Ride Of Silence Tomorrow May 20

[1happygirl]

Who's going tomorrow and where?

If I can get away, I'll try to go in Dallas. This is one time I won't live up to my moniker as, "1happygirl". I will be remembering all the nice people that have been lost or injured due to negligence.

www.rideofsilence.org

[gasman]

I will be doing the Eugene ride again with my 20 y.o. daughter.

[Ahneida Ride]

http://www.davidtryan.com/intro.htm


Some quotes from a friend at Oxford....

David had not only got a First Class Honours degree in Physics from Oxford, he had got the top First. This meant that summed over all the papers we sat, that out of more than 200 physics students at Oxford University that year, David had the highest combined score of any candidate. Now bearing in mind that only around the top 1% of all A-level students actually get a place at Oxford in the first instance, this mathematically puts him in the top 0.5% of the top 1% of all physicists in Great Britain at that time.

Everyone around him could see his brilliance - and I think David knew he was brilliant too, but he showed great humility with others, and was far more likely to help than to mock.

God Bless David

[jlwdm]

I attended the Dallas ride and although I support the cause the event was not my cup of tea.




When I ride I try to cooperate with cars. I take routes that are a little longer if they are safer and/or I will cause fewer problems for cars.

Cyclists as a group are very disrespectful of traffic laws which upsets a lot of car drivers. Last night lots of riders were riding across the center line on roads causing problems for cars and many were also disrespectful of walkers and bikers coming in the opposite direction on the trail. Then when the event ended I rode up the trail watching riders riding three abreast holding up traffic.

It was disappointing to see this from a group of cyclists promoting safety on the roads.

I only heard the end of the speech but it was very negative with lots of antagonism towards cars.

It is tragic that many bicyclists are killed on the road - but it is a risk I take.
We were told we should be afraid of being hit by a car every time we ride. We were also told to look at the cyclists around us because one of us would probably be hit and killed by a car before next year's ride.

I do not have a fear of being hit by a car and I totally disagree that people should have that fear when riding.

All in all the speech was a downer with a negative tone. I am a positive person and do not understand the negativity - sorrow is fine.

I would have liked to see a positive tone. I will pass on this ride in the future.

Jeff

[gasman]

Jeff-
That does sound like a bummer of a group ride of silence. It is volunteers who organize the ride. In Eugene we had a bit of a sorrow filled ride that was respectful of all traffic laws. The organizers reminded us to ride single file on the streets and to obey all traffic laws. The 200 riders ended up being split up into several lines because of traffic lights. The group seemed to get support from riders coming the other direction but also there seemed to be support from drivers, a bit suprising. The ride got very positive media coverage.
Hopefully your ride can change.