Bicyclists, Family, Friends Pay Respects To Kayvan In Vegas' First Ghost Bike Ceremony

Kayvan Khiabani's son said it all at the ghost bike ceremony for his dad a day before Father's Day.

There are no excuses for all the deaths of bicyclists in the Las Vegas area. His words hit home for the hundreds of bicyclists who gathered this morning to pay their respects to Dr. Khiabani, a respected surgeon at UMC who was killed while bicycling near Red Rock Resort about two months ago in Summerlin, a Vegas suburb.

A white ghost bike now stands in memory of Kayvan -- a dad, a husband, a doctor and yes, a guy who loved riding a bicycle.

Bicyclist Pat Treichel, a friend who I am enjoying to know better by the day, put together a group called Ghost Bikes Las Vegas to show that people who have lost their lives on a bicycle are human beings first.

We're brothers and sisters and parents and children and co-workers and your neighbors.

Think of bicyclists not as people on two-wheels but people loved by so many when you motor your car near us.

Pat put together a touching and moving ceremony to honor the memory of Kayvan and his speech before our short ride before he helped erect the white-painted ghost bike the was filled with emotion and common sense and decency and humanity.

And the message Pat brought to us was simple -- we all need to change the way we do our business on the roads that we all share as motorist and bicyclist alike.

He appealed to bicyclists to set the example to be courteous and compliant with our road laws and he spoke to kids to look for folks on two wheels when they're in a car.

Maybe 500 people on bicycles and two legs pedaled and walked the short distance from our meeting point in a suburban shopping district parking lot to the location where a bus killed Kayvan near Red Rock Resort at Pavilion Center Drive and Griffiths Peak Drive.

We pedaled slowly and respectfully -- and it was a powerful and emotionally-binding tour de force.

Pat towed Kayvan's ghost bike, and we ended at the installation site. It was there where the white bike was bolted to a sign post.

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Sadly, Pat and his group have more ghost bikes to install. I will post blog reports when those are scheduled.

Ghost Bikes To Make Their Memorial Appearances In Las Vegas Starting Saturday

Bicycling is a joyful, life-affirming activity and it comes in every form, from pedaling tourist and bike commuter to weekend racer and beach-cruising, single-speed recreationist.

Which is exactly why it hurts so much to hear about a bicyclist getting killed by a motorist when only moments before the car struck the bicycle the person on the bike likely was enjoying life for simply pedaling a two-wheeler.

For those left behind, there's the harsh emotional reality of knowing that the fallen bicyclist could have been one of us.

And we memorialize those who lost their lives on bicycles though white-painted Ghost Bikes, two-wheel memorial markers installed at the location where a bicyclist was killed.

On Saturday, the Las Vegas area will see our first ghost bike -- a memorial to remember the life of bicyclist Dr. Kayvan Khiabani, a 51-year-old surgeon at University Medical Center. who was killed near Red Rock Resort and Pavilion Center Drive about two months ago.

More than 400 bicyclists are expected to slowly pedal around Downtown Summerlin starting at 7 a.m., with speeches and a ceremony capping the ghost bike event at 8:30 a.m. when the ghost bike is installed.

Regrettably, there are more ghost bikes to install in the Las Vegas area. Pat Treichel, a Las Vegas bicyclist, has organized a Vegas ghost bike contingent committed to installing ghost bikes at locations around the valley wherever a cyclist was mortally wounded by someone driving a motorized vehicle.

The ghost bikes are a stark reminder that bicyclists lead a vulnerable life on our roadways. In Tampa, I was involved in helping install three ghost bikes to remember the lives of LeRoy Collins, Diane Vega and Robert Niedbalec -- bicyclists killed on the streets of Tampa. Their ghost bikes are below.

Here's my challenge: I know a lot of bicyclists will be attending Saturday morning's ghost bike event in Downtown Summerlin -- but we need non-bicyclists to attend, join and show their support that even though they may not ride a bicycle they stand for bicyclists riding our roads without being killed.

I type these words only because I survived a violent crash caused by a distracted motorist who smashed into me from behind while I cycled on a two-lane road in Florida on March 7.

I am lucky and grateful.

I lived and I will ride Saturday morning in Downtown Summerlin to remember Dr. Khiabani.

And I hope you join us.