The Philadelphia Mountain Biking Association - "Ride of Silence" announcement

This isn't a mountain biking event, but it may be of interest to anyone who rides bikes. It may also be a good opportunity to show off our new organization. The only challenge would be keeping QUIET for the whole ride! This was from the BCP listserv:

Here is the first announcement to "theList" for the 2nd annual Philly Ride of Silence. John Siemiarowski and I are in the process of gearing up for the rerun of the Philadelphia Ride of Silence bicycle ride under the auspices of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia for this year. The fascinating thing for us about last years ride was that for the first time, the entire spectrum of the bike community (racers, commuters, recreational riders, messengers, handicapped trike riders, and others) got together and rode in unison. To help us get some ideas to help transfer the Ride of Silence message to the public during the ride, John and I went this year to a memorial ride in NYC on January 7th sponsored by Times-up and Visual Resistance. That ride had over 500 participants and used a range of visual aids to bring the message home.
We hope to adopt some of their visual aids and methods for this year’s ride.

We are hopeing that all of you can attend the ride with us this year.
Our announcement of the ride is provided below.
Ray Scheinfeld

The Ride of Silence is scheduled to take place Wednesday, May 16 – 6:45 P.M. The purposes of this silent ride are to honor cyclists killed/injured in motor vehicle related accidents and to raise awareness about the rights of cyclists to ride the roads. The ride is being held in Philadelphia for the second year and in its 4th year since its inception. It is expected to be held this year at over 200 U.S. locations and in eight countries. Last year we had about 300 participants and this year we are hoping to attract at least 500 riders to the event.

The route will start at the foot of the front steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum on the Ben Franklin Parkway. A brief pre-ride dedication ceremony will take place at 6:45 PM and the police escorted ride will start promptly at 7:00 P.M. It will proceed down the Parkway, circle City Hall, continue to Independence Hall, and head over to West Philly via the Walnut St. Bridge. The ride will return to the front of the Art Museum over the Spring Garden Street Bridge. The duration of the ride is expected to be 1.5 hours. Helmets are required and bicycle lights are encouraged. For more info, Contact the BCGP at info@bicyclecoalition.org or the ride leaders: Ray Scheinfeld, erayben@bellatlantic.net , 215-327-8315; John Siemiarowski, tandemdad@comcast.net, 215-837-0101.

General information on the Ride of Silence can be found at www.rideofsilence.org