Another Wonderful Tuesday Night!
I really enjoyed the Tuesday Night Community Bike Ride last night. The route took us on the bike path over the new bridge downtown and then hooked up with the Aviation Parkway trail. It was quiet and relaxed, which is just what I was up for!
We’ve been brainstorming on a reusable method of designating “marshals” for the ride. Three weeks ago I contacted the Bicycle Advisory Committee to see if they had some safety supplies they would donate. I’m still waiting to hear back from Diana on that one, but in the meantime our friend Greta secured a donation of reflective vests from Ordinary Bike Shop. Thanks Greta! I thought they worked really well last night. Be sure to say thanks next time you pop in to Ordinary Bike Shop ! It’s great to have their support in keeping the ride going safely and without police escort!
See you next Tuesday!
-elizabeth
November 16th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Man, I hate to complain about anything associated with the Tuesday night ride, but my GF and I left the ride this week at Country Club (not even half-way). The whole riding on the bike path plan really disappointed us.
Sure, it was nice to not have cars to deal with, but we had to ride two across (maybe three if you took up the entire lane) down corridors of strobe lights for much too long.
We take that same route all the time when we ride together because we can ride fast without stopping much, but it didn’t work on the TNBR.
Tuesday night rides are sloooowwww, allowing conversations and mingling, but this needs to happen in large packs, not double file lines next to the highway.
We enjoy the TNBRs because we like the urban environment and the high visibility of hundreds of locals out sharing the night on bikes.
I’ve spoken to lots of TNBRers who were also disappointed in the route and on the way home, we ran into packs of riders who left when we did for the same reasons.
My request is this: Let’s keep the route urban, on city streets. I want to ride over the 22nd street overpass again. I want to ride up and down a parking garage again. I want to ride down Speedway again. Down the Broadway underpass again. 3rd street from Swan to Campbell. etc. etc. You know what I’m saying?
.. Aaron
November 20th, 2007 at 10:25 am
Hi Aaron. I wasn’t wild about riding the Aviation Bikeway either, for the same reasons. But I heard complaints the week before, when we were winding throught the warehouses, that it was too urban, and that we should be riding the riverpark. I guess that’s what you get when you throw such a diverse group of riders together, which is something I love about the Ride.
Another thing I love about the Community Bike Ride is that we’re all free to propose routes. If you want to propose a route yourself, please do! Go to http://www.veloroutes.org and play with their interactive map, post a proposed route, and see what happens on the next ride. So far there are three new proposed Community Ride routes since last Tuesday. They all look like great rides.
Janet