PORT TOWNSEND — Dahti Blanchard is about to ride her bike 1,000 miles in memory of a loved one, and she hopes her neighbors will help her reach her goal.

Blanchard, 56, isn’t trying to improve her form for the biathlon she will compete in at her stop in Portland, Ore., along her way to Monterey, Calif.

She’s doing it for Julia Orth, and for the memorial scholarship fund created in the young woman’s name after her death in July 2006.

Julia was the fiancée of her son, Nick Blanchard-Wright. The two lived in Portland, Ore., and were on their way to her family’s house in Missouri when a freight truck struck them from behind.

Nick, now 28 and living in Port Townsend, suffered minor injuries, while Julia was killed,

“It was a freak accident,” Blanchard said.

“The sad part is that she was an environmentalist and they used cars very little, but they were moving stuff out there from Portland.

“That is the reason for the bikes.

“I wanted to do a trek which avoided a car.”