To the Driver of the Black Pickup Truck at the Intersection of Marshall and Fairview...

To the driver of that truck, that screamed through the intersection in St. Paul at high speed on Saturday morning around 11.30 a.m. narrowly missing several cyclists, what were you thinking?

When you saw a line of cyclists dressed in black, with orange armbands, didn't you wonder what we were doing? Did you see the orange flags on several bikes painted with "In Loving Memory"? There was one on the back of the bike that was blocking your way through the intersection.

The 300 riders were in a memorial ride for four cyclists killed by cars in the Twin Cities in September, and to promote safe cycling, safe driving, and sharing the road. The ride wasn't a critical mass, it wasn't anti-car, and all the cyclists participating behaved peacefully and rode legally.

Minneapolis police and St. Paul police gave ride organizers permission to block intersections to allow all riders through at once, and police were assisting at some points in the ride.

All the other drivers we encountered on Saturday respected the riders and paused to let the memorial ride through intersections. Thank you. Black Pickup Truck Driver, you were the exception. Why were you driving so aggressively? Would you have still driven like you did if you had realized why we were riding?

I have the orange ribbon on my bike's handlebars, and the orange ribbon I wore on my arm is hanging from the visor of my car, to remind me to be careful when I'm driving and cycling.

Safe riding, and safe driving. I hope we never see another month as tragic as this September.