‘He was always there for you’: FSU student, competitive cyclist killed in hit-and-run
A friend confirmed Jake Boykin was killed Friday. Fellow cyclists are planning a memorial ride for him Thursday
TALLAHASSEE, Fla (WCTV) - Friends confirmed that a cyclist killed in a hit and run in Jefferson County Friday was FSU student and national championship cyclist Jake Boykin.
“Someone so young and so special and special beyond his talents on the bike and everyone is in shock and trying to process what’s a huge loss,” fellow cyclist and close friend Jason Khon-Hohensee said. “Not just for our cycling community, but we all knew Jake was going to go on to do great things in life, and we’re all so hurt by the fact that he’s not going to have that opportunity to change the world like we knew he would.”
Boykin was a Ph.D. student who recently represented FSU in USA Cycling’s Collegiate Road National Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
FSU posted photos of Boykin along with its congratulations on its Facebook page on May 11.
Khon-Hohensee said fellow cyclists are planning a memorial ride this Thursday to celebrate Boykin’s life. Click here to see the details of that event.
“He would actually comfort me and tell me be kind to yourself, be gracious,” Khon-Hohensee said. “My favorite memory and example of that is when we were on a tough ride, and I was failing, and the next thing I know I turned around and I looked… he had pulled his bike completely off the side of the road and he was sitting in the grass. I turned around and he said, ‘I’m tired too.’ He wasn’t tired, but he just went above and beyond to show, ‘I’m not disappointed in you and I’m going to be there for you.’”Khon-Hohensee said Boykin was supposed to join a group of cyclists for a rac
Khon-Hohensee said Boykin was supposed to join a group of cyclists for a race in the mountains of North Georgia this past weekend. He said he wore Boykin’s race number in his honor, so he could still be there to see the mountains for the first time.
FHP continues to investigate the hit and run. Its crash report said a pickup truck struck the cyclist at about 7 p.m. Friday on Wacissa Springs Road. FHP said the driver fled the scene and when they found the pickup truck, the bicycle was still impaled in the grill of his truck. The 60-year-old driver was taken to the hospital with serious injuries that FHP descried as “unrelated to the crash.”
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