Between September 11 and September 27, at least four bicyclists were killed on Twin Cities streets. On Saturday, riders are invited to take part in a memorial ride visiting the sites of these recent crashes, leaving from Saint Paul in the morning and traveling to Uptown and Downtown Minneapolis, followed by an afternoon ride to Blaine. The stepped-up assault of car culture on cyclists is not limited to the Twin Cities; activists in the Midwest are also mourning the apparent loss of a participant in August's PNC2RNC bike ride after a car struck her bike.

Memorial Ride to Honor Fallen Bicyclists: meet 10:30am Saturday at Summit and Snelling in St. Paul
Route | Ghost Bike MPLS | TC Streets For People

Saturday's ride will honor the memory of four bicyclists in particular. Jimmy Nisser, 65, of Saint Louis Park passed away after a hit and run crash on September 11 near Lake Calhoun. The driver has yet to be located. Dale Aanenson of Blaine was killed in a crash near his home on September 22. The next day, Nik Morton, 18, a student at MCTC and Minneapolis South High, was killed by a truck at Nicollet Mall and 5th Street in downtown Minneapolis. Then, on September 27, Virginia Heuer, 51, of Saint Paul was struck and killed by a car at Summit and Snelling Avenues.

As the economy tightens, gas prices rise and bus fares in the Twin Cities went up at the beginning of October, only more bicyclists can be expected to assert their rights as traffic. Increased bicycle activism – for example in the form of memorials, critical mass rides, and other spontaneous mass rides - points to bicycling communities that place the blame for these fatalities at an out-of-control car culture.

Many bicyclists who were in town to resist the Republican National Convention are also mourning the loss of an activist who fought car culture at the roots. On September 30, Jen Futrell, a participant in this August's Grassroutes Caravan bike ride to the RNC in St. Paul, was struck on her bike by a car that attempted to pass a bus behind her. Jen, known as Calico, was hit in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. After suffering critical injuries, she was taken off life support and is not expected to survive.

From August 17-August 30, Calico worked in the mobile kitchen – the Down Home Hospitality Cafe – for the ride from the People's Networking Convention in Madison to the RNC. The PNC2RNC ride was a "mobile village of resistance" with nearly 50 riders promoting direct democracy and bicycling as a legitimate means of transportation.

Below is a video of Calico speaking about cooking for the ride at a stop in Oak Center, Minnesota.

Put on a helmet and take the street!