A ride, and a Ride of Silence

I am still in Seattle.  The forecast was for cloudy skies with an increasing chance of showers as the day progressed. I had originally hoped to ride to Woodinville to pick up my rider packet and swag for an upcoming ride that I will be participating in, but timing wasn't going to work out with evening plans. It wasn't raining in the morning,  and I didn't want to miss a chance to ride,  so I hopped on the bike and rode out the Burke-Gilman and Sammamish River trails to Redhook Brewery and back. I made it back in plenty of time to make preparations for tonight's Ride of Silence.

I had the lights charged and attached to Julie's and my bikes.  Tires were aired, fenders attached, helmet ready to go.  It started to rain lightly.  Drat, that was enough to put the kabash on Julie's plans.

I'm an Oregonian, a little rain isn't going to stop me from a ride as important as the Ride of Silence. I put on my rain gear and rolled down Queen Ann to Gasworks Park.  I was one of the first to arrive at the park.  In short order there were 40 of us.  The organizer of the event, J Steve Mayo, handed out signage, black armbands, and spoke briefly, then we were on our way.



Our group stayed together pretty well.  Traffic signals would inevitably break us up, but the leaders kept aware of the back of the group and would slow, or stop, waiting for a regroup.

At the conclusion of the ride a reporter for a local paper milled around with notepad in hand taking statements.

The ride itself was about 10 miles, I had a 4 mile ride down to the event, and a 4 mile ride back UP from the event.  Added to the morning ride in the dry weather I totaled 66 for the day.
 

Today.................66...........0..............0..........0..............66 Jan..................93..............0...............0.........0..............93 Feb................411..............0..............0.........0............411 March.............653.............0..............0.........0............653 April..............696..............0...............0.........0............696 May...............525...............0...............0.........0.............525 Total...........2381.............0...............0..........0.............2381