Please Check In!

Every now and then, Cece gets a certain  type of email from her women's cycling club Women Riding Well.  The email makes Cece's heart skip a beat. The email Cece got this past Thursday morning began like this:

"This morning a cyclist was killed on Tramway.  Please send us an email and let us know that you are ok."

This is the dreaded  email.  It make Cece think of how dangerous cycling can be and it also makes her worry that one of her friends...or someone that she does not even know has been killed by a car while cycling.  In
the case this past Thursday, a car seems to have jumped the median and hit the cyclist.

Cece and her friends have attended several ghost bike memorials.  A ghost bike is a bike that is placed at or near the crash site to honor the slain cyclist.

"Ghost Bikes are small and somber memorials for bicyclists who are killed or hit on the street. A bicycle is painted all white and locked to a street sign near the crash site, accompanied by a small plaque. They serve as reminders of the tragedy that took place on an otherwise anonymous street corner, and as quiet statements in support of cyclists' right to safe travel.

The first ghost bikes were created in St. Louis, Missouri in 2003, and they have since appeared in over 150 locations throughout the world. For those who create and install the memorials, the death of a fellow bicyclist hits home. We all travel the same unsafe streets and face the same risks; it could just as easily be any one of us. Each time we say we hope to never have to do it again -- but we remain committed to making these memorials as long as they are needed."

Albuquerque has several of these memorials around town....and several.... is several too many.