Cyclist who rode for PWFD dies in bike crash

Nick Grosenick, who biked 115 miles to raise money for AEDs, is killed in accident just days after making donation

FIVE DAYS BEFORE he died in a Saturday, Aug. 15, bicycle accident in the Town of Belgium, Nick Grosenick (front and center in the photo above) donated four automatic external defibrillators to the Port Washington Fire Department. Grosenick completed a 115-mile bicycle ride in May to raise $6,500 to purchase the lifesaving devices. Accepting the donation were (front row, from left) firefighters and ambulance crew members Tom Sharbuno and Kurt Ellmar, Grosenick and his girlfriend Andrea Wendland, Jim Langford, (second row) Maribeth Barbuch, Adam Lanser, Steve Ulm, Kevin Riley, Charlie Leasum, Rick Lathrop, Andrew Klopp, Jeff Tietyen, Jim Riley, Mike Grittner, (back row) Victor Petrov and Mike Didier. Grosenick is pictured below training in March for his ride. Photos by Sam Arendt
By 
KRISTYN HALBIG ZIEHM
Ozaukee Press staff

Port Washington bicyclist Nick Grosenick, who in May went on a century ride and raised $6,500 to buy automatic external defibrillators for the Port Fire Department, died Saturday morning doing what he loved — biking.

Grosenick, 41, and three other bicyclists were about halfway through a 25-mile ride when he failed to stop for a stop sign while heading east on Jay Road at Sauk Trail Road, Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Lt. Justin Kaas said. 

Grosenick was struck by a 1967 Chevrolet El Camino driven by Jeffrey Koopman, 53, of Cedar Grove, who was driving south on Sauk Trail Road, Kaas said.

Grosenick, who was wearing a helmet, died at the scene, he said. Koopman was not injured.

The speed limit on Sauk Trail Road in that area is 45 mph, Kaas said, adding “it did not appear to be possible” for Koopman to stop in time to avoid the accident.

Two of the three bicyclists with Grosenick witnessed the accident, Kaas said. 

Kaas said he couldn’t recall any other accidents at that intersection.

“I do know it’s common practice for bicyclists not to stop at stop signs,” he said, adding bicyclists need to adhere to the rules of the road for everyone’s safety. 

Belgium Fire and Rescue was called to the scene. The Port Washington ambulance squad also responded, Fire Chief Mark Mitchell said.

“It’s very tragic,” Mitchell said. 

Ironically, just a few days earlier Grosenick was at the Port Fire Station, posing with firefighters as he and his girlfriend Andrea Wendland presented the four defibrillators purchased with the money he raised to officials.

“The whole premise of what he did for us was unreal,” Mitchell said. “It came out of left field. It was very generous of him to do this. We’re very grateful.”

Three of the defibrillators will be kept on the fire trucks and one in the station. Mitchell said he will propose to the Police and Fire Commission that plaques denoting Grosenick’s donation be placed on the trucks with the devices.

Grosenick was a well-known member of the local biking community who coached for the Wisconsin High School Cycling League.

Karl Pradel, a friend of Grosenick and Wendland, said Grosenick’s death “has hit everybody really hard.”

Grosenick “had a big personality,” Pradel said. “He was very competitive but always willing to encourage you and help you out.

“It will not be the same without his energy, his smile, sense of humor and competitive spirit. In the thick of winter, you get yourself to group cycling and more than your legs, it’s the people in that room that keep you going. Nick was one of those people.”

As Grosenick prepared for his century ride in March, he told Ozaukee Press that biking had been in his blood since he was a child. 

“A boy and his bike — that’s been my mom’s tag line for me all my life,” he said.  “Ever since I was able to balance, that’s all I’ve wanted to do.”

As a youngster, he was into BMX and trick riding. Growing up in Watertown, he and his friends would create dirt bike courses on an empty field next to the baseball field.

As a young man, his uncle introduced him to mountain biking.

“I fell in love with it immediately,” Grosenick said. “The thing I really, really love is it’s so fast and there’s so much you have to be thinking about as you do it — it really forces you to just be in the moment. It’s like active meditation.”

After he met Wendland, he took up road riding, where he said his average pace was 17 to 19 mph.

“I like going fast,” he said.

Grosenick set his sights on a century ride on May 23, the day after his 41st birthday, but said he needed motivation. A member of the Be3 fitness group with a philanthropic bent, he asked for ideas for a cause to devote the ride to and a friend suggested the Fire Department and its defibrillators.

“I started with ‘I don’t know if I want to do this,’ and went to ‘I’m excited about doing this,’” he said.

“I think it’s kind of neat to put the message out there, and it’s kind of cool to protect the people who are protecting us in the community.”

He and a couple of friends — including Ryan Silva, a volunteer firefighter with the Sheboygan Falls Fire Department — rode from Sheboygan Falls to Peninsula State Park in Door County, a 115-mile ride.

After the ride, Grosenick said, “the first words out of my mouth were ‘I feel absolutely no need to ever do this again.”

But later he reconsidered, saying he wanted to undergo a century ride annually, picking a project to raise money for each year.

“There’s always a cause that’s worthwhile,” he said.

Grosenick has three children — a daughter and two sons. A fundraising campaign set up to benefit them has raised more than $9,000. To access it, visit tinyurl.com/y6r8dycd.

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Ozaukee Press

Wisconsin’s largest paid circulation community weekly newspaper. Serving Port Washington, Saukville, Grafton, Fredonia, Belgium, as well as Ozaukee County government. Locally owned and printed in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

125 E. Main St.
Port Washington, WI 53074
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