CRATER LAKE -- A local bicyclist is in critical condition at Rogue Valley Medical Center in Medford today after being involved in a bicycle-motorcycle accident Saturday morning.

Mike Simmons, 61, suffered multiple skull and neck fractures, broken ribs and a punctured lung when he landed on his head after his bicycle was reportedly hit by a slow-moving motorcycle about 10 a.m. at the beginning of the Umpqua Valley Velo Club Rim to Roseburg Ride.

The cyclist was flipped over the handlebars of his bike and then landed on the road pavement. He was wearing a bicycle helmet but it was damaged in the accident. He was the only cyclist involved in the accident. The motorcycle driver, whose name was unavailable, was not injured, witnesses said.

Simmons was tended to at the scene by a couple of doctors and nurses who were also just beginning to make the ride to Roseburg. They gave him "very critical care right on site," said Nicki Ford, Simmons' daughter, who lives in Medford.

The injured cyclist then underwent three hours of surgery at the Rogue Valley hospital after being airlifted by helicopter from the site of the accident. "He is absolutely in critical condition," said Ford. "They say there is a 72-hour period before the swelling in the head peaks and then it will start to go down. If he can make it through those 72 hours, things will be better, but he'll be far from out of the woods."

Simmons, who has been a lifelong logger and has worked in the woods of both Oregon and Alaska, was scheduled to make the Cycle Oregon ride that begins Sept. 9. Simmons celebrated his 60th birthday by riding his bike from Roseburg to the top of Steens Mountain in southeastern Oregon and was featured in The News-Review.

He is also the author of "Bullets, Blood and Backstraps," a book of short stories about the hunting adventures of he and his wife Carol.