North Texas roads claimed yet another cyclist last week when Phil Balli was struck and killed during a group training ride in Richardson, a suburb northeast of Dallas.
The crash occurred on Wednesday 01 April 2026 at the intersection of Custer Parkway and Renner Road, a busy corridor where traffic and vulnerable cyclists regularly converge.
Balli was participating in the weekly 36-mile Pop Ride when a driver sped through the lane, striking him and a second cyclist. Just 50 yards away was the parking lot where the ride finished. An active member of the Plano Bicycle Association and Outliers, Balli was a dedicated cyclist, competing in the grueling 118-mile Triple Bypass and several epic 100-mile Colorado Rocky Mountain rides in recent years. He was universally remembered as warm, always smiling, and deeply woven into the fabric of the North Texas peloton…