Carlie Keever, a long time SBC member passed away in March. She joined the club in 1990. I remember the first time I met her. She SBC was having the “Reach the Beach and Back” ride. We would ride “Reach the Beach,” stay overnight at the Beach, and then ride back. A group was gathered in a restaurant for breakfast and Carlie showed up late. We were almost done eating. I didn’t eat all my breakfast and since there wasn’t enough time to order before we left, Carlie finished my breakfast. After that ride we started riding many of the SBC rides together. I would like to dedicate my ride in June in memory of Carlie.
We got to know each other pretty well on those rides. Carlie was a message therapist, drug rep, also worked for a company going to people’s homes and performing minor medical procedures. I discovered that Carlie had been involved in many sports including sail boarding, snow skiing, and bicycling. She grew up in Santa Clara, where she was a competitive synchronized swimmer with the Santa Clara Aquamaids. They traveled to perform and compete. When asked who her favorite sports team was, she replied that she wasn’t a sports fan. Carlie made colored pencil drawing of animals. She loved her dogs and swore this was her last dog several times but then would end up with another until she left her last one, Annie an orphan. Carlie was a very caring individual. She was a long-time participant in Non-Violent Communication practice sessions ant the Oregon Prison Project, bringing NVC into the prisons.
We rode Cycle Oregon, Reach the Beach, Portland to Eugene, Idaho Bike ride, Strawberry Century, and countless SBC rides. I remember when we were on the Strawberry Century’s 70 mile route, we missed a turn and ended up on a long steep hill. We were almost to the top before we realized it, so we continued rather than back tracking and ended up back on the route before the next rest stop, thank goodness. Carlie was very encouraging and talked me through some difficult riding and complaining.
Carlie was diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia but continued to ride. She finally had to give up riding when the pain got too bad. She eventually found a group that practiced Zonga that helped her to deal with the pain. Every time I saw her, she looked a little thinner. I guess the pain got to be too great for her small body to handle.
