---
citation: false
title: "Ride of Silence"
date: 2026-01-03
date-modified: last-modified
description: "The Ride of Silence is an annual, worldwide opportunity to pause during the great joy of Bike Month to honor and remember those who cannot be here to celebrate with us. In DC, join us May 20, 2026, at Freedom Plaza."
categories:
- Advocacy
- DC
- Events
#tags:
- "#bikeDC"
- "#walkDC"
- "#sitDC"
- Congress
- DC Council
- DDOT
- Ride of Silence 
- US DOT
- Vision Zero
---

The Ride of Silence is an annual, worldwide event, held at 7pm local time on the third Wednesday of May in cities across the country and around the world. For more on the Ride, its history, and the international organization, see [rideofsilence.org](https://www.rideofsilence.org/). In 2026, it will be held on ***May 20***.

[May is Bike Month](https://bikeleague.org/events/bike-month/) — [in much of the US, anyway](https://tooledesign.com/insights/2023/05/happy-bike-month-i-think/) — a time for longtime riders to shake off the winter's hibernation and to welcome new riders to the roads with [Bike & Roll to School Day](https://www.walkbiketoschool.org/) and [Bike to Work Day](https://www.biketoworkmetrodc.org/). The [Ride of Silence](https://www.rideofsilence.org/) is an opportunity to pause during the great joy of Bike Month to honor and remember those who cannot be here to celebrate with us.

As the national Ride of Silence site puts it, "Although cyclists have a legal right to be on the road with motorists, \[drivers\] often \[aren’t\] aware of these rights, and sometimes not aware of the cyclists themselves." So, this ride is a combination of a funeral procession and a statement: People on bikes are here, where we have every right to be. These are our streets, too; we are not going anywhere. See us.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have led DC's edition of the Ride each year since 2019. As a friend of mine once wrote, “Vision Zero isn’t a cycling program. It looks like that \[in DC\] because \[the cycling community\] is vocal about it, but the tens of thousands of people a year who die in car crashes all deserved better laws, practices, and designs.” So each year the DC Ride of Silence honors Dave, and all those killed on our streets, by bringing the ride to those with the power over our laws, practices, and designs.

-   We meet at Freedom Plaza, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the Wilson Building, DC’s city hall and statehouse, and we pass by the US Capitol, because we need better laws from both our local and national leaders.
-   We pass through Judiciary Square, home of our local and federal police, courts, and prosecutors, because we need better practices from those who are supposed to enforce those laws---which doesn’t have to require putting people in cages, but *does* require taking their vehicles and driving privileges away when they misuse them.
-   We end in Navy Yard, outside the headquarters of the District and US Departments of Transportation, and the offices of many of my colleagues in private transportation firms, because we need better designs from our local, national, and consulting planners and engineers, designs that make spaces for ***people***, not just the cars some drive.

Please mark your calendars and plan to join us on ***May 20, 2026***. Please wear white if you can; wear red if you would like to signify you were injured or a family member killed while riding. If you would like to join us but don't have a bike, there are a couple bikeshare stations near Freedom Plaza—see [the Capital Bikeshare map](https://account.capitalbikeshare.com/map) for details. (If you aren't able to ride, you are still welcome to come to Freedom Plaza and see us off!)

Watch [our listing at RideOfSilence.org](https://www.rideofsilence.org/locations-domestic.php?s=DC#DC), this page, and [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/swiderski.bsky.social) and/or [Mastodon](https://dmv.community/@swiderski) for updates. Email dcros\@fastmail.us with any questions.
