FAIRBANKS — A Seattle motorcyclist who fell asleep and ran into two bicyclists near Nenana in June 2010 while participating in the last leg of a cross-country motorcycle race from Florida to Alaska accepted a plea deal with the state Monday that requires her to serve 16 months in jail and pay restitution to the two cyclists, neither of whom was seriously injured.

Vik Livingston, 54, originally was charged with two counts of second-degree felony assault, but the charges were reduced to fourth-degree misdemeanor assault as a result of Monday’s plea deal. A drunken-driving charge against Livingston was dropped previously because of lack of evidence.

The plea deal came on the day Livingston’s trial in Fairbanks Superior Court was scheduled to begin. It will be up to the Department of Corrections to decide whether Livingston will serve jail time or be monitored electronically in Seattle, assistant district attorney Arne Soldwedel said.

Livingston was competing in the Hoka Hey Challenge, an 8,000-mile motorcycle race from Key West, Fla., to Homer that is billed as the Iditarod of Harley-Davidsons, when the motorcycle plowed into cyclists Andy Hutten and Karen Schaad, who were riding on the shoulder of the road near 306 Mile of the Parks Highway, about 50 miles south of Fairbanks.

Hutten suffered a bad cut on his leg and a Schaad had a chipped vertebrae and cracked pelvis. Both cyclists suffered bad road rash as a result of sliding an estimated 30 feet on the pavement.

Livingston wound up in Fairbanks Memorial Hospital with cracked ribs, a broken clavicle and a punctured lung.

Alaska State Troopers reported there were no signs that Livingston swerved or braked until after hitting the first cyclist, which is consistent with accidents where people fall asleep at the wheel. Livingston, meanwhile, claimed to have swerved onto the shoulder of the road to avoid a car that had braked suddenly.

“I feel bad people got hurt,” Livingston said in a statement to Judge Robert Downes. “There was no intention of going out and hurting anybody.”

Soldwedel said the plea deal was in the state’s best interests.

“Given the numerous inherent difficulties in prosecuting this case, I believe we have achieved a decent result without risking a ‘not guilty’ verdict,” he wrote in an email following announcement of the plea deal.

“Essentially, I did not believe that the evidence we had gotten fit the elements of that offense, and based on the information that we have it is unlikely that the defendant was under the influence of any intoxicating substance at the time of the accident,” he wrote. “Because the defendant was on the last leg of the Hoka Hey Challenge road race, our theory of the case was that the defendant basically fell asleep at the wheel and ran into the victims.”

Livingston’s attorney, Al Vacura, said the plea deal was “a fair resolution considering the pros and cons of a trial.”

Neither Hutten nor Schaad, who have filed a civil suit against Livingston, appeared in court.

As part of the plea deal, Livingston must pay restitution to the cyclists, who were riding bikes valued at approximately $9,000.

The crash involving Livingston was one of two involving riders in the Hoka Hey Challenge in Alaska, including one fatal accident. Kenneth J. Greene, 63, of Ocala, Fla., was killed at 107 Mile of the Glenn Highway between Palmer and Glennallen when he drove onto the shoulder, lost control and crashed. That was not part of the official route, but Greene was evidently taking a shortcut to reach Homer. Another rider, Charles C. Lynn, 44, of Florida, died in Wyoming when he apparently fell asleep and crashed.

The race, in which riders must follow a specific course down to the exact street as mapped out by organizers, was marred by confusion and controversy, with several racers alleging the race is a scam and there was no possible way to follow the course as it was mapped out. Riders paid a $1,000 entry fee. Nearly 800 people began the race June 20 in Florida. About 200 made it to Alaska.

The first two racers — Frank Kelly, of Prosperity, S.C., and Will Barclay, of Highland, Fla. — arrived in Homer June 28 to tie for first place. They covered the 8,482-mile course in 190 hours. They eventually were paid their $500,000 in gold about a month and a half after the race ended.

The race is named after the Lakota battle cry of legendary Sioux warrior Crazy Horse and means “it’s a good day to die.”

Contact staff writer Tim Mowry at 459-7587.