Wednesday, July 30, 2008

R.I.P. Ray Lang


Memorial services will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, August 4, 2008, at the Marietta Chapel of Cawley & Peoples Funeral Home, with Pastor Steve Mahaffey officiating. The family will greet friends at a reception, at the funeral home, immediately following his services. Donations may be made to Washington County Boys and Girls Club, 136 Front St., Marietta, OH 45750. Cawley & Peoples Funeral Homes offers online condolences, by visiting their website, www.cawleyandpeoples.com

Condolences for Ray are being left here at the Funeral home and here at the newspaper.

"Ray Lang passed away this afternoon from internal injuries while competing at the AMA Amateur Nationals at Loretta Lynn's in Tennessee."

"This was his first race of the day and he got a great start a few turns in on one of the tabetops another rider colided with him mid air and Ray fell about 15-20 feet breaking most of the ribs on each side and causing massive internal bleeding that resulted in his death. "

"Today’s racing started on a somber note as a moment of silence and prayer was held for Senior 40+ rider Ray Lang, from Wheat Ridge, Colorado, who passed away late Tuesday afternoon after a mid-race collision with another rider left him with chest trauma. His passing marked the first in the 27-year history of the event. A short service was also held in his honor just before intermission. Godspeed, Ray Lang."

"Crashed on a double..got up..stood his bike up...then got landed on by another rider.... I just talked to Joe Dean, Ray's mechanic while he was there. He said Ray did not suffer from any broken bones or head injury. He took a handle bar to the chest and his lung filled up with blood befor they could figure out what was wrong with him."

"All his life Ray Lang loved things that went fast and high."

" Jackson said the other rider wasn't aware of the accident until the race was halted."

“He just loved living life and having a good time”

Ray or "Head" as we called him, was a long time Colorado Snowboard Rep. We met him way back when at Powder Tools Board Shop when he started with this little Canadian brand called Never, later to become Option. He sold us or tried to sell us Gillie Stix, Bat Waves, Test Pilot, Bamboo Curtain, Arbor, Special Blend, GMC/Defcon, Split, Fox, Business Bindings, Flow and Alpenstar thru the years. Damn, at one time the whole shop was wearing these dumb ass mittens that went up to our elbow's with Bats all over them because Ray told us they were cool in Idaho???

Head was also BMX fanatic. He's seen here on the left of the measuring stick with Matt Hoffman boosting a world record air way back in the "day."




I remember we were at this stupid ass snowboard / skateboard lifestyle show in Boulder back in 96 with Ray. They had this booty ass half pipe with dudes skating. Shit, I think Todd Richards was the star skater there. Anyway Ray grabs some ran-dumbs bike and climbs the ramp to give it a go. No helmet, the Head hangs up dropping in. 10" to flat, the Head splatted at the bottom. Memory loss, disorientation, concussion...Ray had it all but was ready to climb back up and give it another go. That is after he was discharged from the hospital.






















I last saw Ray in October when Kind Brother and I were doing the First Kiss movie tour thru Steamboat. We ran into Head at the local moto shop. He had just driven 8 hours from Southern Colorado to the Boat to get his collar bone fixed by one of the local surgeons. In typical Ray fashion of just winging it, he didn't have a ride back home. We ended up driving Ray back to Denver on my way out of town. Funny that that's my last memory of Ray but I'm stoked that we got 3 hours of quality time with the kid. Classic Ray lines for 3 hours. Lots of "man, I don't know."

Yea it sucks that Ray's gone but he's lucky in a sense that he went out doing something he loved and with how much he got broken by off, you can be assured he loved it more than life.
Rest in Peace Head, we'll miss ya.

18 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:35 PM

    Can't remember the last time I saw Ray...but I'm pretty sure it was good to see each other and we had a good laugh or two.



    JK

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  2. Anonymous6:30 PM

    The last time I saw Ray was on his 40th birthday in Seattle. We reminisced about life and getting older...but laughed about the fact that we were really doing the same things we were doing as kids. That's what I loved about Ray...he was always having a good time, did everything with a smile and made everyone around him laugh. Ray believed in me from day one and taught me so much. He was a wonderful mentor and dear friend. I owe him the world and I will miss him very much.

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  3. R.I.P. Ray, you will be missed. Thanks for the good times, stoke on life and everything you did to live every day to the fullest...

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  4. Anonymous10:48 PM

    Long live the Head.

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  5. Anonymous9:44 AM

    SNAKE!

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  6. Anonymous9:52 AM

    dang... shitty news. Ray was always super cool to me even when I was a little shit...

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  7. Anonymous10:10 AM

    Snake - we are missing you already man...godspeed...........

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  8. Anonymous11:55 AM

    What a bad deal. Our buddy Ray was always on the edge. Motocross racing was one of the safer things he did! 15 years ago he rode his Ninja all over the US. I've seen him ride a wheelie down a residential street in Ft. Lauderdale and again on Main street in my hometown here in Ohio. He was always a good time and a great guy. Fish and I remember the adventures in Winnepeg, but we had to reconstruct the events for Ray the next morning and explain how he earned his injuries.... great times. The world lost some spice this week. -Hawk

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  9. Anonymous1:13 PM

    Ray always had a great smile on his face. Many are saddened by this loss, and he will be greatly missed. Ray was always one of my favorite people to run in to at trade shows and bars. My sympathy goes out to his family and loved ones. God Speed!

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  10. Anonymous1:47 PM

    I don't know him, but sounds like he was the man, rip...

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  11. Anonymous4:05 PM

    Always will remember that smile. A good man is gone but will never me forgotten. Down in the dirt he was but doing something he loved..

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  12. Man! I bet I hadn't seen Ray in over 10 years, but seeing this pic of him here just brought back raging memories from GRS's (minus the seminar parts) and Sizzler trips from the early 90's.
    Ray was just a guy you could see after a couple years apart and talk like it was just yesterday when you last spoke. An amazing dude. I tip my 40 to you, brother. Although it sounds a bit cliche, I'm glad you he went doing what he loved....GOING FAST!

    God bless,
    van d

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  13. Anonymous8:54 AM

    I just saw him a few weeks ago and he was the same...big goofy smile....working on a new venture.....funny.......I remember that half pipe thing in boulder too....I still have a pair of Bat Waves. RIP homie

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  14. Anonymous7:51 PM

    Hey people ain't a kick in the teeth, god has no fear of taking down the good ones. Racing Ray an awsome person with no pretensions. The Lang family had the right formula. I was there the day he started motoing agian, he was there the day i hit a rope and broke my teeth, and laughed at me! Oh yea i almost forgot about the Zombie concert, trying to fat chicks back stage! CLASSIC!

    Miss ya bro.
    Fill Gods Oakleys with stone spray!

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  15. Anonymous1:26 PM

    Our family was very saddened by the death of Ray Lang at Loretta's. My husband raced in the 40+ class at LL's. Contrary to what has been written the race was not stopped after Ray's accident. We were not even aware of his death until the following evening a few hours before the start of the next 40+ race. Some riders did not find out until they arrived at the line on Wednesday evening. Our thoughts and prayers are with Ray's family and friends. The fact that a rider died and the races went on as if nothing had happened was disturbing to us. Some said that the officials did not want to "scare other riders". You don't make it to Loretta's without knowing the dangers of this sport. I don't know if the statement about the officials is true, but I do feel like more could have been done to show respect to Ray's passing.

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  16. Anonymous12:33 PM

    These comments really bring back memories. We worked at P-Tools when Ray was a rep and continued to work with him at Planet PowerSports. It makes me laugh and cry to here some of the old nicknames like head and snake (the snake rail). We really had some great times with Ray back in the snowboard days at the shop. We always looked forward to seeing him at the trade shows. I don't think we ever saw him in a bad mood. He was always professional at the shops and truly believed in what he was doing. We are really gonna miss seeing him here in the boat!

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  17. Anonymous9:01 AM

    RIP SNake. You were a true homie. I will never forget the all the crazy ass, no plan whatsoever, freestylin', road trips to go shred you took me on. In 95 Ray gave me my first free snowboard ever and took me under his wing to teach me the ins and outs of the snowboard world. I am forever grateful for our friendship and the things I'd learned from Ray. Rays fearless passion for life, the same passion that got him in trouble so damn much is nothing short of admirable. Anyone that went shreddin with snake, whether it be snow, bmx, moto, meeting chicks, whatever, knew that he liked to come in hot. A loose cannon with a heart the size of his head. He had massive cajones and wasnt scared to step it up. He wasnt always the most graceful but would occasionally "tap the source" and pull the most incredible feat out of his ass. Id seen it happen over and over again.
    Always hiking back up with Snake Lang grin on his face, surprised at his own good fortune. There are so many amazing memories I have of that dude. He was a true homie. A mischief mobstah. His passing is a true loss. Never forget the Snake.Miss you buddy.

    -tbone.

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  18. Anonymous9:06 AM

    Oh yeah, I forgot to mention he looks like "Booger" from revenge of the nerds.

    Tbone

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