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.
Sadly, Pat and his group have more ghost bikes to install. I will post blog reports when those are scheduled.
1 comment:
This is an outstanding venue, with great and thoughtful staff, and a fantastic chef. The location is well situated. We has been delighted to host our annual event at this event venue for the past few years, and the space has been perfect for our group of roughly 300.
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