John’s Ramblings

I’ve participated in the Ride of Silence up in Seattle for the past couple of years (2006, 2007). While a great event that I encourage everyone to attend, there were a couple of drawbacks from my perspective:

• I had to drive up to “the core” to do this ride, as riding to and from Gasworks from home would have been schedule-prohibitive.
• I saw several folks struggling with the Seattle terrain on last year’s version, specifically the climb up Eastlake to REI, then the ride over the Dexter hump. Seattle doesn’t have a lot of “flat” options that would also meet the general “ride the streets in rememberance” theme of the Ride of Silence.
• Despite several elbows to the ribs of my riding compadres in the south end, precious few actually made the trip to Seattle for this event.
• Having spent a few years now vying for space with the automobiles in the greater Green River valley, I figured it was high-time to help raise awareness in my local communities.

Therefore:

DATE: May 21, 2008
TIME: 6:30 pm

WHERE: Kent Park & Ride: 902 W James St (N. Lincoln Ave & W. James St), Kent Washington
Also 100’s of locations worldwide, including Seattle and Tacoma Washington

I will be running a local version of this ride, for those that cannot make the trip from the Kent valley up to Seattle or south to Tacoma for the larger local versions of this ride. We will be starting from the old Kent Park & Ride just east of Hwy 167, between James and Smith Streets. The ride will begin at 6:30 p.m., but please show up early. Please note that there are no bathrooms available at the start location, so plan accordingly. The ride will be approx. 12 miles in length, almost completely flat. We will ride at 10-12 mph through downtown Kent, and down to a portion of Auburn before returning to the Park & Ride.

The Seattle ride will start from Gasworks Park at 6:30 p.m. If you live close to Seattle, you are urged to attend the Seattle event. There is also a well established version of the ride to the south, in Tacoma. All locations are listed on the Ride of Silence website:

Ride of Silence website

Tags: Cycling, cycling_advocacy, kent, kent_area, ride_of_silence

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