge Police Department officers at a trailhead, and they guided officers to the body, which was about 300 yards from Old Edgemoor Road. The officers confirmed that Biegalski was deceased, and they called the coroner and criminal investigations division to process the area around the accident, Akagi said. The Oak Ridge Fire Department also responded and helped transport the body.
Akagi said he couldn’t comment on the cause of death because Biegalski’s body has been taken to the University of Tennessee forensics center in Knoxville.
He said Biegalski had been at Haw Ridge by himself Saturday.
Biegalski is being remembered as a skilled mountain biker and valuable research staff member at the Center for Nanophase Materials Science at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (See newer story here.)
The area of the accident was reported to be on the lower section of the Washing Machine trail, which is between Low Gap and K2 in the map below.
A section of the Lower Washing Machine is pictured above. It’s not clear where the accident occurred or the cause.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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