'Ghost bike' becomes memorial for avid Winnipeg cyclist killed in hit and run on way to work

A chorus of bike bells rang along a Winnipeg street as a community watched a grieving wife place flowers onto a bicycle commemorating her husband's life.

Family, friends and members of the city's cycling community gathered Thursday night to honour Rob Jenner at the site where the 61-year-old cyclist was struck and killed in a hit and run.

Some of the mourners came bearing flowers and in an impromptu moment rang their bike bells as Jenner's wife, Wendy Van Loon, rested flowers above the tire of a bicycle that's become a roadside memorial for him.

Earlier in the evening, Van Loon told the crowd of upwards of 200 people her husband loved biking to work because it made him feel like a kid again. Many people were wearing red, Jenner's favourite colour.

"He always arrived home at 4:20 p.m., riding in the back lane like he was Lance Armstrong finishing a race," she remembered at a gathering outside the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. 

"Since my retirement, I waited for him with the garage door open, knowing I'd see that big smile rolling toward me, full of pride, and feeling on top of the world."

Jenner always considered safety: wife

On June 6, he never made it home, nor to the human rights museum, where he worked as a shipper and receiver for a decade.

That morning, Jenner was rushed to hospital in critical condition after he was hit by a vehicle at Wellington Crescent and Cockburn Street. He later died from his injuries.

Beckham Keneth Severight, 19, was charged with dangerous driving causing death and failing to stop at the scene.

Van Loon said her husband was always cautious while cycling. He wore bright yellow safety gear, a helmet with flashing lights and left early to avoid rush-hour traffic "because he knew that parts of his commute weren't the safest," she said.

There's no protected bike lane along the section of Wellington Crescent where Jenner was struck.

"One gap, one second is all it took to change my world forever," Van Loon said.

"The back lane is quiet at 4:20 p.m. without my Lance." 

Melissa Moiny raised her hand when a speaker at the memorial asked if any other cyclist had a close call at that intersection.

She was almost hit by a truck driver who didn't notice her while turning.

"This could have been me," she said in an interview.

"He rode his bike every day to work. I ride mostly for fun and to get around every now and then, but it doesn't matter why you're riding — you deserve to be safe," she added through tears. 

Patty Wiens, an advocate given the title of bicycle mayor of Winnipeg, said the cycling community is increasingly sending the message that Winnipeg needs to be safer for cyclists.

More and more people are biking, she said, so "everybody's noticing, 'Wait, I'm not safe here.'"

Wiens said she and Mark Cohoe, Bike Winnipeg's executive director, will meet with Sherri Rollins, the area city councillor, with a proposal to improve safety on the stretch of Wellington Crescent where Jenner was killed.

"The lanes are really wide. People don't use it as four lanes. They use as as two very fast lanes and one passing lane," she said.

At the site of the collision, mourners chained a "ghost bike" to a nearby pole. Around the world, the white-painted bikes are used as memorials to honour people who were killed while cycling. 

In this case, the bike is one that Van Loon barely rode. She said her husband gently prodded her to get a better bike so they could ride together.

"Let's keep fighting for safer infrastructure," she said in her speech before the memorial bike ride started. 

"And one day I hope that our kids and their kids can ride their bikes along a beautiful protected path and say, 'My grandpa Rob gave his life for this.'"

Wiens said another cyclist was struck by a motorist at that same intersection on Wednesday. They were shaken up but weren't hurt badly.