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DE SOTO, Kan. — A cyclist is dead after an accident on the road Sunday in De Soto.

Stuart Bintner’s friends say he rode every day rain or shine. The Johnson County Sheriff’s Department said they are investigating, but a car wasn’t involved in the accident. His friends said it was just a horrible accident, and they will always miss the man who made them laugh.

David Matthews said it’s a sad day knowing their ride Sunday would be Bintner’s last. They started in Prairie Village and rode out to De Soto.

“The news is still just rippling through the cycling community, but there were literally hundreds if not thousands of local cyclists that knew Stu, and had ridden with him throughout the years,” Matthews said.

Cyclists like Sam Swearingin who knew Bintner for 15 years.

“Just a real patriarch in the cycling community. Just a rock solid nice guy,” Matthews said.

Both men said the former Archbishop O’Hara High School principal was incredibly smart.

“Really fun to be around. He had a great sense of humor,” Matthews.

“He`s just a wealth of information. He could always chime in on a conversation, and everybody would respect his opinion, because he’s well educated. Smart guy,” Swearingin said.

In retirement, the widower spent his days riding his bicycle around the metro.

“It always amazes younger cyclists that he could ride as fast as he could ride. Just a super strong rider,” Swearingin said.

“He understood that that was part of riding, but I’m sure never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined ending his life that way,” Matthews said.

Matthews and Swearingin said he was doing what he loved the day he died.

“Things can happen quickly. Particularly when bikes are riding together. Sometimes accidents involve a car. Other times it can just be between bikes,” Matthews said.

Bintner volunteered through cycling by helping inexperienced riders and his friends say he would always help you with your bike if you needed it. It’s something they already miss.

“You just feel like a piece of you is missing. So, that’s what we’re all kind of saying – it’s just not going to be the same,” Swearingin said.

“It’s going to be hard. Those of us who were riding yesterday, it was a hard ride back to town. We’ll miss him dearly,” Matthews said.

People who knew him said Bintner’s wife passed around six years ago, and he spent the remainder of his life exploring on his bike.