It’s tempting to believe in karma, that what goes around comes around and that everything happens for a reason. Then lived experience comes along to remind us that, in the real world, bad things randomly happen to good people (and often vice versa). But there are times when unfairness seems to fly right off the charts, beyond sick irony into the realm of outrage.
A striking example of this happened in New Paltz last week. It’s sad, of course, anytime someone becomes a crime victim. But if there was ever anyone on this planet who didn’t deserve to have her bicycle stolen, it’s Gabriela O’Shea. The community that has formed around her advocacy work for safe streets – not to mention access to active recreation for people recovering from traumatic brain injuries (TBI) – is reacting with shock, dismay and solidarity.
If Gaby’s name sounds familiar, it’s likely because you’ve been reading about her in these pages for nine years now (https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2019/02/04/more-than-a-year-after-bike-wreck-gaby-oshea-urges-motorists-to-share-the-road). She had recently graduated with honors from SUNY New Paltz when, in September of 2016, a Jeep struck her from behind while she was cycling towards the Shawangunk Ridge on Route 299, just west of the Butterville Road intersection. It was the beginning of an arduous journey that has inspired many.
While Gaby retains no memory of the collision (or indeed of most of her life preceding it), the driver of the oncoming car testified that the cyclist was thrown more than 30 feet through the air. That stretch of road had already been identified as hazardous, due to the fact that the shoulder, originally four to six feet wide, had completely disintegrated. Gaby was riding right on the white line, with a four-inch dropoff to her right. There was nowhere else to go. The driver who had struck her initially stopped her car, got out, took a look at the unconscious Gaby and then fled. (She later turned herself in and was prosecuted.)
Gaby’s injuries were profound, affecting her head, neck, ankles, elbows, ribs, pelvis and vertebrae. Reconstruction of her mangled right arm required multiple surgeries. Her traumatic brain injuries have severely impacted her memory and executive function and limited her peripheral vision to the degree that she is classified as legally blind. What followed her catastrophe was a journey that has merged years of healing and rehabilitation with a personal commitment to trying to make things better for others like her. “I have to find a balance,” she says. “How can I be involved in my community and work on my recovery?”
In the wake of her accident, Paltzonians responded generously to crowdfunding appeals for Gaby’s complicated medical treatment. Local artist Ryan Cronin was inspired to create his now-ubiquitous “Expect a Bike Ahead” roadside sign campaign. Gaby became widely known as an activist on behalf of road safety, joining with supporters, including the New Paltz Bicycle/Pedestrian Committee and an organization of families of hit-and-run victims known as Families for Safe Streets, to lobby at the county and state level for policies that would assure safer road conditions for cyclists and pedestrians.
Results have been mixed: The shoulder improvements for Route 299 promised by then-County Executive Mike Hein have still only been completed as far west as the Butterville crossing. The spot where her collision occurred has not yet been fixed, with progress reportedly delayed by factors including the pandemic, funding bottlenecks and right-of-way conflicts with landowners (https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2021/04/30/federal-red-tape-balky-landowners-slow-route-299-bike-shoulders-project).
On the state level, Gaby points out, “There’s no law against crashing into a human being… In my case, the crime was leaving the scene. It was not crashing into me.” Road safety advocates gather periodically in Albany to push for legislation mandating a three-foot minimum distance when an automobile passes a bicycle or pedestrian.
In terms of her personal progress, Gaby completed several cycles of intensive rehabilitation at the Rusk Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine at NYU, which involved six months of living in New York City with a roommate. She returned to SUNY New Paltz to take some continuing education courses in Disability Studies. More recently, she has been traveling by train to the Mind-Eye Institute in Chicago in pursuit of neurocognitive recovery for her vision problems. She has graduated from recumbent tricycles to being able to ride a regular bicycle again – though never solo, and she stays off the roads except when in a large group of riders.
Organizing group rides on the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail and River-to-Ridge Trail has been Gaby’s main community focus for the past three years. These outings began as fundraisers for the Love Your Brain Foundation’s Rides for Resilience program, benefiting TBI survivors. Lately they have been more casual and social: “slow rides” that meet on the second Saturday of every month from April through October. “People just want to come together,” she explains.
In July 2022, an increasingly independent Gaby moved into her own apartment at Zero Place in New Paltz, which abuts the rail trail and features bicycle racks in the rear of the building. It was there that she stored her beloved teal-colored Sirrus X 2.0 hybrid bike, which she bought secondhand and named “Selena, after the singer.” And it was from that bike rack, chained up and covered against the weather, that Selena was stolen in the wee hours of August 7 by a young man with dark hair. The incident was captured on a security camera (www.facebook.com/goshea1991/videos/1155325139807890). “It took him half an hour to cut through my bike chain,” she relates.
Gaby’s broad community of supporters reacted with indignation and concern to her announcement of the loss on social media, and the New Paltz Police Department has “taken this very seriously” and assigned an officer to investigate. As of this writing, neither the perpetrator nor Selena has been tracked down. While trying to maintain her customary attitude of positivity, Gaby is understandably devastated. “It’s not just the bicycle itself; it was the connection to her,” she explains. “Selena felt like a reclamation of the me that I had lost. For at least two years, she’s been my ride… It’s a symbol of my survival, of my resilience.”
Gaby is also quick, as always, to try to make this challenge not be all about her, noting that hers was not the first bicycle stolen from the same location. “Everyone struggles with something,” she says. “I’m very grateful for how this community has responded. They’ve had my back from the start.” Anyone who thinks they might have a lead on Selena’s whereabouts is encouraged to contact the New Paltz Police at (845) 255-1323 or the Tip Line at (845) 255-1357.
Meanwhile, several community members have offered to buy Gaby a new bike, but she’s holding out hope that she might still be reunited with Selena. “I’m the kind of person who won’t give up on things. I’ve given up so much already,” she says. “I’m not going to let this go. It’s not about the material thing. I want justice.”
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