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LEARN TO RIDE YOUR BIKES BEFORE YOU HURT ANYONE ELSE..
Oh and to the gent that rode in front of me thanks for not allowing me to work or ride.. its your face im trying to remrmber when i sleep.. if i see you i willthrow my broken bike frame at.. then steal yours..
my condition:
bike totaled
hole in left arm
hospital today for xrays i cant move my left arm at all
I'm glad that for every shitbag rider there's like five good ridazz to help out. I still get real mad when I hear about this....
Still doesn't make it any easier when stuff like this happens... hope you can get well soon--when Wylie gets back in like two weeks we gonna do a ride to yous.
Like a ride that goes around and around a park. They can learn to hold their line. Kind of an interesting idea actually - call it CRANK MOB ANNEX, but privately we can call it PT.
aww shues, i'm sorry to hear that your bike was totaled on top having that nasty hole in your arm. i'm really glad mihai was able to help you.
there were seriously too many jerk-offs "riding" last night. i had to yell at a hand full of people not to swerve into me.
i PERSONALLY feel that CRANK MOB has gotten so big it's collapsing in on itself.
definitely no longer my favorite ride (and i am SO sad about that) through i'm giving it 2 more chances before i call it quits.
it was a hit an run.. if we have the same rules as a car then he broke the law and im coming after him with a lawyer and a baseball bat and im taking his bike with me.
@shues
Gabby Puglife has a 60-62 pegueot bike she want to sell. Im sure it's not too much. She didnt know the size when she bought it off ebay and its waaayyy to big for her. It was too big for me too. Hit her up.
oh man, if i would have seen the fucker that made you fall that would have been the end of it.
i've been dying to kick someone's ass this last week (raging pms), damn, i could have got that release i was looking for!
shues I'm glad to hear that you are ok man! Damn, get well soon and we will all be on the lookout for a 60-62cm on the cheap.
Too bad you didn't still have a brake with the temp handlebars you were running, but I'm sure your next bike will be an upgrade (hopefully with brakes)!
First of all robawho? shhhh, make sure your shit is not googlable.
Second, yes there were too many kamikaze youngsters on the ride last night. I think it's primarily the responsibility of the organizers of CRANK mob to encourage proper biking etiquette and safety, and when no one listens to repeat it.
I'll be the first to say - SMPD was cool last night.
LAPD was cool, until they started hassling people as we left Venice Circle. That was NOT cool. Ryan needs some hugs - LAPD was basically like "we're taking your beer for no reason and get out of here or your getting cuffed".
with SHUES now. he has hole in his arm - wtf.. we need to get him a bike. one of the best fixed gear ridazz on the westside - needs to be back in the streets.
ima sellin JUDE for scrap - who has a bike they can do the same?
btw, wayyyy tooooo many drunk st00pid people i would NOT call ridazz on the roads last night. a few i could have closepinned. wtf?!
two guys wrecked right in front of me on that downhill left turn on the first leg. I stopped so i wouldn't run them over as they lay on the ground and some other douche from behind just plowed right through me and both the riders on the ground. Afterward he laughed and smiled..... jesus.
I was yelling over the megaphone last night for people to watch their line, and almost ate shit as some douche on a beach cruiser almost plows into me (I had to swerve hard), when I was like dude wtf? he just shrugs and said something to the effect of "shit happens" I was like, "umm, no, your drunk not knowing how to ride a bike ass needs to straighten up."
Although it seems after the first stop (15 min in) most of those who were going to crash did, except that dude who knocked himself out cold on that wall right at the end, although I saw him later and he looked ok.
Shues, I'm sorry you and your bike got fucked up.
As soon as we turned onto that thin little street in the dark I was just thinking, oh crap someone's gonna eat it hard.
There were so many people that went down in those first 15 min, I was amazed.
I'm having a hard time understanding how you running into someone ahead of you is their fault? Most of the time on the road in a car situation, the driver doing the running into is the one at fault. This is assuming that both cars are going the same direction.
Did you follow good defensive riding skills? In rides like this you need to create space around you and just about all the time have your hand ready on the front brake. I kinda like being towards the front on rides, but if you're helping peeps out and corking, it's not always the case.
yeah that downhill with the left turn on the bottom took some names for sure! the idiot that hit the girl from behind was pretty bad! if you cant ride a fixed gear without breaks, maybe its not a good idea to ride one. and why did he take his feet off the pedals?
crank mob should just be called drunk mob. it's full of idiots. sorry you were hurt by one shues. i have had a lot of close calls in the past too. it's really upsetting.
Man, tyler. it's been one fucking thing after another this week!!
First the steer-axle takes a shit on my truck, I'm out of work for several days, and now I'm figuring out how to go about getting paramedic training should the rehire with Swift fall through the cracks.
Anywho, for sure by Tuesday at the most.
Last thing I need is a heavy-metal assault by some unknown bands that would make my head, asplode!!!
I saw some pretty ridiculous wrecks coming off airport road. There was the big, crowded left turn and a dude came down the hill and just plowed into a girl at full speed. Seriously, wtf. Later in Santa Monica I saw an enraged guy jump out of his SUV at a corked intersection, fall on the ground, get up and run at a guy on a bike. Fists were exchanged. I bailed out before I saw the aftermath, but would just like to say: holy shit,
It started because he flicked a cigarette at me when I corked the intersection. He was inching out and nearly hit someone.
I let it slide, but someone else yelled at him, and that's when he dove (read: fell) out of his car toward the biker. I hear he was pretty drunk, so I'm not surprised it took him a little while to realize that there were hundreds of us.
while we were coming down the hill i was riding in the middle of the pack and staying towards the middle of the road, when i saw that everyone was going right i proceeded into the oncoming lanes which were clear and full of cyclists. i slowed my self down and began to turn right when someone ahead of me said left and the entire group of ppl that went ahead of who knew the route (which were mostly inexperienced young fourteen to sixteen year olds on bikes with no brakes and no idea how to ride a fixed gear). i went around richie and when i came to see that everyone was turning around i tried to slow up and head a direction noone was at which was the furthest left possible, with no on coming traffic and no cyclists it was the best solution i could come up with, with no time to think. when i reached the left side by the gaurd rail a fixed gear rider "skidded" right infront of me and froze, before i knew what had happened i was in the air flying to the ground..
ya i was going on the wrong side of the road, yes i was prob going a little fast, i think eighty percent of the ppl coming down that hill were coming to fast but they had time to know what was going on, i also believe that if ppl would pay attn to their surroundings something like this wouldnt happen, im not blameing anyone what happened to me was my fault and someone elses miscomunications.
ya it wiould have helped if he had been like," whoa man are you okay, sorry i stopped directly infront of you let me grab your bike..."
but instead i get brad with my bike and jaz saying hes gone, thats what upsets me we are such a tight knit group on MR and i know alot of riders that were there last night werent apart of this forum but they should atleast know commont sense and courtasy, thats my issue, im not mad at the kid, im disapointed and on top of that my bikes bent along with the forks and im out a biike and work for atleast a week. how would you feel?
Yeah, I noticed there were quite a few people going into that right.
I decided to go down there and herd them out with my radio, but some others mistakenly followed me down there as well.
I sort of saw all the commotion off to the side as I got everyone out from that hole.
Shues! I hope you heal quick. Sorry to hear you fell, and your bike's messed up. Worst part is you say the guy took off, that's not how midnight ridazz do. That night did have some terrible ridaz, I had to yell at someone for swerving recklessly too close to me, and then later on I actually barely missed two guys WALKING with their bikes that fell down right in front of me. WTF is right. Let's quit the stupidity. I hope you feel better soon. <3
im with you on the need to teach these kids some common sense. as far as "the organizers" go, I think that includes all of us who are bitching. there's plenty of work to do on crankmob, including better preparation.
what specificially can we do to teach these kids how not to ride? announcements? flyers? print "group riding basics" on the back of the spoke cards? i like the all inclusiveness of c-mob, but i find myself having to hang out in the way back or all the way in the front to avoid a bunch of brakeless morons.
on that note, if the guys from Palms and Brakeless are reading this, START PUTTING BRAKES ON THESE DUMB KIDS BIKES!
however the blame can't go completely to idiots on fixies. i know a couple of 16 year olds who ride brakeless as well as anyone. in addition, as i was going down airport, a girl on a beach cruiser came flying down the hill straight into the beach cruiser riding next to me. i can only say that i got majorly lucky on that one.
@CRANK MOB ORGANIZERS
this would have been an awesome street to take on Android Quail, but a steep downhill like that just isnt appropriate for crankmob. take it for what it's worth, and please keep it in mind for the future.
There's a (i think white) Miyata frame probably around your size at the bike oven right now. it's a complets so you'll have to call them. Tell them it's the bike with the gear shifter on the right side (end style) of the handlebars. Miyata's a really good old skool steel frame.
http://bikeoven.com/
What is it with all the hating? Tortuga, Richie puts in WORK to get these AMAZING rides done, and it's NOT LAB or Palms fault for selling the bikes, it's people that can't hang and have been riding for 3 weeks that are fuckin it up, but that goes with this lifetyle, for better or for worse. Are you gonna tell people that show up to yer rides they can't ride with you if they don't have brakes or are too drunk or stoned?
I had a friend in high school living on north Rodeo Drive....He had 7 empty kegs and 1 full keg in the backyard, charged around $10 to get in for all you can drink.....after about an hour and a $600 or so dollars later, he called the cops complaining about "his neighbors" party.....cha ching!!!!
well, after the new location is decided, it should be later spread by word of mouth. if you go on the rides enough, people know you.
it could even be announced at other rides prior to CM.
doing it word of mouth or by private emails would still include most of the regulars from east,west, valley and beyond. it would still be a large group, a MOB but not all the f*ing dimwits that don't understand the MR mentality.
didn't we used to be about "leave no trace, watch out for others, have FUN"??
i can't have fun when i'm surrounded by irresponsible, trashy people
I hope you feel better Scotty. It's terrible that the first rider I saw arriving at Crank Mob was you with bad news. I hope you do feel better.
I love my Mob, it's right up there with um...that one "Duck" ride and The Mosey. But It's being ruined. Debora, Mehi (sp?), and I tried to get in on that Jump rope and there were Jump rope Nazi's hogging it up.
I felt that It wasn't the community trying to ride in unison but non frequent riders trying to individualize the ride.
This is just what happens when you are successful.
People find out, douches want to be where what is happening etc.
Even the best of ridazz can slip and cause a problem.
Of course any ridaa worth 2 spokes would stop and do what ever possible to help somebody they crashed.
CMOB is a youthful and vibrant scene.
It attracts alot of young energetic people.
And it attracts a lot of NEW people.
That is part of its success.
CMOB is bringing more people into the bike scene which is really a good thing.
At the same time ... there is a responsibility to deal with the success of CMOB in a way that maximizes what is great about CMOB and does whatever is possible to prevent bad things like this from happening.
This is no easy task. It is the reason that 90% of the OG Midnight Ridazz rarely if ever come out to MR.
If CMOB is going to continue to grow and succeed it is going to have to evolve in relation to its own success.
Doing something like changing the location and telling everybody to not let dumb people know about the new start point just won't do it.
If we change the start point and only announce by word of mouth / email, then CRANK MOB is no longer all inclusive.
Not that it would be a bad thing, it just sounds like it would just be a different ride altogether?
To me, CRANK MOB is what it is: it's fucking crazy, stupid, insane, ridiculous, exciting, dangerous, and if it were tamed it just would not seem right... to me at least. This is just my opinion.
I'm not discounting any of the injuries / bad situations that people have had to deal with over the life of the ride, I'm just saying if you try to tame it down it's hardly the same ride. People know by now what to expect when they come to CRANK MOB, and sometimes bad shit happens.
It's a fucking crazy ride, why not leave it that way? Is it really too crazy?
If we do change the start point and alienate all the people who we think should not come, isn't it kind of like prescribing CRANK MOB some antidepressants- possibly changing the personality of the ride?.
Once again, this is just my opinion. Please, no hate :)
Just want to say that I love you guise. Really I do, and it saddens me to hear that there's dumb asses out there ruining the ambiance that goes along with "big rides". Furthermore, I would like to apologize for my generation going out to their local shops and buying a fixie then riding it later that evening w/o getting to "know" her. And as a result, fucking up big time on rides. But don't give up, I believe that this is the time in where we (the bicycle community) needs experience riders to coach the huge influx of new "inexperienced" rides.
Yeah lots of stupid idiots and VERY young kids like 14 15 years old, thats not a bad thing but I think they are getting a wrong impression of these rides and what they are about.
The hills are what did a lot of people in, that sucked. Who ever plans the route should take in consideration that everyone has probably had something to drink and that there's probably 100+ people riding breakless, I personally didn't have a problem with it but lots of other people do. It all could have easily avoided.
Me and fuzz were inches away from getting hit with an egg, not vegan.
you know its not the orginizers fault its the ppl.. richie does a great job, if the people that were riding in front of him knew where they were going then it might not have been so bad but instead we have "jack-offs" who dont know where they're going and think anyway is good, i know this cause thats what happened.
@deb
ya i think starting somewhere else would be interesting but its not going to solve anything, what we need to do is working something out to get these kids that never go on cmob to realized that they are a danger to them selves as well as others. sara bond pointed out a good thing yesterday taking bong tokes at my house, she heard alot of ppl saying "is this it, were just hanging out here and doing nothing, when are we goin to leave," and others saying " i told you this is what its like."
for the record, i was riding brakeless, i have rode brakeless before and for multiple months, im not the best "trickster fixie hipster buddy" but i know how to ride a bike i have done it for too long, thats not saying that what i did was right infact it was stupid but i do think that maybe a quick heads up to everyone before the ride or maybe even, bringing back the "10 crankcomandments." spoke cards, i mean all those little kids when i showed up at 915 kept asking me for spoke cards.. maybe if we bribed them to look at the back then they would realized were here to have fun not race eachother down a hill and "oh shit which way do we go i am from anahiem and we dont have hills ahhhh"
thanks for everyone putting in input i love it, as for next cmob.. richie get at me.. i will ride, but imma educated bitches first.. lets see if we can make a cmob that does fuck up someone or their bike or there idea of what cmaob is..
1. have fun
2. be safe
3. be respectful
4. be responsible
5. communicate
6. pass it on
7. leave no trace
8. hold your line
9. stay right
10 slow down
11. have fun
you know what.. it is just that a party.. we cant control the party we just set the guidlines and there will be the few ppl that dont follow them.. and what happeneds when your at a party and someone is stealing the beer, or someone is taking a shit on your moms bed, what happens then..
ill tell you what happens, you beat the living fuck out of them and then talk about it at school the next day.
now im not saying we beat the shit out of them but maybe we can get them to understand what riding like an idiot means.. i personally will be riding cmob and goin to the kids who look like they are out of control and talking to them im not going to get them all but maybe they can pass the advice along like they do when they talk about cmob, "hey you going to crank mob," "ya" "im not going to get all crazy im going to kick it and ride with the music cause thats what its all about anyways, i mean shit if i felt like riding fast i would be come an active memeber of MR and find out when those fast rides are.. im here to party"
haha funny.
and for the record i didnt realy ever go to high school parties.. i always got into bars, but same shit if you pissed in my beer pitcher imma be pissed.
no offense intended. you guys do an awesome job, and this is no exception. My point is that we all need to bring our own leadership to crank mob. let's put our heads together on this and figure out the best way to educate people without killing the fun.
to take it a step further, i think all ridazz need to be better aware of safe cycling and the law. let's use this as a platform for that, while keeping it fun enough that people will listen to us.
if you ask me, i think we should make an announcement when we leave and pass out flyers with the spoke cards. of course, the flyers need to be flashy enough that people will not throw them away.... but this is probably better left to someone with more of a design background than me.
@rbi, i dont have a camera or i would have my arm and my bike up here already, sara bond better come by and take a flix,
i really really really think that the spoke card with those crankmobments is a great idea, and ya im sure making 500 of them would be a task but you know what... just ask. i would love to make them and all that, just let me konw, if i can change one persons mind about riding dangerously i have succeded.
EVEN US EXPERIENCED RIDAZZ CRASH, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BEING YOUNG, GRANTED THAT DRINKING AND/OR SMOKING POT GREATLY REDUCES YOUR ABILITY TO FUNCTION AT 100%.
GET OVER IT AND WHEN YOU SEE SOME HIPSTER PULLING A FUCKED UP MOVE, GET YOUR STUPID ASS AWAY FROM HIM/HER,
SINGLING OUT RIDAZZ THAT ARE DIFFERENT FROM YOU IS WRONG AND NOT PRODUCTIVE TO THE HOLE GROUPE.
AT CRANK MOB I SAW SOME ONE ATTEMPTING TO FIGHT SOME ONE ELSE AT THE BEACH, MADE ME SO MAD, AND SAD, HE WAS SO DRUNK, THAT I FELT LIKE DRAGGING HIS ASS TO THE WATER TO SOBER HIM UP, BUT I COULD NOT BECAUSE THE DAM COPS WERE THERE WATCHING US.
SO I GOT ONE THING TO SAY, IF YOU CAN NOT HANDLE YOUR DRINKING THEN PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THESE RIDES.
WE RIDE TO HAVE FUN, NOT TO STOP FIGHTS, YOU WANT TO FIGHT, THEN GO TO THE 'REAL' BOXING GYM, IN HOLLENBECK.
AND THEN BECOME THE WORLD CHAMPION IN YOUR WEIGHT CATEGORY, THEN AND ONLY THEN WILL I HAVE RESPECT FOR YOU.
the problem with making $500 spoke cards is that it's time consuming and expensive. my idea was to ask for a donation for every spoke card, and leave it open. it can be 25c or $5. if we tell people that the proceeds will go to ALC, and if we leave the donation as an open amount, it will enourage people to donate more.
saying your to drunk to ride a bike on this ride is like saying your too mexican to his that pinata..
in the words of my favorite actor, bill murray:
IT JUST DOESNT MATTER
we cant change everyone and im not saying we should.. we need some stupid ppl so we can feel better about our selves, but i think we can cut down on the stupids.. instead of 250 stupids we can have 50 stupids thats a reasonable number right?
no, it's going to be a badass CMOB spoke card with the 10 Crankmobmandments on the back, like the first Robot Duck spoke card. It won't have to look like a safety lesson, it will look and read like Punk Rock, but it will reinforce certain common sense values which EVERYONE needs to have.
i can gaurentee you that if you charged ppl 1 dollar for a spoke card you can make all your money back and then some.. and usually when i get cash i spend it but if we gave it to say um i d k Roadblock to get this site super kick ass shit then i think we could get help from alot of ppl. it doesnt have to be 1 or 2 guys pitching in hundreds to make spoke cards but maybe 10 ppl pitching in.
for cereal, these kids yester day would have thrown down serious cash to get those spoke cards, they were so pissed when i told them we didnt have any.. hahah, we could make like 100 and auction them off like special edition spoke cards for each ride all the proceeds will to to ALC or to the website or even to the MR magazine.. i think we got something here.. im suprising myself, johnny we need to talk.
people made a huge stink about having to buy spoke cards for the star wars ride a few months ago, even with the proceeds going towards alc. most ridazz (especially the ones who are 15 years old) are selfish little twits who act like they are entitled to everything that they want and not what they need.
if we tell people that the proceeds will go to ALC, and if we leave the donation as an open amount, it will enourage people to donate more.
so wait... WILL the proceeds actually go to ALC??? Cuz if so, that doesn't help your expensive spoke card problem... and if not, then you're lying and taking advantage of people's generosity.
my biggest complaint was the amount of trash being left behind on the ground. i mean, seriously, what happened to "no trace left behind." and i saw an immense amount of young inexperienced riders who don't really understand the concept of "community" yet. again, a briefing before the ride of certain key things to make the ride a positive and cop free ride would be awesome.
like seirously make like a super crazy like reflective spoke card something they you have never seen before and nothing so crazy it make you go.. shit i have five on it..maybe we get a good deal on some weed and give a free gram with donation i dont know just something to get ppl excited and also alow them to read the back and be like oh shit this is what its about.. most of those kids have never ever been on crank mob. i mean we all know what is expected but these kids dont... do you catch my drift..
@tall cans
it maybe retarded but you wait till you get hit by some kid and you break your arm or your leg and your bike is wreaked and see how retarded that spoke card sounds then.
SHUES: Spoke Cards do not save lives. Hooking people up with Drugs for less does Not Save Lives. Doing Hard Drugs on Rides... You post more about weed here than bikes sometimes bro. I hope yer arm gets better and this does suck. I was out for 2 months with an ankle injury when a brakeless BMX toppled me from my Tallbike once so I feel your pain. BUT if you have a party ride like this, this stuff will happen. You just gotta be sharper
SPOKE CARDS WERE ALWAYZ FREE, AND WERE PASSED OUT, SO THAT OTHER RIDAZZ COULD PROCLAIM THERE INVOLVEMENT IN SOMETHING THAT COULD CHANGE THE WORLD, BRING BACK MEMORIES, AND JUST MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD.
MANY TIMES I HAVE BEEN ASKED ABOUT 'THOSE CARDS' FROM TOTAL STRANGERS, AND I TELL THEM, AND THEY LOOK AT ME CRAZY. MADE ME FEEL REALLY GOOD.
NOW WE GOING TO CHANGE THE REAL REASON FOR MAKING THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE, CANT WE COME UP WITH ANOTHER WAY TO FUND RAISE FOR EVENTS THAT REQUIRE FUNDING?
@tortuga_veloce
"you guys do an awesome job, and this is no exception. My point is that we all need to bring our own leadership to crank mob. let's put our heads together on this and figure out the best way to educate people without killing the fun."
I totally agree with you. Its the most rational thing thus far on this thread. As for the spoke card idea. I say we focus more on the youngsters who want those cards just to show off. Make em buy it and at the back there will be safety rules for "newcomers". & if you want, you can make a whole different batch for the veteran riders that won't have that.
weed isnt a hard drug, but people who are on acid and mushrooms while riding bikes in a big group and not riding in the back of an rv can go get fucked.
i have done fundraisers before, i donate money.. infact on thanksgiving im feeding the homeless in venice at 7 am, if i gave a check for 200 to alc then i dont feel like it was worth it but if i give a check for 200 that i got all the money from other ppl then i feel like something has been done..
the fact that everyone on this thread as been saying one or more things they didnt like about crank mob shows that its still in the molding stages. we still need to perfect it and show its true colors.
the fact that most of you are looking at my idea (which has been the only one brought up) like its "we todd edd" shows your unwillingness to try to change something
Alfredo your concept is divisive. What constitutes a 'veteran rider'? 3-4 weeks? Most of the people I see nowadays on these rides were partying waaay longer than cycling. This is why you have these problems.
it isnt about willingness or lack thereof, its about having empirical knowledge and knowing that spoke cards wont change anything, even with roadblocks face photoshopped with a beard like moses.
take a handful of those special reflective safety spokecards and have them fly out of peoples wheels while going around a turn and watch half the pack go down after their front wheel looses traction from rolling over it.
I agree with Jonny, an announcement just before we leave La Grange and Sawtelle would do wonders for the ride. Some reminder announcements at the stops would help too. Educating the riders is a much better tact. Keep the fun, the insanity and the energy, just educate the new riders.
In my opinion, a "veteran rider" is someone who has been acknowledge by the majority of the MR community. Which normally means, you have to consistently go to rides and be smart about it.
Also kudos to Franz (yes Franz....) and the others who stayed behind at La Grange to pick up the empty beer cans, food wrappers and other trash that littered the meet spot. A few announcements about picking up trash wouldn't hurt as well. Also some of us should bring trash bags so we can clean up the areas without proper refuse receptacles.
But HOW and WHEN are we going to start actually doing something instead of just discussing it in the forum.
I say we have some sort of educational ride. Maybe entice the kiddos with some sort of respect, in regards to riding. For instance, i totally believe that these kids want to get acknowledgment from people. Isn't that why they decided to be "hipsters" and go brake less?
when i first started riding, i always wanted a spoke card because it had the ride route on the back. just in case my friends and i straggled or got a flat, we would be able to hustle, and catch up- especially if we didn't know the area.
a lot of them don't have the routes anymore and although some of the cards are pretty nifty , i think its pretty silly that people would throw a huge fit about not getting one. it reminds me of all those breakdancing and party fliers i used to tack to my wall when i was in highschool.... "majorly coooool status".
"But HOW and WHEN are we going to start actually doing something instead of just discussing it in the forum.
I say we have some sort of educational ride. Maybe entice the kiddos with some sort of respect, in regards to riding. For instance, i totally believe that these kids want to get acknowledgment from people. Isn't that why they decided to be "hipsters" and go brake less?"
Actually a LOT of discussion goes on about rides like this, which you aren't really aware of / nor do you need to worry about it because it is not really YOUR ride.
The announcements used to happen but since Harry can't ride currently things have been getting out of hand without the commanding voice of reason!
This discussion / argument is never going to end, so feel free to keep bitching about CRANK MOB. Next month you are more than welcome to get up there with a megaphone or on the soundsystem and make some announcements- but someone else will probably handle it. I will handle it if nobody steps up.
We've already had the rules/"crankmobments" on spoke cards, but it didn't help.
Crankmob's one of those "assume the risk" rides, and somebody generally ends up in an ambulance or has to go to the hospital for X-rays the next day after pretty much every one. It's not about safety, it's about having "F.U.N.", even if it's at someone else's expense, apparently.
You just hope that it's not going to be you or any of the people you know and like that goes down (which due to some perverse twist of fate it often is), and try to give the idiots plenty of room.
I mean, what do you expect when you have 250-500+ people on a ride, a large number of whom are not used to:
a) drinking heavily
b) riding their bikes in groups,
or c) drinking heavily and riding their bikes in groups?
That's the madness that is crankmob. If the benefits of rolling out with 500 ppl on a Saturday night are worth the risks, then it can be a pretty fantastic time, but if not, there are lots of other rides out there.
I just hope that if/when somebody gets severely injured/killed on this ride, it doesn't put a clampdown on all the other group rides around town.
large crowds = lots of dumb people that get even dumber as the crowd gets larger. this will never change.. if you don't enjoy being around a bunch people acting like retards, avoid large crowds. it's very simple. crank mob is a circus; enjoy it for what it is ..or don't.
Nailed. Also the part about someone dying: no matter how hard we try to make these rides safer, it is inevitable. I hope hope hope it is not on one of my rides.
Sure, It may not be MY ride, but if shits going down and its ruining people's ride I"ll obviously want to help out on the problem. Mainly due to the fact that I fucking love going on rides late at night and to have some f***tard screw that up just blows.
+1 @ your common sense jonnyboy. esp, "If no one handles it, I will step up." It really can't be so hard to SAY something, and having a megaphone means lots of people can hear you. wow, cool idea. Even if no megaphone, just talk to people. If you bring a newb with you, tell them what's what before you start riding and during the ride as well. If you see someone being stupid, talk to them (nicelike) and same goes for littering. Say something. It's not cool. All the fun can be had +much more if we just be proactive and reasonable.
i hardly ever talk about doing drugs occasionaly i talk about smoking a little weed and drinking a bit and if you wana get butt hurt about that then you might as well be pissed at eddie, the fact that i ride a bike and smoke weed is not unusal infact its quite normal id say a solid 90% of riders smoke weed and ride, its not uncommon, i have done hard drugs but i dont put other ppl in danger and the fact is.. there are only a few ppl that do take hard drugs and ride..
"You post more about weed here than bikes sometimes bro."
i have posted maybe twice about weed! so get your shit straight.. im trying to find a way to make this ride work for everyone not just you and i, im trying to think of ways to make it safe and make ppl aware, i know your a "veteran" rider but the close mindedness you have towards a ride you boast up is shocking. as a fellow rider and i look up to you and richie and alex and don and everyone and to see that you dont even wanna get something a chance is sad. i want cmob to be a ride everyone can enjoy but not doing anything about the situation at hand is not going to alow everyone to enjoy it, the girl that went to the hospital sure didnt, and now my wallet sure isnt enjoying it. i just feel like we could make things a little better if we try instead of just sitting back and saying.. it is what it is..
but hey it may be a lost cause, it may be too big for its own good but who cares right, fuck those ppl who get hurt its their fault, and fuck those ppl who get drunk and high on a biike ride, fuck em..
Next C.R.A.N.K. MOB should be labelled as the educational sober ride. We will have no liquor stops and for the first leg we will have a group of ridazz holding the front with richie at a nice slow safe pace. Im sure that would encourage alot of people just looking to get drunk either not to show up or leave after stop one. Then everyone who is actually part of our community can bust out all the beer they brought beforehand.
I'm suprised this hasn't been mentioned, but it's a way to kill two birds with one stone.
People want spoke cards, but making them pay cash for them is a no no according to some.
Leave no trace behind is a ride motto.
Solution: Don't give the spoke cards out till the end or at least at some stop along the way, and only with a turn in of some trash, for regonition of cleaning up one of the stops, or for helping some other rider out.
Do not confuse my conservative bike culture views with that of haterade, or lack of compassion. Our scene is wild and shit happens, that's part of the charm. If you don't know that riding high or drunk in a crowd is dangerous... You just said that you went to bars in high school. Would you furnish booze to a minor on these rides? No amount of spokecards or warnings will change this dangerous culture significantly in my eyes.
i remember (well vaguely) the C-Mob when we had about 8 people go down and ambulances were called and yada, yada.. that as a while ago. the C-Mob right after that spoke cards were handed out with the crank mobmandments.
who can say if it was the spoke cards, fate, god, karma - whatever, point is the next crank mob - no accidents. who knows..
but we really have to look at C-Mob as not only the biggest ride on the westside but even more-so - LA.
and by summer next year we are looking at even more numbers.
tere is nothing to "change" - you can't "change" C-Mob,it will eventually become something else that is C-Mob over time, and during that time everyone writing on this thread will still be going to this ride as more ridazz and new ridazz come out.
we enjoy the numbers - it's amazing (Windward Circle was beautiful Saturday night) - so instead of naysaying what we can do over this course of time where C-Mob is going to grow and inevitably become more a beast than it already is - let's yes say on some ideas to better our chances at walking away from this MASSIVELY EPIC ride not only body but bike intact.
People want spoke cards, but making them pay cash for them is a no no according to some.
Leave no trace behind is a ride motto.
Solution: Don't give the spoke cards out till the end or at least at some stop along the way, and only with a turn in of some trash, for regonition of cleaning up one of the stops, or for helping some other rider out.
It's something we do out here in the SGV, so I figured it might apply to bigger rides as well.
Something we've been doing for one of the rides is we have a weekly special golden date spoke cards we give out to one person half way through the rides for riding hard or whatever. You folks should come out to the Raccoons and other SGV rides more often.
Can you imagine how much trash all the 14 yr olds are going to pick up??!
I gave one of my F.U.N. spokecards away at CRANK MOB to a 15 yr old who actually came to part of my ride a long time ago, and within seconds I had a group of ten 14 year olds crowded around me.... each expecting a spokecard. They either looked really pissed or all butthurt when I said sorry, no: you were not on my ride. I specifically remember this blonde kid giving me a really dirty look, lol.
THEY NEED THEIR SPOKECARDS AND THEY NEED THEM NOW!
"I can't wait to see the look on the all 14 yr old's faces."
???
I didn't see a single one of those 14 year olds piss drunk. A little aggressive, and ballsy in riding, but to single them out as the cause for the crashes on the ride is a bit much. I've seen many more piss drunk 18-25 yr old ridazz cause bigger problems. If the kids want spoke cards, its a good thing, cause it means they showed up to ride. If they showed up for the beer that would be a different story.
the problem with making that many spoke cards is that it is really expensive and time consuming. yes, it's a nice thought to make the spoke cards for free, but is it sustainable? for the last two months, it hasn't been. that's why there havent been any spoke cards.
the reasoning behind charging is this: one spoke card costs however much, say 25cents. if for every group of four friends, one donates a dollar, we recover our costs. those who want to go the extra mile can donate additional money, which will go towards AIDS Lifecycle. It's not a lot to ask.
I think the thing that pissed people off at the pillowfight ride was that the cards had a set price. i think doing it this way would encourage newcomers to donate a dollar or two on behalf of all their friends, while the more affluent or committed would donate more.
with regard to the trash, I have the following proposition:
two months ago, I stayed behind to clean up, and ended up running into an Steve-o, who told me that they were collecting cans to buy a new sound system. This led me to the idea of having a trash-collection utility bike (shopping cart bike?). which can collect cans at each stop along the ride.
we can put this recycling money towards the type of equipment that organizers are currently paying out of pocket, such as repairs to the sound system.
WHOA hold the train. Where the hell in my post did I say ANYTHING about 14 year olds getting drunk and causing crashes?!?
And for the record, when ANYONE comes up to me demanding a spoke card with a lousy look on his face just cause he/she is at a ride, that's just fucking annoying.
If getting a spokecard is the reason someone comes to a ride, I don't want to ride with them.
ok ok ok. i'm skimming through this thread cause i'm at work.
all i'm saying is, we were all that age once. so if a kid's showing up to ride that a good thing. if a spokecard keeps them on their bike and out of trouble until they're old enough to realize its the bike they actually need, not the spokecard, then just roll with it...
whoa whoa whoa johnny...
relax man... i'm not trying to say anything about that. i understand that putting these rides together takes a lot of work and money. all i'm trying to say is not to single these youngins out.
yeah, it is expensive and time consuming. i'd pay a dollar for my favorite ride's spoke card.
and yes, it's a good idea to pass them out at the second stop. let the party warm up, and they'll be more receptive to read the crankmobmandments on the back
"ok ok ok. i'm skimming through this thread cause i'm at work.
all i'm saying is, we were all that age once. so if a kid's showing up to ride that a good thing. if a spokecard keeps them on their bike and out of trouble until they're old enough to realize its the bike they actually need, not the spokecard, then just roll with it..."
Im going to start wearing my body armour and full face helmet. I saw lots of people going down and a lot of rookies . I saw a lot of knucle heads out there smashing there beer bottles on the ground WTF. I wouldnt be surprised if the community puts a complaint to stop the rides from happening .It seems every ride we just seem to trash our streets more and more. :( so sad. we should ride for a cause .like save the tatas.
Most likely "dentstrider" would've earned that namesake by either crashing into someone and denting their frame.
Or, driving along the 40 out towards Kingman, and a rock flies from the bottom of the trailer mudflap, and dents the side panel of a vehicle to the left-rear!!!
I got hit by some dude on the same hill. Some no name kid skid his bike right into my back wheel. I hurt my shoulder in the process. I ant mad at him because he was e-braking im pissed at the people in the middle of the road who shouldnt of been stopped at the bottom of a steep hill causing all the accidents was that a stop hell no. wtf . Move bitch get out the way get out the way bitch.
HOW ABOUT THE BIGGER TASK AT HAND? MOST OF THIS THREAD IS COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW STUPID 14-16 YEAR OLDS ARE. MAYBE SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE IN THESE FUCKING PEOPLE (OBVIOUSLY). I'M TIRED OF THEM GIVING ME A BAD NAME. I AM NOT SELFISH. I AM NOT A SHITHEAD THAT CRASHES INTO OTHERS. I RESPECT OTHERS. I DON'T GO TO RIDES FOR SPOKECARDS. I LOOK FOR TRASHCANS. FUCK. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT ARE THE REASON I HAVE NO FRIENDS MY AGE. FUCK THEM. IF ONE OF THESE PEOPLE WERE TO CRASH INTO ME AND BE AN ARROGANT ASSHOLE ABOUT IT, I'M READY TO SMASH THEIR FACE IN.
I do wear a full face helmet only when im gonna smash on my geared rocket. The reason i dont sport it all the time is becasue its so fucking hot in there.
a full face helmet is great to protect your skull when you crash from wearing one and not being able to see 100%. those things lower visibility much more than a handle of jack daniels ever could.
FUCK! It took me a little bit more than an hour to catch up on this thread.But it made my day!
@Shues. They shit on your moms bed. And then again with the Mexican/Pinata thing. LAWLZ
@RBI The Calvin and Hobbes. +1
Your my favorite troll.
I think we do need to enforce the Crankmobments at the beggining of the ride. Sure we don't have Harry. And his awesome accent. But getting scolded from Fuzzbeast, AT, Richie, Johnboy or Larsen would get me to perk my ears. All these kids want are to get in it and if you address hem I'm sure, most of them would listen. As for the "Its these kids ruining it" I don't necessarily agree its more the immature people that aren't responsible. I mean I'm completely immature but responsible....so I'm not talking trash about us kiddos.
Respected underage riders.
Chynna.
Dylan.
Matty (From the Valley).
Alfredo.
Point is. get some loud speaker going and some cracking down. And the recycling idea is great.
Chyna, you don't need to apologize. It's people like you that give me hope that the younger parts of this society can and do form an integral part of the bike scene, one which we need to pay attention to, and by attention I don't mean whining about "those fucking 4 year olds".
Most of the horrible cycling was not caused by younger kids, it was adults, drunk ass adults.
This drunkenness was most evident in the span between the start and the 1st stop which was a whopping 15 minutes.
For cereal people. An announcement wouldn't hurt. It has helped in the past. However this has to come from something LOUD like a sound system. My megaphone wasn't doing much to cut over the noise at the start, and it's one of the loudest ones available (the same one B-Rad borrowed from me for funderstorm). Before we ride, let's make the announcements suggested in this thread:
"HOLD YOUR LINE / DON'T SWERVE!" <--- maybe no tricks too
"PICK UP YOUR TRASH"
"RESPECT YOUR FELLOW RIDAZZ"
"KEEP IT SLOW, IT'S NOT A RACE"
"NO RIDA LEFT BEHIND"
jonnyboy - ponytail
and debut - wearing a fullface helmet totally restricts visibility. i know youre convinced otherwise, but its cool, whatever. i wore one when i bmxd until i realized that they made me overheat before switching to a protec. if i was wearing my fullface when i broke my bike in two, i might still have my teeth, but i wouldnt have seen it coming.
a guy at orange20 came in with a road bike and wanted to buy a fullface helmet from them, because he figured a motorcycle helmet would be much safer in a crash than a bicycle helmet. he was correct in that regard, but o20 told him the same thing i am saying here - they are pointless to ride on the street because you cant properly look over your shoulder while riding.
(I didn’t read the whole thread)
I saw a bunch of riders being really rude to auto drivers and twice pounding HARD on their hoods. Reminder: it’s much more fun to be in the “fuck me!” mindset, not “fuck you”.
i escaped my generation by moving 3000 miles away.. to LA where i spent my first few years here dealing with people who were on the verge of "making it"..
i escaped the people that were on the verge of "making it" by riding my bike with the MR community where nothing is ever the same..
every ride is another episode of the television show MR.
we could recaps.. last week on the C.R.A.N.K. MOB episode of MR..
next week on the LACM / VCM episode of MR look for..
it's so much more interesting - the escape is the escape..
I'm just glad that there are people in my little sisters age bracket devoted to bicycles.
Back when I used to be part of the teenie-bopper crowd, all the people I saw at the high-school bike-rack were only itching to get their learners-permit.
And look where they are now, fat, diabetic, and the prom-queens they went out with have just let themselves go!!!!
Did I mention 4-10 kids before 25????
So while the younger generation underneath us seem to be headed for a healthy train of style, the other, unfortunate victims of sloth and boredom will be part of one of my potential, future career-paths.
I'm 25, move like I'm 15, but talk and look like I'm 40 for Chrissakes!!!
Fuck we're just glad to have MR and riders like Bentstrider, Fuzz, Eddie, BigBikeDan, etc. I look up to you guys, really I do. So much to learn. . . . ^___^
I don't even like cars anymore. I remember when my dad was teaching me how to drive I couldn't wait to get a job and start saving up for my own ride. Nowadays, I'm riding everywhere. Its faster (during rush hour), relieves stress, its healthy, and I'm saving the environment for my child/children and their generation. GO EARTH!
i didnt want to talk shit cuz im pretty new to these group rides...but new shit smells better.
I wobbled a couple of times but have never fell down. knowing how to fall or "keep ur momentum" is something valuable. I helped a kid bend his wheel back in place, later on he told me its fun riding fixed and after testing his bike it was only freewheel with no brakes... Funny but fucked up shit. I would hate to see something as fun and social as crank mob turn into a "private" affair but it sounds like thats what needs to happen. mind you my first big ride was crank mob... Fuckin aye, just too much shit going on, riding ur bike has turned into the next "kewl" thing to do. Thank god we dont smoke crack on these rides.
spoke cards on the third stop, or spoke cards at the end.
I wanted to say something positive.
You catz are some of the best party people around. FUCK THAT! YOU GUISE ARE THE BEST PARTY PEOPLE AROUND!!!!
As with anything in life...balance means everything. the lames will eventually die out. The people that take their time by organizing rides, cleaning up, planning routes, or just supporting til'the end will weed out the bullshit.
the first stop=a bunch of fucking people
as i scanned through the posts, this one summed up C.R.A.N.K. MOB most efficiently:
"We've already had the rules/"crankmobments" on spoke cards, but it didn't help.
Crankmob's one of those "assume the risk" rides, and somebody generally ends up in an ambulance or has to go to the hospital for X-rays the next day after pretty much every one. It's not about safety, it's about having "F.U.N.", even if it's at someone else's expense, apparently.
You just hope that it's not going to be you or any of the people you know and like that goes down (which due to some perverse twist of fate it often is), and try to give the idiots plenty of room.
I mean, what do you expect when you have 250-500+ people on a ride, a large number of whom are not used to:
a) drinking heavily
b) riding their bikes in groups,
or c) drinking heavily and riding their bikes in groups?
That's the madness that is crankmob. If the benefits of rolling out with 500 ppl on a Saturday night are worth the risks, then it can be a pretty fantastic time, but if not, there are lots of other rides out there.
I just hope that if/when somebody gets severely injured/killed on this ride, it doesn't put a clampdown on all the other group rides around town.
-JB"
You've hit the nail on the head here... Although there is still room for improvement in safety. The number 1 change from the organizers stand point is removing all hills. Even though the ride was posted the day of, and turns were called few blocks in advance, accidents still happened, and why? Because of people who could not control their bikes. I don't care whether or not they were drunk, it's about making the right choices.
C.R.A.N.K. MOB is wild and constantly changing. It's the ride of crazy endless fun! There's been a lot of people hating on it because why? Safety...
It comes down to this:
If you want yourself and everyone else on the ride to have a good time and be safe, then TAKE IT UPON YOURSELF to do something about it! Bring a jump rope! balloons! Squirt guns! Holler at people being unsafe!! DO NOT RELY ON 1 PERSON TO CONTROL 500 OTHERS!!!!! it will NEVER happen.
These rides are OUR rides. Not individuals' rides.
This has been a great lesson and i'm sure it's made us all wiser about ride organization and teamwork.
For those who naysayed about our food fight, you missed out on the multiple condiment concoctions with shake'n'bake and i still love you... for the most part :)
@alfredo & imachynna ive always felt how you guys do and that is part of the reason i moved out 1000 miles away when i was 17.
drunk adults and young kids who couldnt handle their bikes were equally large problems. I called people out who near hit me on a couple of occasions only to be threatened with violence. Fuck, i love C.R.A.N.K. MOB why did this one have to have such a rough start.
you know, I've been thinking,
this is not the first cmob, or the first ride of any kind, to have problems. rides will.
however, unless we ALL take it on as our responsibility to encourage some safer practices from EVERYONE, including ourselves, shit like this will keep happening.
I hardly hear anyone telling people to hold their lines, etc.. Hell, tell em BEFORE they get all swervy, make it part of the normal ride dialogue, just like "car up/back/left/right" or "HOLE!" or whatever. Even if someone isnt swerving near you, but you see it, call it out. Lead by example, be the change you want to see. Who cares if someone responds with "fuck you", keep at it, eventually people will get the picture.
For a while we had too few people calling obstacles, when more people started calling these things out, that was when it started becoming a more regular thing.
Bikes are not cars, we know this, then let's use one of our wonderful extra skills (our ability to communicate freely with each other) to make the rides better.
If you ever listen to the spandex crowd when they are in a paceline, they call shit all the time, not only obstacles, but stuff people are doing wrong.
If it is regular speech, and a part of the ride, people will be less apt to think you are personally attacking their riding skills when you tell them these things.
I'm pretty vocal on rides, and I use "Hold your line" more than anything, I rarely get talkback because people hear me using it to everyone, they don't think it's personal.
comradery is key to keeping these rides together. if someone yells slowing, stopping, car back move right, or hold your lines, it's not an insult, it doesn't mean you're not fast on your fixie, it definitely doesn't warrant a "fuck you, you have gears" back. it means you're not the only guy on this ride, and we're trying to watch out for everyone's sake, not just yours. we're the folks that didn't want to see you piled up at the bottom of a hill or get hit by a car. those warnings were for your benefit too.
changing crank mob's location was more of a wish than something i thought would be taken literally.
also, in regards to what bondink wrote about one crank mob having about 8 injuries to none on the next.... well wasn't that the "glo ride" crank mob? the one with what, 2 stops? where we sat around the pier for hours? i don't even remember if one of the stops was a "booze stop".
also, i would like to volunteer my services for the next crank mob.
fuck it, i am willing to get there early and personally go up to everyone i don't know (which will be the majority) as they show up and hand them a flyer (or a spoke card but flyers are cheaper and can get the point across as well) OR just state to them the basic rules, etc, etc.
everytime i am on a ride around santa monica, teenagers are always yelling out CRANK MOB. you know that it was either through this site, or word of mouth from 1 kid in their high school that told them about this. they probably don't know the rules
and don't know anything about our community (and that's the part i care about the most)
THE ONLY REASON I DIDN'T MOVE AWAY AFTER A FEW MONTHS OF LIVING IN CA AGAIN WAS THAT I FOUND MR.
i know you all want the bike scene to grow in LA, but if it grows in the wrong way, than what's the point. a bunch of tards on bikes are not going to help anyone get respect from motorists, the city and might ending hurting a lot of people.
SERIOUSLY, I WANT TO HELP.
and if i see that there is no solution for this, well then i'm out and that's fine.
oh and leading through example gets doesn't get you very far when everyone is too wasted to notice.
borfo- you're a pretty wild one yourself... but you are older and have been riding much longer than most of the people at CM.
the "rules" i would have liked to pass on would have been: hold your line, leave no trace, etc. i just thought that maybe having someone tell them that this is how we do it might get them to realize that they aren't.
wow what a little bitch!!!!! like 5 dudes cut me off and im not crying. like come on what do u expect from a few hundred drunk,high,ect bikers.... and let me guess you ride brakeless......?
Great ride can't wait till the next one a great job Crank Mob.To everyone else post your own ride and maybe you've have a good turn out I just hope you don't catch half the shit these guys have for just trying to give everyone a good time.
Ya know, if one tries to create a ride where decency rules are enforced, they'll receive the same amount, if not more, negativity as the ride full of hooligans.
-->
Ridazz Roulette!
lifestyle determines deathstyle.
steer clear of the black ice.
"its just a party on wheels, bro. brush it off. its like when you have a rager at your parents house in high school when they are out of town."
if you dont want to go to a high school party, dont go to a high school party.
EVEN US EXPERIENCED RIDAZZ CRASH, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BEING YOUNG, GRANTED THAT DRINKING AND/OR SMOKING POT GREATLY REDUCES YOUR ABILITY TO FUNCTION AT 100%.
True..
HOW ABOUT THE BIGGER TASK AT HAND? MOST OF THIS THREAD IS COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW STUPID 14-16 YEAR OLDS ARE. MAYBE SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE IN THESE FUCKING PEOPLE (OBVIOUSLY). I'M TIRED OF THEM GIVING ME A BAD NAME. I AM NOT SELFISH. I AM NOT A SHITHEAD THAT CRASHES INTO OTHERS. I RESPECT OTHERS. I DON'T GO TO RIDES FOR SPOKECARDS. I LOOK FOR TRASHCANS. FUCK. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT ARE THE REASON I HAVE NO FRIENDS MY AGE. FUCK THEM. IF ONE OF THESE PEOPLE WERE TO CRASH INTO ME AND BE AN ARROGANT ASSHOLE ABOUT IT, I'M READY TO SMASH THEIR FACE IN.
HEY GUYS
