BOULDER, Colo. — It's a bad week to be a stationary bike in Boulder.
Specifically, the stationary bike that will be outside of the University Memorial Center (UMC) Fountain on the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) campus from November 2 to November 8.
Members of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, also known as Pike, will ride that stationary bike for 8,423 minutes straight in honor of cyclists and pedestrians who have been killed on the road nationwide. The philanthropic event is called Pike on a Bike, and the goal is to raise $100,000 for The White Line Foundation.
"We were talking in our basement. Every single year, we do a philanthropy event; one way or another, we're raising money for something. And what better way to give back to our community and to our dear friend, Magnus?” Graydon Abel, a member of Pike, explained. “By supporting The White Line, it's supporting an issue bigger than just Magnus.”
The White Line Foundation is a nonprofit organization started by Jill and Michael White, Magnus White's parents.
Magnus was 17 years old when he was hit and killed by a driver while riding his bicycle in the summer of 2023. He was killed while on a training ride for the Junior Mountain Bike World Championships in Scotland. He was proudly wearing his Team USA jersey when a car rammed into him from behind.
Graydon and Gavin Abel, who are twins, knew Magnus from Boulder Junior Cycling.
“There was never a lack of fun. It was always a good time with him. Lots of adventures. He's a very funny person, and at the same time, he had a very caring side to him," Graydon said. “He was always the fastest guy in the course. He wouldn't accept second place.”
“What happened last summer was truly tragic. It should never happen to anyone, and his life really did get stolen that day," Gavin said.
Another member of the fraternity, Sebastian Edwards, knew Magnus from a young age.
“I'm actually from Boulder, and I've known Magnus since I was... we went to the same elementary school, middle school, and high school," Edwards said. “It's just truly a feeling that you just never expect. I mean, such a tragic loss in the community, especially somebody like Magnus, who is really just such a powerful figure.”
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The brothers will ride 8,423 minutes on the bike, representing the number of cyclists killed nationwide in 2022 combined with the number of pedestrians killed around the country in 2023.
"Heartbreaking, really. It's kind of insane because a minute's not a very long time at all, but when you put together all of the lives lost just within one year, you come up to almost an entire week," Edwards said.
The Pike members all signed up for different shifts on the bike, and some will be riding during the late hours of the night. The fundraiser will begin on November 2 at 5:05 p.m.
“The reason we think that this project is so special is, not only will we be remembering Magnus and all of those other 8,423 deaths in America, we're also sending a good message for young people as a whole, remembering that driving is something that is super dangerous, just within itself," Edwards said. “Nobody wants to be killed by a driver. Nobody wants to kill somebody while driving. So, it's beyond just raising this money. It's the brothers actually vowing to be safe drivers.”
It will end November 8 at 12:28 p.m. — the exact time of day when Magnus was hit by a driver along Highway 119.
"The bike is going to be ridden entirely by our brothers, except for two spots, which are going to be ridden by Jill White and Michael White towards the end of the event," Edwards said.
Jill and Michael White are also the co-founders of The White Line Foundation, which they started following their oldest son's death.
“We didn't want it named after Magnus. We wanted it to have a larger meaning so people can get behind and start a movement, respecting the white line and respecting those people on the road," said Michael.
The Whites said Pike approached them about the fundraiser.
"They wanted to ride for like 10,000 minutes straight. And I thought in my head, I think there's roughly about 10,000 minutes in a week. Let's put a meaning behind that number, not just a week straight," Michael said. “They came to us with the idea, but they're the ones actually executing everything from the ride logo to the name of the event to setting up the website and the pledge site, securing the location with CU, and arranging all that. It's all on them.”
Magnus would have been turning 19 in a couple of weeks, his parents said.
"He would be a freshman [in college] this year, or he would be cycling, cycling professionally in Europe," the two said, finishing each other's sentence.
Jill said she found it touching, inspiring, and meaningful that the Pike brothers had this idea for a fundraiser.
“It gives us hope for the future, even though our future and Magnus' future was stolen. But to see that spark change in these young men, it's inspiring," Jill said. “It keeps Magnus' legacy alive."hope for the future, even though our future and Magnus' future was stolen. But to see that spark change in these young men, it's inspiring," Jill said. “It keeps Magnus' legacy alive."
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Jacqueline Claudia is the new executive director of The White Line Foundation.
“The White Line is the manifestation of how we take a horrible tragedy that happens thousands of times across the country every day and turn it into action and change," said Claudia. “We've actually spent quite a bit of time talking about what do we want to achieve. What does success look like for us? And we came up with three main areas that we're going to be focusing on.”
Those three areas are raising awareness, creating proof that demands action, and creating a national grassroots network focused primarily on young people who are impacted by these kinds of tragedies.
“There's a lot of ways that we are planning to or currently leveraging AI," Claudia said, who has a background in artificial intelligence. “This is a nonprofit. It's driven by donations."
Aggregating data is another huge area where AI can help, Claudia said.
"We can have dynamically updated dashboards. We can start to drive correlations between actions that are happening and results that are happening in other places. Our ability to analyze data at scale quickly — the opportunity for that's never been there like it is today," said Claudia. “Even to try to source the names [of cyclists or pedestrians who died] in the State of Colorado is incredibly hard. You need to go to the coroner's office by the coroner's office to get them because the aggregating agencies either aren't able to or don't have a process to release that information in a way that allows people to actually understand the impact of what's happening. It's a very disparate system, and we have the opportunity to really shine a lens on that and see if we can pull it together in a way that we can create change.”
The $100,000 goal will allow The White Line to magnify and amplify the scale of the change they hope to make, according to Claudia.
“This is a huge problem. It's been a huge problem for a long time. It's only growing. It's kind of paralyzing. 'What can I do to change it? What can I do?' It's really easy. You can change your own behavior, and you can donate to organizations that are trying to put together the tools and the awareness to be able to create bigger change in other people. So support the people who want to make change," said Claudia.
Those interested in donating to the fundraiser can do so by following this link. As of Wednesday evening, Pike has raised more than $12,000 for The White Line Foundation.
The event will also be live-streamed.
The trial for Yeva Smilianska, the woman accused of killing Magnus, is currently scheduled to begin in December. However, the White family has been told the defense plans to file a motion to delay the case. They believe it will be pushed to early next year.
“It's difficult to move forward in grief when you know all that's going to come back on that one week of the trial, and the things that we are going to hear and see that we may not have known yet, it's going to be traumatic," said Jill.
Denver7 reached out to the 20th Judicial District, which said a motion will likely be filed to delay the case this week by the defense. The spokesperson added that prosecutors are communicating with the defense to select a new trial date.
The White family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Smilianska as well.
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