Get the Wheel Story on the Anthem Moonlight Ride!
The Anthem Moonlight Ride is coming up on August 22. This year’s event is red, white and blue themed as a nod to a little ride coming to RVA in September. We spoke to Event Director Meghan Keogh as she gets her team in gear to tackle the lit-up lunar event.
Q: How would you describe the Anthem Moonlight Ride for someone who’s never seen it?
A: The Anthem Moonlight Ride is a fun event for everyone. It’s non-competitive. It’s a way to get active and healthy while still having fun.
Q: Anything new this year?
A: The long course is a little bit shorter. Last year we moved to the closed course, which has had a huge impact on the event overall and had such great feedback. We think people are really looking forward to the safety aspect of not being on the course with cars.
Another new thing is the Cheer Zone that the Lakeside Business Association is putting on this year. It’s going to be at the turnaround at Timberlake and Lakeside. There’s a little farmer’s market area right there. They’re going to have the Carytown Burgers and Fries food truck, and they’re inviting the community out to cheer everyone on. They’re going to have noise makers and glow sticks and glow necklaces. They just want to show their support of the community and biking within the community.
Q: What the craziest costume you’ve seen?
A: We’ve had Scooby Doo. We’ve had some really crazy decked out lights that I don’t even know how to describe. We have a lot of fun with the unicycles. We’ve got parents and kids dressing up together and group costumes.
Q: If you were going to do the Moonlight Ride what would you dress up as or what costume prize would you go for?
A: I think for this year definitely the Richmond 2015 World Championships prize pack. For that you can get decked out in red, white, and blue from head to toe. You could start with a bandana then add an American flag-themed shirt or outfit—the whole nine yards.
Q: You mentioned the red, white and blue theme. What is that?
A: Well, in anticipation of the World Championships in September, we’re just trying to rally the community to support our participants here on our home turf. We will have all kinds of red, white, and blue-themed elements at the event. We will also have, in honor of our international participants, different flags from around the world lining the start line.
Q: If you could use only three words to describe this event what would they be?
A: I would say cool, fun, and music.
Q: What are you most excited about this year?
A: I’m excited about the theme, the costumes, having everybody rally around our team here in the U.S., and the excitement leading up to September.
Q: Favorite Anthem Moonlight Ride memory?
A: My favorite Anthem Moonlight Ride memory is seeing my own family participate. My husband has come out and participated with other staff members’ significant others. It’s a very staff family-friendly event. It’s probably up there with the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10k as far as events with staff’s family members participating.
Q: What’s one thing people don’t know about the behind-the-scenes of the event?
A: Certainly all of the logistics that go into it…We’ve got to make sure that we work closely with the police in Richmond and Henrico and all of the different groups like the Friends of Bryan Park. We’re shown so much support by the community with groups like that coming back year after year and trying to enhance the event. They take ownership of it all. They get so excited every year. They send us their notes. They want to make it better every year and make it a great experience for the community.
Q: Participants of the Anthem Moonlight Ride get to pick between a popsicle or ice cream sandwich so…Ice cream sandwich or popsicle?
A: Ice cream definitely.
Q: One of my personal favorite behind the scenes details of the Anthem Moonlight Ride is how we get the course to glow. Can you describe that process?
A: In Bryan Park our course crew is out on the course starting at about 1pm in the afternoon getting everything ready and getting all the signage up and turning on all the lights. The final project before the start of the ride is the glow sticks in Bryan Park. They are cracking them and throwing them on the sides of the roads to illuminate the way. It’s one of the highlights of the course for all of the participants (editor’s note: throwing glow sticks is also one of the highlights for staff pre-event).