Perry's Funeral Procession - a request

Greetings,
If you are planning to attend Perry Lyles' funeral tomorrow morning at Crossroads Baptist Church (705 Anderson Ridge Road Greer, SC 29651-7639), please arrive at 1030am ready to ride.

What do I mean ready to ride? At a minimum, please wear a cycling jersey. Cyclists are asked to arrive at 1030 to be led into the Church and seated together. The service will begin at 11:00am

At the end of the church service, the cyclists will lead the procession out of the church and form two lines between which Perry will be carried to the hearse.

At this time, there is a contingent of riders (growing as the word spreads) that will be prepared to ride the 3.7 miles from the church to the cemetery.

When you arrive (hopefully slightly before 1030am), please stack your bike at the front (or along the side or wherever you can find space) of the church. After Perry moves through the lines of cyclists, we can break ranks and take a couple of minutes (seriously, we only have a short time here - 5 min or so) to get ready to ride. Please plan the way you will handle this - my personal plan is to have my bike shoes with my bike and only have to change shoes (ok, I will probably wear long pants over my cycling shorts during the service, allowing me to be ready to ride very quickly).

When you are ready, line up in front of the hearse. We'll wait for a few minutes to allow folks to get ready, but we need to leave before the hearse departs. I know the route and the Fire department will be blocking the intersections for the procession. Taylor Lyles will inform them that cyclists will be heading out in front of the procession.

As noted, the distance to the cemetery is 3.7 miles (thanks Nikki!) and we will take a pace that is very reasonable for all riders. Obviously we want the cyclists to stay together.

I am not positive of the exact location of Perry's gravesite, so we'll have to be a little flexible as we enter the cemetery. As we identify the location of his gravesite, we'll have to set our bikes out on the perimeter so everyone has opportunity to come in close during his final resting.

I do hope you can join us in honoring our good friend this way. Please let me know if you can participate.

thank you
jd