A sad scrap of material symbolising a comfortable suburban life torn apart.

Just a few yards from where the dog sits with the sweater is a bike with one pedal missing.

Paint scrapings from the pedal are being studied for clues by ACT Policing's forensics unit.

The authorities hope some slivers of paint will help them find a car which so far has only been identified as a sedan, probably an older model blue or green coloured Ford perhaps made in the 1990s.

The bike's owner, father of eight Hugh Trounson, was nearly killed a few days earlier by the unknown car driver.

The former air force officer was out riding in an attempt to strengthen a dodgy knee on the advice of his doctor after minimal invasive surgery failed to fix it.

Extensive walking was too much of a high-impact exercise, he had been told.

A few weeks into his new cycling routine he rode into a roundabout on the intersection of Fincham Crescent and Wheeler Crescent in Wanniassa.

The driver of the car failed to give way and T-boned Hugh. Most of the impact was taken by the pedal and Hugh's injured knee.

He landed on the other, good knee.

''I now have two dodgy knees,'' he says.

''I was shanghaied eight metres, my sandshoes came off, I broke three ribs and part of my backbone.

''The police said it was lucky I was thrown that far, otherwise I could have gone under the car.

''The bottom part of my lungs have fluid in them.''

The sweater he was wearing is now a rug for his fox terrier Tucker, despite spots of blood and a gravel mark, according to Hugh's wife Pauline.

''After the crash Hugh was a little lump on the bitumen covered by a blanket and with blood around his mouth,'' she says.

Her husband spent the first six days after the accident in hospital on an oxygen tank. On the seventh day he was discharged after he persuaded the staff.

Sitting stiffly in a chair in his Wanniassa home he struggles to breathe and needs to stop mid-sentence to take in more air before he continues.

When shaking hands, he asks visitors not to grip too hard. The swollen hands, legs and feet all look tender.

He makes his way up his own driveway for a photograph but it means he'll probably spend another long stint in the chair again.

His daily routine involves hourly breathing exercises - using his breath to make balls in a plastic tube hover and align - and he realises the rehabilitation will be long and sore.

''I think Canberra is becoming a dangerous place for cyclists,'' Hugh says.

''I'll never get back on a bike again.''

Hugh is one of two cyclists in their 60s hit by cars in less than a fortnight before up to 1500 riders take part in today's Amy Gillett Foundation ride in Canberra.

The event, known as Amy's Ride, is named after the track cyclist killed on a training run in Germany and is held to raise awareness about road safety.

Riders of various abilities will cycle between 28 kilometres and 105 kilometres from Old Parliament House through parts of Stromlo Forest Park and beyond.

Another person not expected to take part is Ian Holden. Sitting in Hugh's living room this past week, Ian, 68, says he suspects he did ''a double somersault with pike'' before his helmet ''snotted'' the side of a car in Belconnen a dozen days ago.

He alleges the driver of the car failed to give way and has no memory of the events after impact. But at least she stopped, he says.

''I broke one of the side windows of her car and my handlebar is destroyed,'' Ian says.

''Police later told me when they arrived the driver said 'he's still alive - his eyes are open'.

''Apparently I was talking at the scene but I can't remember.

''It would have been nice if she [the driver] had called me since to see if I was still alive.''

The chief executive of the Amy Gillett Foundation, Tracey Gaudry, a Canberran of 20 years, knows hundreds of cyclists who have been hit by cars, buses and trucks.

She explains many of the injured riders are hurt by the fact that a number of the drivers do not acknowledge they are wrong.

''It leads you to have more distrust of human society because these people can't face up to their mistakes,'' says Tracey, a dual Olympic road cyclist once in a group of riders hit by a car in Victoria.

The healing power of taking responsibility is perhaps best demonstrated by Josh Freeman, 34, who rode the bonnet of a car in January as his $6000 bike was trashed.

The Dunlop man is keen to get back on the road and was thankful the driver who struck him on a roundabout on Lhotsky Street in Charnwood showed remorse.

''He was really good about it,'' Josh says, despite the fact his body was covered in grazes after the January collision which ruined his bike - the front wheel now appears bent beyond repair.

Josh himself rode up on the bonnet of the car and was shot forward.

He returned to the road this past week, ''a little more cautiously'', after two months of discussions with his insurance company which involved drawing diagrams of the accident and emailing photos.

In the end he received a new $6000-plus bike.

The Amy Gillett Foundation will soon meet with ACT Police Minister Simon Corbell, and hopes to continue talks with other state and territory ministers, about enshrining the ''one metre matters rule'' into law.

For years the foundation has been publicising the fact that a metre between a car and a bike is enough to save lives and limbs.

Still drivers are willing to shave the space down to just a few centimetres so they can squeeze past.

''At the moment the law says drivers must leave a sufficient distance, which means there is a subjective interpretation of what is sufficient,'' Tracey says.

Until this is done, lobbyists say, the homes of cyclists will be littered with cracked helmets, bent wheels and twisted handlebars and torn sweaters.

The souvenirs of involuntary meetings with the hard road.

■ Police urge anyone who may have witnessed the collision involving Hugh Trounson, or may have any information regarding the vehicle involved, to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or via the Crime Stoppers website at www.crimestoppers.com.au.