Slow ride, take it easy

This Saturday May 15th is the 3rd Annual Blessing of the Bikes & Dutchtown Bike Tour. Too busy to make it out myself, and who knows what the weather will be doing, but still interesting, worth sharing, and inspirational! ...by which I mean I feel inspired to go listen to Foghat.

Nationally annual Bike Blessings attract thousands of people and are generally held in April or May. The Blessing portion of the event is modeled after a similar, long running event in New York, that has been conducted for twelve years. The Dutchtown Bike Tour is a unique ride, focused on exploring the joys and history of city parks, and their relation to the scheme of city living. The St Louis event will begin promptly at 9:30 AM, Saturday, May 15, in the St Anthony of Padua church parking lot, 3140 Meramec, 63118. Come on your bicycles, skateboards, roller blades, what-have-you. After the short Blessing Program, participants will go east one block to Urban Eats Café, located at 3301 Meramec, to pick up their free Bike Tour Map for a ride around Dutchtown’s Historic Pocket Parks, through two scenic housing developments and the Cleveland High School grounds, accompanied by a narrative written by local historian NiNi Harris.

This year's event will also be adding the option of a Guided Tour of the route, led by St Louis Bike Fed volunteer, Bob Bailey. The tour can be self directed with the route map, or you may take the guided tour if that's more your style.

The first 50 people to arrive at the Café will also receive a free bottle of water and an energy bar for their ride, compliments of the Charless Home & Bethesda Health, plus a Café Coupon. If the Dutchtown Pocket Park tour isn’t long enough for veteran bicyclers, there is an extended ride available also, through the Christy Greenway. Riders can also pre order their lunch for when they expect to arrive back at the café.

Other participants in the event are The Charless Home and Maryville Gardens Apartment complex, which are opening their beautiful grounds, as part of the route and as an example of well-treed and planned urban living communities.

At the end of their ride, cyclists can return for Happy Hour and an art show at the Urban Arts Collective at Urban Eats Cafe, with Naomi Silver opening her Mayshow of work, In the Mood, from 4-6 PM. along with 4 other artists currently in the rotation.

For more details, check out the flyer.