Ride of Silence

[azfiddle]

Did anyone else participate in a Ride of Silence yesterday? My DH and I rode 9 miles through Tucson with about 200 riders and a police escort, just before sunset. An unusual spring storm brought a bit of drizzle, some wind and a brief rainbow. Time for reflection on how cyclists and motorists can share the roads safely.

[Tri Girl]

Good for you!
We haven't had one in our rather large city in a few years. I don't know why. I e-mailed the local bike club to see if anyone would be interested in helping me organize the event, but never heard back from anyone. I did my own little ride of silence instead. Last time I did it, it was a VERY moving experience- hundreds of cyclists riding in total silence.

[Melalvai]

We did our first ever Ride of Silence in little Kirksville, Mo. I didn't put a lot of effort into promoting it, so turnout was what I predicted: there were 3 of us. That's ok because that means next year is practically guaranteed to be bigger! We were only silent during the 1st half. During the 2nd half we planned a few future rides, such as:
the Garden Tour (visit the best gardens in town)
Historical Sites (visit places of historical interest in town)
Christmas Lights
Fireworks (group bike ride at night on 4th of July to see fireworks overhead)

[OakLeaf]

Good for you, Mel. The nearest one to me is a little too far to drive, but what a great idea to start one closer. Maybe next year. Two riders were hit within 50 miles and 24 hours of the Columbus Ride of Silence. One of them is in pretty bad condition.

[badgercat]

DBF and I rode in Tucson's ride too, but azfiddle already knows that. It was a nice event and I thought the police did a nice job--the group never got split up by a traffic light.

We got some friendly honks, waves, and peace signs from motorists and pedestrians, and I noticed that we picked up a couple extra cyclists along the way... and then of course there was the man in the pickup truck who didn't like that he was being prevented from making a left turn due to our group's travel through the intersection, and aggressively peeled out of the turn lane and blew through a yellow light to go another way. Sigh.

[PscyclePath]

We had somewhere between 60-70 riders here in Little Rock... led out by one of our guys pulling a ghost bike mounted on a bike-to-work trailer, then the pack following (silently) two-by-two. We lost one of our friends, Marilyn, to an inattentive driver last year, so we had her teammates following the ghost bike in team kit, followed by the rest of the pack. White jerseys or white shirts were encouraged in keeping with the "ghost rider" theme, but we really didn't care about costumes as long as you were decently clothed ;-)

Very impressive, a long train of riders gliding along, most with lights like a funeral procession.

Tom

[Tri Girl]

that must have been a beautiful tribute to Marilyn, Tom.

[grey]

We didn't have one, but I want to organize one for next year!

[nolemom]

We had 47 riders this year. A lot of the triathletes in our area were friends with a man who was killed cycling to the Horrible Hundred this year so the ride was in his honor. It was overall a good week for cyclists in our rural, central Florida area. The county commission declared May bike month and formally recognized May 20 as Ride Your Bike to Work Day. After the presentation, two different county administrators approached the Bike Club and asked us to collaborate in their Wellness Program for county employees and for the citizens of the county.

[TrekTheKaty]

Great tribute Psycle

[beccaB]

I did one last year that only had 3 of us. I had something else on my schedule this year unfortunately.

[limewave]

This was the first year I participated. I rode with both of my kids on the "train." A friend met us there with her son in the trailer too. There was a large group with a police escort.

I had a long talk with DD on the way there about what the ride was for, bike safety, and how there is NO talking on the ride. She did awesome, ufortunately I got in trouble for talking!

I'm glad we went. A police officer gave a speech about bike safety and sharing the road. It made quite an impression on DD.