Good Friday Fish Ride, my first corking and "Nostrovia, Susan."

This was Good Friday and the end of church fish fry fundraisers. Marko's been organizing a ride to a church in Hays not far off the trail where the Bald Eagles nest. They have good fish and the cole slaw and mac and cheese is definitely worthwhile too.


It was misty and much colder than foretasted. We didn't dress well enough. My ears were cold and Marko said he'd have been happier with an extra layer and warmer hat.

We had 7 riders who braved the cold including Mikhail and Mick.

We locked to a fence.

As we rode by, we witnessed one of the eagles lazily making a nest approach. It's always good to catch them in flight without having to stop and wait in the viewing area. I rarely stop to watch. The nestcam highlights enough for me.
After the ride we stopped at the library and got a closeup view of the art installation (present at all the Carnegie Library branches) of knitted flowers made from yarns and recycled plastic bags.

A memorial ride for Susan Hicks took place in the afternoon. Well attended by both 80+ cyclists and all three local TV news crews.





Flock agreed to marshal the ride and get the large number of cyclists through all the intersections safely and in one group. It's rather obvious that I can't marshal and then sprint to the next intersection, but Jonathan asked if I could cork the last intersection before we reached the destination. My first corking.
Our destination was Susan's house where her roomate offered all the riders a shotglass of vodka where we toasted her. She told an interesting story of a find in thier backyard last week. It was E2, the Cathedral of Learning Peregrine male. He'd apparently flown into the path of a vehicle and then chosen Susan's yard to spend his final minutes. Just yesterday, his mate Hope began courtship with a new male, N/29.

Susan worked at Pitt in the Russian and East European Studies Center and we made Russian toast with vodka.

 

News coverage:

http://www.wpxi.com/news/memorial-bike-ride-held-for-pitt-employee-killed-in-oakland-bicycle-crash/180386001

http://www.wtae.com/news/memorial-bike-ride-honors-woman-killed-waiting-to-make-a-turn/38704406

Susan's killer will not be charged, it seems.