As the sun set Friday, friends, family and colleagues of a Penn State professor gathered at the roadside accident site where the avid biker's life ended.

The group met on the shoulder of Boalsburg Road where mechanical engineering professor Bohdan Kulakowski, 63, died March 22 when he was hit from behind by a van while riding his bike.

In a quiet and somber atmosphere, tearful attendees laid flowers at a cross that read "only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."

About 130 people gathered at the Allen Street Gates to participate in a memorial bike ride to remember the professor who commuted from campus to his Boalsburg home every day. Attendees rode in single file from the Reber Building to the site of the accident, about a four-mile route.

Jim Brasseur, a mechanical engineering professor, organized the memorial.

"We are very sad our friend is gone," he said. "Anyone who worked for him knew what kind of person he was. He never raised his voice in the 20 years I knew him."

Brasseur said Kulakowski was an outdoors person who loved to keep fit. Biking was his way of being a healthy person and adding to the community.

"We would like to encourage that kind of activity in this community," he said.

Brasseur said the memorial service was a revealing tribute to what kind of person Kulakowski was.

"People who are here feel badly because he is not here, and it shouldn't have happened," he said.

Kulakowski's son, who spoke briefly to the crowd before participating in the ride, said biking was a way of getting to and from work for his father.

"But I saw it as a great metaphor for his life," he said, since biking is a peaceful and calm activity, just as his father was a "gentle man."

"I am honored so many of you are here," he said.

Nan Yu, who worked as Kulakowski's graduate student for five years, said he was excited to see so many people at the ride but was not surprised by the number.

"He was so popular," he said.

Yu said Kulakowski was known for his love of cycling.

"He rode his bike as frequently as people drove their cars," he said.

Eric Paterson, an associate professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering, said he chose to ride because Kulakowski's death is a "tragic loss."

"Anything I can do to commemorate the loss," he said. "No one should get killed on their way home from work."

Kate Marshall-Chase, of Lemont, said it is important for the community to create more bike trails and to educate kids when they are trained to drive about how to travel on the same road as cyclists.

"It could have happened to anyone," she said.