I Already Live With too Many Ghosts

The Philadelphia cycling community tragically lost another member on Saturday night, the day before Mother's Day, and just 4 days before the Ride of Silence, which honors cyclists lost due to traffic accidents in the last year. While I didn't know him personally, plenty of my friends did. He was a very active member of our community, working full time as a courier and also on the side delivering food. Beyond that, he was a safe cycling advocate both in preach and in practice. Rest in power, Pablo. I'm so, so sorry...

I stopped by the crash site at 10th & Spring Garden on my morning commute on Monday:

I ride past two ghost bikes every day on my ride to the plant (more on those here and here), and depending on the day, I pass by a third on my delivery route (here). So when my friend said back in November that "It could have been any one of us," he wasn't lying. This fourth ghost bike will be placed on a highly traveled cycling route, just like the previous three. I'd really like not to see another new one, ever.

As mentioned above, tonite happened to be the annual Ride of Silence honoring members of the cycling community lost in the past year. In the Delaware Valley area, we had 11 such tragedies (courtesy of the Bicycle Coalition):

1. 5-12-18 Pablo Avendano, 34, Philadelphia
2. 5-3-18 Dean Pryor, 58 Burlington Twp., NJ
3. 2-15-18 Lela Cruz, 8, Camden 
4. 12-19-17 Kevin Williams, 56 Bristol, PA
5. 11-28-17 Emily Fredricks, 24 Philadelphia 
6. 9-23-17 Unknown M, 80, Philadelphia
7. 9-2-17 Matt Petzel, 50, Lower Southampton, PA
8. 9-1-17 Lorenzo Vasquez, Philadelphia
9. 8-8-17 Josh Goldinger, 14 Lower Makefield, PA
10. 6-24-17 Edward McElrean, 64, Bristol Twp, PA
11. 6-18-17 Unknown Female, Camden

You read that correctly, that two of those deaths were people under the age of 15. As you can imagine, cyclists came out in droves to support the ride tonite due to recent events. Rather fittingly, the weather was equally as somber as the mood:

This was actually the first time I've participated in this ride, even though it's now in its 16th year (14th in Philly). The spirit is much different than any ride you will ever experience. Silence is literal. Normally group rides are a time for socialization. I guess you could consider this a form of socialization, but in silence. Sometimes no words say more than anything possible. I'm actually at a loss right now. I didn't take any pictures during the ride, because I didn't need to. It was one of the most moving experiences I've ever had and I don't think pictures or words can really do it justice.

I'm just hoping that Pablo's death and these efforts are not all in vain. That someone in power will take notice and make changes for all of our safety. I already live with too many ghosts.