PMTNR

Plaza Midwood Tuesday Night Ride.
If you have been in or around downtown Charlotte on a Tuesday night in the last year or so, you have probably seen us. If you own a bike and live in Charlotte, you should join us!!! The PMTNR is a weekly ride starting at Common Market on Commonwealth at 7:30 PM. Two simple rules, bring your lights and wear a helmet. It is dubbed as Charlotte’s largest recurring weekly ride in Center City, and caters to all types of riders and bicycles. Beginners all the way to seasoned pros and daily messengers have pedaled through the city with us and there is a core of riders that show up every week without missing one Tuesday. The typical ride usually involves a beer stop or two, and usually a group photo at a new location somewhere along the route. Most of them use our beautifully lit Charlotte skyline as the backdrop. They usually end at 10:30, but some hang around the last stop a little longer to talk bikes over a brew or two. There is plenty of support if someone has issues, and believe it or not, with that many riders, it is well organized. There is always a pre-mapped route, varying every week, and usually explores different parts of Charlotte.

The ride became official in January of 2013 when a couple other Tuesday night rides started to dwindle down in rider numbers because of the cold temperatures. One out of NoDa, one mountain bike race team’s “party pace” ride, and Pam Murray’s “meet me at the library on Central ride.” We all joined forces and started to meet at Common Market. I don’t remember exactly when it became officially the PMTNR, but I do remember getting an invite to the new Facebook page invite. Now the page has 721 followers and gaining more every day.

Here are some surprising stats from 2013:
6 rides were rained out, and 4 were a no go because no one showed up.
41 rides total since its start with a total of 2,345 cumulative riders.
The rides average about 15 miles per night, resulting in 35,175 total miles ridden.
The largest ride was the Halloween Boocycle ride with 170 people, that was a good night, at least the parts that I can remember was!

I hope to see some new faces soon, especially when the weather gets a little warmer. Dust off those bikes Charlotte and come ride with us!!

Here are some pictures from our more recent rides. Two of them are taken in the new Romare Bearden Park, one of them on the first night it opened to the public.