The True Roots of Finish The Ride
Written by Damian Kevitt, Executive Director of Streets Are For Everyone
31 March 2024
Here we are again, about to host our 11th Annual Finish The Ride and Finish The Run Griffith Park. It’s hard to believe we’ve been doing this now for 11 years. It’s incredible how much it’s grown in that time.
Many of you know the basic history of Finish the Ride, how I was hit cycling in Griffith Park in 2013, dragged nearly a quarter mile under a car onto and down the 5 Freeway. How it was a hit-and-run, and I lost my leg and nearly my life. How Finish The Ride started as an advocacy campaign on hit-and-run crimes to help make roads safer for everyone. For those who have been at a Finish The Ride event, you’ve heard me describe the story, and I’ve described the story every year since the first year. I’ve told the simple story so many times I can almost say it in my sleep (check with my wife, I likely do!)
Most of you don’t know that Finish The Ride, the deep roots of Finish The Ride, actually goes back to 1-2 days after I was hit. I was in intensive care at LAC+USC Hospital (now LA County General Hospital), and I was waking up from my first emergency surgery, where the doctors officially amputated what was left of my right leg.
And after taking my right leg, a couple of them came into my hospital room and explained to me how badly damaged my left foot was as well, and that they were going to have to cut it off in the next surgery. I didn’t really like that idea and told them that I wanted them to TRY and save it – my argument being that I could still feel my left foot and kind of move it. The doctors were really nice about it, but explained how much of the foot had been destroyed in the incident (I’ll save you the gory details) and how they just didn’t have the medical technology or procedures to save it. Again, I asked if they could at least TRY.
We went through several more rounds of this discussion till they finally agreed to TRY to save it, and if they couldn’t, despite their best efforts, I agreed to let them cut it off – Damian 1, Doctors 0 - I had won the argument.
I was kind of proud that: while in an ICU, in critical condition with massive amounts of opioid painkillers coursing through my veins, I was still able to carry on a lively debate with some of the top trauma surgeons in the US, and I won.
After they left, I turned to my mom and my wife and told them that after I was out of the hospital, I was going to finish the ride that I started that day and never finished. My logic being that, even if I lost both of my legs, I was going to get back on my bike and not let this “meer flesh wound” stop me.
After a few moments, I again turned to my family and told them I was ALSO going to run the 2015 Los Angeles Marathon. I chose 2015 because I figured I needed enough time to recover and train since I’d never run a marathon before.
Looking back, I’m sure my mom and wife figured that I was high as a kite on painkillers when I said that, and probably wouldn’t even remember what I had said, but they both emphatically agreed with me. My mom even said she would run the 2015 LA Marathon with me.
And that was the actual start of Finish The Ride.
The doctors ended up saving my left leg, which is its own miraculous story that we’ll save for another day.
On April 27th, 2014, the first Finish The Ride event was held with great fanfare, with 600 cyclists and every news station in LA covering it. It had evolved from a simple, and somewhat self-centered, desire to finish my own ride, into a movement for safer roads now called Streets Are For Everyone that continues to this day.
In March 2015, I also ran my first marathon – the 25th Los Angeles Marathon.
I hope I’ve entertained you with this story. If you liked it and would like to hear more about the history of Finish The Ride and SAFE and how this whole movement came to be, let me know. I’ll come up with something else to entertain you with from this wild and crazy ride that has become my life.
Never Give Up! Finish The Ride!!
Damian Kevitt
Founder of Finish The Ride and Streets Are For Everyone