Two sons and a daughter are riding the final leg of a bicycle tour their father didn't finish a year ago when he was one of two people struck and killed near the end of the ride.
The event this Sunday, called “Finish the Ride,” memorializes the final day of Lee Anne Barry's cross-country bicycle tour for brain injury awareness, the Brain Injury Greatest Journey (B.I.G. Ride). Barry and a riding companion for the day, Tom Hoskins, were struck and killed by a motorist just miles from her home in Waxhaw, North Carolina, where the tour was to end.
Rob, Ryan and Becca Hoskins are participating in Finish the Ride to support their father's desire to raise awareness about head injuries. The ride rolls out from Columbia, South Carolina, and ends 70 miles down the road in Waxhaw, North Carolina.
The fatalities came at the end of Barry's fourth cross-country bicycle tour for brain injury awareness. She had suffered a head injury as a child and in recent years found that bicycling helped her live a full life.
The 43-year-old made cross-country bicycle tours in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007. She had speaking engagements at support groups and schools on the tours.
On Oct. 21, 2007, Barry was joined by Hoskins, a Columbia man who participated in charity bike rides and had previously ridden the last leg of a B.I.G. Ride with Barry. Barry's husband had driven home in the van and was riding out to meet the pair.
Bicycling between Lancaster, S.C., and Charlotte, N.C., on Highway 521, a car struck the pair from behind. A pair of Ghost Bikes mark the spot.
According to The State newspaper in Columbia, Finish the Ride begins at 7 a.m. (cyclists will be gathering at 6:30 a.m.) at the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store at 253 Forum Drive, Columbia. That's at the Village at Sandhill. The ride will finish in Waxhaw.
The Columbia ABC affiliate also aired a piece on the ride.
Read also: “Two on charity bike ride killed in South Carolina”
See also the guestbook for remembrances.
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