August 16 Ride for Awareness

This summer has brought a lot of attention to cyclists in Memphis. In the Month of July, alone, bikes, cyclists and cycling infrastructure have been central parts of the Memphis metro dialogue about safety, health and sustainability.

But still we feel invisible and vulnerable on our streets. Many drivers remain convinced we have no place on their roads.

The terrible results of this obscurity are collisions such as the one that broke Danny Fadgen's back on July 3. We all fear this, but ride nevertheless knowing that doing so does make a difference in our lives and the life of our community.

This is why we will ride on Saturday, August 16 - to build awareness. to build courage, to build community, and to build hope for cyclists.

Please join us as we ride to raise awareness of our place on the streets as traffic. This ride will not be a Critical Mass ride in protest of a city and county that has failed us, but to demonstrate our place as users of a community's shared infrastructure. We will ride to build confidence for those scared of the streets and for those scared of an oil-dependent future. We will ride to build awareness of a community that sees hope in change through cycling.

So, please ride with us as we ride for awareness at 12 noon on August 16.

The ride will begin and end at the lake house at Shelby Farms. We will ride 10 miles through the park to Raleigh-Lagrange Road. From there we will join Trinity, to Germantown Parkway, continuing south to Wolf River Blvd and Humphries, where we will loop west around Shelby Farms returning to the Lake House via Walnut Grove. We will obey all traffic laws and signals on this ride and will proceed at a leisurely pace (probably taking an hour to complete the loop). Please bring a helmet and water and anything else you may need to be safe and comfortable as we raise awareness of cycling in Shelby county.