The Alamance Bicycle Club and the J&L Bicycle Company are organizing the Professor Gooch Memorial Ride on Friday, April 16, to honor the memory of the Elon faculty member who was killed in a car-bike accident near campus on April 3, 2009.
The ride is being held to raise awareness among riders and drivers about the rights and responsibilities of both of these groups. By law, bicycles are considered vehicles and cyclists are expected to abide by the same traffic rules as cars and motorcycles. Cyclists also have the same rights as automobile drivers on most roads and streets.
Registration for the ride will start at 5:30 p.m. at the J & L Bicycle Co., 216 East Front St., Burlington, with an anticipated departure time of 6 p.m. Riders who don’t want to come to downtown Burlington are welcome to join the ride about 6:40 p.m. as it passes by the Koury Business Center. Helmets are mandatory for the ride.
Besides being an avid cyclist, Gooch was an active scholar and mentor to his students. He specialized in chemical education and organic chemistry, and was an authority on nuclear magnetic resonance, natural products, organic synthesis and molecular modeling.