We wanted to let you know about a new project we are doing next year. It’s called the Sri Chinmoy Peace Ride and it will start in Seattle and 11 states and 4000 miles later finish at Aspiration Ground in New York. We’ll start in late May and finish mid-August, 2025. We’ll ride between 50 to 80 miles a day. Here's a video explaining all about the ride.
Along the way we are planning on meeting people and sharing the message of the Peace Torch - that Peace begins in the heart of each one of us. In many ways it will be much the same as the Peace Run only we’ll be riding rather than running.
The ride will begin at the statue of Sri Chinmoy, Peace Run founder, in Seattle. The statue is on the Burke-Gilman Trail which is part of the Great American Rail Trail which goes across the country. Interestingly that trail is named after our dear friend Suzie Burke's father.
The route we are taking is largely part of the Great American Rail-Trail, which is a bunch of rail trails stitched together across America. We diverge from that trail in Ohio and make our way to Buffalo, NY where we join the Empire State Trail which goes onto Albany and then all the way to New York City!
There will be no support vehicles meaning we will be carrying all our own supplies, cooking equipment, food, water, water filter, tent sleeping bag and probably quite a bit more!
Salil explains, “I first got the idea for this ride back in the 90’s at Aspiration Ground (Sri Chinmoy's meditation garden) when I heard Sri Chinmoy talking to a student of his about a bike ride he was doing that went from Seattle, WA to Washington, DC. There was something in that conversation that sparked my imagination. Also, on the Peace Run we’ve met a lot of people riding across America and it always inspired me. I wanted to feel what it was like to cover every inch of this amazing country from coast to coast. Next year I turn 60 and I realized that if I’m going to do this ride then I’d better do it sooner rather than later.”
We didn’t want to do the ride just for ourselves so that’s why we’ve incorporated the Peace Torch element – that makes the whole thing more inspiring and fulfilling. It’s a great way to meet people and interact on a much more elevated level.
Rasmivan comments, “The Peace Run has always inspired me with that sense of oneness and peace. It’s bringing people together from different backgrounds, connecting people, and doing the Peace Ride across America will be no different. It’s that sense of oneness and harmony that we will be experiencing and creating along the route so I’m really excited with this adventure, the first Peace Ride, and hopefully there will be many more to come.”
We’ll be posting reports from the road regularly and you’ll even be able to track our progress as we make our way across America. Please visit peaceride.us to get all the latest updates.
We hope to get some Peace Runners joining us as Peace Riders along the way!
Cycling, cycling, cycling! Evolving, evolving, evolving! The march of time and the soul of Goal Are proud of our giant role. - Sri Chinmoy
Sri Chinmoy was used to cycle a lot in his youth.
This is on the Empire State Trail which we will be using as we make our way through New York State.
