A bicyclist died Saturday morning after tumbling down a 30-foot embankment, an Arkansas State Police spokesman said.
Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said a trooper responded at approximately 11:30 a.m. Saturday to a medical call on Arkansas 300, where a bicyclist had been injured.
The cyclist, identified as Jim Krause, 54, fell from his bike and down a 30-foot embankment off the side of the highway, Sadler said. The Pulaski County coroner pronounced Krause dead at the bottom of the embankment, Sadler said.
Witnesses told the trooper that they heard a loud "pop" near Krause's back tire right before he fell, Sadler said.
The fall happened on route of the Big Dam Bridge 100, an annual cycling tour that drew more than 3,000 cyclists from across the country Saturday, according to the tour's website.
A 54-year-old man from Fort Smith named Jim Krause was listed as one of the participating cyclists on the Big Dam Bridge 100's list of entrants, but Sadler could not immediately confirm that Krause was one of the cyclists riding in the tour.
Krause's next of kin has been notified of the death and the death is not being investigated as a highway crash, Sadler said.