BRUNSWICK
The 10th annual Ride of Silence is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. today.
The silent bicycle ride in Brunswick and Topsham honors cyclists killed or injured while riding along the nation’s roads. More than 600 bicyclists are killed each year while riding, according to a release from organizers.
The first Ride of Silence took place 10 years ago in Texas after endurance cyclist Larry Schwartz was hit by the mirror of a passing bus and killed.
“It is appropriate that this ride start in the first designated ‘Bicycle Friendly Community’ in Maine,” Tom Legare, a member of the Merrymeeting Wheelers Bicycle Club said in the release. “Riding with a group in silence at a relatively slow pace is a moving experience.”
The Brunswick-Topsham Ride of Silence will particularly honor Randall Vye, a bicyclist who was killed on Bath Road on May, 11, 2001.
The Ride of Silence is a free ride open to all cyclists. The only requirements are that riders remain silent during the ride, travel no faster than 12 miles per hour and wear a helmet.
The Brunswick-Topsham Ride of Silence will start at the Brunswick Mall gazebo on Park Row. The distance to be traveled in Brunswick and Topsham is about 10 miles.
Organizers recommend that riders gather at 6:50 p.m. Lights and a black arm-band also are recommended.
For more information, contact Tony Barrett at 833-0939 or mainegreenways@comcast.net.
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