Rideman

Pointbuzz friends;

Rideman, AKA Dave, is currently experiencing some serious health challenges. Those of you who have been around long enough know him as a good friend and resource of incredible knowledge of all-things Cedar Point and ride-related. He also did the "Ask Rideman" Q & A here for some time.

Something similar was posted on Coasterbuzz, but I tend to forget that many of us are not members of both sites, although his social fingerprint is just as large on both. For those who have had the pleasure of communicating and/or interacting with, keep him in your thoughts or whatever you choose to do in these moments.

Here's to hoping he rides on.

I wish Rideman a speedy recovery.

This is hitting hard. Moments like this really put things in perspective. Rideman could explain a coaster better than most engineers. I always enjoyed the Ask Rideman series. Hoping for the best.

It's with a sad heart that I have news to pass on; Dave is on his way to riding that roller coaster in the sky.

He recently faced a number of health challenges that could break anyone, but he always maintained a positive perspective and never lost his sense of humor.

Tremendous loss.

I had the pleasure of meeting Dave once at Cedar Point, but other than that it's been the forum and occasional FB message interaction. Just an absolutely wonderful human being.

Ride on, Dave.

For those of you who knew him personally, so sorry for your loss. I didn't know him but could really appreciate him through this forum, and will miss him as well. Sort of in the category of Pete.

This is very sad news. While I never had the honor of knowing him personally, I definitely appreciated his presence on these boards over the years. My condolences to his friends and family.

Very sad. Definitely appreciated his contributions here over the years.

I had the pleasure of first meeting Dave in person in 1997. Pete Babic was also there that day. We all knew each other from rec.roller-coaster. He is a good man and has been a great friend to this site and this community for decades.

I found Dave's trip report from that day. 😀

Very sad news indeed. My condolences to all who knew him. Dave was a great contributor to this community and he will be missed.

What an excellent find, Walt.

oddball Coaster Nut Behavior

That needs to be on a t-shirt. I'll buy one.

Sorry to hear this news, but that trip report was a gem. '97 was my last year at Cedar Point, and I totally forgot about the Swan Boats.

It sounds like Dave is still fighting, but not out of the woods. From John Peck on CoasterBuzz:

As a miracle, he woke up this morning (from almost a week and a half asleep) after going through some more surgery and he seemed to be doing pretty well despite being on medication and a bit tired. He was eating and drinking well and I talked with him and his parents for a little while (we even talked coasters and cedar point). It was really good to see him. He's a tough dude for sure.

What an incredible turn of events. How amazing would it be to be able to be able to read through a series of posts made about you by people who care about you and thought you had passed on?

I sincerely hope he gets that chance.

^ im hoping to see a "Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated " post.

The latest post on Dave.

If this guy isn't a site for sore eyes!! After three long weeks and multiple scares of imminent death, it looks like Dave Althoff is going to make it!! As of a week ago Tuesday, they started pulling a couple of tubes every day. But he would not give up!! Finally, this past Tuesday, tube down his throat and all, he is awake! The doctor has put in orders to get him out of ICU. And now he has signed paperwork to get into Select, the rehab center that will get him into wound care and prosthetics. Praise the Lord and thank you for all your prayers and patience! Guess I better go back to church!

"I woke up still not dead again today
The Internet said I had passed away
But, if I died I wasn't dead to stay
And I woke up still not dead again today"

Just saw this.

Dave is a great guy. Although I don't know him personally, we have interacted online since back in 1992, the infancy days of the original rec.rollercoaster bbs board. Always a nice guy and super informative.

I'm sad to hear he's suffering, but glad he is hanging on.

DA20Pilot, any reports of my death have in fact been exaggerated. I am alive, but not exactly kicking. If anybody sees my right leg, please let me know so I can see about getting it reinstalled. That’s how it works, isn’t it?

Anyway I took a short ambulance ride on 7/15 for extreme hypotension and ended up intubated, sedated, and asleep until 7/28. Thanks to Apple’s draconian device anti theft measures I couldn’t get access to anything until last night.

For now I am at Select Specialty hospital mostly getting my wound cared for; once that progresses sufficiently I move upstairs to real physical rehab at OhioHealth.

—Dave Althoff, Jr.

So nice to hear from you, or in this case read a post from you. As you can tell there are many that genuinely care about you and rooting for you to be with us much, much longer. Stay strong sir.