LACM: You've changed man...
Thread started by
Velocipede at 04.29.11 - 9:48 pm
So I'm sitting at home thinking of ways I could blow off a little steam during finals and I decide to go to LACM. The last time I went was a good 6 months ago and the experience was quite enjoyable and cathartic. the ride starts off well enough but soon I notice that the police are totally leading the ride now... and they stop at pretty much every light. Two motorcycle cops are at the front going about 10 mph and not letting anyone pass. "Lame", I thought, but decided to have fun anyway. Soon, I was surrounded by the fixie kids who started doing skids and cutting me off. A funny thing is happening to me as I get older. I'm getting more cautious because if I crash and get hurt, I can't work. I really can't afford to be laid up so all of the terrible and unsafe riding around me was really bumming me out. I will never understand why people ride on the streets without brakes but I had terrible judgment when I was 15 too. There was one close call after another until one of the little bastards finally managed to cut off the person in front of me with a ill-timed douchebag skid, causing them to panic and stop due to their poor bike handling skills. My front tire was severely lacerated by that person's chain ring. This caused me to bail. I did some kind of flip of roll and ended up on my back trying not to get run over. I don't know how I didn't get any road rash or get hurt worse but I bailed like I would off a skateboard. This was my first time ever crashing in any kind of group ride. My I had to use the old dollar trick to fix my tire and limp home.
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wtf. I don't know why it just posted. I wasn't done ranting. Yeah LACM sucked and you stupid fixie kids do too. Learn to be a cyclist, not just a rider. LACM is like the cops babysitting a bunch of teenagers. This ride was like driving the 405 during rush hour where people are drunk, don't have brakes, or turn signals. blah.
Velocipede04.29.11 - 9:53 pm
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Yes. LACM is wack! This time the ride ended in the middle of nowhere, with no metro stations in the proximity.
Don't think I'll be going again.
Nadia_is_Russian04.30.11 - 12:08 am
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I haven't ridden this ride forever, but I picked up with the ride in DTLA after work. It has changed. There is like 600-700 riders that are being protected by the police. We ran through at least 30 red lights, I think the front stops at a red light every so often only to let the group catch up. It isn't a crazy, chaotic mess like it use to be. It's organized and safer. The riders stay in the right two lanes, not flying out into oncoming traffic like the old days. The bicycle cops are actually cool. I talked to them. They aren't there to give out tickets or crush the ride, they're there to protect the ride. I saw one car driver acting up, angry and aggressively trying to edge into the pack of riders, but a cop pulled up and told him to wait.
The driver sure changed his attitude. Sometimes the ride got slow, when we entered narrow streets and the group got bottlenecked, but that is to be expected. People weren't drunk, at one of the rest stops the Food 4 Less gave out free bottled water. There are a lot of young people, but there are also a lot of over 30 people too. It's not a race, it's a nice easy ride through some real interesting neighborhoods. Tonight, West Adams and East LA as well as DTLA. I may actually do this ride again.
urbanpedal04.30.11 - 12:12 am
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Oh man this LACM was clean I don't mind the cops just act cool and you won't have any problems with them..sick ride
El_Fredone04.30.11 - 12:18 am
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GOOD POINTS. WE WILL BE DISCUSSING THIS AND MORE MONDAY ON HTTP://BIKETALKS.TV
You can't protest with the LAPD as a ESCORT! I do have an idea though.....
coolassmike04.30.11 - 8:57 am
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serious man, these damn fixie kids try to act so damn hard intimidating the cops and all, cutting people off, and doing the same damn tricks. Poor bastards can't do anything else successful in life
Laughoutlloyd804.30.11 - 10:13 am
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Well I havent done Critical Mass since last year in either November or September. My first C.M was in 09 and of course from what I experienced then and what is happening now is a whole different vibe. Do the music trailers come out any more? I miss the music. The last time I attended the officers were being real aggressive with the cyclist. Either way I didnt see that this ride but I enjoyed the ride either way.
john.1304.30.11 - 10:43 am
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That ride really sucked man i haven't went on a ride in a minute... IT WAS JUST A LET DOWN!!!! A an why are people putting down fixie ridazz for im not 15 im 30 an i do know how to ride for sure i was in the front the whole time an it was not even right what the cops were doing they were just talking away like nothing talking about what they did the other day and what there gonna eat when they get home.... What the hell is that there was the cop on the right in front that would so just go slower an slower just cause he wanted to mess with people there were times were the leader the kid with the black shirt short hair there was a time that he said make a left make a left make a left and the freakin cops were so damn bizzie talking that they were not even listening, an then just stopped on there brakes causing a lot of problems, there were cops saying ''hey what the hell you need to tell us ahead of time this kid almost got runned over'' well if they would listen also that would not have happen... there was a time when i actually got to ride my bike and that was at the end when i took back everyone that needed to go back to down town an i so know that people would agree WHAT HAPPEN I THOUGHT THAT THIS WAS LOS ANGELES CRITICAL MASS!!!! NOT
LOS ANGELES COP MOSSEY....... that right im back things are gonna get better ridazz ok count on it!!! LOOK FORWARD TO THE '' DIRTY L.A.. RIDE '' COMING SOON!!! SMASHEN 247
smashen24704.30.11 - 11:52 am
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lern tue rite
Gav responding to a
comment by smashen247
04.30.11 - 12:34 pm
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meh. i was a few blocks from the meetup point but it never occured to me to even show up!
LACM hasn't been the same.
godmode responding to a
comment by Gav
04.30.11 - 12:39 pm
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OH GOD MANG HAHA DID I SPELL THAT RYTE DIS TIMEZ WERE RIDAZZ RIGHT SO WHY THE PUT DOWN IT BE ALL TO THE GOODNESS BRODAH HEEhEe OH SORRY SHOULD i NOt WRItE LiKe DaT TO WELL OF tOoooo tHE cOOolaSS RIDE.... LETS THINK OF A GREAT WAY TO RIDE YEAH NOT BE ON THE COMP TO PUT PEOPLE DOWN hAvE aHH gREaT dAe.......
smashen24704.30.11 - 12:48 pm
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All of this has happened before and it will all happen again.
et04.30.11 - 1:02 pm
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it wasnt THAT bad...i mean sucks you had a bad time but we had a blast, maybe you need to roll with some non-haters.
the only thing that did suck was ending early
mohawkin04.30.11 - 1:04 pm
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TRUE VERY TRUE BUT WE GOTTA HAVE FAITH IN OUR FELLOW BIKE FAMILY'S
smashen24704.30.11 - 1:26 pm
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Fuck Ulye... would it kill you to use a period from time to time?
Fuck pigs on parade.
-Dexter- responding to a
comment by smashen247
04.30.11 - 2:11 pm
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As the LACM rides get bigger and bigger, the probability of sh!t happening also increases. The last time I was at a LACM was in 2008. People were complaining then, just like people are complaining now. I'm sure I was guilty of some newbie mistakes back then. In 2-3 years these reckless fixie kids (who might well become solid members of LA's cycling community by then) will be b!tching about the newbies on LACM and how LACM used to be so much better in 2011.
tfunk40805.1.11 - 1:21 am
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Very good point. However, for me, the biggest turn off this week was the lack or organization. The ride got stuck in some residential area (not sure why, but some people were saying that the police didn't know where to go and/or leaders made the wrong turn).
The end of the ride was also in a very inconvenient place.
Otherwise, it was a great ride. Police officers were friendly and most people followed the rules.
Nadia_is_Russian responding to a
comment by tfunk408
05.1.11 - 10:33 am
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DEXTER YOUR LIFE. THERES YOUR PERIOD LITTLE puto!
I love me a nice fresh glass of haterade on the daily = )
smashen24705.1.11 - 9:01 pm
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Wow, this was my first LACM since October and I thought it was great. Yes, it's more organized and the cops are definitely treating it more like a moving CicLAvia, but it is so much more fun now. I didn't have any issues with out-of-hand riders that have always happened in the past, the pace was good, and after the first stop we sped up a bit and that was great too.
LACM had a choice to make: we could continue to be confrontational with drivers and not cooperate with police and just piss people off OR we could be a friendly, open, and positive form of protest, that encourages new comers to try riding a bike with us, every last Friday of the month. I cannot even count the number of people whom I met or heard talking about how this was their first LACM, and they have never seen the city this way before, and would never have tried riding a bike on city streets alone. But because LACM gave them this positive, safe experience (and yes, LAPD is part of the safety they feel) they want to try riding more now. THAT is what LACM is all about. Showing people they can ditch the car and ride a bike. And THAT proves we don't have to be confrontational about it.
This was my last LACM before I move out-of-state, and I am so happy to see that we have found a healthy balance with LAPD and that it can be a positive and safe experience.
Cheers!
Amanda
danceralamode05.2.11 - 1:59 pm
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I MISS THE OLD PIRATE-LIKE DAYS OF LACM, PISSING PEOPLE OFF, COMMANDEERING THE STREETS. NOW WE'RE SELLING OUT TO THE PIGS...SOMEONE NEEDS TO HAVE A GOOD OLD VERSION OF LACM, A SEPARATE PACK OF HELLRAISERS. YES, LACM, YOU HAVE CHANGED, YOU SOLD OUT TO THE MAN...
DIRTY HIPSTER05.4.11 - 7:10 pm
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Hell yes! We thought we were hitting another break till someone said it was over. Everyone just stood there doing nothing till some dude was cool enough to guide alot of riders back to downtown to catch the trains.
chuki responding to a
comment by Nadia_is_Russian
05.9.11 - 7:50 pm
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lame. get over yourselves. move on to the next trend, please.
demigod05.10.11 - 8:47 am
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well that ridaaa was me. smashen247 see yall soon
smashen24705.10.11 - 9:48 am
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Its already happening. In fact there has been at least 1 alt CM every month since the September ride went awry.
Critical Mass is nothing more than a time and a place to meet people for a bike ride.
It is as simple as naming a time and a place and doing it.
The LApdCM in the wake of the attack on MannysCarWash that started this whole thing is definitely a different experience that the LACM of a few years ago.
LACM has changed.
In some ways I like and some ways I don't (sorry to hear about your unnecessary crash velocipede).
but one thing that nobody can argue against is that there are more people riding CM and the median age has dropped at least 5 years.
If you believe that getting more people to ride together in a group is a good thing, and having young people enthusiastic about riding bikes is a good thing, than its hard not to appreciate the fact that is some ways, the cops have accidently made LACM more popular and more effective.
There has been a huge demographic shift, That and the police presence make for a very different ride from the ones we were doing a few years ago.
The good news is, since nobody own CM, people who are DOERS instead of just TALKERS have every opportunity to make another LACM at a different time or a different place. Or you could just join the Misfixed ALT CM. It starts near by, and has been happening for several months now.
Save your despondence for things in life of which you have no control over. LACM (and its ALT versions) is something that anybody here has the power to change if they focus on action instead of complaining.
trickmilla responding to a
comment by DIRTY HIPSTER
05.10.11 - 5:58 pm
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Tell that to Borfo and the other old dinosaurs
El_Fredone05.10.11 - 6:35 pm
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actually Borfo was one of the first to step and make an alternative LACM ride.
and in general, has consistently showed leadership by planning rides and helping people, and setting a good example since long before you ever knew what a midnight ridazz was.
try again.
trickmilla responding to a
comment by El_Fredone
05.10.11 - 6:43 pm
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I have a fixie but I honestly hate most of the other fixie riders because most of them are dumb teenage boys. There so stupid, they make other people crash and give all of us bad names. What happened to just having fun on a bike ride with your friends and having more fun meeting new people.
Freckled_Toad05.10.11 - 7:26 pm
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Ridazz Roulette!
