At the site of tragedy, a ghost bike shines a white light on a fallen rider
Brisbane Times
Published: Jun, 19 2010
At the site of tragedy, a ghost bike shines a white light on a fallen rider
June 19, 2010
Jo and her son Ryan at the ghost bike site on Mount Eliza Road for Russell Myers, and a ghost bike is made ready.
THE story begins two years ago with a Melbourne cycle
fanatic called John Gould. He had heard about the new phenomenon of
ghost bikes - old bicycles stripped and sprayed white then put at the
site of a cyclist's death as a roadside memorial.
They were spreading through American and European cities
and mapped, like all good viral movements, online. He found most were
installed by cycle activists as a political statement without asking
permission of the grieving family or the local road authorities.
Gould registered the name for Australia and wrote to
American organisers telling them he was their man in Melbourne. But he
got too busy. He opened a new cycle store and the ghost bike idea went
onto the backburner.
Then in March everything changed. On a narrow, steep road just out of town, in a horrible instant, lives changed.
The story began to unfold.
It was Sunday the 13th. Gould was riding with his best
mate Russell Myers in a group of 20. They were coming fast down a
popular bike route on Two Bays Road in Mount Eliza. Myers, 44, hit
gravel and slid into an oncoming truck.
"It was plain right away he was dead,'' says Gould. ''But it was a pure accident."
Gould knew he wanted to do a ghost bike for his mate but
he wanted permission from the Mornington Peninsula Shire in order to be
''considerate''. But he got nowhere after dozens of phone calls. ''It
felt like they wouldn't assist,'' he says.
Then a week later, with council discussions still going
on, another bolt from the blue. Gould found a ghost bike at the site. He
was amazed. A note was with it saying, in part, "It could just as
easily be any one of us.''
He says: ''I would like to meet whoever did it. But I have no idea who it is.''
Russell Myers' ashes had already been spread on Black
Rock beach by his partner Jo, who asked that her surname not be used.
They were due to be married. He had a window-cleaning business but had
just finished a carpentry apprenticeship, as a 44-year-old, when he
died.
As part of her mourning, she began to visit the ghost
bike on the 13th of every month. She has other ways of remembering him -
and other places she goes - but sees the bike as ''symbolic''.
''He would not have wanted people to go to a cemetery,''
she says. ''This has become his burial site.'' But, she says, it is also
a warning to bike riders and drivers about road safety with ''the added
reality factor that, yes, there was a life lost''. She hopes it will be
a ''central place where all who knew Russ can go to pay their
respects''.
She hopes for that, but she doesn't know. The story
twists again because there were three other ghost bikes in Melbourne but
they have all been removed. Two Bays Road is the only one left. One of
the three was also in Mount Eliza where a 72-year-old cyclist died in
April after being hit by a van. It disappeared last month. The
Mornington Peninsula Shire and VicRoads are responsible for local
roadways but both deny moving it.
VicRoads' acting director of road user safety Linda Ivett
says roadside memorials - for car accidents and bikes - were not
encouraged but dealt with ''sensitively''.
The shire's infrastructure strategy manager, Niall
McDonagh, says they are assessed case-by-case and no one had yet
complained about the Russell Myers ghost bike. ''It will remain,'' he
says, ''while it is in accordance with shire policy.'' The policy states
memorials should not distract drivers, create a hazard or prevent
maintenance of the road reserve.
Still, Jo fears it might go. She says this would be bad
for her and for the children both of them have from other relationships.
''If they took it away I would be upset. I want it to stay, I don't
think it's in the way.''
There was another question - but now it can be answered.
The Two Bays Road ghost bike was put there by a Mornington cyclist and
business owner, The Age has established, who when contacted asked that his name be withheld.
He saw the idea in New York; he doesn't know John Gould
and John Gould doesn't know him. Nor did he know Russell Myers. He
installed the other Mount Eliza ghost bike as well, and helped his son
with one in Hawthorn.
Two friends help him. They buy old $20 bikes, strip and spray them and install them at night.
The bikes were not political but a ''tribute to a fallen rider''.
''They look spectral and skeletal. There's something very moving about them.''
Published: Jun, 19 2010
At the site of tragedy, a ghost bike shines a white light on a fallen rider
June 19, 2010
Jo and her son Ryan at the ghost bike site on Mount Eliza Road for Russell Myers, and a ghost bike is made ready.
THE story begins two years ago with a Melbourne cycle
fanatic called John Gould. He had heard about the new phenomenon of
ghost bikes - old bicycles stripped and sprayed white then put at the
site of a cyclist's death as a roadside memorial.
They were spreading through American and European cities
and mapped, like all good viral movements, online. He found most were
installed by cycle activists as a political statement without asking
permission of the grieving family or the local road authorities.
Gould registered the name for Australia and wrote to
American organisers telling them he was their man in Melbourne. But he
got too busy. He opened a new cycle store and the ghost bike idea went
onto the backburner.
Then in March everything changed. On a narrow, steep road just out of town, in a horrible instant, lives changed.
The story began to unfold.
It was Sunday the 13th. Gould was riding with his best
mate Russell Myers in a group of 20. They were coming fast down a
popular bike route on Two Bays Road in Mount Eliza. Myers, 44, hit
gravel and slid into an oncoming truck.
"It was plain right away he was dead,'' says Gould. ''But it was a pure accident."
Gould knew he wanted to do a ghost bike for his mate but
he wanted permission from the Mornington Peninsula Shire in order to be
''considerate''. But he got nowhere after dozens of phone calls. ''It
felt like they wouldn't assist,'' he says.
Then a week later, with council discussions still going
on, another bolt from the blue. Gould found a ghost bike at the site. He
was amazed. A note was with it saying, in part, "It could just as
easily be any one of us.''
He says: ''I would like to meet whoever did it. But I have no idea who it is.''
Russell Myers' ashes had already been spread on Black
Rock beach by his partner Jo, who asked that her surname not be used.
They were due to be married. He had a window-cleaning business but had
just finished a carpentry apprenticeship, as a 44-year-old, when he
died.
As part of her mourning, she began to visit the ghost
bike on the 13th of every month. She has other ways of remembering him -
and other places she goes - but sees the bike as ''symbolic''.
''He would not have wanted people to go to a cemetery,''
she says. ''This has become his burial site.'' But, she says, it is also
a warning to bike riders and drivers about road safety with ''the added
reality factor that, yes, there was a life lost''. She hopes it will be
a ''central place where all who knew Russ can go to pay their
respects''.
She hopes for that, but she doesn't know. The story
twists again because there were three other ghost bikes in Melbourne but
they have all been removed. Two Bays Road is the only one left. One of
the three was also in Mount Eliza where a 72-year-old cyclist died in
April after being hit by a van. It disappeared last month. The
Mornington Peninsula Shire and VicRoads are responsible for local
roadways but both deny moving it.
VicRoads' acting director of road user safety Linda Ivett
says roadside memorials - for car accidents and bikes - were not
encouraged but dealt with ''sensitively''.
The shire's infrastructure strategy manager, Niall
McDonagh, says they are assessed case-by-case and no one had yet
complained about the Russell Myers ghost bike. ''It will remain,'' he
says, ''while it is in accordance with shire policy.'' The policy states
memorials should not distract drivers, create a hazard or prevent
maintenance of the road reserve.
Still, Jo fears it might go. She says this would be bad
for her and for the children both of them have from other relationships.
''If they took it away I would be upset. I want it to stay, I don't
think it's in the way.''
There was another question - but now it can be answered.
The Two Bays Road ghost bike was put there by a Mornington cyclist and
business owner, The Age has established, who when contacted asked that his name be withheld.
He saw the idea in New York; he doesn't know John Gould
and John Gould doesn't know him. Nor did he know Russell Myers. He
installed the other Mount Eliza ghost bike as well, and helped his son
with one in Hawthorn.
Two friends help him. They buy old $20 bikes, strip and spray them and install them at night.
The bikes were not political but a ''tribute to a fallen rider''.
''They look spectral and skeletal. There's something very moving about them.''