Des Moines Ride of Silence Recap

Fri May 17 2013
Posted May 17, 2013
4,775

Approx. 125 cyclists rode in the 9th annual Ride of Silence in the Des Moines area.

Cyclists gathered shortly before 6:30pm to hear Scott Sumpter, the Des Moines organizer, read off the names of those who were killed or injured since last year.

23 cyclists were added to the list. Two cyclists were killed and 15 injured while riding their bicycle since last year's Ride of Silence. 17 were added in 2012. The "list" now tops out at 194.

A permanent page has been created on BIKEIOWA that lists those who have been injured or killed while cycling on public roadways. You can find it under the Community Menu under the sub-heading "Iowans you should know". bikeiowa.com/RideOfSilence

Sumpter also explained that this list was only cyclists who we have been contacted about, seen in the news, or police reports. "We suspect there are triple to quaddruple the amount of injuries and accidents that never get reported" Sumpter said.

After explaining what the Ride of Silence means, Sumpter again included a visual representation for the cyclists we were riding for. As the person's names was read off, including their age, city where it happened and a brief description of the accident, a volunteer in the crowd would represent a person who was injured or killed. For each person who was injured, the volunteer would set down. For a cyclist who was killed, the volunteer would lie down. Visual Representation can be pretty powerful.

Cyclists comforted Gerry Giedraitis as she represented her husband, 67-year-old Edward Giedraitis who was hit and killed along 270th Street, a few miles west of Dallas Center, on Saturday, May 20th 2012 when the driver fled the scene was identified a couple days later. The driver said he believed he had hit a deer. The hit and run was still under investigation. The driver who had a long rap sheet, was only give a $750 fine.

This photo taken by Steve Fuller was from 2011 and shows the visual representation.

Cyclists then proceeded to ride through the downtown area at a very slow funeral-like procession with a full police escort. Powerful.

See the FULL Ride of Silence List here

We will post photos as they become available.

THANKS to Everyone for showing up to honor those who could not.