Bike ride will memorialize four who died

DAVID BREWSTER, Star Tribune

A "ghost bike" was set up at the scene of the accident on Summit Av. east of Snelling where Virginia Heuer-Bower lost her life Saturday morning. Ghost bikes are painted white and left near the scene of an accident to commemorate a cyclist who lost his or her life in a traffic accident.

Riders will pay tribute to bicyclists killed in recent Twin Cities bicycle-automobile accidents, including two in Minneapolis, one in St. Paul and one in Blaine.

By TIM HARLOW, Star Tribune

Last update: October 3, 2008 - 12:29 AM

Members of the Twin Cities bicycling community will stage a solemn ride Saturday to pay tribute to the four riders who have been killed in accident in recent weeks.

The Memorial Ride to Honor Fallen Bicyclists will begin at 11 a.m. at Snelling and Summit avenues in St. Paul, where Virginia Heuer Bower was struck and killed by a vehicle last Saturday. Riders will gather near a ghost bike festooned with a flag, sign and other mementos that well-wishers have left at the site of the accident in her memory.

Ghost bikes, which are painted white and left near the scene of an accident to commemorate a cyclist who lost his or her life in a traffic accident, are a relatively new phenomena in the Twin Cities, said Jeremy Werst, who runs the online forum www.mplsbikelove.com and is helping organize Saturday's ride.

During Saturday's 13.6-mile ride, participants are asked to wear black shirts with orange ribbons tied to their handlebars or arms, Werst said. The ride will begin at Heuer Bower's ghost bike, then cross into Minneapolis and head west down Lake Street to Excelsior Blvd. and W. 32nd Street, where Jimmy Nisser was killed on Sept. 11. Police are still looking for the vehicle that hit Nisser, which paint chip analysis shows was tannish-gold/light brown. The vehicle's make is either a Dodge Ram pickup truck made between 1998 and 2000 or a Jeep Grand Cherokee made between 1996 and 1998, police said.

From there the ride will head northeast on Hennepin to the ghost bike memorial for Nicholas Morton. He was killed Sept. 23 at 5th Street and Nicollet Mall.

At each stop, people can leave flowers, messages and engage in a moment of silence.

A separate ride also will take place Saturday to the site where Dale Aanenson died Sept. 22 in Blaine. A photo shoot of bicycle commuters will follow at 3 p.m. at Gold Medal Park in downtown Minneapolis. That photo is designed to bring attention to the high number of people who bike to work.

For more information, see www.ghostbikempls.org.

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768