HooKooEKoo

That's a pure bull sh.t!! Lady - seek some mental tests asap

People that come there... to mourn DO NOT USE BIKES
People that come there ... to hunt for ancestors HARDLY CAN USE BIKES - THEY WOULD MISS MOST (IF NOT ALL) OF ANCESTORS
People that come there ... to research history of the area HARDLY CAN USE BIKES - THEY WOULD MISS MOST (IF NOT ALL) HISTORY OF THE AREA

TO DO ALL THE ABOVE SERIUOSLY AND WITH DIGNITY YOU HAVE TO WALK.

Thank you.

Machka 

Ummmm .... could you not cycle to the cemetery ... and cycle into the cemetery ... and cycle to the part of the cemetery where you wanted to visit or do some research**********? I have.

I think some people get a bit uptight about, or perhaps over-awed by, cemeteries.

HooKooEKoo

Maye some people get a bit uptight about, or perhaps over-awed by, cementaries.
There is, however, a huuuuuge difference between a training bike ride and 'a visit or to do some research'.

I am starting to suspect that some people cannot grasp the principal concept.

Tamelion

Duh, I thought cemeteries were fer parkin wid yer girlfren...bike riden NOW THAT'S An IDEA!

cc_rider

I found the rules for Arlington National. Bicycles are allowed on three of the main thru roads, prohibited everywhere else.




It's simple. If the cemetary rule is no bikes, then no bikes. If the cemetary allows bikes, then the cyclist needs to decide for themself. As long as everyone is respectful and behaved, there is no harm.

lotek 

cc rider,

I haven't been in that area for 11 years (lived in falls church for 16).
At times I rode all the roads at Arlington cemetary, and as long
as I wasn't speeding through there the MPs et al didn't seem to
care. I used to go to the Columbarium to visit/pay respect to relatives.
Hookooekoo chill out dude. Nobody is talking about dessecration or disrespect
for those who are interred there. I think Machka was talking about using the
bike as transportation to said cemetary. (correct me if I'm wrong).

Marty

chephy

Disrespectful?? Sheesh! On the official cycling map that the city of Toronto puts out, one of the recommended bike routes goes right through the city's largest cemetery! I find that cemeteries are very interesting, peaceful and relaxing places to be. And somehow for me the cyclists and walkers there is a very life-asserting and optimistic sight. After they bury me, you're welcome to ride past my gravestone.

chephy

This is very rude and stupid.

cycleprincess

I don't find it disrespectful. I would say as long as you are staying on the paved roads, there wouldn't be a problem. Especially if you make certain to avoid the mourners, I don't see anything wrong with it.

Oh...and when I was staying with my relatives, I rode my grandmothers circa 1950 something bike to the cemetary 4 miles away to pay respects. My father and my son are burried there and I dare say I was being anything but disrespectful.

Machka 

Who said anything about a "training ride"?

Did you happen to have someone close pass away recently? Is that perhaps why you are so horrified by the idea of a cyclist entering a cemetery? If so, I'm sorry for your loss, but isn't it nicer to have friends and relatives buried in a place that welcomes visitors whether they drive, walk, cycle, or whatever? As someone else mentioned, when cemeteries encourage visitors who mean no harm or disrespect to the place (like a cyclist riding through), that discourages visitors who want to vandalize the place. But if no one but the caretaker ever enters a cemetery, then vandals feel freer to come in and do what they want, because there is no one around to catch them in the act.

Personally, when I die and am buried in a cemetery, I would prefer to be buried in a place that welcomes cyclists!

Machka 

What about the caretakers? You can't possibly imagine that they walk when they do their jobs? Have you ever sat down and talked to someone who works in a cemetery? You should have heard the stories I've been told ... or maybe you shouldn't, I'm not sure you could take it. There's a lot of heavy equipment involved, but of course, as much as possible, they try to keep that out of sight of the mourners.

For example, you know that business about it being disrespectful to walk on the graves? Well .... when the caretakers have to dig a new hole next to an existing grave, they drive their backhoes right on the existing grave and dig. And when they maintain the lawns, they use rider mowers and drive them right across all the graves. In fact, if you've been in a cemetery recently, you'll notice that most of them have gone to flat headstones, rather than ones that stick up. They do that so it is easier to drive the lawnmowers across ... and because there is less chance of vandalism.

So if the caretakers can do all of that as a part of their job, I don't think a cyclist quietly riding through on the paved roads is in any way a problem.

cc_rider

If the MP's don't enforce the rules, I guess bikes are OK. But after 9/11 I wouldn't push too much. They are libel to shoot first if they think you are a security threat.
The Iwo Jima gate had a sign on it saying no bicycles. But the Iwo Jima gate also has been locked the last few times I've been by it.

There is a cemetary near where I live that I would like to use as an alternate, but the signs say "no bicycles". Not going that way adds only a half mile to my ride, and the road around isn't bad. You might remember it, lotek. National Gardens on Lee highway.

Roody

Maybe you could explain the concept in a polite and respectful manner?

geeklpc1985

Wow, the cemetery by campus is state own, for the solders, WWI and II. The bike path, and sidewalk runs thoght the cemetery, so does a public road. Only bad thing about the bike path there are no lights or road makings. Of course I upgraded my light so it much safter. Know your laws, and have fun.

GEEK

DinoShepherd

Cemetary around here is a popular cycling route. Big hill, great for training.

There is actually some single track on the perimeter for MTB as well. We all do our best to not ride over people.

I figure is someBODY gets really upset, they'll get up and tell me about it.

-Z

red house

night races (with a full moon ofcourse) through a big cemetery, -like Mount Auburn cemetery would be the shizzle, -I dont know if some one already mentioned this...but don't go crash and knock your head into any granite tombstones, or get impailed on those pointy oblisque monument thingys, -or fallin in any freshly dug ditches, or sneeking up behind people out walking their dogs and giving them coronaries...or, any other bad ideas like that.

Machka 

Did you read my story back on ... page 2, I think ... of this thread ... about riding through a cemetery at night?


My friend, a caretaker at a cemetery in England, and also a Randonneur, told me that cemeteries make great places to sleep in the middle of long Randonneuring brevet ... because it is dead quiet in there!!!

red house

I just now read your post. Here in Boston there are lots of pretty old tomb stones like the ones you mentioned. The other day I was looking at some of the crudely cut slabs that mark the graves in the graveyard next to Harvard..Some were from the 1600's -many of them hardly showed any signs of wear...as if the names, and dates of expiration had been chisled yesterday -kinda SPOOKY...I saw one grave of a woman in her twenties, and another of her father beside it who had died the day after her..Many of the head stones have weird grammar and spelling like "dyed"...people must have been ignorent back then : ) ..And whats with the Skull & Bones carved into the head stones? any one know?

Machka 

Actually the headstones from way back then, which you can still read as if they had been chisled yesterday, shows the quality of the stone. If the stone was something softer, maybe with more limestone in it, those would wear away quicker ... but they were less expensive, so chances are the person under the stone, or his/her family were poor. But the ones under the stones with the clear writing were likely rich, or their families/friends managed to gather together the funds for a good quality stone.

As for the spelling, that probably came from the British and "old English". For example, the British spell tire (like the things we put on the bicycles) tyre. And have you ever read the King James Version of the Bible? That is written in an older version of English, and the grammar sounds sort of odd to us. What is written on those stones just shows the development of the English language through the years.

The graves of the girl and her father, dying within a day of each other, probably means that there was some sort of disease going through the community at the time, like small pox, or maybe just a really bad flu. When there are a lot of graves dated all around the same time, that's likely what happened. Diseases took a lot of people back then.

But my friend and I came across a small cemetery in Australia with 7 recent graves in it ... all within the month, and there were two which had just been dug and were waiting for the coffins. That really made me wonder what had happened in that community!! These days it isn't normal for diseases to take so many people all at once. Maybe it was just a co-incidence, or maybe there were a lot of elderly people in the community.

As for the Skull and Bones, I think it just symbolizes death.

red house

yeah...that skull & bones thing, it seems odd thats all -(but neat lookin, yes). A grave yard is a place that already represents death..so why did they need to put those tooth grinning/angry looking skulls to remind people of that obvious and inescapible meaning? Was that their way of keeping people from visiting the graves, bringing flowers, etc.? anyways...I was joking ofcourse about their old spelling and them being ignorent...I'm just glad they got the oppertunity to come to america so they could eventually learn how to speak and write the english language properly... : )) yeah, old grave yards and head stones are really neat, a conection to the past.

Lonestar1

Ditto everything in this post. I ride my bike around on the pavement & never when a service is in progress.
A commercial contractor mows the grass a few times a month & rides his mower right around & sometimes over the graves! Which is tactless? By the way, the entrance is wide open. No gates,no security,how can it be trespassing?

phidauex

I used to regularly ride through cemeteries near my home, in both California and Colorado. They were all loosely attached to adjacent parks, and had nice paved roads through them. I generally rode through quietly, and got to know many of the names on the tomestones, and little things about them, like the one being slowly tipped over by a giant tree growing right next to it. I would also regularly eat lunch there, or just sit under the trees and read. If there was a funeral, I'd just avoid it and take another path.

Cemeteries aren't there for the dead. The dead don't care. Cemeteries are there for the living, so people can come and remember, come and mourn, come and search, and also come and enjoy life. A cemetery is a keen reminder that life is fleeting and precious, and that it needs to be enjoyed, and lived to its fullest. I'm sure that many people buried there wished that they could have taken just one more ride on a sunny day, or one more picnic, or one more stroll, and would be happy that you've chosen to take that opportunity, and share it with them.

Just do what others have mentioned, don't jump off burial mounds like ramps, don't bunny hop over tomestones, and don't buzz mourners. Just have a good time, be respectful, and remember to enjoy the time you have here.

peace,
sam

Bikepacker67

Hmmmm....

I use cemeteries for a number of purposes.

On tour, I'll often have lunch in cemeteries - there's always a few stately oaks or maples to sit under, and because I'm in New England, there's often VERY old gravestones that are interesting to browse through (some of the first names are QUITE strange!)

Also, if I'm in need of an H2O refill, there's always a spigot to be found on the grounds.

I don't consider it disrespectful.
I make sure to thank the dead for their company and hospitality.

james Haury

In all the cemeteries i have ridden in here in the chicago area ,there are signs on the spigots instructing people not to drink the water. Still i guess you are okay.

Alekhine

I'm surprised at some of the stodginess about riding through a cemetery, but I suspect it's partly because of all the different types of cemeteries there are in the world.. Some are somber little country plots, others are dominated by a single family, and some are grand city parks with guidebooks, bus tours, and gravesites of famous historical figures, tourist sites, etc...

It's funny, but I never once thought about it being disrespectful to bike, read, relax, walk around or do anything in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, because it's basically an extension of Delaware Park. I used to picnic there with people because it's clearly the prettiest and most forested area in central Buffalo, and as far as I know, the ONLY area where background car noise isn't rampant - where you can listen to the birds instead.

It's also NOT just for mourning. The cemetery itself offers tours, including one section where you get to pass by the grave of one of the most ho-hum presidents of the US ever - Millard Fillmore - and a Fillmore impersonator comes out and gives the audience the skinny about his (uh) accomplishments and relationship with the city.

There are artists doing things in there, kids playing, a placid pond to relax near, sculptures... they even sell feedbags at the front office to feed the ducks and geese, etcetera.