Community mourns loss of cyclist killed at 86th St. and Monon Trail
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — On Thursday, a bicyclist was killed after being struck by a vehicle on the city’s north side.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department responded to 86th Street and Monon Trail just before 8:30 a.m.
Frank Radaker’s life ended too soon on Thursday after his bicycle was hit. Community members described him as a father, a cyclist, a photographer and a friend.
“He will be deeply missed — not just within our organization, but the community at large,” said the chief operating officer of Bicycle Garage Indy, Scott Helvie.
Helvie says Frank was a bike fitter and spent more than two decades working at the shop. Helvie said he cycled tens of thousands of miles and never hesitated to share his old racing stories.
“We’re going to get daily reminders because people are going to call in to ask for fits or ask for Frank and so it’s going to be hard for a while, but it’ll be a reminder to us about how important he was to the cycling community and to us as an organization,” Helvie said.
Frank viewed the Monon Trail as an asset, and Helvie says he’d ride his bike to work every day.
“He viewed it as an amenity and, as an avid cyclist, he still viewed it as a safe place to help get him to and from where he was going,” Helvie said.
People like Helvie say Frank wasn’t just an avid cyclist. He also had a great eye for nature and would also shoot local cycling events.
“The legacy he left carries on in all of us — not just in the cycling community, but everybody who’s ever had the chance to see the work or work alongside him,” said the CEO of Nine13sports, Tom Hanley.
“Frank captures what it is to be passionate about something and pursue something so whether that was diving deep into his photography skills and helping share those with the community,” Hanley added.
“What we have and what his daughter will have are an amazing amount of photographs to remember — not necessarily of him, but of the things he liked to take photos of,” Helvie said.
IMPD says detectives are still trying to determine the speed of the car at the time of the crash, as well as who had the right of way leading up to the crash.
Bicycle Garage Indy says they want to work with city officials to make safety improvements.