The Chainlink

Ride of Silence-- things to think about

http://www.thechainlink.org/events/chicago-ride-of-silence-5

If you're like me you rarely have time to shop or handle other errands  during the week, so if you're planing to attend the RoS next week be on the lookout for these handy items:

-used jars of any size
-tea lights
-extended lighters of the kind you use to light a pilot light:


-real or artificial flowers or anything else you'd like to adorn a bike with
-sharpies if you'd like to sign a bike (I believe two of the bikes have dedications written on them)

What am I forgetting?



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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on May 20, 2010 at 12:37pm
I think our ride may be rather special as ROS's go in the regard that it brings us in contact with lots of bystander/pedestrians/streetlife, and they frequently want to interact with us (maybe trained by CM to an extent?)-- it's indeed a bit awkward when they ask what the event is and are greeted with silence.
Glad there were some flyering during the ride.
We were kind of short in signs and banners this year-- last year we had a bunch of signs on people's backs that said "shhhhhh Ride of SIlence" and similar.
Agree with a sign/banner making party or two in advance of the ride.

Tony Adams said:
dan brown said:
Elizabeth et al : thanks for all the effort put into this year's ride.
it was great and the motorists seemed cool.
handing out flyers to some was nice too (thanks Pat for giving me those)
DB

Yes. It would have been great to have more flyers to hand out. It was pretty awkward to ride by silently when bystanders would ask what was going on.

But in general, wow! it was a huge and solemn and great experience.

Kudos also to the CPD bike patrol. On lots of occasions those officers rode right out into oncoming traffic to stop it.
Permalink Reply by Chicago Ride of Silence on May 20, 2010 at 12:52pm
Did anyone on the Ride last night get a count of riders? (just in case not everyone signed-in... )
Permalink Reply by mario on May 20, 2010 at 12:58pm
I'd say give or take 300.
Permalink Reply by Chicago Ride of Silence on May 20, 2010 at 5:34pm
On the heels of the 2010 Ride of Silence, I invite you to a post-ride meeting to follow-up on last night's Ride - what worked, what still needs work, how can we improve (get more riders?, get more red armbands?, get candles to set out at the ghost bikes?, etc), thoughts on the post-ride gathering.

We will meet at 7:30pm this upcoming Monday, May 24, at 7:30pm at the REI in Lincoln Park.

All are welcome to attend.

Thank you for making this year's Ride of Silence so inspiring.
Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on May 20, 2010 at 5:38pm
Just a guess but I'll wager 250.

Anyone have any of it on film?

I liked the clergy guy's opening statements-- he captured my own reasons for wanting to be involved and why these efforts are important.

I didn't quite catch who the last speaker was-- a friend of Tommy McBride's?

mario said:
I'd say give or take 300.
Permalink Reply by Chicago Ride of Silence on May 20, 2010 at 5:41pm
I know some of it was filmed... what words in particular struck you?

Tommy McBride's friend - Matthew...
Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on May 20, 2010 at 5:42pm
To very grossly paraphrase- the piece about not forgetting . . .
Permalink Reply by Chicago Ride of Silence on May 20, 2010 at 6:07pm
Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on May 20, 2010 at 6:26pm
Well, you don't. People who think like that aren't going to listen.

But to you I'll point out that there are many different ways to strengthen a movement; some strengthen a movement internally and some advance the movement's cause externally to those outside it.

Critical Mass IMO is a good example of the former. We throw ourselves a party and celebrate our culture once a month. Outsiders and newbies may be focused on "the message" that we're sending, but the real power of the event is not in showing anybody anything.

The ROS, at least in the incarnation I experienced yesterday, is similar-- it's a time for us to recognize and cherish and remember each-other. Certainly, opportunity was seized to use the event to get a message out there, but did any of us feel that our event was about sending a message?

If you could beam the image into this writer's head of Liza's friends huddled together at Liza's spot, or Jepson's friends and family huddled at Diversey and Avers, they might get a flash that they're approaching the event in the wrong way. But who cares what they think, really . . .


Chicago Ride of Silence said:
Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on May 20, 2010 at 7:25pm
Gave this some more thought on the way home.

Certainly advocacy types tend to be some of the more analytical people out there, and certainly none of us makes a decision to invest in an advocacy event without some perfunctory exploration of its effectiveness . . . I doubt any of us has not given thought to the possibility that some will use what they learn of the RoS to reinforce their belief that cycling is a dangerous activity to be avoided. I didn't read too deeply into the linked blog but I took away a sense that the author is assuming that this just hasn't occurred to any of us (hence my expressed apathy . . .)

But you know, 10 or 15 years ago, when an identified cyclists pretty much knew any other cyclist s/he saw on the street, and it seemed like a huge uphill struggle to get more people to adopt bicycles as their transportation mode of choice, I might have sided with this guy in terms of the role such an event would play in Chicago. In the meantime bike culture here is so strong that I think it can withstand, and be strengthened by events like the Ride of Silence. So maybe he's right, =in his local context=.

John Donahue said:
Being from Michigan, I believe they are surely wrong, and their logic is provincial in it's form. However, I believe M-bike is a well seasoned advocate for SE & Detroit area bicycling; but I was mystified by the article too.
It may be in part, that compared to full-on urban biking and the effort to gain and maintain equal access, respect and consideration for non-motorized users; the m-bike blog article author is overly conscious of the less dense urban to sub-urban communities, and the wariness prospective riders exhibit when faced with the reality of building critical mass in their own home areas. To me the analogy is... we all witness the fire engine responding to a fire... a police car to a robbery or shooting... a funeral possession. We don't stop living in a dwelling, because of fire risk alone - or going about our business because we could be robbed - or to live our life, because we could die. We get on with it...; and m-bike should too.
Chicago Ride of Silence said:
Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on May 20, 2010 at 7:46pm
I don't know if this was posted anywhere yet but it's pretty damn good.
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=164921
Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on May 21, 2010 at 11:35am
Link to some pictures

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