It was an emotional morning in the parking lot of the Prince George Aquatic Centre, as the Cops For Cancer Tour de North team took on their first group training ride since the passing of team member Shane Kelly.
Kelly passed away on July 10th due to injuries sustained in a hit-and-run incident.
“Shane, as you can tell by the gathering here today (Sunday), is a pillar of the community,” said Community Rider and Lead Trainer for this year’s Tour de North Ron Gallo.
“We have heard from his line of work, all the way to New Brunswick, and Whitehorse, and into the states. His family is devastated, his teammate family is absolutely devastated. He was the shining light of this team. It did not matter if was raining, it did not matter if it was hot, it did not matter if it was a long ride and another uphill, he had a smile and he had something positive to say, and that’s how he lived his life. It was always smiling, and it was always positive.”
Another rider was injured in the incident, Gallo said they remain recovering from those injuries.
Gallo said it’s taken time for the team to get back on their bikes following the incident.
“We’re scared,” he said.
“We’re not out on the roads doing our rides, we’re nervous. We’ve tried to go out, and we’re a lot more sensitive to the close passes that we’re experiencing, we’re a lot more sensitive to the fear that something could still happen. We’ve tried to say, and we still do, that this was one-in-a-million, but honestly, one is too many. This should never happen, and we need to be able to do something from the perspective of cyclists, and the perspective of motorists to make sure that everybody is safe.”
Gallo said the outpouring of support for the team from the community has been phenomenal.
“We are hearing it when we go to a store, we’re hearing it when we are on our bikes, we are hearing it, and we’re seeing it with people that are being respectful,”
“You look at it today, and the community comes out for something that’s, you know, this is a training ride for the Cops for Cancer, but they want to be here to send us off and wish us well.”
Gallo said there was a lot of emotion in the peloton riding to the Aquatic Centre this morning, and you could hear the emotion when they saw the crowd that had gathered.
He said today’s ride will be tough.
“Just like all the hills we have to ride on, I think that this is going to be a bit of an emotional roller coaster,” he said.
“I want laughs, I want smiles, I want the good humour, but there’s going to be tears that are shed.”
Prior to taking off for the training ride, Gallo revealed to the crowd of supporters that Kelly’s fundraising page reached $125,000 today.
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