Trappe, Pa Ride of Silence

Thanks to Bikesport Bike Shop, Trappe, Pennsylvania has joined others across the world in the Ride of Silence.  I'm happy that I got to be part of their second year of doing this.  I used my fancy diy camera mount and took some video of our ride, and added some of my own piano music.  I've seen some other videos of the Ride of Silence that people have done in other places, and it is interesting to see how different each location is;  But the meaning behind the rides, and the silence of each rider really unites each one.  

Hong Kong Ride of Silence

(photo by Lim Soo)

(photo by Lim Soo)

First, check out this excellent video on youtube of this year's ride of silence in Hong Kong.  

I was just in Hong Kong last March for the month, 32 days.  If you've seen my posts about it, then you already know that I had many wonderful cycling experiences there with my folding bike.  Before I arrived there, I had contacted many people in the cycling scene, and then had the opportunities to meet them in person while I was there.  One of those people is Lim Soo, of the blog i-brompton.  Before I left, I gave him as a gift a Hong Kong bicycle license plate.  You can see it in the picture above.  He rode in the ride of silence with it.  Another person I met is Martin, of unicycling hockey fame.  He also has been one of the most important advocates of cycling in Hong Kong for many years now, and instrumental in garnering support.  We hung out for an hour or so my last night in Hong Kong.  I didn't want to take my helmet back with me on the plane, so asked if he would like it.  That is him in the other picture above in the ride of silence wearing the helmet I gave him before leaving.  Eric, of Flwrider, made the video you can see in the link above, and in one of the frames is Brian, creator of Flwrider, and the father of the fixie scene that is ever growing in Hong Kong.  I got to meet them while I was there, have dinner, and go on a ride.  

Watching the video of the ride, seeing pictures from their ride of silence, leaves me with a feeling of gratefulness that I got to meet those people, and be part of the Hong Kong cycling scene for a brief time.  

Bicycle Unusualness

I was happy to see a tall bike show up at my local Ride of Silence earlier this evening.  A couple of my friends at the Community Bike Shop in Charlottesville, Va had made tall bikes, and I miss being around that kind of scene.  In case you're wondering, Ginny (owner of Bikesport) is pinning the ride of silence logo onto the back of Pat's jacket.

Can you spot what is unusual about Antimo's fixed gear (besides the pink tire!)?

Moving by Bike

Steve posing with the Fuji Royale II before I left on the second run.

There are alot of moving parts on a bicycle.  We move our legs to make it go.  The pedals spin, the crank spins, the wheels spin.  It moves our bodies from one point to another.  But that's not exactly the kind of moving I'm talking about for this post.  A bicycle can also move our belongings.  

The other day I helped my friend Steve do that.  Using a trailer from BikesAtWork, we took some trips from one house to the other, loading it with nice and light square boxes that fit perfectly to oddly shaped items that we had to tweak a few times to secure.  On one of the trips (about 1 mile or so one way), we moved the grill.  It fit perfectly on the trailer with no tweaking or extra work.  Each loaded trip took about 12 minutes.  It took less time than that to get back of course.  

Steve is very plugged in to his community.  We saw many people who he knows along the route between houses, and received smiling faces and thumbs up for our efforts.  

We weren't stressed about trying to get too much done.  It was kind of like just going on a neighborhood bike ride like you would as a kid, except you're taking a few things along with you, and dropping them off somewhere else.  The joy of riding a bike is still there even though you are working, and that keeps it fun.  

There was a natural break in between trips, and during one of them Steve had received a package in the mail.  It was a proof of the greenways map of Chapel Hill, NC that he has been working on recently.  If you live in the Philadelphia area, you may have seen or used the Greater Philadelphia Bicycle Map that he designed.  

My family and I are moving too in a couple of months.  Steve has said he'll let me borrow the trailer, which I'm planning to do.  I had already been thinking about moving by bike before I knew he was doing this.  Our new place is also only about a mile away from where we are now.  I've been daydreaming about moving my Yamaha P-22 upright piano by bike, but that's probably not going to happen.  If you've heard of anyone who has moved a piano by bike, let me know!  

If you're in a rush, then moving by bike is probably not for you.  If you can take some time, and want to make your move fun and memorable, then I suggest doing some of it by bike.