Motorcycling brought them together.
Izzy Coiro had met Dylan Monson through motorcycling over a year ago. The biking community is close, she said. She quickly developed a close relationship with Monson.
When she heard about a fatal motorcycle accident on the 101 freeway two weeks ago, she immediately texted Monson. Then, their mutual friend delivered the news.
Monson, 22, died in a multi-vehicle collision on Highway 101 in Goleta on June 29. A few weeks before his death, he graduated from UC Santa Barbara.
Two weeks later, candles and flowers commemorate the scene where Monson died.
Monson was riding a red BMW motorcycle and traveling at a high-speed while lane splitting when he collided with two cars. He was ejected from the motorcycle and hit the guardrail along the freeway, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Emergency personnel declared him dead at the scene.
“I haven’t stopped thinking about him since I found out,” Coiro said. “I’m just feeling very shocked and confused. I’m just processing it.”
Before Monson transferred to UCSB in 2024, where he studied communications, he completed an EMT program at College of the Canyons in Valencia, California.
“He knew a lot about those sorts of things, which made him smarter on his bike,” Coiro said. “He understood the risks of riding.”
Monson had even fixed her bike.
“He was very serious about helping people,” Coiro said.
Another motorcyclist friend could attest.
When Eli Tiao saw a listing for a motorcycle all the way down in San Diego, he said that Monson “didn’t hesitate to clear an entire day out for me to pitch it up in his truck.”
“Dylan was honestly the textbook definition of a friend to all,” Tiao said. “He sought out people and was quick to invite people to places, and incredibly selfless and willing to offer a helping hand.”
Like several of Monson’s friends, Tiao met him through motorcycling nearly a year ago.
“I can’t remember a week I’ve gone without seeing him,” Tiao said. “Sometimes we’d hang out almost every day of the week.”
Tiao acknowledged that Monson had been speeding, but said that “it’s nothing if not a lesson to all of us to ride safer.”
Monson had ambitions of becoming a firefighter. His friend, Will Hanning-Yu, shared those dreams. But he didn’t discover that commonality until after Monson passed.
The two had met while Hanning-Yu was working at Chipotle. Monson introduced him to motorcycles and, whenever repairs were needed, he’d be at the scene right away with his truck.
Hanning-Yu shared a post to Instagram of Monson riding his motorcycle on the freeway with the caption: “…thank you for getting me into motorcycles and making me laugh at chipotle rest easy brother.”
A few days later, Hanning-Yu went to the crash site with a group of friends.
“We saw the skid marks and what had happened,” Hanning-Yu said. “It was really hard. I didn’t ride my motorcycle for two to three days.”
