A new bride lost her husband in a road crash just three days into their Bermuda honeymoon, an inquest heard yesterday.

Mrs. Cynthia Eder, 36, was on the back of a rented bike driven by husband Paul when they hit a taxi.

Mr. Eder, 49, died in minutes. And she was left with a disabling arm injury that still needs treatment months later.

The couple, from near San Francisco, were on honeymoon at Pink Beach and had spent the day enjoying Bermuda's south shore.

But Mr. Eder, a chief financial officer, died near John Smith's Bay after suffering multiple spine, chest and head injuries.

The accident happened on November 3 last year on South Road, 200 yards east of Watch Hill Road, just before 4 p.m.

Two days later, still in intensive care, Mrs. Eder told Police she had arrived with her husband on November 1, the day after their wedding in Massachusetts.

She first met him the previous February.

Mrs. Eder, an accountant, said her husband had ridden on the left during trips to Britain, and had also ridden motorbikes back home. She told how they visited Horseshoe Bay and then had lunch at Elbow Beach. She had a Perrier and he had a diet Coke.

"I felt very safe and confident of Paul's ability to control the cycle. He was very confident in riding the cycle, although we did on occasion slow down to allow other vehicles to pass.'' Before the crash he was riding carefully at around 40 kph, she said. "I remember coming around the bend and Paul saying: `Oh s***'. I believe that we were right on the edge of our lane and possibly someone travelling in the other direction was up to the edge. I don't know.

"I can't say if we did cross onto the oppposite side of the road.'' Apart from that she remembered only a Policeman talking to her and people giving CPR to Paul, saying they could not understand why the ambulance was late.

Her statement was signed by her mother, probably because of Mrs. Eder's broken arm, the inquest heard.

Taxi owner Mr. Kenneth Bean, of Cherry Dale, Smith's, told Police he was heading west to pick up his wife.

He was doing 20 mph when he saw the bike coming towards him.

"I immediately got the impression this cycle was travelling quite fast and it was going to hit me. I was on the correct side of the road.'' It seemed that the rider tensed or braced, causing the bike to go even faster.

"I pulled over to the near side to try to give this bike as much room as possible. Before I had a chance to do anything else this cycle collided with the front offside of the taxi with a glancing blow.'' Mr. Bean said he did everything possible to avoid the cycle.

Maintenance man Mr. Michael Furbert, of Studio Lane, Hamilton Parish, told the inquest he was driving a truck behind the taxi.

At the last right hand bend past John Smith's Bay, he saw the bike cross onto the wrong side of the road and the taxi swerve as if to avoid it. The two people "hit the road pretty hard'' after the collision, he said, and the bike went on to hit the truck.

Despite first aid from lifeguard Miss Candy Foggo and others at the scene, Mr.

Eder could not be saved, the inquest heard.

Mr. Frank DeSilva, then a Devil's Hole Cycles worker, said the couple looked very comfortable on the bike. "I asked Mr. Eder how he felt and he replied `OK','' he told Police.

P.c. Russell Matthews, who arrived at the scene immediately after the accident, concluded it was caused by lack of knowledge of the severity of the bend combined with a lack of warning signs.

Works and Engineering have now put signs up, the inquest heard. Coroner Mr.

John Judge recorded a verdict of accidental death.