Kate Morales is back on that bike

As press conferences go, our May 5 kick-off for National Bike Month and the unveiling of a new billboard was pretty darn exciting.

Rebecca Serna, ABC's Executive Director, set the stage with remarks about the meaning behind our I'm on that Bike campaign and closed with safety tips, both for motorists and for cyclists. Bob Dallas, Director the the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, emphasized why commuting by bicycle - in an age of hour-long one-way trips to work - was becoming an even more important transportation option. Jared McKinley, of the office of Representative John Lewis, was there to communicate the congressman's support of our efforts to get everyone to share the road. And Philip Gilbert, who is featured in the new ad campaign, added his own words, beaming just as broadly in person as he is on the billboard above 10th and Spring.

But, indisputably, the heart of the event was Kate Morales, a Georgia State University student and community organizer, whose story of being hit by a car earlier this year was the most compelling - and harrowing - testimony of the press conference, while her determination to continue cycling was its most inspiring feature.

It happened a few months back. Kate was struck while on Courtland Street downtown. The driver, inept but not ill-intentioned, stopped to render assistance. He thought Kate was dead. Fortunately not, but her collar bone was broken and her bike damaged beyond repair.

These details of her accident - along with a 6-inch surgical scar overlying a metal plate in her left clavicle - were revealed by Kate as she took the podium beneath the just unveiled I'm on that Bike billboard Monday morning. Nothing could have been said which would have better communicated the urgency of the message that sharing the road is ultimately about avoiding injury and saving lives.

The poignancy of Kate's story was amplified when she was asked by a reporter from CBS 46 a few minutes later, "have you gotten back on your bike?" There was a pause and a palpable sense of anticipation from those in attendance - many of them cyclists - who were silently formulating what their own responses would be.

Kate fielded the question at first matter-of-factly. Her bike, the one involved in the accident and on display at the press conference, was not ridable. There was no getting back on that particular bike. Also, it wasn't as if she had much choice, she didn't own a car and, consequently, bicycling, combined with public transportation, was simply her way of getting around town.

But then Kate expanded on her motivation. She is a community activist and is committed to cycling not only for practical reasons but also for philosophical ones, ones having to do with creating a better world and enhancing everyone's quality of life. Bicycling isn't a discretionary activity, but a part of who she is.

With these words, the slogan "I'm on that Bike" took on an additional meaning. Now more than a plea for identification, with Kate's remarks it became both a statement of resolve and a declaration of solidarity. We are on that bike. It is what we do. It is who we are.

By the way, thanks to the generosity of Jennifer Williams of Getting Around, A Local Tourism Boutique, that recently opened in Palmetto, Georgia, Kate Morales is indeed back on a brand-spanking-new bike!