A memorial road ride honoring Michael Biegalski, an avid athlete and Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher, started Sunday morning near Whippoorwill Drive and Wisconsin Avenue.
Michael Biegalski was an avid athlete and a research and development staff member at the Center for Nanophase Materials Science at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo courtesy ORNL)
The local cycling community is having memorial rides this weekend in honor of Michael Biegalski, an avid athlete and Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher who recently died in a tragic mountain biking accident at Haw Ridge.
On Saturday, top athletes from the community rode the North Boundary and Black Oak Ridge trails.
On Sunday, they’re riding the My Larry/Brushy Mountain “prison loop.” It’s a road ride. Like Saturday’s ride, it will depart from the Westwood neighborhood.
The rides are in memory of Michael, who competed in road, mountain, and cyclocross racing and was passionate about big climbs and endurance riding, Amy Biegalski said.
She said the riders plan to host a larger-scale annual event in the future.
Biegalski suffered blunt trauma to the neck and was believed to be killed instantly after a crash while riding last December in Haw Ridge. He was 38 and lived in Oak Ridge. Biegalski is survived by his wife Amy and two young daughters Katia Michel and Anya Micaela.
Sunday’s road ride will depart at about 11 a.m. Riders will start near Whippoorwill Drive and Wisconsin Avenue in Oak Ridge and then proceed east along West Outer as they head out to Oliver Springs and Mt. Larry. People are welcome to watch the riders as they depart along Whippoorwill and West Outer Drive in Oak Ridge.
From there, riders will travel to State Route 116 between Laurel Grove and Petros and climb to 2,100 feet, Amy Biegalski said.
Friends, other cyclists, and co-workers have remembered Michael Biegalski as a skilled biker and valuable researcher at ORNL.
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