My Bike ride for my Strava cycling friend Patrick who recently died because of the car accident while cycling, PATRICK LEE ARCHIBALD (PLA) JULY 23, 1961 ~ JANUARY 5, 2021 (AGE 59), very smooth and amazing ride, amazing just like Patrick 🌔❤️🚴♂️🕊️🚵♀️💫
Dear cycling pal Patrick. I met you in June 2019 via the Mastodon platform, where you were, of course, active on various accounts as the revolutionary leader of the cycling and tech people you are. We soon followed each other on all our Mastodon accounts and also directly on Strava. There was no discord in you, you were and are an extremely sweet man who knows no hate, but only cheerful optimism and has kind words for everyone. From January 2021 I started to notice that you were no longer posting. I was silent about it for a while. I myself was and am also in immensely stormy times and I hoped you had just taken a time-out. I suspected that you were most likely not traveling because of the Corona Pandemic. Perhaps a realization had already been bubbling in my subconscious mind: it wouldn’t be the case that …
On January 22, 2021 it got too much for me and I asked both on Mastodon and Twitter, where we have also followed each other, if you were okay, and said that I missed you. I heard nothing. But a very good friend, Sjaan, had also read my question and discovered that you had died. She said that to me on January 23, 2021. I also Googled your name now and saw the message that you had died of the injuries you sustained in a car accident. I was familiar with your dangerous bike rides, especially those after dark, I think South Carolina is even much more dangerous than California. I admired you more than iron, I would say granite persistence to commute with your bike to work every day, morning and evening, and oh, so much too often in the pitch dark. Obviously you had more than good bike lights, but the world remains a dangerous place, even with the brightest light imaginable.You were equipped with a Go-Pro on your helmet and you filmed all your bike rides because you liked it, but also as a kind of insurance thing. In addition, I had already seen several icy confrontations of you with very sloppy and cyclists-despising car, bus and so on drivers. They ended fine, but just barely.
How you stopped over and over for turtles sitting in the middle of freeways to help them cross, I will never forget, and I am sure the old animals that carry their homes on their backs never will either.
On Strava, you turned out to be the bicycle emperor, without any exaggeration. In 2020, the year that was so incredibly tough for the whole world, you achieved your 100 rides of more than 100 miles and the 10K miles-stone. I was absolutely impressed. In one of your last Strava rides you posted a picture of your bike in front of a huge Neon light star. How appropriate, your Star on the Hollywood Cycling Star of Fame!
You cycled to and from work, and on the weekends for fun. We gave each other kudos and comments and I felt and still feel that you were and forever will be a very good friend. You don’t even need to have met someone for that. My heart is broken, but I am sure you are now riding your heavenly bike across all the heavens and as one commenter so aptly said, I hope you will always feel the heavenly wind on your face while doing so. We will meet, again, Patrick, see you in Heaven!
The following gallery starts with our meeting in Mastodon, and then goes from your most recent posts to the beginning of 2020, and ends with the final comment I made on your last Strava post. Please click on or swipe through these images as they are cropped for layout in the overview.
