My town has a tradition on the August Saturday night closest to the full moon called the Moonlight Ramble. I attended it last night, and worked up a sweat along with several thousand others on bicycles riding along 17 miles of closed city streets from midnight to 3. Most of the riders paid $25 each to join the festivities. There were lots of kids, and bikes of almost any description.
I checked the (online) local paper this morning. The ride was only mentioned in a photo spread of 6 images for which I had to search. One image taken from a scissor lift shows a few thousand people as they packed blocks of Market Street, and was captioned “Hundreds of riders attended the event”. It took over an hour for everyone to cross the starting line that was across 6 lanes.
I wonder why this event is so under-reported? I certainly don’t suspect a conspiracy of auto makers and fuel producers who need to keep the idea of bicycles on streets marginal.
But it was kind of magical to look ahead up the commuter artery known as the Forest Park Parkway and see a dense moving carpet of twinkling bicycle taillights as far as the eye could see. Bells tinkled warnings, and horns squeaked as riders of differing speed negotiated the route. Smaller kids often had blinking lights clipped to their shirt collars, as well. I was amazed at then number of weans on their first bikes, little wheels and no gears, as they gamely kept up with the slower part of the throng. I saw teens on vintage tandems, seniors on titanium recumbent trikes, and plenty of die-hards on almost ordinary looking bikes that are worth more than my car.
Agreed. I was in a group of 4 who drove a nearly 600 mile round trip, invested in a motel room, ate in local restaurants, and thoroughly enjoyed a well supported ride with guides on every corner, police at many streets, applauding people on the sidelines, and event activities before and after the ride. My only guess was that the local paper sent to the presses at 5 or 6pm on Saturday evening. Maybe there will be more coverage in Monday's paper. Great even, will be back next year.
What a pity. Decades ago, when I was growing up in the St. Louis area, the Moonlight Ramble was a big media event. I wonder what has changed. I guess bicycling events just aren't newsworthy any more unless everyone rides naked.
As the past chairman of the Moonlight Ramble I would like to thank you for riding and I am glad that you had a good time. The under reporting is a factor of the sad state of the St. Louis media, especially the newspaper. STLTODAY.com published 4 year old pictures rather than send a reporter.