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DO NOT WEAR UNDERWEAR TO CRITICAL MASS!!
DO NOT WEAR UNDERWEAR TO CRITICAL MASS!!
DO NOT WEAR UNDERWEAR TO CRITICAL MASS!!
DO NOT WEAR UNDERWEAR TO CRITICAL MASS!!
DO NOT WEAR UNDERWEAR TO CRITICAL MASS!!
DO NOT WEAR UNDERWEAR TO CRITICAL MASS!!
DO NOT WEAR UNDERWEAR TO CRITICAL MASS!!
DO NOT WEAR UNDERWEAR TO CRITICAL MASS!!
DO NOT WEAR UNDERWEAR TO CRITICAL MASS!!
DO NOT WEAR UNDERWEAR TO CRITICAL MASS!!
DO NOT WEAR UNDERWEAR TO CRITICAL MASS!!
DO NOT WEAR UNDERWEAR TO CRITICAL MASS!!
DO NOT WEAR UNDERWEAR TO CRITICAL MASS!!
DO NOT WEAR UNDERWEAR TO CRITICAL MASS!!
DO NOT WEAR UNDERWEAR TO CRITICAL MASS!!
I was going to tell you on the thread that got deleted that I like your style. We need a Zorro type figure in our society. Someone that fights for the weak and and helpless. Someone that can stick it to the repressors. Someone that can help that little old lady across the street.
SMCM has leaders and routes. It is a well-organized ride. I have wanted to incorporate some of their techniques for LACM.
SMCM stops at all red lights and stays in the right lanes too....at least while they ride in Santa Monica.
CM ain't going corporate. It never will go corporate. GAP or Coca-Cola won't be sponsoring a CM. CM is just changing to meet the challenges and the needs of the burgeoning bicycle community.
Zack Beatty, who started the Santa Monica Critical Mass , instituted changes in the philosophy of the ride. Instead of emphasizing the conflict and the protest, he promoted CM as more fun than politics.
LACM still has the protest and politics in it. I, for one, don't want that to leave the ride. It just isn't so blatant. Isn't better to clog the streets with thousands of bicycles. What kind of social or political statement would that make? The trick is to get thousands of bicyclists to join us. More people on bikes, that's all anyone really wants.
Scroll down to the middle to see a cut out of the mask. I don't know too much about Mr. Fawkes other than the Gunpowder plot failed... and people do bonfires to celebrate the king was saved. But he was also popular because of being against the government? I'm gonna read some more.
Money quote: "Feelings of inadequacy mounted, and they were in fact quite justified."
(transcript) Basically, Fawkes tries to convince Spain to go to war with England, but the king of Spain wants none of it, so he hooks up with some fellow pissed off Catholics in a plot to blow up parliament. Hilarity ensues.
frickin' cops....good to hear some of the commetary from other bystanders as they are taking down Joyce Lin. Very eye opening video, thanks for sharing!
I love double-headers, and honestly, this is a great chance for westsiders that have never done Ride Arc, and a great chance for non-westsiders to experience the thrill of SMCM. Seriously tho, do both. It's gonna be illlllll!
For those that haven't been on the SciArc ride before, just a heads up. There always seems to be at least a couple of drunk a-holes that show up for the SciArc. You'll be able to spot them pretty fast while Alex is talking to the group.. They're the ones that think what they did last night is waaaaaaaay more important than anything Alex has to say. There's no use debating them about why they should shut up cause Alex is boooorrrrrinnngggggg!!!!! Best thing to do is just make sure you get a good spot when we stop so you can hear Alex and just hope the drunks find the ride boring enough to just ride off into the dark.
The above "Alex" is Alex Amerri, LACBC board member. I, the other "Alex" in the SMCM thread, would contemplate drunkenly heckling tonight if I were not overwhelmed with work. User1 - it's RideArc, not SciArc. Amerri refuses to use any amplification, which makes it just as hard to hear him as any side conversation does. I'll tell you this, when you have a megaphone, and you keep your comments reasonably brief, people talk a lot less.
iI tend to like Alex's lecture and don't find that he goes off or rambles on. Yeah he does give his opinion, but guess what? It's his ride! I always tell people to take it or leave it and stop trying to change this or that about the ride.
I kind of like that he doesn't use a megaphone. Makes it a little more personal and intimate.
I love that he does this ride and does a great job at it too. It's for the more "intellectual rida." It's also the ride I point people to to get them started riding in a group.
Amplification would ruin ridearc. On the ridearc green building tour we stopped at a home in Venice on a quiet dark street. The owner came out on the second story balcony and told us about his home. There were about a hundred of us in the street but it was so quiet you’d be able to hear someone take a step. But there was complete silence. It was beautiful.
150 riders is not intimate. You're not going to be able to do anything intimately with 150 people. Get a mic. It's Alex's ride, no one is forced to do it and although I'd rather hear him through a mic, it's his ride and his call. If I don't like it, I can just stay home.
Gosh, Alex, it sure is great that your opinion is so strongly held that you'd be willing to force it upon the rest of the group regardless of whether they happen to agree with you and despite the fact that you are not the organizer of the ride in question. That's an excellent way to make others feel part of the community and encourage ride organizers to welcome outsiders without limit.
There does seem to be a pretty loyal following even though he doesn't like megaphones or amplification. He doesn't even like to make stops so riders can load up on booze -- imagine that!
Unless there's not enough room in this town for a ride like his, I say if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
There have been a lot of times when the police will drive up while Alex is giving his talk. They pause for a second, wave and drive off. Then there was the time we all chipped in so we could reimburse the Harbor Dept for the use of the Harbor Police who corked for us.
Chased out? Or gleefully led straight out by people who insist on immediately taking it Venice?
To paraphrase Swarm the Pier, it's like the Venice Circle is a lightbulb that all the moths are drawn to. Just once I'd like to see this ride go North or East. Up Montana perhaps? Into Brentwood? This is SMCM...there's a Venice CM at the end of the month.
I agree with you,. this ride should have stayed in Santa Monica. The police presence was unnerving. and the ten or so bicycles that made up the "lead oligarch" took the group into Venice.
@eddie
I think it was riding on the sidewalk. Not alcohol related.
+1 to keeping it in Santa Monica or heading east/north. Riding to mustache bridge was my favorite part of smcm last night, but it does seem like the route always goes the same places and ends way too abruptly.
I talked to what seemed like several people last night at ridearc that simply do not go to smcm anymore because of the problems with the po-po. The ride could just be a lot more fun.
It didn't feel like a critical mass should, because first of all there should be more people. Secondly, we should be doing circle of deaths and more canadian crosswalk type activities (provided we have greater turnout). I think we need to devise plans to quietly protest / interfere with the traffic in Santa Monica, regardless of how many people show up.
It seems like at least some people have already given up on Santa Monica Critical Mass, which saddens me greatly. The police are cracking down. I think the canadian crosswalk is a perfect example of the kinds of loopholes that we need to discover / invent. It's not illegal (is it?), but it is very fun and entertaining–not to mention it can stop up traffic just as easily as a circle of death.
Anyone have any ideas for peaceful & lawful protest that would also be fun?
It was sad that the larger ride got separated into smaller groups early on, making it easier for the SMPD to harass us. The 'reflex action" was to get out of Santa Monica quickly. We should have taken a northern or eastern route and tried to stay in Santa Monica for as long as possible, though that might have yielded more tickets and harassment by SMPD.
The ride did get smaller quickly and it did lack the exuberance and excitement of previous SMCM rides.
It just seems like the long protracted battle with Santa Monica PD is taking it's toll.
When two of the motorcycle cops pulled up to a red light side by side I stopped between them and chatted them up. They were friendly guys. I don't think there is any innate hostility, I think the individual officers are just following orders.
That's interesting because whenever we turn South they tend to leave us alone. By the time we got to Main and Pico the SMPD had totally left us alone. I think that once they have an indication that we're leaving they get tired of doing something they're really not into, call it success and move on.
My guess is that if we head South for a little while, or take the bike path like last month, then we can probably return North and be relatively unnoticed.
Last month, the strategy of taking the beach bike path and popping up south on Main St definitely keep the ride together and we successfully eluded the SMPD. We should probably use a similar tactic next month.
I am sure the motorcycle cops are only "following orders", that doesn't mean the orders are ethical, moral or lawful. The famous Nuremberg Trials Defense of "I was just following orders" did not exonerate the lower echelon from complicity.
My immediate observation of the situation last night, and I was riding next to Franz, is that the SMPD are out to harass the riders, not to enforce the laws.
"My guess is that if we head South for a little while, or take the bike path like last month, then we can probably return North and be relatively unnoticed." (Alex)
I think that's a great idea. It worked really well and the ride turned out to be a lot of fun
I'm not sure what all the crying is about the po po. You act like they are violating your civil rights. They're there to do their job and following orders from higher ups. And from the looks of last Fridays ride, their kicking ass on SMCM. They're dictating where you're going and you guys are leaving town faster than a dead beat dad 6 months behind on child support! Great strategy guys! Now you guys want to take the bike trail and leave town via the back door. Nice! Why don't guys just call it a different ride? You're embarrassing the CM community.
The strategy should be to fight every fucking BS ticket and make youtube videos after the case has reached it's successful conclusion. Use the videos to should how wasteful the tax payers money is being spent trying to control this ride. Show the number of officers dedicated to controlling a relativity small group of bike rides on the road. By small, I mean around a 100 or so ridazz. The impact on these videos would be the greatest if it shown that the tickets were successfully beat in the end. Much like the video seen recently regarding the NYCM ridazz. Don't have these videos titled "Santa Monica Critical Mass vs LAPD" or some crap like that, cause you've just made it a us verse them with the people you're trying to reach. The people you're trying to reach couldn't give a f**k about the CM ride, but they do give a f**k about their tax money being wasted. Title the videos something like "Santa Monica Money Dump" or something that gets every tax payer to say, "hey why are we using our resources for this crap?" The people you are wanting to get on your side don't give a shit about SMCM, they are concerned about their money though. And as was pointed out before, show that bikes are part of solution, not part of the problem.
Now to the last Fridays ride....... WTF was that? You guys ride for 6 miles and call it a day???? It's was like a tour of our favorite (or only spots). All the greatest hits were visited, just like the previous ride and the one before that, and the one before that. B line out of SM to Main St, to Abbot Kenny Blvd, to the traffic circle, to the bridge. What happened to SM? Westwood? Culver City? Hell, I know I'm missing a handful of surrounding towns we could of hit. You're losing ridazz cause you are rolling ALWAYS in the same places, not because of cops. I know one thing, another ride like the last one and you've lost at least one rida.
Finally, I love puppies and ponies! I also love butterflies too!!!!!
i usually don't agree with USER1, but on this last post. I hope you SMCM folks take his advice. If you lose this one, you are losing it for all the CM rides around the country. Every time one is successfully beatin back, it a lose for all who advocate for CM rides.
I would make a suggestion to start having the rides a different date every month. Then they won't know if your coming out to ride or not. At least you will be able to see if they are monitoring the Web sites or not.
We've gotta keep this ride fun, regardless of police presence. I like all the ideas so far. Potential quick ride down the path to ditch the chubby coppers, alleyways of Santa Monica, stroll through Montana Ave, a visit to OJ's mansion (heck of a climb though), SM City Hall front lawn late night sports. Bring soccer/volley/foot/tennis, any kind of ball that you can play sports with.
Someone bring a beachball like they did that one time.
Alex from Ride-Arc does need a megaphone. How else are the people in the back going to hear? Only if it is dead silent, which is rare, can you manage to speak without amplification.
Why are there so many people named "Alex" that ride bikes? I'm thinking of changing my name to Alex.
This is how Critical Mass should be. Nearly 80,000 bicyclists converged on the city center, where 52 years ago Hungarians once faced Soviet tanks. Maybe it is their yearning to be free and their determination to do what is their moral right. Budapest authorities and police did not intervene, arrest or cite one single rider...including the tall bikes.
One day we will be this free...until then we can dream and quietly cheer the Budapest Spring Critical Mass.
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Ridazz Roulette!
Last month we ditched the cops.
DO NOT WEAR UNDERWEAR TO CRITICAL MASS!!
Here's your spoke card.
I like the mask idea too...
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That post hits the nail on the head with SM.
...
FOR THE WIN!
FTW V.2!!!
WOAH! Are those Wolfpack tats??? Hardcore.
It was sad that the larger ride got separated into smaller groups early on, making it easier for the SMPD to harass us. The 'reflex action" was to get out of Santa Monica quickly. We should have taken a northern or eastern route and tried to stay in Santa Monica for as long as possible, though that might have yielded more tickets and harassment by SMPD.