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*** The Wenatchee Ride Of Silence ***

Wenatchee, Washington -- 05/17/2010



The Wenatchee Ride of Silence is Wednesday May 19th, 2010.

Please come and join the Wenatchee Valley Velo Bicycle Club
at 6:30pm meeting in the parking lot behind the Wenatchee
Convention Center.

May 19th is the eighth annual Ride of Silence. This is a global
ride that is taking place to raise awareness of cyclists’ right to
the road and to honor cyclists that have been killed or injured
in accidents.

WVV secretary Scott Tidd is the ride organizer and you can find
more information about the ride on the home page of the club
website ( www.bikewenatchee.org ). Please tell your bike riding
friends about the Ride of Silence. It is free and available to all
riders. We are hoping to get a large turnout for this event.

ACC - www.bikewenatchee.org
________________________________________________________


Ride Silent, Ride Deep
Cyclists Pedal In Comrades Honor For Ride Of Silence

Wenatchee, Washington -- 05/19/2010


Photo - Dr. Michael Fadich leads about 45 other bikers in the Ride
of Silence. Fadich was Wenatchee’s latest high-profile victim of a
car-vs.-bicycle collision, run over April 19 on North Miller Street.

It was Michael Fadich’s first night back
on the road, and he wasn’t pedaling alone.

The Wenatchee physician was bicycling April 19 when he was
struck and run over by a motorist, who then drove away from
the scene. Fadich survived, with multiple broken ribs and a
broken shoulderblade. His first ride on a non-stationary bike
since the accident was Wednesday’s Ride of Silence, in honor
of cyclists who’ve experienced his pain, and worse.

“It’s one month today since I was hit, and I’m just so grateful,”
Fadich said, just a few minutes before he and some 44 other
cyclists took off from the Wenatchee Convention Center for the
evening ride. “I was pretty — I don’t know how to put it — torn
up, emotional, nervous, scared about how it was gonna come
out. But I finally feel like, yeah, I’ll be fine.”

The national ride, organized in 2003 in Texas, puts cyclists on
the public streets one night each year to recognize killed or
injured bike users, and to reinforce the right of cyclists to share
the road with cars and trucks. The local effort was organized by
the Wenatchee Valley Velo club.

With a police escort, the 12 mph ride wound through Wenatchee’s
downtown, as far north as Ninth Street and as far south as Orondo
Avenue. Fadich led the procession, after an opening statement from
Dr. Ed Farrar, another Wenatchee victim of a car-vs.-bike accident.

“We’re gonna all leave here and go forward in life, and that means
that each one of us is gonna be out on the roads and at risk of being
injured,” said Farrar, paralyzed by his October 2008 collision and
speaking from the seat of his Quickie hand-powered cycle. “And I
can guarantee you that some of us in this room are gonna get hit by
a car, next year, the year after. So it’s a problem that’s gonna go
forward with us.”

Farrar was hit on Skyline Drive by a motorist who took his eyes
off the road to pick up a dropped clipboard. The accident left him
paralyzed from the chest down; he now bicycles on his hand bike
every day the weather allows. He’s participated in every local Ride
of Silence since its start.

“The ride in 2008 was on two wheels, and the ride in 2009 was
on a hand cycle,” Farrar said. “We never know when it’s gonna
happen to us. It’s pretty humbling.”

Farrar settled a lawsuit in March against the driver who struck him
and the driver’s employer; a negligent driving citation was issued
in that case. Fadich was riding on Miller Street when a pickup driver
allegedly turned in front of him, then ran over him with a rear tire
while fleeing the scene.

Michael R. Copeland of Monitor awaits trial on charges of vehicular
assault, hit-and-run attended with injury, and driving on a suspended
license in Fadich’s accident.

“As cyclists, we have to fight for our rights,” Fadich said. “I can’t say
I’ve ever really done that, and now I’m determined to do that. I’m
actually angry.”

Fadich proposed three steps for safer cycling: education for
drivers on cyclist’s rights; penalties to deter irresponsible driving
that endangers cyclists; and better bike-route infrastructure in
Wenatchee, such as more designated lanes.

He said he’ll never bike his old Miller Street
route during commuting hours again.

“I think that cyclists need to obey the law and set a good example,”
Fadich said. “... The second thing is, you’ve always got to ride
defensively. If you lose against steel, it doesn’t matter how right
you are. But sometimes you just don’t have any control over it.”

CC - Wenatchee World - www.wenatcheeworld.com
* www.wenatcheeworld.com/ride-silent-ride-deep-cyclists-pedal-in-comrades
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