An organizer of Windsor's Friday Night Lights bike ride is not ready to write the epitaph for the popular event just yet.
Adriano Ciotoli, with Windsor Eats, says the ride, marked by cyclists who adorn their bikes with lights, has been put on an indefinite hiatus after a few bad apples spoiled the ride for everyone last Friday night.
"Individuals who were putting the safety of all the other riders at risk," says Ciotoli. "Opening carrying their own alcohol and drinking it while they were riding their bikes, and even riding on sidewalks. It was something we weren't comfortable with so we decided to kind of put a hold on it until we can come up with a solution."
Some of the few participants that misbehaved threw empty beer bottles and cans on residential properties, but Ciotoli says most of the riders are good people and it is unfortunate organizers are forced to take another look at holding the ride.
"When these certain individuals were littering, you know throwing empty beer cans on peoples' lawns -- it was great to see that people from the ride were taking ownership of it and went and picked the items up off the lawn and placed them in the trash can," he says.
The problems came to a head last Friday night, but Ciotoli says they had been growing for some time. The next ride was planned for June 29.
Now organizers will meet with Windsor police and officials from Detroit's Slow Roll.
"Because they went through some growing pains as well," he says. "We're really hoping of the possibility of having some [Windsor police] officers on the ride."
Another option is to charge admission and hopefully weed out those who would cause trouble.
Friday Night Lights started with just a handful of riders and has grown to attract hundreds of cyclists over the past five years.
