Deanwood Peace in the Streets Ride

On the Saturday before Father’s Day, The House of Praise Church hosted its annual Peace in the Streets Ride. The ride is designed to get the community on bikes and show a peaceful ride of residents in Ward 7. The ride is about 16 miles total and leaves from the church in Deanwood and goes to the White House where they say a prayer before returning to the church.    We were asked by co-organizer Christine Hart- Wright to help with advertising and making sure participants had working bicycles. We worked with Capital Bikeshare who provided bikes free of charge to participants who didn’t own a bike. This gave CaBi an opportunity to showcase the bikes in the Deanwood neighborhood and for those who used them to see how easy they are to take out, ride and dock. There were about 20 people including riders from Women & Bicycles, Black Women Bike DC and house of Praise Church that showed up to ride. Christine kicked us off with a prayer and Allyson Criner-Brown led us in stretches and a short safety talk. While the group rode off to the White House, Jeff Wetzel, our Youth and Family Coordinator, set up a course for a rodeo for the kids.  The kids were able to use one of our bicycles and helmets to practice techniques such as hand signals when turning and how to avoid debris on the road. They had a great time riding the bikes in the church’s parking lot.   The riders took off on their ride to the White House led by the three Metropolitan Police Department Officers. Once there, they stopped for a picture to commemorate the event. Around 12 noon, everyone arrived back at the House of Praise Church for a pizza reception. Christine works tirelessly every year to make this ride happen. She wants to encourage the residents of Ward 7 and particularly Deanwood to ride their bikes on the nearby trails and bike lanes and we’re happy to be a partner in her mission to get more people in Ward 7 biking!    

Page last updated by Renée Moore on September 22, 2017.