Flatballer

This should probably be in the A&S forum, but I never go there and I'm guessing most of you don't either. On Wednesday at 7 PM local time cyclists across the world will get together for a short ride to remember fallen friends and raise awareness for cyclist safety on the roads.

Ride of Silence

Go to the website to find more information and the ride near you. The pace is slow,and the rides all appear to be pretty flat and under 10 miles or so. Anyone who can make it should go. Use it as a recovery ride or an off day.

It won't take much time out of your day to make a good impression on motorists. Remember, no talking, and make sure you lube your bike beforehand so it isn't squeaking. Some rides gives out armbands, black for most of us, red for survivors of crashes with cars.

Flatballer

I didn't think it was possible to have a thread in the Road Forum that gets 0 replies, but I've managed it.

I'm back from the ride. The silence was deafening. We had a pretty large turnout. Some sketchy riders, but nothing too bad. I'm glad I did it. Riding a race bike at 10 mph isn't very comfortable though, I must say.

So, who else went or is planning on going (those of you out West and in other countries)?

10 Wheels

Be quite, you talk way too much.

1955

Our ride crossed the path of the ride in Irvine when you all were getting off of the Sea to Mountain path.

Ride4Ever

I caught a local race team that was out for a ride, averaging 26-28, where as I am used to 18 to 25. I was dropped after 5 miles. But did do a ride, and for the occasional "HOLES" or "Car Behind" It was silent.

chinarider

I did our local one. 12.5 miles. Sheriff dept gave us an escort. Our local ride is organized by the brother of a guy who was killed by a motorist a few years back. Driver was reaching for a cell phone and crossed 4 lanes of traffic. Was kind of strange how quiet it was.

Cleave

Hi Flatballer,

Unless the BF system time is wrong, you posted while most of us were either riding or going to The Ride of Silence. I did the Irvine, CA Ride of Silence.

This is the 3rd year in a row that I have done this ride. Previous locations for me were Long Beach and Fullerton.

The Irvine ride was the best attended of all those in which I participated.

dlester

I attended the one here locally. We had police escort for our loop through town. We had a car in the front, a car in the back, and a third car going off ahead and blocking traffic at each intersection.

We still have a couple of cars honk at us for being in the way, but my favorite was on a four lane road (two lanes in each direction, we only consumed the right lane) a car actually got along side the line, put on his turn signal, and started squeezing into our two by two line (yes, also between two police cars). After all, he wanted to turn right and we were in his way!

Some people, no matter what, are *******s.

Brandy

George and I just got back from the Irvine ride as well. I believe that there were just over 100 riders and we had police escort the entire way. As someone else mentioned, the silence was deafening.

It would be nice to see this grow. If I hadn't seen Cleave's Facebook status this morning, I wouldn't have known about the ride. I will definitely be doing my part next year to get the word out earlier.

Flatballer

Unbeknownst to Californians, there are people who live on the East Coast of this country.

I just posted it after I got back, and then put a thing in there about how the rest of the world probably hadn't started yet. I'm in bed by 10, so if I couldn't exactly wait until y'all were done.

Brandy

I got what you were saying Flatballer...your OP was posted on the 18th and didn't get a single response. Maybe next year more people will make an effort to find out about the rides in their area or start one where there isn't one currently.

Onfixiate

We had about 80 riding. Yes the silence was deafening.

Had a nice Scottish bagpipe prelude to the ride.

Had several attendees riding with red armbands, too--survivors of collisions with cars.

Very somber event; it's a nice way of showing respect for fallen riders, and a reminder that we're all vulnerable.

Brandy

It was definitely a reminder that we are all vulnerable.

I'm curious why more of us didn't participate in our local rides. I'm not criticizing the ride I attended, but I'm wondering if more could be done next year to get the word out earlier. Most cyclists I talked to yesterday hadn't even heard of it.

ImaPoser

This thread was the first I had ever heard of it, but then again, I am a newbie.

The local paper had a couple photos and a short summary of it front and center today.

Flatballer

I don't think it was publicized well. The first I heard of it was last week sometime, and I just happened to stumble on it looking for a group ride to attend. It was on the local group ride calender, but that was about it.

Next year I'm gonna start earlier and try to get the word out sooner. I don't normally participate in things like this, but I like this one for some reason. Maybe because it's free and grass roots organized.

Waves77

+1.

I didn't hear about the one in my city until a few days before (just by chance). No signs at the LBS, no press, no indication that this was a once a year special event...

This definitely needs more exposure.

Cleave

OK, my bad. I didn't read the OP date properly. I thought that your first two posts were only a half hour apart.

Brandy

Bad Cleave!!!

Brandy

Same here. I would gladly contact all of the local cycling groups/teams, post fliers in local bike shops and do whatever I can to get the word out.

I am still SHOCKED to see that there was nothing in our local paper about this ride. If it is going to make an impact, the public, particularly those who witnessed our ride, complete with police escort, need to know what it is all about.

LarryMelman

And what "impact" do you want to make?

Honestly, I think you are expecting too much from this. An unusually slow large group ride during peak traffic time is not going to win you any support from the drivers you delay, and cyclists who ride at more normal speeds and/or detest large group rides. Our bike club promoted it (that's probably too strong a word... it was mentioned in our weekly email) but I don't think there was much interest.

Also, there are more than a few of us who just don't "get" how biking slowly with an arm band or walking with a pink ribbon and fuzzy boa, really "honors" anyone. That's all I'll say about that.

Basically, do this event if you want to. Care about it if you want to. But don't get too shocked if not everyone shares your enthusiasm.

Brandy

It's your choice whether or not you participate. The impact that I would hope is made would be one of raising awareness beyond the cycling community. From my experience on Wednesday when I told several friends about it, the response was similar from all of them..."I wish I had heard about this earlier."

mattm

Critical Mass has the same message/reasoning, except they're allowed to tell people wtf is going on and why we're out there.

Cars get pissed either way, so I don't see much of a difference between the two rides, except that in one nobody will talk.

I guess my point is that if you like these Silent rides, CM isn't all that much different. And if it makes you feel any better, CM gets poice ******* too sometimes.

Either way good for y'all for remembering fallen riders, no matter what method you use.

Ride4Ever

I heard of it a little over a month before. I was at a bike shop and they were giving away pins that had the ride of silence logo on it

^not it, but you get the idea, I wore it on my jacket for a while before i found out what it meant. I asked someone in my local club if they were doing anything for the ride and he said he had never heard of it. +1 to Brandy.

1955

I see the point of being able to tell people about purpose of the ride and understand the "moment of silence" reference, but how can people in the cars that pass you have any idea what it's all about. Most people will forget all about it within a few hundred feet and without knowing what the ride is called, can't even Google it to find out. There has to be a better way of letting the people in the cars and trucks that drive by know what's going on. Now, if the purpose of the ride is just for the riders themselves then fine (although it's just kind of preaching to the choir), but it sure seems like the whole purpose is to raise awareness...how can this be done with silence?

I'm not putting it down at all and think that it's a very worthy ride, but I question the method.

Maybe the ride should be bracketed by a couple of cars, or better yet, sign trucks with at least a title of the ride in big, bold letters so people can Google it when they get home.

A bunch of us rode through (nicely) the line of bikes in Irvine, but if I hadn't have heard about it that day, I would've had no idea what the ride was for and might even have forgotten about it by the time I got home. Brandy's right in that it need to be advertised more in the bike community, but if you don't get the message out to the people (drivers) that matter, then it only makes the people in the ride feel better about themselves and does nothing for a very worthy cause. Am I wrong?

Flatballer

I agree with you somewhat. I think most of the drivers were probably just annoyed (as evidenced by the guy in the Suburban who jumped through the middle of the pack instead of waiting). As for the awareness, the local news came out and did a story, so I guess that helps. A lot of the people along the sidewalks and stuff would stop and be quiet as we passed.


Personally, I feel like it's about 3/4 remembrance, 1/4 raising awareness. I was mostly there to remember my friends who have been hit, and honor others who have died riding.

I do think there needs to be a banner of some sort at the front and back of the ride to let people know what it is, and what it's about. We were also riding in the most bike-friendly part of the city, where many people are cyclists themselves, so I'm not sure how much of an impact even needs to be made in that area.