Perhaps not.  Here’s one fact that hasn’t truly sunk in for most: Judge Millington revoked Thompson’s driver’s license for life.

What does that mean?  It means that, in two to five years when Thompson gets out, he’s one of us.  If he doesn’t want to ride the bus, if he doesn’t want to walk long distances, and if he loses his shirt in the civil trial, Thompson will be biking.  He’s lucky for that too, and I’ll tell you why.

Christopher Thompson having a rough day in the new, bike-friendly LA

Things move fast for cycling.  We feel like we don’t get a lot of respect, that’s probably the only thing cyclists can all agree on.  The reality is, compared to other movements, our progress is rapid; the LA cycling movement has gone from one that could barely get an agenda item at council, to one which the new Chief of Police actively engages us (or, seeks to mitigate), in an insanely short period.  If Thompson’s temper doesn’t fare well in California prison, and he gets out in five years, instead of the predicted two, he could be returning to an unrecognizable city.

He could be returning to a city without Michelle Mowery.  A city with a new city council and a new mayor.  A city that has passed through ruin and emerged leaner and meaner.  Maybe a city that, in hard economic times (I promise, they’re not over), leaned on the bicycle as an affordable and humanizing form of transportation.

In the last 5 years Los Angeles has gone from having one small bike co-op, in a fresh storefront, to four bike co-ops, three with storefronts.  Absurdly projecting, Thompson could be returning to a city with sixteen bike co-ops, nine in storefronts!  There might be two cyclists on every neighborhood council!

It could be an amazing place to ride.  Not because of infrastructure – pavement is pavement – but because if you hopped on a major boulevard, you could always find the riding company of several riders.  Little spontaneous herds of riders heading each direction.  Implausible?  Max Lucas remarked that five years ago he rarely came across riders in the bike lanes on Venice.  Now, in counts on summer afternoons, Venice Blvd consistently averages out 1 BPM (biker per minute) in each direction (as counted by Bikerowave Cooperative Inc!)  Perhaps in five years, it will have five cyclists per minute each way.  And with the constant lobbying of an active cycling community, there might be a supportive police force out there, steadily curtailing dangerous motorist behavior.

When Thompson gets out, LA could be a tremendous place to ride.

That’s why when I heard the verdict, I tweeted this:

Westsidazz: Dr. Thompson is going away for 5 years. While he’s gone lets work real hard and get everyone on bikes, k? 1:16 PM Jan 8th from web

I’m 29 years old, for a few more weeks, and 5 years still feels like a long time to me.  Particularly when the shifts we need to make aren’t so much physical (bike lanes etc) but mental (culture of respect!)  I figure with some damnably hard work, and a never say die attitude, we can transform this town in 5 years.  If we did?  Joe Anthony did the math for Thompson:

Ohaijoe: It’ll be like Planet of the Apes RT @westsidazz Dr. T is going away for 5 years. While he’s gone lets work real hard & get everyone on bikes 1:18 PM Jan 8th from Power Twitter

“Oh my god” I thought,  “Joe’s more right than he might have realized.”  To Thompson it really would look like the Planet of the Apes.  He would have left a city where the car is king and it’s necessity is unquestioned by most.  A city in which many people who decried his violence qualified “those cyclists can be real jerks and besides, they were riding TWO ABREAST!”

He might return to a city which put cyclists and pedestrians, as vulnerable road users, first.  He might return to a city where cycling is fashionable, and cyclist intimidation, in any form, is unfashionable.  He might return to a city where all his dating prospects are hoping he will take them for a ride at sunset on a tandem bicycle.  LA might share the cover of Time, along with President Roboma and Vice President Enci Box, as the most changed city of the decade.

And, he might really lose it:

(Planet of the Apes finale on YouTube)

He might walk out of prison, fall down on the sand, pound it with his angry fists, yelling “you maniacs!  You blew it up!  Goddamn you!  Goddamn you all to hell!”

Just the thought of that is inspiring.  I like the idea of flipping Thompson’s world inside out one more time, and landing him in bike paradise.  So, I’d like to announce Bikeside’s Planet of the Apes meta-project. It’s not really a project – what the hell would a Planet of the Apes project grant application look like?  It’s more of a goal: total, unfathomable, transformation.  Total transformation of LA’s streets; unfathomable transformation of LA’s minds.  Mitigation & incremental improvement – these are criteria by which ball bearing engineers measure improvement.  We the bikers – we should set bold goals.  We should begin our journey not entirely certain of our destination, just intention and resolve to work like hell to get it done.  I say we point to the mountain in the distance and say “that’s where we’re going, screw the map.”  That’s the Planet of the Apes meta-project – a commitment to all out transformation of LA to a lush, livable, fun-able, paradise.

If we do it right, Thompson really will be floored.  Maybe we should meet him at his release with a milkshake, a pink tasseled beach cruiser, and a contract to work at the County Hospital and donate his wages to Bikeside, 501c4.

Westsidazz: Thompson is going away for 5 years. While he’s gone lets work real hard and get everyone on bikes, k? 1:16 PM Jan 8th from web

Ohaijoe: It’ll be like Planet of the Apes RT @westsidazz Dr. T is going away for 5 years. While he’s gone lets work real hard & get everyone on bikes 1:18 PM Jan 8th from Power Twitter

Westsidazz: @ohaijoe Ha ha ha – the Planet of the Apes project. 1:23 PM Jan 8th from web in reply to ohaijoe

Ohaijoe: @westsidazz It could happen! Look at the changes over the past 5 years, amazed at all the bikes on the streets now. 1:25 PM Jan 8th from Power Twitter in reply to westsidazz

Westsidazz: @ohaijoe It WILL happen. 2:09 PM Jan 8th from web in reply to ohaijoe

Ohaijoe: @westsidazz I find that each of us planting a few seeds here and there is all it takes to make a big change. ;) 2:11 PM Jan 8th from Power Twitter in reply to westsidazz

Westsidazz: @ohaijoe OR, alternatively, we could engineer a super intelligent race of biking apes who take over the world . . . 2:19 PM Jan 8th from web in reply to ohaijoe

Ohaijoe: @westsidazz This idea has legs. 2:22 PM Jan 8th from Power Twitter in reply to westsidazz

- Martin Luther King Jr, at the end of his Beyond Vietnam speech (read it, or listen on YouTube)

Volunteers and Bikerowave cheer the opening of Bikerowave 3.0.

Steve Mattson, General Manager of Bikerowave, signs our lease

The ceiling of Bikerowave 3.0, before we painted over it.

There was a lot of demo and renovation to do. Here Eric attacks tiling.

Kwang strikes a menacing figure as he and Paul demo some sheet rock.

Steven rides along with Larsen on his tall bike, on a break from packing up Bikerowave Version 2 to move to 3.0

David pauses for a second while moving Bikerowave from 2.6 to 3.0

Little bikes sprouted up near Bikerowave 3.0 almost immediately.

Justin sketches out a mural at Bikerowave 3.0, in darkness (long exposure.)

Matt comes to join the opening day party in our new hood.

Our new address number is masked up for repainting - 12255 Venice Blvd.

Share and tweet!

So if you’ve had problems reaching the website, or with your RSS feed of Email subscription, that could be why.

Stop by and check out how the site has been made over.  I’m not sure where to go with the sidebar at left, but I’m planning on keeping this incarnation of Westside Bikeside simple and clean.

"The East Village is Dead" by toddwshaffer

• Bicyclists can, and will, ride on every city street; California law allows as much.
• Bicyclists, pedestrians, social vehicles and private vehicles will equally share the privileges and responsibilities of the public realm; these will be the ingredients of tomorrow’s healthy, lively Los Angeles.
• Bicyclists, as citizens, will work with neighborhood and city governments to implement backbone lanes, ciclovias and other elements of civitas; bicycle life is a big source of a vibrant urban life.
• Bicyclists, as citizens, are going to push and pull this government to see some direct goals accomplished, in two years.
• Bicyclists will open the doors to a transparent government; open data will lead to direct goals.
• Bicyclists will live in a city of educated, aware citizens. Drivers will know; police will know; youth will know. The global cycling movement is in its infancy but growing.
• Bicyclists will see that this gets done right, from EIRs to engineering.
• Bicyclists will do it better. And have fun doing it.

Great introduction David!  Who will take the challenge next?

We challenge anyone and everyone to write an introduction to LA’s Best Bike Plan, which begins with the sentence “Every street is a street that cyclists will ride.”  500 words or less!  Submit your composition to alexcthompson@gmail.com. I’ll post the submissions in batches as I receive them . . .

(photo from the Library of Congress photostream)

(via AudunV on Flickr)

 Tuesday afternoon, last week.

I’m cruising home from the ear/nose/throat specialist, fighting the wind on Venice Blvd.  If you know me in real life, well you might wonder if I was getting checked for eligibility for ear reduction surgery.  No dice – Kaiser told me my radar dishes are a preexisting medical condition – I’m stuck as Dumbo.

The light at National turns green and I get up on the pedals.  Just as I plop back in the saddle and settle into a cadence, the old skool Saab in the lane over from me pulls past slowly.  He’s reading – it looks like he’s reading a xerox handout for a class.  You know, 50 pages from some book that the prof xeroxed so that people wouldn’t have to pay an arm and a leg for a rare book.  So I yell at him “no reading, just driving!”

He looks around, see’s me in the mirror, waving my index finger like a nun.  He sets his reading down, rolls down his window, and sticks his arm out the window, extending one digit, pointing to the sky.

It’s his thumb.

Best feeling all week.

Thanks for doing that while my bike was parked in front of Bikerowave.  That made a lot of people uneasy.  Regarding the personal distress – I could have done without that.  Bikerowave has a sliding scale policy so if you’re having trouble making ends meet we can help you out.  Sliding scale means you pay what you can afford to pay.  We have that policy because myself and the other two founders of Bikerowave, as well as the volunteers, believe in helping people out.  I hope it helps you out – please note that we cannot accept my lights as payment.

Anyway, I was a little pissed you did that, but I went inside and bought two nice new lights from Bikerowave.  Because I’m a volunteer at Bikerowave I get a 40% discount – admittedly not as good as your 5 finger discount, but I get that discount on $1000 frames and Dura Ace crank sets, so it works out better in the long haul.  Knog lights and flip flop hubs are also available!  I was able to buy these things from Bikerowave in part because I co-founded the space, and helped make sure it was healthy, and collaborated on the contract to move to that new spot.  Isn’t the new location great?  What’s coolest: when I needed some cheap lights, it was no big deal.  I helped build a little safety net for cyclists in LA, and now even I benefit!

This is called “MAKING YOUR OWN LUCK.“  That’s what I did – I took some luck (lucky brains, lucky family, lucky health) and I levered it up into more luck.  Luck so deep we all benefit.  If, kid, you can MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK a little more often you might graduate from stealing lights to stealing saddles, or stealing front wheels.  I heard about a guy that steals handlebars!  This one guy, George Bush, he even stole two elections.  He’s kind of punk though – don’t be like him – his luck did not benefit the rest of us.

If you make your luck long enough my friend, if you spread it around to your friends and cultivate it, you can punch your own ticket.  This is called being a KINGPIN.  You’re not a kingpin yet – you need to work on your mojo (see section MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK.)  I haven’t reached kingpin status, but I know one thing kingpins don’t do is sweat the small stuff.  It’s not a great idea to steal from a kingpin, I heard that’s true for sure.  Some of them are temperamental (see SCARFACE.)  In the interest of being more kingpin-like I’m not going sweat this petty theft.  Kingpins are generally better to work with than victimize with petty crime – kingpins just don’t play good victims.

I would like to leave you with a passage from Jadakiss & Styles P:

Fuck… the.. frail shit
Cuz when my coke come in
They gotta use the scales that they weigh the whales with

(Jadakiss is a kingpin – probably Styles P also)

I could easily send you to God

(Styles P can mess you up – don’t steal his lights [see SCARFACE])

But come and see me at the Plaza Hotel I might give you a job
If you can’t remember the name
All you gotta do is ask the dame for the niggas that deliver it hard…

(Jadakiss is more interested in working together, if you’re willing to not steal his lights.  Also, he is probably good in bed.)

A special note, from this Jadakiss to Bikerowave’s own Styles P – get well Mihai!

I’m the fastest thing on wheels

Not Ivan Basso, or Michael Rasmussen

or Ivan Therrien or Eric Colton

can beat me.

Not with

two new new wheels

and one new chain

I’m a new man.

Sunlight glinting off dark arm hair

long flat shins pushing and pulling

I’m not hard to see.

Trial of Miles: Survivor.

And I’m saving it all up

for a run.

Wilson Kipketer sets the first of his two world records at the greatest distance, in the greatest sport in the world:

Did you notice a shift, maybe a change in your mood lately?  Whether you knew the source or not, you’re feeling happier because Bikerowave has moved to a new location – 12255 Venice Blvd – an awesome improvement over the last location.  Bikerowave 3.0 is here!

We’re in a real neighborhood now – one that represents all that is LA, it’s good and bad:

It’s been a lot of hard work getting here:

(photo by Deborah Famiglietti)

And sometimes it’s been stressful:

But in the end it’s proved worth it – we’ve got some dope new energy, and we’re living in the future:

(artwork by Daniel Hope Edwards)

Now we’ve got some amazing neighbors.   Across the street is LA’s finest fixie boutique – LA Brakeless – and their crew of amazing trick riders:

A guitar shop, Timewarp Music, with over 200 guitars:

And on our left, the Good Hurt:

They do this on Monday nights:

While we get down, lights off, disco ball on, all bikes on deck:

Come down and visit – it’s flat, there’s a huge bike lane, the beach is down the street, and we’re real.  It’s Bike Land!

Dropped.

You who paced me, who turned it into a competition,

Dropped.

You who drafted me without permission, without knowing me, because you couldn’t make the pace yourself,

Dropped.

You, you with the featurless tubular calves, the six feet four of no substance,

Dropped.

You who shot out and made the light which I missed,

Dropped.

You, you who carried that momentum into a red,

Dropped.

You, who pushed me into the third lane of traffic, who veered like a dumbass,

Dropped.

You, who can’t ride with the third lane of traffic, you who doesn’t have monster legs filled with monster HULK,

Dropped.

You who didn’t make the light,

DROPPED.

I dropped you.  Get some muscles.

(photo by Justin Jakobson)

Last Tuesday was the one year anniversary of Taco Tuesdays.  EVERY week for one year Taco Tuesdays has met and left from CRANK MOB PARK at 8pm, and every week XL, the ride leader, has put together an awesome ride and spokecard.

That’s an extraordinary effort, and that effort has earned a huge and faithful following.  When I went on my first Taco Tuesdays, #17, there were around 30 riders.  Now the ride pulls between 60 and 80 riders on weekly basis.  When we left CRANK MOB PARK on Tuesday for the one year anniversary ride, I estimate there were about 200 riders.

Since I started riding bikes in West LA there have been a handful of rides or entities that changed the face of the West LA bike scene.  The first ride I ever went to was Westsidazz, created by Alec, Brian and Max from the Southbay.  That ride created the West LA bike scene, where before there were only a handful of people who rode east a couple times a month for LA Critical Mass and the 2nd Friday’s Midnight Ridazz.  Next, Zack Beatty founded Santa Monica Critical Mass, which broadened and deepened the scene which Westsidazz created.

Out of that scene emerged Bikerowave, creating a physical center for the West LA bikers, and giving them a reason to hang out more than once a month.  And Cub Camp followed nearly instantly on it’s heels.  Cub Camp quickly grew into a whole new kind of ride – an unholy synthesis of hustle and party.  From Cub Camp and Bikerowave sprang a community of Cubs, who took party riding and FUN to a whole new level.

In the way that SMCM took what Westsidazz had done and made it available to a broader audience, CRANK MOB came and turned the whole Westside into one big Cubbie Puddle, introducing Cub Camp and Cub Campery to the masses.  CRANK MOB injected a new reckless and youthful abandon into party rides, not just in West LA, but in Los Angeles in general.  It turned inclusivity on it’s head, and where once anyone was welcome, now anyone was welcome to come to CRANK MOB and be involuntarily jumped into a life of hard bike partying.  With the problems of today’s CRANK MOB looming the last year, we forget what the original CRANK MOB was – a joyous forcefully inclusive orgy of fun that produced the best riding scene we will probably ever experience.  After 1 year we learned what the phrase “too much of a good thing” really means when accidents and too much rowdiness showed us that many new CRANK MOBsters didn’t understand what CRANK MOB was really about.

Taco Tuesdays is the next thing.  It’s belongs in that line of rides and organizations that reshaped how things are done in the West LA bike scene.  Each of the above entities taught us lessons about how to pull off good rides, or make a good organization.  XL and his team have humbled me and others with their no nonsense approach to Taco Tuesdays.

What’s special about Taco Tuesdays?  To me, the most standout aspect is the team work.  No other westside ride organizer has built a stable team of riders to execute a ride week after week.  Some have a handful of people who collaborate haphazardly, but the team behind Taco Tuesdays has defined roles and consistent participation.  That team has found ways to raise funds to pay for special events and sound system repairs.

XL and his team also dialed back the CRANK MOB atmosphere back a notch, cultivating a chill but fun atmosphere.  By pulling back from the one million percent party level of CRANK MOB, they found a great niche and owned it.  The relaxed tone is perfectly suited for a weeknight ride where you need to be ready for work in the morning, and it creates a welcoming atmosphere where people get to know each other.

Taco Tuesdays riders don’t take shit.  Lately most rides have had problems with tagging, stealing, and even fighting.  Taco Tuesdays is no exception.  But, while other people have thrown e-fits about it, XL and his team have confronted problem riders with courage and empathy, and thought carefully about simple, direct ways of dealing with it.

Most importantly, Taco Tuesdays is a consisten big weekly ride on a week night.  No one has done that yet, except Roadblock with Wolfpack.  That’s impressive.

Congratulations XL and Taco Tuesdays on an amazing year, and great vision!

ROBOTZ is back, as ROB0131313TZ (Facebook event.)  If you’re a hoomanz, you’re unlucky, because only robotz can bike with robotz.  This time it’s 25 miles-ish, finishing at 2am somewhere in West LA.  We meet at CRANK MOB PARK, 9201 Venice Blvd, at 7pm, and leave promptly at 8pm, this Saturday.  It’s a mild hustle, so be prepared with full tires and tigger legs!

Either way, I figured I’d put some of my thoughts in writing on the topic of mixing two of the things I love most in life. They both give me unlimited amounts of freedom and have over time become intertwined with everything I do in life. These two hobbies (for lack of a better word) affected almost every facet of my personality, how I present myself on a daily basis, how I act in various situations, my outlook on life, etc.

This cat back in high school sold me De La’s “Stakes is High” (someone else’s review) for a crisp $5 bill. I thought he was kidding at first when he made the offer, I didn’t understand why he’d want to get rid of this classic. I shrugged my shoulders, and jumped on the deal.

By that year (circa 1996) I was pretty much hooked on the jazzy nature of hiphop music and lyrics that made my neurons shoot off all kinds of electrical charges. Early nineties hiphop was a dichotomy of mean/macho West Coast “ganster” rap and conscious East coast groups like De La Soul and Tribe Called Quest.  That’s about the time I jumped into the mix, an immigrant in his teenage years getting his first glimpses of American culture.

I always found hiphop culture to be pretty much all-inclusive and the one with the least judgemental peers. In that sense, it’s very similar to the cycling community in Los Angeles – you can just be yourself. True, some kids go overboard with their cool obsessions, image is important for a lot of folks in Southern California. But for the most part, everyone is comfortable with who they are.

Hiphop doesn’t always push the most eco friendly ideas, heck most rappers drive ridiculous cars and as a result are mad out of shape. I, at one point in my teenage years, wished to own a ridiculous car just like everyone else that’s bombarded by mainstream advertising. So I won’t try to reconcile the two, I just wanted to point out that you can always pick up on the positive things from anyone or anything you look up to, while dropping whatever you don’t find appealing.

A relatively inebriated female once asked me what my favorite rap song was, and I tried to answer to the best of my ability, even though I could tell she wasn’t genuinely interested. Easy, I thought, it’s a close tie between The Roots‘ “What They Do” and De La’s “Stakes is High” with Pete Rock and CL’s “TROY” coming in a close third.

So when the Southside Midnight Maraudazz ride came around, those three songs were automatically on the playlist.  Midnight Marauders happens to be the name of a classic Tribe Called Quest album, and it was the inspiration for this specific nighttime outing. “Seven times out of Ten, we listen to music ride our bikes at night”. It was a chance to roam through Leimert Park, Baldwin Hills, past the Crenshaw Mural (long shot, detail), and even do a couple of loops through LAX departures and arrivals. All while blasting old school hiphop tunes from a portable Roland guitar amp. A picture perfect Saturday night, thanks to the planning efforts of this gentleman.

(photo & video by Rick Darge)

This month has been filled with outrageously fun night time excursions, that seem to all blend together into one hard-to-believe narrative. Steven, another westsider who also volunteers at the BikeRoWave and happens to be a hiphop head, helped put on two of the livest parties this past weekend. First there was the wild in-the-streets dance party during Abbott Kinney’s Art Walk, then the BikeRoWave party and fundraiser, aka BikeRoParty 2.0. Our tunes did not get as many folks dancing as we had wanted to, but BikeRoParty 3.0 will make that happen. Heck, we may even invite a few bboys to get the party started correctly.

Bottom line is, whatever your hobbies or passions are, don’t complain that the bike scene isn’t for you, bring something to it. If there’s something that you like to do, plan it out, build a ride around it. Make it happen ™

It’s that time again.  KNITTENS emailed me this flyer for ROB050505555TZ, the All Shitty Edition (Facebook event listing.)  I think she meant “all-city”, but such is the accent of LOLCATs.  This Saturday, 8pm, at CRANK MOB PARK (Venice & Canfield.)  KNITTENS writes that you should “be prepared for all night no-fun no-party no-time!!!”, whatever that means.  As always, it’s a faster ride, so you need hard tires and harder legs.  Check out some photos from me, and Hatehills, of last month’s ROB04040444TZ:

Right after we started we stopped on Ballona Creek to explore a buried stream that discharges into the Creek:

And then there were some flats on the way to Mustache bridge . . . but they made for good photos from Hatehills:

We stopped at an awesome overlook, to remain secret, in Westchester:

And had a good time being builder BOTZ at the Great Western Forum:

And KNITTENS was repped well by MEOW:

And we swung by Hollywood Park before finishing in a Inglewood park with quarter pipes:

  “TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:This is to certify that

ALEXANDER THOMPSON

a student in the Graduate Division, Los Angeles, of this University, has completed all required studies for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN MATHEMATICS

ON NOVEMBER 25, 2008

Award of the degree, to be dated December 12, 2008, will be made by formal action of the Chacellor of the University.”

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:

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:

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.

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.

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:

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.

(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!

In this case the F’N Westside Ride takes the place of the Something Else ride.  jonnyboy promises 10-15 miles of riding to places previously unvisited by rides, and some warm pizza afterward.  He just let me in on the secret plan, and I can guarantee you will have an AWSUM time.

The ride gathers around 9:30pm at Mar Vista Recreation Center (map), and leaves at 10:30pm.  If you’re on VCM you can be sure that if you just follow the crowd you’ll end up there. Check here for more details, or here for a discussion of the ride (if you can make sense of it.)

So what’s been going on with the ibikeu Wiki?  Well, not too much.  Not too many people have been editing.  On the other hand, a few articles are becoming decent, for example the article on the Cyclists’ Bill of Rights.

One article which should be well done, and isn’t, is the article on C.R.A.N.K. MOB.  As the one year anniversary ride of C.R.A.N.K. Mob approaches, you can find very little about C.R.A.N.K. MOB on ibikeu Wiki.  The ride that has transformed the Westside is described by two lazily pasted quotes from onethirtynine and SKID MARCUS.

(Richtotheie aptly illustrates the spirit of CRANK MOB)

What should go in the article about C.R.A.N.K. MOB?  I picture it as a resource to inspire new Mobsters to new heights of F!U!N!

If you’ve got something to add then create an account on the wiki, and then head over and edit it.

(ibikeu Wiki peeps – should we open the wiki to anonymous editing without a username?  Sound off in the comments!)

On Facebook, and on Ridazz.

Last month a new ride sprang up after Venice Critical Mass.  Where Mass ended, a new ride began, called the Something Else ride, and it was something else!  Some photos:

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The flyer promises one hour with the back page beauty of your choice.  Wife Bike is responsible for the prevalence of the slogan on this dog’s hat in LA bike culture, so actually I feel that this flyer is a little tame.  There’s room for improvement ladies.

The original flyer can be found on Katie’s Flickr page.

I would like to extend a general invitation to you, the readers, to guest blog.  I think I wrote some good posts way back in February, but unfortunately, not that many people saw them.  That shouldn’t happen.  So, I hope that people will take advantage of Westside BikeSIDE to gain a larger audience.  If you have a new bike blog which you would like to grow – this is an opportunity to reach out to a different audience.  If you sometimes would like to share your thoughts about biking, but don’t want to maintain a full time blog, then this is a way for you to share those thoughts.

I very much want Westside BikeSIDE to be a resource for West LA’s bike culture, so please take me up on the offer.  Email me at alexcthompson@gmail.com and we can discuss a post.  Guest blogging at C.I.C.L.E. (thank you Liz & Shay!) and Emerald City (thank you Siel!) had a lot to do with Westside BikeSIDE growing, and I want to do what I can to pay that forward.

CRANK MOB GLOW from Jon Anderson on Vimeo.

(if you’re having trouble viewing the video, view the video here, on Vimeo.)

Wow!  Good job Jon. Let’s hear it for Jon in the comments!

C.R.A.N.K. MOB meets at 9:30pm, this Saturday, at Sawtelle & La Grange.