The Ride of Silence

I rode The Ride of Silence tonight. It is a bike ride very much like a funeral procession; respectful, slow, silent. The purpose of the ride is to draw attention to, and show respect for, those who've been killed while cycling.

We had about 60 people on the ride tonight, a far cry from the 200-300 in years past.
I think the ride is loosing it's direction.

Here's what I posted on our social bike club's message board tonight when asked for comments about the ride:

"I've attended every ROS ever staged in Portland. No diss to the organizers but the event isn't what it was the year that Brett Jarolimik, Tracey Sparling, the couple on Hwy 47 near Gaston and others were killed. As far as the non cycling public is concerned we looked just like any other group of people on bikes. At least when the police were escorting us and controlling the intersections the public knew SOMETHING special was going on. They didn't know WHAT, but they knew we weren't just out for a ride. If the purpose of this event is to raise awareness we need to do a better job. Signs to pin on our backs, cards to hand out, police presence, banners or flags, all would help identify the purpose. The TV reporter there may help get the message out.........as long as our target audience is watching a 40 second clip at the end of the 11PM news. I hope the event continues each year. I hope it grows in popularity rather than fade into obscurity. ”


............BIKE............LIFECYCLE.....ROLLERS....TOTAL
Today........6................0.............0...........6
Jan........618...............0..............0.........618
Feb........692...............0..............0.........692
March......940...............0..............5.........940
April......934...............0..............0.........934
May........669...............0..............0.........669
_________________________________________
TOTAL.....3867...............0..............5.........3872