Michael Plant, left, a friend and colleague of Jim Warmowski, and Team Navy Jax cyclist Shawn Wynn unveil the memorial sign erected by the Florida Department of Transportation at the site where Warmowski died five years ago.
Cyclists participate in Share the Road Jim Warmowski Memorial Ride
By BILL JOHNSON / bill.johnson@myclaysun.com
On U.S. 17, a few miles south of Green Cove Springs, the four-lane highway — divided by a wide, wind-swept grassy median — meets the treetops as it rises nearly 50 feet to pass over a viaduct.
Amid Florida’s endless flatlands, this place is a veritable Mt. Everest. And for his last view of this Earth, Lt. Cmdr. Jim Warmowski could have done a lot worse.
It was in this rather tranquil setting in 2002 that the 44-year-old Warmowski, riding his bicycle in preparation for a triathlon, was struck and killed by an impaired motorist.
Five years and one day later, on a picture-perfect Sunday morning, hundreds of his fellow cyclists coasted silently up to the foot of this rise to pay respects to their fallen comrade in the Share the Road Jim Warmowski Memorial Ride. And while some didn’t even know Warmowski, the common bond they shared and the common peril they faced on Florida’s roadways transcended any missing personal connection.
They rode the 18 miles from Fleming Island to Green Cove Springs for Warmowski. They rode for themselves.
They road in the hope that somehow this senseless death could somehow be made into something meaningful and important: A tragic icon to help people realize how fragile we all are, and how much we all depend on each other to survive.
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