A weight on our shoulders, a mountain up ahead

Difficult to believe that it's been two weeks since I've been able to post an update --- my apologies! Cell phone service, let alone internet, has been difficult to come by since we left Farmington, New Mexico and trekked west across the desert and the Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona. Such sparse population may frustrate communication and my need for frequent snack stops, but it's made for a kind of beautiful desolation. That, coupled with the sometimes Martian landscape, makes it hard to believe that this terrain is a part of the same earth where elsewhere trees grow green and abundant water laps at shores.

I wish I could share the host of amazing experiences we've had over the last two weeks, from flying down a gravel road to swim Lake Powell after 101 miles to hiking down to a waterfall-fed swimming hole in the Grand Canyon, but for us a pall has been cast over even these wonderful days by the death of Paige Hicks. Paige was a leader on Bike and Build's Providence to Seattle route, and on July 20 was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer while stopped on the shoulder of a road in South Dakota. More information about the accident and the course of action that Bike and Build has taken in response can be found at www.bikeandbuild.org. I would ask especially that you think about sending a note to Paige's family or the riders on her route, P2S (mail drops can be found on the website). We're working hard to let them know that they are being thought of with sympathy and kindness, and they sure can't have too much of that right now.

This has been a heavy blow to everyone in our organization, but it is one that can only reinforce our commitment to the value of what we are doing, despite the inherent risk. It is difficult to acknowledge, but each of us understood that an awful accident like this is well within the realm of possibility out there on the road. Our route has been fortunate to proceed so far without major accidents, but we've seen these things too many times to recount: motorists have brushed or forced our riders off the road, hung out of windows to shout or even swing at us, oncoming drivers have chosen to pass in our lane even as several of us cyclists are coming up a shoulderless road, drivers suddenly turn right without any signal or regard for our cyclists coming up on the shoulder, drivers and trailers have passed us within a foot or two and blared their horn just as they come alongside us.

We understand that it is often difficult to share the road, but it is a right that cyclists deserve and, fortunately, legally possess on all of the roads we ride. The difference between allowing a narrow but relatively safe berth of three feet and choosing to try and scoot by with only several inches is, for us, life and death. It is disturbing to see how many drivers are willing to roll the dice on our lives to save a few seconds of their time. Each year, nearly 700 hundred U.S. cyclists lose that gamble and pay with their lives, and tens of thousands face serious injuries.

We know that cyclists often endanger themselves when they fail to be careful and vigilant, but all of Bike and Build's riders have been drilled on practices to keep us safe and let traffic move freely. Paige's accident is an extra exhortation to us to stick to those religiously. I hope that it is also a wake up call for motorists to be more mindful of cyclists, and, when passing cyclists, to allow a margin of error greater than the drift of a foot in the wrong direction. I would also urge you, if you see a driver endangering or menacing cyclists, to please get the license plate and report the incident to the police. It shouldn't have to be a death or serious injury that teaches a likely well-intentioned driver to be more careful.

Paige was a 21-year old student at Brown University, who hailed from St. Louis, Missouri. I had never met her, but I know that she possessed the tremendous ambition, determination, and goodwill necessary to undertake this trip (for a second time, even). Many, many people would go to the ends of the earth to have her back.