Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

"Ride Around Town", tommorow

11. October 2007 • Bruce Fields
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From Frank Schwende, via the wbwc mailing list:

Date: Friday, October 12. Rain or shine!!

Time: 5:30 PM

Location: Liberty Plaza Park, on the corner of Division and Liberty (starting point)

Required Equipment: bicycle (duh!), front headlight, rear light or reflector, bicycle helmet, light color clothing.

...

The idea seems to be to hold a ride that (like critical mass) is urban rather than rural, but that emphasizes the "cause of promoting cooperation between bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists".

Full announcement here.



  1. See also today’s reminder email. Looks like they’re planning to end up at Bar Louis.

    Seems like a nice idea; it’ll be interesting to see who turns up.


       —Bruce Fields    Oct. 11 '07 - 08:34PM    #
  2. wait, let me get this right, they want to hold something like critical mass, but emphasize cooperation between bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists. Isn’t that a paradox?


       —just a voice    Oct. 11 '07 - 08:48PM    #
  3. this sounds great.
    i always feel like the critical mass ‘take over the road’ strategy just pisses off drivers and makes them even more aggressive towards bikes.
    i always ride on the streets, try to be predictable, and ‘act like a car’ when i’m on my bike, and i wish more bike riders in ann arbor would do the same!
    i wish i could attend, but will be out of town tomorrow. looking forward to hearing how it goes!


       —donna    Oct. 11 '07 - 09:00PM    #
  4. Oh man—I wish I could make it. I just got back from a ride and was almost run over as I crossed Stone School and Eisenhower. My closest call yet :(


       —TeacherPatti    Oct. 12 '07 - 01:37AM    #
  5. I had good intentions of joining the RAT, but failed.

    I’m curious to hear back how it went, in particular, whether it was deemed enough of a success to become a semi-regular event.


       —HD    Oct. 13 '07 - 04:37AM    #
  6. HD, we had 8 participants. We got several supportive comments from pedestrians, a few honks, and lots of curious looks.

    No incidents to report (so we were successful in that sense), but the highlight was when one cyclist refused to forfeit her turn at the three-way stop at State and South U, forcing the anxious driver who tried to ‘take cuts’ to wait mid-intersection while she made her turn in from of them.

    Your next opportunity to be a part of the fun will be on Friday, Nov. 9. Meet at Liberty Plaza at 5:30. Bring friends.


       —Steve Bean    Oct. 15 '07 - 09:12PM    #
  7. Thanks for the update, Steve! Sounds cool :)


       —TeacherPatti    Oct. 16 '07 - 02:14AM    #
  8. So glad to hear this turned out well. I look forward to being able to go to the next one.


       —Nancy Shore    Oct. 20 '07 - 06:00AM    #