Last month’s ROB0303303TZ saw a blizzard of bizarre.  A group shot at an Albertsons at the edge of South LA:

Shortly after we did some laps on a local track.  Riding around a running track is an amazing experience - it’s super fast and smooth so you just get into a zone and hustle (photo by hatehills):

We visted ROBOTZ Park (the historic Leimert Park) for a little while, but a homeless man made it funner to move than stay by yelling, spitting, and threatening violence:

Pictured above, Shues, who celebrated his birthday on the ride, the second ROBOT to do so (CHLOBOTZ = first.)  Jonnyboy brought cupcakes for him (photo by hatehills):

At one point Undercover Bob showed us this decommissioned DC-8 in Exposition Park:

For those in the scene, the energetic blur in the foreground is Tallcans4tallbikes, a leader of copious valley rides, and ROBOT to the core. For me, one of the highlights of the ride was the 50 odd ROBOTZ touring the LA Convention Center, super quiet ninja style.  Only the sound of ratcheting cassettes could be heard (photo by hatehills):

The birthday boy loved it (photo by hatehills):

We finished the ride with two dance parties - one on USC’s campus and another in an underground parking structure. ROBOTZ clothes (tin foil) was in full effect (photo by hatehills):

The night ended with some shenanigans with the California State Police who patrol Exposition Park at night.  Basically we were detained, guns pulled,  and searched, for over 90 minutes because we used sidewalk chalk in the parking structure.  In the end, after all that, one young woman three weeks from adulthood was issued a curfew citation, and the rest of us got off scot free - minus our dignity.  I’m writing a letter to Crayola to ask them to pull sidewalk chalk from their shelves - it’s a dangerous product!  CRANK MOB photo by GarySe7en:

• Ride: ROB011100111TZ!!
• Ride: ROB03033303TZ!!
• International Ride Hall of Fame declares ROB0101110TZ an early contender for admission
• C.R.A.N.K. MOB did NOT happen on Saturday

In LA, I pretty much follow the traffic laws - only running reds late at night when they won’t change for me, or on certain rides.  But, as soon as I got off the plane in JFK, I became an outlaw - running reds routinely, dodging between cabs and buses and just generally riding like a maniac.

I’m not the only one.  It seems like the only ones obeying the law (or 90% of them) in NYC are the motorists. Cabs and buses and limos wait dutifully at green lights while pedestrians walk right in front of them against the light.  Pedestrians will walk right in front of anything moving fast - me, other cyclists, cabs, trucks, garbage trucks, or Godzilla - and if it hesitates they go.  Cyclists ride the right way only about twice as often as they ride the wrong way.  And if you, a cyclist, come to a light, and it’s not a big street, you’re taking a look and you’re running it - that’s just how everyone rides.

Why is that?  Well - NYC does it to you, particularly Manhattan.  It’s not like LA where the city blocks are 150 yds to a quarter mile in length.  Blocks here are sometimes as numerous as 20 in a mile.  That means you’re have to stop frequently - waaay more often than in LA.  As well, things are just confusing here.  The first time I broke the law in NYC was when I came to a bizarre intersection.  There were like five streets coming together, all at weird angles, and some of them were one-way.  On top of all that it was underneath an elevated train.  I couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to do, there was diddly for signage, so I did the logical thing and pedaled across when there were no cars that could hit me.

That seems to be the general NY attitude about non-motorized traffic: do what you want, or what you must, and be intelligent about it.  Midnight Ridazz co-founder Roadblock explained “NYC is this place where you can break the law as much as you want, and no one cares, but if you do something stupid they’ll berate you for it.”  That’s it in a nut shell - NYC seems to thrive on a healthy respect for the natural law: act intelligently and defensively, or get run over.

It works.  Why?  For one, in Manhattan, the vehicle speeds are much lower than even Downtown LA.  There are more lights and the streets are narrower.  Furthermore, even if pedestrians and cyclists weren’t consistently breaking the law, there are tight corners, many more people crossing the street legally, delivery trucks parked everywhere, and a lot of cabs changing lanes unexpectedly - so motorists must drive more cautiously, slower, and with greater awareness.

The other reason it works is because everyone expects it.  Everyone on the street knows that pedestrians are going to jaywalk and cyclists are going to run lights or ride the wrong way with a degree of abandon.  Everyone knows that cabs are going to accelerate maniacally and change lanes out of nowhere - I mean, they have reinforced bumpers, so you know to give them space.  Since everyone understands that these things are going to happen, they anticipate them happening, and that’s how collissions are avoided.  In essence, though it may not feel like it, there is a lot of cooperation between road users.

Several times I’ve rolled up to a light where the traffic was thick enough that I felt it would be madness to run.  In some of those cases drivers and pedestrians actually stopped to make space for me, anticipating that I would run the light.  Sometimes I took advantage of it, as any decent New Yorker would do, and other times I set my foot down, enjoying the perplexed looks when I didn’t run the light.

It’s actually very reasonable.  Traffic laws are conventions we agree upon so that we can travel about safely and not smush each other.  Los Angelinos often seem to think that if they follow the law, it doesn’t matter if they are unsafe road users.  New Yorkers flip it, not really caring what you do, as long as you behave intelligently and safely.  I think this more practical attitude is the reason that NYC can function, and remain a safe place to live.

Except for cyclists.  Despite all that cooperation, Manhattan isn’t actually a safe place for cyclists, and Brooklyn is sketchy as well.  As I’ll explain in a later post, you shouldn’t ride in Manhattan unless you are very skilled at handling traffic.  And unfortunately, I can’t imagine a realistic route from the state of things now in Manhattan, to a bike friendly Manhattan.

• I’m a Cyclist, and I Run Red Lights
• This just in: (Probably) CalTrans to Make PCH Safe for Cyclists
• WeHo Sheriff’s Aggress Toward Cyclists
• February’s SMCM A Big Hit

Even if CRANK MOB were to happen at some point (it DID NOT), fire breathing would NOT be cool:

There was NO FUN at CRANK MOB:

• Old(er) bike photos
• Top Tren Ways to Get Your CRANK Mob on!
• Ride: ROB04040444TZ! Saturday, November 15th, 2008
• C.R.A.N.K. MOB Video: Jon Anderson does it again

But the truth is, a group of cyclists already has been taking CEREAL (translation: serious) ownership of the path. This Tuesday I went to my first Taco Tuesdays, an awesome nighttime social ride on the Westside that ends in a taco gorgy at Cinco de Mayo.  The Ballona Creek Bike Path has been the site of several muggings and, according to residents, rampant gang activity.  So, I was a suprised and nervous when the ride turned onto the path and all 50 of us took the path 5 1/2 miles from Duquesne Ave in Culver City to Mustache Bridge at it’s end.

This was right at the beginning of Taco Tuesdays, and as the ride got warmed up and we passed under the 405, a small group up front started to hustle.  When a gap between the hustlers and the main group developed, Ryan Ashford and I double hustled up to the front to slow them down.  But we like to hustle to.  So, when we got there, we were all “slow down”, and then we jumped out front, and laid down a 4 mile sprint.  Pacelining Ballona Creek in the dark at 26 mph, rooting it good, I was unable to spot any gang activity.  Except of course the gang of 50 cyclists massaging the path with the rubber side down.

(L to R: Chloe, Vlad, Alex T, and Sara, looking like doofuses on Mustache Bridge after the hustle.  Photo by Sean M.)

After we hustled we cooled it for a while and then watched the main group come in.  Imagine 35 blinking lights coming out of complete darness, along a path that is feared by residents and cyclists alike.  It was a strong visual demonstrating that more use, not less, is the solution to the path’s problem.  If only a fraction as many cyclists used the path on a regular basis, the ability of people to misuse the path for crime would be substantially reduced.

Taco Tuesdays has been doing just that.  In it’s 18 ride history, “X-Large”, who organizes the ride along with Richie and Ceasar, estimates that nine Taco Tuesdays rides of twenty or more cyclists have travelled the length of the path.  “Even before Taco Tuesday’s, Richie and Ceasar and I were riding it together at night for practice,” he said.  Twenty cyclists to the end and then back to boathouse is 20 x 6.1 = 122 rider miles.  If attendance is 50 like this last ride, that’s more than 300 rider miles.  That’s some CEREAL riding!

Now, I know that the Concerned Bicyclists of the Ballona Creek have more in mind for their Saturday ride, but I think some recognition is in order for what Taco Tuesdays is doing.  Taco Tuesdays didn’t set out to “retake the path”, but simply by providing a fun reason to ride, by being an awesome biking event, they’ve inadvertently taken a strong ownership of the path at a time when even Will Campbell is fearful of riding it (but he did ride it at night.)  That is the beauty of Midnight Ridazz - by using public places for what they were meant for - public enjoyment - we’re transforming LA.  And it’s all fun.

Come on Concerned Bicyclists - I dare you to check out Taco Tuesdays and give them some CEREAL face to face props!  Tuesdays, leaving CRANK MOB PARK (aka Media Park at Venice & Canfield) at 8 pm.

• WARNING: Muggings on Ballona Creek Bike Path
• Racing Ballona Creek
• Wintry Mix
• Old Photos: Bikerowave originals, SWARM, et al

(Hal receives a ticket from the Santa Monica Police Department at Santa Monica Critical Mass)

Whether Santa Monica wants it or not, whether it’s true or not, the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) is perpetuating the message “cyclists aren’t welcome in Santa Monica.”  Probably the only people ignoring them are the participants in Santa Monica Critical Mass (SMCM.)

Pictured above is Hal, receiving a ticket for initially positioning himself to make a left turn, and then not making it.  Is it a legitimate ticket?  Maybe it is, but as commenters on LAist have pointed out, this is a ridiculously minor infraction, committed by Metro Los Angeles motorists on an almost mile by mile basis.  If police were ticketing motorists for this kind of infraction, the SMPD traffic division would be richer than Homeland Security, and just as ridiculous.  As it is, they’re just ridiculous.

Check out this photo, shot a moment later:

You’ll note a young hottie exiting her swanky SUV (please God, let it be an Escalade.)  Now what do you think she thought?  Do you think she thought “that anarchist no good scum from the immensely evil public safety hazard Critical Mass is getting just what he deserves”?  Or did she think “a cyclist is getting ticketed by three cops?”

See, I think she thought the latter.  I don’t think people really have the information to differentiate between the righteously just Captain America ticketing of evil Mass riders, and the frivolous ticketing of normal cyclists (”is there such a thing as a normal cyclist?” asks SUV hottie.)  I think they see cops ticketing cyclists left and right, and I think they say “man, cops sure ticket cyclists a lot - that $6 trillion a gallon is looking affordable.”

Effectively, the City of Santa Monica is fighting itself.  The Planning Department is promoting cycling in order to reduce car trips, while the Police Department is spending $3000 a month to issue nine or ten highly visible tickets on shaky legal grounds.  It’s an expensive and effective campaign to promote not cycling.

And while this is going on, the participants in Santa Monica Critical Mass are discovering creative tactics to keep riding and the individual riders are becoming extremely wily.  When SMPD brought out ten cops in November 2007 and issued 32 citations, they were ticketing a group that wasn’t intimately familiar with the California Vehicle Code, and not the best at always having lights on their bike.  Now, most of the group can recite some portion of the vehicle code, and they know exactly what kind of lights they need on their bike.

When SMPD began citing people en masse at the November 2007 ride, the group fell to pieces, and only 50% of them ended up reuniting at Windward Circle in Venice.  Now, SMCM riders are using flyers to establish rendezvous points in well known locations.  Thus, when people do get tickets, the group still manages to regroup.  Furthermore, the group last year was loose knit, so when they were split up, cell phones weren’t always much help in reuniting the group.

Not anymore.  Between June 2007, when cops start hassling SMCM, and now, the whole community around SMCM has changed.  Once we were a loose knit bunch, carefree and not that sharp in sticking together or handling tickets.  Now, we’re a tight knit crew of sharks who turn adversity into FUN, and are hardly shaken by police presence.  Where once it was 10 cops and 32 tickets, now it’s 16 cops and less than 10 tickets.  SMPD has hardened the riders of SMCM, to the point where Santa Monica’s future bike activists are an alienated, hostile, and educated team fueled by comradery, hustle, and CRANK MOB.  They will be tough to appease.

You know Santa Monica, that wasn’t so bright.

• Recap: March 2008 Santa Monica Critical Mass
• Crimanimalz Vs. S.M.P.D: Cyclists Respond to Police Harassment
• The Status of Santa Monica Critical Mass
• Ride: Santa Monica Critical Mass, Friday, August 1st, 6:30pm

The organizer, the domineering iconic ride organizing LOLcat “KNITTENS”, writes with this pitch (you must read lolcat to understand it):

 teh 3rd ROB0303333TZ Ryde r upon us

u can had jumps
u can had souf central
u can had LAX
u can had hermosa beach
u can had bonfyre on docksweiler
u can had foil
u can had kwak
u can had fountains

waht u can haz nao?

8pm, CRANK MOB PARK
Venice & Canfield
30 myles of crazy robotz ducks

No beach cruisers allowed.  U can haz ryde all night.

I’m sold.  See y’all there.

• ROB0110101TZ RIDE, Saturday, 9:30pm, CRANK MOB PARK
• Ride: ROB011100111TZ!!
• Ride: ROB04040444TZ! Saturday, November 15th, 2008
• International Ride Hall of Fame declares ROB0101110TZ an early contender for admission

C.R.A.N.K. MOB:

Mike Wilkerson, head mechanic at Bikerowave, and his bike:

onethirtynine’s (organizer of CRANK MOB) bike outside the pawn shop in Santa Monica:

onethirtynine:

A Rivendell:

Another:

Undercover Bob at Bikerowave:

Crazy Spook:

Chloe:

Jonnyboy:

EddieboyinLA:

• 2 super hype Videos for C.R.A.N.K. MOB’s one year anniversary
• C.R.A.N.K. MOB did NOT happen on Saturday
• Spook leaves
• Photos: Venice Critical Mass & Something Else

First up - Jonnyboy did it again with this SPOOK MOB video, with extra Spook, since Spook had to leave:

SPOOK MOB from Jon Anderson on Vimeo.

Then there is this CRANK MOB Soowhooop! video by Video Market, which is waaaay out of left field, just like CRANK MOB:

C.R.A.N.K. MOB Soowhooop! from video market on Vimeo.

• C.R.A.N.K. MOB Video: Jon Anderson does it again
• F’N Westside Ride: Friday, 9:30pm, Mar Vista Park
• Best CRANK MOB video EVAR!
• Old(er) bike photos

I went to Minnesota at the beginning of August for a wedding.  While I was there I visited a few of the local bike co-ops and shops in the Twin Cities (photo set.)  It turns out that Minneapolis/St Paul has a thriving bike culture, which I would have anticipated if I had noted that Minneapolis is typically considered the 2nd most bike friendly city in the United States (when their neighbor is tear gassing protesters.)

Visiting was educational.  I visited and talked to people at three separate bike . . . entities.  The first was The Hub, a standard worker owned cooperative.  The second place was One On One, a coffee shop, bike shop, and bike themed art gallery rolled into one.  Their basement had a ridiculous number of bikes.  And last, I visited the Sibley Bike Depot, a bike repair collective just like the Bikerowave, Bike Kitchen or the Bike Oven.

The Sibley Bike Depot is half a decade older than LA’s Bike Kitchen, and one of the people who has been involved from the beginning answered my deluge of questions about their history.  It seems as if Sibley recently turned a corner, and they did so partly when they lost the paid staff and went fully volunteer.  They also are intimately connected with one of the major bike policy advocacy organizations in the area.  The history of that relationship was instructive  - LA’s secret dramas in the realm of bike activism are, it seems, fairly typical.

This visit confirmed for me is how different each cities obstacles to bike friendliness are.  When I visited Detroit last winter (I grew up nearby in Ann Arbor), I learned that the City of Detroit, a city of just under a million, has only two retail bike shops.  We must have ten times that many for the same number of people in West LA.  The activists there were working hard to get a new retail bike shop established, because that would facilitate bicycle use.  We would laugh at such an effort for LA, but for Detroit that is shrewd and appropriate activism.  In both Minneapolis/St Paul and Detroit, I found organizations without a lot of revenue in huge spaces.  But rents are affordable there, especially in slightly blighted areas.  For bike activists in LA, finding affordable real estate for our projects is a gigantic obstacle.  There, it wasn’t a big deal.

Each city faces surprisingly different obstacles.  Remember that when you talk to people about cycling - each person is likely to face surprisingly different obstacles to becoming a cyclist, and they’re likely to see benefits in different ways.

Check out some of the photos!

Check out the detail on the wheel cover on this bike:

Bike racks at the Weisman Museum:

The basement of One on One:

A moose:

My mom and I at The Hub:

A mural at The Hub:

This isn’t in the Flickr set, but this is the Mosaic of the Americas, on The Resource Center of the Americas, across the street from The Hub:

Ashira might like this:

This messed up over exposure worked nicely:

This is true:

• An Open Letter to the City of Santa Monica
• Who Knows What’s Going On? Not me.
• ibikeu Wiki Update: Who are the Sodomites? Can they over power the Crimanimalz?
• AWESOME July 4th Rides, and other events in July

(photo by Studiodrome)

Spook is a founding member of the Los Angelopes, and he pushed the freak bike craze waaay far.  He made mad contributions to the ibikeu Wiki, and he volunteered at Bikerowave.  Generally Spook kicks ass, and he has a natural charisma.  I  think it comes from his authenticity - he’s always genuine, honest, and present.  Whatever it’s source, it guaranteed that he could coast to notability in the bike culture.  Instead, he voraciously involved himself in all the awesome that is the last 2 years of the bike scene in LA, and leaves the scene an icon of LA bike culture.

The FUNdex of LA just dropped precipitiously.  I can’t wait till you get back Spook!

To give Spook a proper send off, we took photos of his friends wearing his trademark skull facemask.  Check em out (Flickr), and be sure to leave a message in the comments for Spook:

Above: AT, Paul, Andrea, Franz and Katie at Venice Critical Mass.  Below, Paul, Franz, and Alex C at the same ride:

Jannatha, Spook’s fiance:

A beautiful photo by Gary Se7en, of Sam “ideasculptor”, and his two huskies, featuring Spook masks:

Stilline, fellow tall bike rider:

Fellow Cubs - Eric and Gary:

Some BMX kids who were down to wear the masks.  They kept the masks!  More Spooks!

Spook and Eric!

• Saturday: ALC Fundraiser for Team Midnight Ridazz
• 2 super hype Videos for C.R.A.N.K. MOB’s one year anniversary
• ibikeu Wiki Update: Who are the Sodomites? Can they over power the Crimanimalz?
• Old(er) bike photos