LACM left behind?
Thread started by
spoken4 at 01.30.10 - 1:41 pm
I am really happy that our community has grown so much in the last few years out here in los angeles. i have been a quite a few rides myself over the last few years. i go on CM rides whenever i can, but sometimes months go by of doing other rides before i specifically hit a CM ride. last night i went and was a little disappointed. i know we need to make more people aware of our rides so we can drum up more support. but i felt like the leadership on last night's LACM "all night long" ride was not led properly. the ride NEVER stopped for a catch up moment at any of the lights. you know, let it cycle a few greens, and let everyone catch up. you usually want to do this once or twice an hour. seems like i only heard leadership at the starting place. never did there seem like there was anyone in charge. was there anyone relaying the back of the ride to the front? there were about 300-400 people, and the ride turned into 3 rides within about an hour. we want people to talk amazing about a new year and a new attitude to a ride, no the opposite. if im crazy about last night, let me know. we all had fun for a bit, but i went home after 2 hours of no one ever letting part of the group catch up and hundreds being separated. but on a good note, lets make the next CM rule!
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You're not crazy. What happened last night is the unfortunate part about critical masses. Some people are in it for the cause, some are just there to create chaos, and cut off cars and drink, and loot, you name it. Last nights ride split fast. Part of the split came at Highland and Melrose when a cop just stopped everyone who didn't make it through the light. then someone turned right onto La Cienega and proceeded up the hill to Fountain. The ride was pretty much done at that point. People who couldn't make it bailed out, the people who could never stopped to regroup and the message was completely lost. I corked Fountain and La Cienega as long as I could but the hill was too much for some riders and it all thinned out.
My recommendation, at the start of the ride...announce to everyone the first regroup location. That way if it splits up, people know where to go. Second, adopt a stay behind the music trailer mentality and let that be the leader. Speaker trailer would never opt to go up La Cienega.
No one will ever be able to control 300 to 400 plus riders, so the only thing you can give them is a guide and hope they follow it. let them know what the message is so they can at least understand what's its all about. Otherwise it just becomes chaos on a bike.
Happy riding.
ridetime01.30.10 - 1:57 pm
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THERE'S A COUPLE OF RIDAZ THAT THINK IT'S COOL TO HIJACK AN UN-HJACKABLE RIDE, SHIT THIS IS THE SECOND TIME, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, SHIT NOBODY LISTENS TO YOUR DIRECTIONS, YOUR TO YOUNG, AND YOU COMPETE TO GET TO THE FRONT, SO THAT YOU COULD LEAD THE RIDE, AND ALL THE HIPSTERS, IN THE FRONT WITH YOU, ARE FASTER THAN YOU SORRY ASS, AND THEY END UP IN FRONT, I MEAN, WAY IN FRONT, WHILE ALL US SLOW, OLD, BEAT UP, WANNABE HIPSTERS, ARE WAY IN THE BACK, NA FUCK THAT, WE ARE AROUND ONE OF THOSE CORNERS, THAT YOU TURNED ON, YOU 'LOST', AND GUESS, WHAT THAT SUCKS, WHEN THE TRUTH IS I COME TO THE RIDES TO SEE SOME REALLY COOL PEOPLE THAT I'M PROUD TO CALL MY FRIENDS.
KNOCK THAT SHIT OFF, QUIT DOING THAT TO EVERYBODY, YA ITS COOL TO LEAD A RIDE, SHIT, POST A RIDE UP, FIGURE A ROUTE, THEN LEAD THAT MOTHER FUCKER, LEAVE LACM LONE.
eddieboyinla01.30.10 - 2:09 pm
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I'VE BEEN ON RIDES WHERE THERE WAS LIKE ALMOST 1000 RIDAZZ, AND YOU KNOW WHAT, THE RIDE LEADERS TOOK US ON A MAGICAL TRIP, THROUGH THE FUCKING STREETS, WITH OUT BREAKING UP THE RIDE,.
SOME RIDAZZ COME ON THE RIDE EXPECTING TO RIDE 5 MILES, AND SOME OF US EXPECT TO DO A MINUMUM OF 40 MILES, SHIT SOME CAN HANG, SOME CANT, THAT SHIT OF TRYING TO LEAD THE RIDE WAS PLAN FUCKIN STUPID.
eddieboyinla01.30.10 - 2:14 pm
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spoken4 i totally agree with u. i found myself being a shitty biker becuz i was blocking traffic for other riders to try to keep "the ride" together. we need more stops between lights to allow laggers, like yours truly, to catch up...
wasssabii01.30.10 - 2:39 pm
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Hanlon's Razor is an eponymous adage which reads:
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
Despite what people might think happened, it is very unlikely it was some tweakers that jacked the ride. Things were just unorganized. Thats how critical masses are. I was with the front group the whole time and had a nice (if accelerated) night.
Lets just properly explain how we should rendezvous periodically at the beginning of the ride. OR Just say the next place that we are stopping at.
Teque502.1.10 - 1:32 am
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what happened to the person that twitter's about LACM... they usually inform about stops and location and he/she or they did not do it this time... I kept waiting to see if they were going to inform people on location... this may have helped a little...
dayone02.1.10 - 12:29 pm
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Although I'd prefer to have one cohesive ride, it is kinda fun to randomly come across a hundred Ridazz and feel reunited when you've been riding around lost with ten guys for a while.
outerspace02.1.10 - 12:48 pm
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I'd be much more likely to ride critical mass if I knew that the fast ridazz were likely to ride off the front and ditch the rest of the ride.
As I always say.
Let them go.
CM is probably better without them anyway.
Last CM I went on rode right into the the grove.
People bailed on the tracks.
the rent-a-cops stopped the ride
it was a cluster fuck.
I wish i would have had the presence of mind to "hijack" the ride in a different direction when I saw that foolishness going down.
The meaning of "CRITICAL MASS" is that enough cyclists get together so they can take the lane and not be intimidated by automotive traffic.
For me critical mass is reached with about 5 or 6 people any more than that is really just a bonus.
I think Critical Mass as we have come to understand it is very 20th century.
90's politics and methodology. As it should be, thats when it was conceived and with out "leadership" it is always going to be stuck to a certain degree in that mind frame.
I've always had more fun on "organized" rides. Thats just me personally.
Also I have ALWAYS found that LACM has I higher ratio of douchebags asserting their douchyness.
That is in part due to the fact that the people make the ride. And the media portrayal of CM has actually attracted the douhier elements of the bike scene.
CM isn't about monkey wrenching, blocking traffic, and dicking off at drivers ... unless the people who show up at CM make it about that.
Pretty much EVERY TIME I ride LACM I hear some dickhead advocating for a "circle of death". that's when I head my own way. I think circle of death is pointless and does absolutely NOTHING for our "cause".
If anybody questions this, watch a documentary about the history of critical mass.
If you listen to the CM founders they not very different than the founders of Midnight Ridazz.
Long story short.
I think its great news if the aggro ridazz, ride off the front of the ride.
Let 'em go.
The point of CM is having a fun safe ride with some other ridazz not chasing some dumb kids who ride too fast cause they can't get laid.
trickmilla02.1.10 - 4:01 pm
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+1 what outerspace said ...
oh yeah and Joe Borfo for God of the Universe.
trickmilla responding to a
comment by Joe Borfo
02.1.10 - 4:05 pm
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The point of CM is having a fun safe ride with some other ridazz not chasing some dumb kids who ride too fast cause they can't get laid.
+10
imachynna02.1.10 - 4:29 pm
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Ridazz Roulette!