Cyclists pedal to help out paralyzed friend

When cyclists gather on New Year's Day in dual-location rides, it won't be the first time they've rallied to benefit an old friend. Or the second.

Since Meredith Nicolls Jr. was paralyzed in a bike accident in 2004, friends in the local cycling world have held rides and raised money by selling food to benefit a health fund established to help with his care.

The New Year's Day noon rides, dubbed Miles4Meredith, will include a 25-mile road ride that will leave from Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach and a ride at Freedom Park in Williamsburg, organizer Dan Gibson said.

"Before he got hurt, Meredith went out of his way to help people," Gibson said. "I just wanted to let everybody know that he's still here and life goes on."

Gibson, who rode mountain bikes with Nicolls, put on a ride in 2008 at Mount Trashmore. In 2009, he expanded the event to include Williamsburg. The event has been on a hiatus the past two years while Gibson recovered from an injury. He hopes to expand to a third location in Richmond in 2013.

"We're so grateful for that," Nicolls' wife, Kathy, said. "Not only is the money graciously accepted, but it's allowing Meredith to still feel a part of that cycling community."

Nicolls was riding in the Tidewater Mountain Bike Challenge in 2004 in the Williamsburg area when he fell and suffered a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the chest down.

It was a little more than a year before the chef and former co-owner of Cafe Rosso in Norfolk was able to go home from Richmond, where he was flown after the accident. His staff tried to keep the restaurant open until a grease fire closed it. Other chefs and friends in the restaurant community also raised money for Nicolls' health care.

Fellow mountain biker Steve Nevins said Nicolls is "one of those guys I don't think anyone doesn't like." Nevins is the race director for the annual Tidewater Mountain Bike Challenge. He recently held a silent auction to benefit Nicolls' health fund.

Nicolls used to volunteer to help with the event and maintain the course. He rode the trails with Nevins and other mountain bike cyclists, including Gibson.

"He came to mountain biking pretty late in life compared to the rest of us," Nevins said. "He quickly made friends in the cycling arena, and in just a few years, he managed to be very active" in the Eastern Virginia Mountain Bike Association.

It's a tight-knit community, the cyclists said.

"It gets people outdoors and it gets you into an environment that's somewhat like hiking but a little different," Nicolls said by phone.

He plans to attend the Mount Trashmore portion of the New Year's Day ride. Nicolls stays inside if the weather is rainy or too cold.

Nicolls attended the Tidewater Mountain Bike Challenge in October, the race in which he was injured seven years ago, but he describes himself as having "no bad feelings about riding a bike."

"The thing is, if I could get up and get on a bicycle right now, I'd do it," he said. "And I'd go right back to that race and ride in it."

Cindy Clayton, (757) 446-2377, cindy.clayton@pilotonline.com