Boston Cyclists Ride for 'Kalamazoo 9'

Boston, MA - The Boston biking community is commemorating the nine riders struck by a truck in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Five of the cyclists were killed, and four injured earlier this month. More details on the story here. 

In Boston, the Ride of 9 will honor them with a short "ride of silence."

"The cycling community mourns and feels every loss of a fellow, and this one hit home hard," John Adams, one of the ride's organizers, told Patch. "It was a group ride of people just like us and now lives have been lost, families' and friends' lives altered tremendously and irrevocably, and we feel helpless." 

The silent ride will be followed by a celebration of cycling, the event page says. A helmet will be passed around "and whatever we manage to collect we will donate to the families, or to an appropriate charity in their honor."

Adams said he was motivated "by the tragedy of seeing so many of my own tribe of cyclists murdered and injured in a single act of violence." 

"So we will gather, ride and honor the loss, and then celebrate cycling and the passion we all share," he said.

Over 50 local cyclists plan to attend, according to the Facebook event page, and more than 100 others say they're interested in going. The ride begins at Copley Square in Back Bay at 6:30 p.m. on June 23.

RSVP on the Facebook page here.

>> Top photo via Flickr/Creative Commons. "Ghost bikes" like the one pictured above commemorate fallen cyclists.

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