Daniel O'Reilly rode his bicycle to work at least once a week.
For nearly a dozen years, he was in the saddle by 6 a.m., pedaling from his Sonoma home to an office at Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates in Santa Rosa, where he was a marketing analyst.
The ballet dancer-turned-environmentalist was as serious about fitness as he was about keeping the air clear of car emissions, family members said.
O'Reilly's routine ended tragically Monday night on his way home from work when he was struck and killed by a suspected drunken driver on Mark West Springs Road north of Santa Rosa, authorities said.
He was the second bicyclist killed in Sonoma County by a driver believed to be intoxicated in little more than a week.
"I just don't understand how someone could get behind the wheel of a car when they're impaired in any way," said O'Reilly's wife of 12 years, Patricia. "How could they get behind the wheel?"
The driver, William Michael Albertson, 46, of Cobb, was in the Sonoma County Jail on Tuesday. He was booked on suspicion of drunken driving and vehicular manslaughter.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Larry Scoufos said prosecutors had not received a report from investigators, which might delay an arraignment set for today.
Albertson was held without bail because his arrest violated terms of his parole for a Lake County battery conviction.
O'Reilly's death followed by eight days that of triathlete Alan Liu, 31, of Mountain View, who was struck and killed Easter Sunday on Highway 12 near Oakmont. His riding companion, Jill Mason of Cupertino, remains at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, recovering from critical injuries.
The driver in that accident, Harvey Hereford, 69, of Santa Rosa, also is suspected of driving while intoxicated. He is due to be arraigned Monday.
"We'll look at each case individually," Scoufos said. "We'll file the appropriate charges against those who commit these crimes."
O'Reilly, a 15-year employee of Kendall-Jackson, moved to Sonoma from San Francisco shortly after the wine company moved its offices to Santa Rosa in 1990.
He was raised in Los Gatos and graduated with a degree in music from California State University, Northridge.
He was a cellist and a dancer for the San Francisco Ballet before joining Kendall-Jackson.
He and his wife were married in 1991 and moved to Sonoma in 1992. They have two children, Erin, 12, and Siobhan, 7.
O'Reilly was unable to continue dancing so he took up bicycling for exercise.
He also was interested in protecting the environment, his wife said.
He asked the family to hang clothes instead of using the dryer and was working on a garden. The night he was killed he was planning to check on the attic insulation, his wife said.
"He wanted to make sure we had enough so we didn't use too much electricity," she said.
O'Reilly made the hour-and-a-half ride each way to work at least once a week and more often in good weather.
Patricia O'Reilly said he would rise early and take one of four road bikes. He varied his route and generally avoided Highway 12, she said.
He would shower and change into an extra set of clothes he kept in the Kendall-Jackson locker room he encouraged the company to build, his wife said.
His safety stopped being a concern after so many years of trouble-free biking.
"He always wore biking clothes and a helmet," Patricia O'Reilly said. "Even on the shortest trip around town he wore a helmet."
But on Monday night, the precautions didn't matter.
Authorities said O'Reilly was riding his bike east on Mark West Springs Road near Riebli Road at about 5:20 p.m. when he was sideswiped by a passing driver. He was thrown over a guardrail, about 25 feet from the shoulder, CHP Officer Shannon King said.
Officers called to investigate a single-vehicle accident didn't initially know a bicyclist was involved. When O'Reilly was spotted, rescue workers couldn't revive him.
He died at the scene, the county coroner said.
Albertson was uncooperative and smelled of alcohol, so he was arrested and given a blood test, King said.
The speed and exact course of Albertson's pickup remain under investigation, authorities said.
Meanwhile, the cycling community reeled at the death of another rider.
"I am outraged that a drunk driver has taken another life," said Christine Culver, executive director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition.
O'Reilly was a coalition member and had volunteered to staff a valet bike station at the Sonoma Plaza Earth Day fair the day before he died.
"Danny was a member and volunteer and a wonderful human being," Culver said.
Kendall-Jackson workers were equally shocked and saddened to hear about O'Reilly, who organized the company's ride-to-work program.
"He was well loved," said George Rose, vice president for public relations. "He was quite an avid cyclist and was at the core of people who rode."
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