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bike ride(s) in response to the recent cyclist safety issues

It has been proposed that a group ride be started to raise awareness of cyclist rights and safety in response to recent incidents in pittsburgh. the idea i liked best was having a new shortish ride every month that thoroughly explores a single pittsburgh neighborhood. this ride would be slow, be informational to the riders (maybe one person from each neighborhood could be in charge, they could get history of the neighborhood info and a few talking points through the ride), maybe be advertised in the neighborhood prior to the ride, and should be 100% non-confrontational and inviting to everyone.


a side note: it's interesting that in the last few months there have been calls to organize a couple different rides that are supposed to represent what critical mass represents in other cities, and that its not what critical mass represents here anymore. adding neighborhood themes to this ride differentiates it, but i just thought that was interesting to point out.


imakwik1
2010-06-03 22:59:46

I'd like to participate, location and time permitting (have to deal with my work schedule).


I don't know that there's any neighborhood that I know well enough to be qualified to lead such a ride.


In addition to talking about the history, points of interest, etc in a neighborhood, it'd also be great to learn about optimal bicycle routing. For example, "never take street X; the traffic lights are timed pessimally", "watch out, people always blow through this stop sign here", "this street is a great short-cut from X to Y", etc.


jz
2010-06-03 23:36:14

It was briefly talked about at tonight's meeting and I suggested, in the interest of community outreach, that this ride be publicized widely throughout the HP/E.Liberty neighborhoods - word of mouth, flyers, etc. - not just on this here board, but at Tazza, Peabody, Churches, establishments on Highland, etc. So maybe we could engage the young people of these neighborhoods and become less foreign to them as cyclists. So let's settle on a time and date and meeting point, and take it from there!


mustion
2010-06-04 00:49:26

Mark. Your idea is very similar to Flock of Cycles. I like the idea of the neighborhood theme, but I think the rides would be on the short side. Maybe integrate it into FOC?


One problem I see is on-ride communication. Even with the 30 people we had on FOC last month, it was tough to make sure everyone was in the loop.


FOC is a very informational ride that is of very low difficultly and very slow. I don't think we had any negative confrontations, but we did talk to numerous people who were really into what we were doing.


(I am actually going to talk at FOC this month about the few issue we did experience).


EDIT:

The more I think abotu it, a series of short informational neighborhood ride, might be really cool. A <5mi neighborhood centric mile is very welcoming and friendly.


ndromb
2010-06-04 02:20:16

I like this idea a lot, I've been in Pittsburgh for almost 4 years and I really don't know a lot about many of the neighborhoods here. This also seems like another chance to show drivers that not everyone on a bike tears through red lights and stop signs like a maniac.


matatarski
2010-06-04 02:38:36

Lets run with this!


Who wants to rep their neighborhood?


I'm down to do Oakland. I'm sure Mick and Nick would be too.


ndromb
2010-06-04 02:44:18

i am really liking the direction everyone seems to be taking with these rides. look for a thread about the elb ride at some point tomorrow, once i get a flyer designed.


cburch
2010-06-04 05:08:28

VO and ELDI are doing a daytime ride soon, fyi.


lyle
2010-06-04 13:07:43