Biking the Mother Road (in style)

One of the highlights from the weekend was participating the 2nd annual "Can You See Us NOW?" bike ride.* It was a ride organized by BikeABQ to raise awareness for cyclists sharing the road as well as to honor all those that have been killed by cars on New Mexico roads. I wanted to do this mainly because cycling safety is of course very important to me being a 365 bike commuter, and I get very annoyed when cars think cyclists do not have the right to be on the roads too. I also have two close friends that have been hit by cars - one enough to break his collar bone, the other while pregnant and enough to break her helmet.


Left: me and my 400 cycling friends, right: biking the mother road

I joined up with two good friends with their young son in a trailer at the ride start. One of those two just gave birth to their second kid under two weeks ago - she is amazing! It was great to have friends to bike with, as my Penultimate teammate came down with the stomach flu and was not able to join up.

We joined about 400 other cyclists as we took over Central Ave (old Route 66) for 5 miles down to Old Town. Police cars lead the ride and provided escort and a phalanx of cop cars or cop cyclists were blocking the side streets, as we took a slow cruise through Nob Hill, Downtown, and then finishing at a park near Old Town. It was really fun, and super family friendly (a few little kids biking and lots and lots of bike trailers). It was a very slow pace and basically downhill the whole way - the only workout I got was braking continually on the steeper downhill sections to keep to the slow pace of the ride.



Ali had taken Connor to the UNM duck pond and walked down to snap some photos as we passed by. It was fun biking, especially with freinds, and we made tentative plans to bike the Oregon coast together someday when the kiddos get old enough. (P & L - Don't think I wasn't serious!) And we will definitely be doing this next year as a family with Connor in the Chariot!

At the end of the ride, there was a ceremony where they read aloud all 107 cyclists that have been killed in NM since 1989. I am not sure if that is more or less than the national average, but it is certainly way to many. All it takes is for a few seconds of inattention by a motor vehicle to end the life of a cyclist, and hopefully this ride annoyed enough drivers that they will pay attention! From there we biked the 5 miles home, this time all uphill. Can't complain though, as P & L were biking with 60 lbs of kiddo in a trailer and the other recovering from giving birth. Looking forward to next years ride!

*the other highlight is of course, playing with the Connor all day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Long weekends are great!