Bend memorial bike ride Saturday for cyclists killed, injured in crashes; organizer says roads more risky

(Update: Adding video, comments from organizer, City of Bend)

'It’s getting more and more dangerous to ride your bike in this town'

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A memorial is being held in Bend this Saturday to honor cyclists killed or injured by impaired drivers and call for more steps to make cycling safer.

The ride, beginning at 11am at Commons Cafe, is specifically honoring cyclists Rich Wolf, Marika Stone and Gwen Inglis, all of whom were killed in distracted driving crashes in recent years.

Karen Kenlan is helping organize the memorial bike ride and thinks bike safety in Bend has not really improved over the years.

“I think it’s gotten worse,” Kenlan said Thursday. 

The ride, which starts at Commons Cafe and goes down Galveston Avenue and back, also honors all who have been injured or killed by impaired drivers.

Stone was killed on Dodds Road in 2019 and Wolf on Century Drive this past august.

Kenlan feels with the increase in population, bike safety is as big a concern now as it was in 2019.

“It’s a real thing, and it’s happening, and it’s getting more and more dangerous to ride your bike in this town,” Kenlan said.

Robin Lewis is a transportation engineer for the City of Bend and said from 2012-2019, there have been two deaths in the City of Bend involving a person riding a bicycle.

“Not too often in town but we have had over the course of the years, several,” Lewis said.

She said while Stone and Wolf’s crashes were not on city roads, the city says it's constantly trying to improve safety.

“Lower-stress facilities, more protection, more separation, but also integrating them up and linking them up into a connected network, definitely what we heard from the community,” Lewis said.

Lewis said the city is implementing buffered and protected bike lanes, andneighborhood greenways and will continue to add safety measures.

But at the moment, Kenlan still doesn’t feel safe.

“I just worry that people don’t see me, or I worry that they’re looking at their cellphones," she said. "And it just takes two seconds to drift onto the shoulder -- and if you’re riding your bike, that could be two seconds where you’re hit from behind.”

Kenlan hopes the memorial ride can honor those who were killed, and raise awareness for the larger problem.

“It’s easy to just forget, you know?" she said. "Somebody gets killed, and you’re upset about it one day, and nothing happens. Well, this can't keep happening.”