GREETINGS RIDE OF SILENCE DIRECTORS.

You are special people, for you have taken on the leadership of organizing a memorial ride in your area, like no other. Before The Ride of Silence, there was no single event that united the world like this free event run by volunteers. Isn’t it amazing what passion can do? I praise you and thank you for that passion! “Thank you!”

I want to let you know about a couple of things to help you get the word out to your local cyclists and media, and then wish good weather for everyone.

One, is the NEW Craigslist posting you can put up using the following as a template. This is only an example due to the location mentioned:
http://lansing.craigslist.org/bik/1175340293.html

Second, there is NEW Public Service Announcement (PSA) for this year on the front page of the web site and at youtube.com. The new feature this year is it has a closed caption button (bottom right corner) that can access 30 languages. This will be very helpful to the rest of the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLEcwJuCdf4

Please do NOT submit your post ride reports to the web master. A NEW self-serve web form will be up for you to enter your information there. After you’ve reported your numbers, this could be the most accurate total we’ve ever had. Every ride counts, as does every rider. Isolated rides of two’s or three’s are welcome and encouraged. Among other things, one day I hope The Ride Of Silence will take place in EVERY town. With your help, it will. Today is a fine place to start with that fantasy.

The ride is set for you to be autonomous, meaning you have a lot of control over your ride. We have very few rules so that we all send the same message (free, less than 12 MPH/20KPH, 8-12 miles, May 20, 7 pm, black arm bands to show solidarity, red arm bands to show you’ve been hit, and silence). After that, many sites use a variety of things to “get the word out,” such as: the use of a hearse, the use of a coffin, stopping at Ghost Bike memorials, bag pipes playing Amazing Grace, bugle playing Taps, the reading of those that have been killed, the reading of the R of S poem, and so on. Do what you want to do to make the ride personal to YOU and your area, within good taste and common sense.

A quick look shows were at 262 rides, in 16 countries, with more locations to be put up. I’ve said this many times, but, I am truly amazed at its growth. I never imagined it and nor did anyone else back in 2003. I will continue to say this because it should humble all of us where we started and where this ride is today.

You will be reaching people who have never heard of this message, or seen this ride before. You will be the first to impress them. I have personally gotten several emails from new people. But, also, statistically speaking, chances are you will be riding with some one who won’t be here next year. It will be their last time to hear this message because they will be killed by a motorist. Ride like you’ve never ridden before. This could be your last time.

Thank you, each and every one of you, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart. The greatness of this ride is made up by individuals, choosing to be together in peaceful and silent assembly on the same day, at the same time. Thank you.

Tail winds and sunny skies!
Stay active.

Chris Phelan, Founder
The Ride Of Silence
http://www.rideofsilence.org/
Wednesday, May 20, 2009, 7 PM
One day. One time. World Wide.
Let the silence roar.

Larry Schwartz, whose death inspired the first Ride Of Silence in 2003, and stands now representing all those who have also been killed by a motorist.

THE SOUND OF SILENCE

Hello darkness, my old friend

I’ve come to talk with you again

Because a vision softly creeping

Left it’s seeds while I was sleeping

And the vision that was planted in my brain

Still remains

Within the sound of silence.


In restless dreams I walked alone

Narrow streets of cobblestone,

’neath the halo of a street lamp,

I turned my collar to the cold and damp

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light

That split the night

And touched the sound of silence.


And in the naked light I saw

Ten thousand people, maybe more.

People talking without speaking,

People hearing without listening,

People writing songs that voices never share

And no one dare

Disturb the sound of silence.


"Fools" said I, "you do not know

Silence like a cancer grows.

Hear my words that I might teach you,

Take my arms that I might reach you."

But my words like silent raindrops fell,

And echoed

In the wells of silence


And the people bowed and prayed

To the neon God they made.

And the sign flashed out it’s warning,

In the words that it was forming.

And the sign said, "The words of the prophets

Are written on the subway walls

And tenement halls."

And whisper’d in the sounds of silence.

This is an article ran in the Michigan State University newspaper.

http://www.statenews.com/index.php/article/2009/04/bicyclists_need_to_stay_on_sidewalk

Bicyclists need to stay on sidewalk by Zack Colman

Black 2001 Saturn SC2. That’s the car I drive — and if you’re a bicyclist on the road but not in a bike path and you see my car, I hope you’re wearing a helmet, because I might run you over.
Maybe not intentionally.
But you see, with all these things I can do in my car nowadays, such as choose a different song on my iPod, send a text message while driving or fall asleep at the wheel because I had to wake up for a worthless 8 a.m. biology lab, I might not notice you.
And, considering you are where you should not be, I might hit you.
The simple fact of the matter is, MSU has so kindly provided sidewalks for people on foot and Rollerblades, and MSU’s ordinance should be revised to require bicyclists be there too. The university has outlined bike paths on certain roads, but bicyclists can’t just create imaginary bike paths like they do.
I cannot drive my car on the sidewalk, so why must you ride your bicycle where I drive?
Many of my friends ride bicycles on campus, so I’m not trying to berate a whole demographic of students. I appreciate bicyclists who advocate environmentalism, since they are making up for the damage I do with my car.
I respect bicyclists who use bicycles as a form of exercise, since people certainly can never get enough fitness in their everyday routines.
But for as much as I respect and appreciate bicyclists, I will not hesitate to honk at them when they are interfering with the roads.
My concern is not merely about inconvenience.
Bicyclists on the road are a driving hazard to people in automobiles, since many bicyclists make turns without using hand signals and ride too close to other vehicles when there is no designated bike path.
For example, I was driving to work Tuesday when a bicyclist pulled up in front of my car in the right lane on Farm Lane going northbound where it intersects with Shaw Lane. There is no bike path at this portion of the road, and I needed to be in the right lane to avoid the left turn only lane, but the bicyclist was in the way.
Instead, I had to speed ahead and veer away from the fast-approaching rear end of the car in front of me, just barely making it into the right lane.
Some will say I could be more patient on the road.
But roads are for cars, not bicyclists. The bicyclist should not have been in the car lane.
It’s possible some bicyclists are trying to live out their dreams of being Lance Armstrong, and the smooth terrain offered by the roads where big, people-killing cars are designed to travel on are more desirable than the sidewalk pavement.
I get it, bicyclists — you’re in the Tour de France. Well, in your head at least.
But in reality, my gas-guzzling, carbon footprint-leaving car is trying to get around you, the bicyclist. And you, the bicyclist, prefer to coast, not along the side of the lane but in the exact middle.
Maybe in your head you are actually driving a car. Maybe that’s why you believe you should be behind a pickup truck and in front of 15 other cars trying to pass you.
And maybe you are Armstrong, so talented and in shape and able to pedal so, so fast. But Armstrong’s average speed in the 2001 Tour de France was 24.9 mph, which is 0.1 mph less than most of the speed limits on and around campus.
Plus, I’ve had difficulty finding students who actually obey the speed limit anyway.
It’s common for motorists to drive at least 5 mph above the speed limit, which makes your task to out-pedal Lance Armstrong all the more daunting. And considering you’re not actually Armstrong (even if you do wear a skintight yellow bicycle uniform), you likely are not going 24.9 mph.
And, oh yeah, Armstrong is competing when he is bicycling — your leisurely ride through campus might not even register on a police radar.
But, hey, snap out of it. You’re not Lance Armstrong.
And those are the headlights of my black 2001 Saturn SC2 bearing down on you.
Zack Colman is the State News opinion writer. Reach him at colmanz1@msu.edu.
Published on Wednesday, April 8, 2009

I am continually astounded at the ignorance that pervades my species. I am not sure if shake my head at embarrassment for this man, or the horror he commits.

"Someday, I visualize a world when motorists will know beyond a doubt that they will encounter two-wheeled people. When cyclists will ride in safety, at any time of day, and not worry for their lives, but rather in pursuit of their own well being, and their own dream, uncompromised, and untarnished. I have a dream!"
Chris Phelan, with acknowledgements to Martin Lurther King’s "I have a dream."

(Tim Potter, 1979 Bike Trip. Today he is the web master for The Ride Of Silence.)

February 20, 2009


EXCITING NEWS !!!

The Ride Of Silence has expanded beyond anyone’s expectations, riding on the same day at the same time, throughout the world, …FOR FREE! It’s really something amazing and thrilling for each organizer to be part of and proud of.

But, this giant memorial ride that is like no other event in the world takes resources to run, both locally (permits, signage, advertising) and globally (web site, legal costs). It has been with a LOT of consternation the board has decided to offer something that we think its time has come. A bike shirt.

I have been asked many, many times over the years about shirts and the use of the logo (trademarked), and have even seen a R of S shirt illegally produced. It got to the point where either we were going to be on the train or run over by it, and lose “our shirt.’ (Sorry.)

So, at this link: http://heatedink.com/rideofsilence.html, you will see a few items we have gone to great lengths to keep tasteful, yet unique; something you’d feel proud wearing. Let me emphasize, this is official merchandise. Nothing underground, or looted. After all, it’s to help spread the word about sharing the road and remembering our biking brothers and sisters.

Thank you.
Thank you, very much!

c

WELCOME TO THE 2009 RIDE OF SILENCE…

Run - bike trail in New York City

What started off in 2003 as a singular voice in Dallas, TX, has spread across the state, country, continent, and the world.

Each year the ride and, more importantly, the consciousness of sharing the road, has grown, awaking sleepy motorists, insurance companies, authorities, city planners, and city governments to the ramifications of a bike friendly city, both fiscally and statistically. (Ironically, Dallas, TX for two consecutive years has been listed as the worst place to ride a bike in the U.S.)

Nevertheless, we have much to do using our peaceful and quiet demonstration of the needless killing taking place on our roads.

As a defacto clearing house for the loved ones left behind a cyclists killing, we hear a very similar, yet surprising story each time. The scenario is this: a lone cyclist is hit from behind on an otherwise quiet road by a lone vehicle.

Though it happens in other ways as well (because of the staggering amount of cyclists kill each year, there is a wide variety to how motorist hits the cyclist), this similar scenario is surprising because it does not occur among speeding traffic who can’t see the cyclist, but rather in full view of their windshield. Tragic. And as inexcusable as if the motorist hit another motorist wrapped in a metal capsule. Yet, according to Bicycle Magazine, most motorists get off without so much as a traffic ticket. Sad.

I think there are two reasons for this gross injustice.

First, the cyclist is dead, and therefore can’t defend himself. When the police show up, and later in court IF it goes that far, there is only one side to the story of how the cyclist was hit and killed.

Second, IF the case gets to court, I believe that most people hearing the case (judges, jurors) are unable to identify with the cyclist because they don’t cycle. Those doing the judging are unable to know what it is like to ride within inches of vehicle passing them, and may even see cyclists as only a nuisance, a child’s toy that needs to not travel beyond the drive way.

There will be people taking part in this years ride to bond all the living cyclists (defined as ANYONE who can straddle a non-motorized, two-wheeled vehicle), who will not make it to the end of this year. They will be innocently killed, unable to match a ton of metal moving four times faster then the cyclist. The dead cyclist will follow all of the laws and yet will get none of its protection.

Do not be fooled that this cyclist can’t be you.

Let the silence roar this year on May 20 at 7 pm through the world, as cyclist ride less than 12 MPH for an hour in procession, in honor, in memorial of those that have ridden before.

Go to the web site, find your nearest location (or start one in your home town), straddle a bike, and join the thousands on this day to remember.

c