My ride isn't technically an August 9 ride; more like late on August 8. Last night, my BF, a friend of his, and I joined about 1000 other cyclists in the first Moonlight Ride through Richmond, Virginia.

Perfect evening to be out and about on a bike. The day's heat had faded to a great temperature for riding. We rolled out of Sports Backers Stadium en masse at 8 pm. Probably half of us did the full 17-mile route through the city; the other half did the 8-miler. Some people wore costumes or tricked out their bikes. Probably 150 of the riders were kids, accompanied by parents.

I thought everything was very well-organized, particularly for a first-time event. The most impressive part was the presence of police at every intersection of the route, holding back vehicular traffic as we poured down the streets. Everybody was super-polite, cheerful and mostly very careful. I loved the sea of bike headlights and tail lights stretching as far as the eye could see! We even had some people standing on the sidewalks and median strips cheering us on.

GREAT fun! Can't wait to do it again next year!