Alden Leso at the intersection where he says he was hit by a car while riding his bike on Nov. 14, 2023.
Boston may not be known for kindness along its roads — but a cyclist from Cambridge is trying to track down two helpful bystanders who came to his rescue after he was struck by a car on his way to work earlier this month.
"A car came to pass traffic that had stopped — they came into the bike lane and hit me," Alden Leso said, demonstrating what happened at the intersection of Soldiers Field Road and North Harvard Street in Allston, at the foot of the Anderson Memorial Bridge. "I ended up sliding on my back."
Leso said the incident on Nov. 14 ended with an emergency room visit, where he was treated for bruising. And while the crash has left him apprehensive to get back on a bike, it was the kindness of two bystanders that has really left an impression on Leso.
"There was a bicyclist who I had been biking with for a ways, through Cambridge, down Mass. Ave., and an older gentleman who had stopped — helped me get out of the road, helped to collect my things, and get me out of the street and out of traffic's way," Leso recalled.
In the chaos of the moment, though, Leso didn't get the names of the two helpful strangers who came to his aid.
"To them, it might have been a small gesture and might have seemed like the right thing to do, but it really did mean so much for me to have them go out of their way and help me," he said.
As of Monday, Leso's bike was still in the shop. After his first time being hit, he's nervous to ride again, but mostly thankful that he wasn't more seriously hurt.
"I'm just grateful I didn’t hit my head, I didn’t break any bones," he said. "I was able to enjoy Thanksgiving. I'm standing here talking to you — so it always could be worse."
Leso hopes that the two bystanders who helped him will reach out so that he can express his gratitude.
"By the time I got my head on straight and by the time things had settled down, they were long gone," he said. "I'd really like to find a way to thank you properly."
We reached out to state and local police in an effort to get a crash report; Leso provided us with hospital records from the day of the crash and correspondence with an insurance agent.
