I thought I'd start this for everyone that rode in the Ride of Silence Wed 05/18. Tell us your experience.

I rode in the Ride of Silence here in Albuquerque with one of the local bike clubs. There were several riders from some of the local racing teams, a very interesting commuter bike, several mountain bikes, a fixedgear and roadies. All ages, all types! Some kid along the route yelled out there were 39 of us but a posting I saw today said there were close to 50. We planned a route and by 7 pm we all fell quiet and started the ride. The speed was to never exceed 12 mph and the ride was to last about 1 hour and no one was to speak. Our ride leader picked a very pretty circuitous route through residental areas and parts of downtown Abq. It was very eerie at times, seeing all these people but no one talking. Just the sound of the bikes and the clips as we stopped and started. One woman had the picture of a fallen companion pinned to her jersey back which brought tears to my eyes. There were several times, especially when riding downtown that the purpose of the ride was really brought home, seeing us and cars on the road sharing the space and remembering that not all of us nationwide survived that sharing.
Since it was early enough in the evening, people were still outside, kids playing, people chatting, families sitting around, they would see us coming and the kids would run to the sides of the road and wave as we passed. We all waved back or dipped our heads, but not one of us spoke. As we came to the end of the ride, the sun was setting behind the mountains and it made the whole ride even more poignent (sp). I will do this ride again next year and try to get even more people to come out. It was truly a spiritual experience.