Last year, Des Ark’s Aimée Argote and Taylor Holenbeck were the first to arrive at the scene of a hit-and-run crash that killed cyclists Alexandria Nicole Simou and Ivin Levander Scurlock outside of Chapel Hill. Argote detailed the personal effect of that night on her blog, describing the scene and encouraging people to be more mindful of cyclists and each other at large.

“Nobody who’s texting and driving, drinking and driving, driving while exhausted—whatever the vice may be—NOBODY sets out in their car looking to kill another living being that day,” she wrote. “But you are not above it.”

Argote was on her way home from a show at Durham’s The Pinhook that night, so it’s fitting that she returns to the stage with a full band this Friday at Local 506, on the first anniversary of the accident. Before the gig, though, Argote will lead a group ride to the site of the accident to restore the memorial “ghost bikes” recently removed from the scene.

“We all think it’s vitally important for folks to have a memory of what happened that night,” Argote wrote in an e-mail, reprinted after the jump.

Perhaps the ride can spark renewed interest in the case. Just last month, the North Carolina Highway Patrol issued a notice saying they were looking for new leads in the case. This afternoon, Sergeant Michael Stuart confirmed that they’d still obtained no fresh information from the solicitation.

“We haven’t had a new lead in months,” Stuart said.

If you have any new information, you can reach the Highway Patrol at 919-732-2551. For more on Friday’s ride, which starts at 6 p.m. from Carrboro’s Back Alley Bikes, see below.

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friends,

this is kind of a hard and weird email to write, so my apologies for jumping right into it.

many of you know that taylor & i were the first to the scene of hit & run last year, which killed cyclists Ivin Levander Scurlock & Alexandria Nicole Simou. if you don’t know about it, you can read more here: http://desark.org/post/62063448397/late-thursday-night-september-19th-my-friend

the anniversary of that night is coming up this friday, september 19, & we wanted to do something to remember them. so we’re having a memorial bike ride. i know it’s pretty late notice, but this has been a somewhat difficult email to get out.

jason from back alley bikes has been really wonderful to us; last year he painted up two ghost bikes a few days after the accident, & a small group of us rode out to the site to put them up. i drive by those bikes almost every day, and every day i am reminded to think of ivan and alex, reminded to be a safer driver, a more attentive cyclist, and a better friend. most of all, the bikes remind me to give love and appreciate for the totally hectic and insane lives we all share on this earth, & to spend that time as best i know how.

the memorial bikes we put up last year were recently taken down. none of us know why—one can only assume someone felt these bikes were getting in the way of cutting grass on the median outside of southern village. whatever the reason, we all think it’s vitally important for folks to have a memory of what happened that night, so on friday night we are going to ride out there and put the bikes back up.

the bikes will need some decorating, & i encourage you to bring big bright faux flowers, mardi gras beads, whatever you can think of that will last thru the weather & bring bright color and life to these memorials.

the anniversary also falls on des ark’s show at the local 506 with Joyce Manor—our first rock band tour in over a year, with mostly new folks. it feels important somehow, that taylor & i will be playing together for this show, and that we will be in a room full of people we love that night.

so please join us for the ride if you can, tell your friends, help us get the word out. it will be a really easy ride through some various bike paths/greenways (i have a map if you’re interested) to the site of the accident. we will have one big street crossing at Fordham Blvd, but the rest of the ride is paved & off of the road. we will ride to the site with the bikes, put them up, decorate them, and then ride back. we should be back to Back Alley Bikes a bit before 7:30pm. if you don’t have a bike, we can find you something. we just want to make sure you can be there if you want to be.

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 19

meet 6pm @ Back Alley Bikes [100 boyd st, carrboro nc]

leave 6:15/6:30 from bike shop

ride to Southern Village & back

thank you all for reading. much love to everybody. may you ride safe until the end of time,

aimée