I was out of town so missed the ride here. However, I have since visited with several cycling friends who rode. We apparently had over 150 riders and a police escort--3 on motorcycles (from my suburban city of Homewood, where most of the ride took place). Talk of our group was the idiot in a black SUV on her cell phone who cut right into the middle of the group trying to cross to the median so she could turn left into the 2 lanes going the other direction. That whole "share the road" thing just flew right over her head, I guess.

We lost a cyclist a few weeks ago who was killed in a hit and run; he was a Birmingham policeman off duty, riding for fun. We've also had 3 bad accidents where cars hit cyclists from behind; all 3 cyclists were riding solo and obeying the law. Needless to say, we're all a little jumpy now.

I was pleased to see a sizeable photo of the ride in the local paper the next morning with an explanation of the purpose of the ride.Hope to do this next year.