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This was the first year for the Ride of Silence in Sedalia, Missouri and it was an awesome ride.

We had a group of 28 riders that ranged from kids on mountain bikes to full race kit road riders. We also had a police escort. The police escort really made the ride and I’m really thankful the Sedalia Police Department and Officer Dehaven supported us.

The Sedalia Democrat and the Sedalia News Journal covered the ride and should have articles posted today as well. Click on the pictures to see the full image. All photos of the ride posted here were taken by Kathy Moore

You can see the pre-ride article from the Democrat and the News Journal is supposed to have an article on their site about it but I couldn’t find it on their site (If anyone has the link to it send it to me or post it in the comments).

Honoring the Fallen

Before we started the ride Greg Moore, who is a Pearl River Bicycle Club member and the main organizer of this ride, talked about what the ride is about and how we would proceed. He told the group about his accident in 2000 when he was struck by a drunk driver while he was riding his bike. Then the names of cyclists from Missouri that had been killed while biking since 2000 were read.

The Sound of Silence

A group of 28 riders moving down the road in a pack not saying a word. The only sounds were of clicking derailleurs and free hubs and the occasional squeaky brake. Then the silence would be broken by a quick burst of police siren as the officer stopped traffic at the intersections. Than, back to silence as the group cruised through.

It felt really amazing to ride down the middle of the road without cars rushing by. Turning onto 16th St. during a fairly busy time of day and being able to easily take the lane was even better. Seeing cars pull over and wait as if itwere a funeral procession was pretty cool too.

Awareness

This is the first really public outing for the Pearl River Bicycle Club and I think it is a great way to start. I know we angered some drivers but mostly we raised a lot of questions. People stopped on the street and even came out of their houses to watch us ride by. I’m looking forward to reading the Sedline section in the Democrat to see if we raised any public ire.

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