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Thread Box:
Message to CITY COUNCIL and the LAPD
Thread started by Roadblock at 05.3.09 - 11:16 am

it's actually very simple. If you want the group rides to stop.... build bicycle infrastructure. This is not a threat it is common sense. In other parts of the world such as The Netherlands, group bicycle rides are practically non-existent. Why? because the streets are so safe for bike riders that bike riding is no longer a novelty but just another form of transit. make riding a bicycle a normal part of our lives and we'll find something else to do besides ride in giant groups.

reply


OH HAI

^^^TRU

dat is awl



Knittens
05.3.09 - 3:21 pm

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In that case, fuck bicycle infrastructure.



PC
05.3.09 - 3:39 pm

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words spoken by a true man.

+1 PC



Frozen Fingersss
05.3.09 - 3:44 pm

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+10^12 for PC



Gav
05.3.09 - 3:51 pm

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Roadblock, that is an awesome retort to stupid articles about how troublesome bike riders are on the streets.



ubrayj02
05.3.09 - 5:17 pm

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"In that case, fuck bicycle infrastructure.

PC
05.3.09 - 6:39 pm"

I wouldn't worry PC, at the rate things are progressing we've got a lot of group rides ahead of us.



mr rollers
05.3.09 - 5:22 pm

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...except that it's bullshit. Group rides will continue in LA because group rides are fun.

Publicly taking a bullshit position just because it's snappy is something you should think very very carefully about.



PC
05.3.09 - 5:23 pm

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^^^That was a response to ubrayj, not Rollers.



PC
05.3.09 - 5:24 pm

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Maybe the position needs to be refined a bit, something like, "Part of the reason that groups rides are popular, aside from the obvious fact that they are fun, is because they give cyclists a feeling of empowerment and a sense of security that they otherwise lack in a city that gives priority to automobile infrastructure and the resulting attitude of many car drivers (including law enforcement officials) that bicyclists don't belong on the streets."



mr rollers
05.3.09 - 5:35 pm

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while the statement does need refinement, it's not a bullshit position at all and it's not meant to be snappy. it's completely pragmatic. I've traveled abroad and talked about Midnight Ridazz and group rides with cyclists in europe and when I tell them about our ride, the general feeling I hear is "why? it's not special to ride bikes, to us it's a normal part of life."



Roadblock
05.3.09 - 5:56 pm

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and to what Rollers said... we dont have to worry about bicycle infrastructure calming group rides down for a long long time....



Roadblock
05.3.09 - 5:58 pm

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PC you'd have to define what "fun" is.



Roadblock
05.3.09 - 6:02 pm

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Fucker, you're in material breach.



PC
05.3.09 - 6:19 pm

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can you please define "material breach"?



Roadblock
05.3.09 - 6:24 pm

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HA!





la duderina
05.3.09 - 6:40 pm

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Material Breach: What Roadblock is in.



PC
05.3.09 - 6:46 pm

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I'm with Roadblock, and I'm sorry if I trivialized what he said by making it sound only like a snappy comeback. I think it is the truth, and once we've got the city we're fighting for, there will likely still be group rides, but it won't need to be where everyone gets educated about the best way to ride, the right bike to have, etc. I got most of my knowledge through Bike Oven and Midnight Ridazz people I've worked with over years. I can pass on that knowledge in a packaged form to loads of people without them having to get it from years of experience. Roadblock is right, we won't need group rides (though we'll likely still have them) to pass on our culture when functional parts of our culture are part of mainstream society.



ubrayj02
05.3.09 - 7:12 pm

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I don't think that making anything safer will make these LA yuppies give up their mercedes for a bicycle. I think LA is one town in which the car will always remain dominant, no matter how many sharrows, etc we have. Therefore, these group rides will always remain a novelty.

Ride on MR, ride on.



onelessfixie
05.3.09 - 7:16 pm

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I don't think large, group rides will be affected in any way what-so-ever.
I mean, people still drive cars and have massive get-together's where they all show off and drive their cars/motorcycles in hordes.

Rt.66 Rendezvous is too car-enthusiasts as 2nd Friday MR is to all of us here.

Or, Sturgis Bike-week is to drunk, Harley enthusiasts as CRANK Mob is to drunk, fixed-gear enthusiasts!!!



bentstrider
05.3.09 - 7:21 pm

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yeah but those rendezvous occur what annually? how often? we roll EVERY NIGHT. whaaaatttt!



Roadblock
05.3.09 - 7:30 pm

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and don't be scared.... it will be a LONG FUCKING TIME before this becomes even an inkling of an issue. until then I will throw up in the face of anyone of these council members and LAPD who whine about it.



Roadblock
05.3.09 - 7:34 pm

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Brayj, you didn't have to trivialize Roadblock's statement. It trivialized itself, by virtue of being malarkey.



PC
05.3.09 - 7:35 pm

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well you havent given any reasons why it is malarkey. you are in breach of explanation.

explain why places with such high bicycle ridership (like the netherlands, denmark etc) is not poppin off harder than LA the car capitol of the world. then maybe you will have credibility in your rebuttal to my argument.



Roadblock
05.3.09 - 7:39 pm

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Just generalizing, but then there's the countless legions of Paul Walker/Vin Diesel fan-boys that strap annoyingly loud, fart-cannons to their truck//import pipes.




bentstrider
05.3.09 - 7:40 pm

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I think it is important that I say stop by and say "Hi" to everybody on this thread.

Nuff said!



CryBaby
05.3.09 - 7:46 pm

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I've traveled abroad and talked about Midnight Ridazz and group rides with cyclists in europe and when I tell them about our ride, the general feeling I hear is "why? it's not special to ride bikes, to us it's a normal part of life."

The most boring group rides I have ever been on is when it they have gone down stretches of Class I Bike routes. Orange Line, LA's Riverpath, and Burbanks Chandler path........YAWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually the last few times I rode those routes by myself I didn't even feel safe.



sexy
05.3.09 - 8:00 pm

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explain why places with such high bicycle ridership (like the netherlands, denmark etc) is not poppin off harder than LA the car capitol of the world.

Oh, I don't know...could it be that places like Amsterdam and Copenhagen are, in a great number of ways, just not like LA at all? That they're not spread out like LA? That they're not ethnically, demographically, topographically, climatically diverse like LA? That they don't have thousands and thousands of square miles of mixed-up neighborhoods and natural features to explore by bike? That they're not economically dependent to a large degree upon the entertainment industry, which attracts thousands of young would-be writers, musicians, actors, and graphic artists every year, and thus they don't have a humongous surplus of energy and creativity to draw on for a (hypothetical) social bike culture? That they don't have mild weather all year round? That they aren't smack in the middle of the same Southern California that popularized skateboarding culture, hot rod culture, surfing culture, punk culture, even gang culture? That their streets, public spaces, and neighborhoods are more conducive to healthy social interaction than Los Angeles's, for reasons not having much in particular to do with cycling or cycling infrastructure? Just a thought.



PC
05.3.09 - 8:48 pm

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True, large motorized vehicular transportation is not going away anytime soon. That's not even necessarily our goal here. What I think most of us want to see is the acceptance of bicycles as a viable means of transportation with appropriate infrastructure and civil rights.

The main reason most people give for not riding bicycles is their perception that it's not safe. Plain and simple, large group rides help change that perception for the people that participate in them by not only giving them a sense of enjoyment, but also a sense of safety.

Let me also throw in that I don't know about group rides in Europe, but they do have the huge group roller skating group every Friday night in Paris, which even though it's sanctioned by the city sounds quite similar to MR.



mr rollers
05.3.09 - 8:52 pm

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Oh, if only those lousy Parisian politicians would create more rollerskate infrastructure. We could get rid of those group skate rides like THAT!

(*snaps fingers*)



PC
05.3.09 - 8:55 pm

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(*bangs angrily on lectern*)



PC
05.3.09 - 8:55 pm

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I agree that there are many reasons for the explosion of group rides here in LA, but the safety-in-numbers factor is definitely a big one. I have no idea how our bike culture would change with more bike-friendly streets (HA!), but I do maintain that group bike rides are a completely legitimate use of public roads, and I'll fight for them if there's ever a clampdown.



angle
05.3.09 - 10:22 pm

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+1 PC.



mk4524
05.3.09 - 11:01 pm

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Roadblock is right. And you don't even need to reference some European city to prove it. Even in San Francisco group rides are not popular because so many people ride - it's just how a large part of the population commutes and that is because they totally have infrastructure in place to support it - all those things that we are trying to get here, like more and wider bike lanes, sharrows, and general understanding that bikes are road-legal vehicles.





kryxtanicole
05.3.09 - 11:58 pm

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isn't SF where critical mass originated, though?





la duderina
05.4.09 - 12:00 am

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CM, yes, but that's a monthly somewhat-political ride. They also have Cyclecide - amazing - but there is an absence of the MR-style party rides and beyond.



kryxtanicole
05.4.09 - 12:04 am

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They have infrastructure in Portland--they even have those sainted bike paths that some of you think are such a panacea--and they have group rides and a thriving freak bike scene there. Could it be, folks...seriously, could it beeeeeeee...that things in the real world sometimes don't involve simple inverse relationships?



PC
05.4.09 - 12:05 am

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Houston is pathologically bike-hostile, but there's no giant social bike scene there on the scale of Midnight Ridazz et al. Could it beee...could it beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...that there are cultural and other differences between LA and Houston that could further complicate efforts to reduce the bike infrastructure / group ride relationship to a bumper sticker slogan? :)



PC
05.4.09 - 12:08 am

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The netherlands is just ONE example. I've been to 14 countries in europe and its pretty diverse everywhere you go. Even in the netherlands.

But you do make a good point about LA having creative people and that having an influence... but you basically made my point - thrice..

First Creative people are attracted to unconventional things - like riding bikes in big groups in the car capitol of the world.

And I'm glad you mentioned skateboarding and punk music too.... as a life long skateboarder I remember when skateboard was cool - when there wasn't a video game and when espn didn't commercialize it AND when you had to hunt down skate spots and get chased by guards for shredding buildings. Now skateboarding is for lames and little kids. There are parks everywhere and you have to wear helmets and basically be a little dorky jock. Skateboarding became normalized for the most part.

Same thing with punk music. Now that orange county has churned out screamo bands with no message at all, all the jocks and lames are into a ripped off watered down message-less mundane music. Punk is now happy and mainstream and lame. Its no longer a novelty.

And point three - the rollerskate ride in paris. Yup notice that its an unconventional way of getting around? Its probably 200 times the size of paris cm.

What else oh yeah SF. Well when SF was invented the did NOT have the bicycle infrastructure they do now thus once again proving my point.

Oh and houston? Well it took all the way up until 8 creative types in LA decided to roll out for the spark to happen so give houston a chance to wake up....





Roadblock
05.4.09 - 1:00 am

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In other words.... its all about the novelty.

If there is no novelty the group moves on to something else.

Make it so bicycle riding is no longer a novelty - like what happened with punk and skateboarding - and the "scene" will move on to something that has novelty. In other words something that is FUN like rollerskate rides 5000 deep in paris.





Roadblock
05.4.09 - 1:02 am

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as a life long skateboarder I remember when skateboard was cool


skateboarding was never cool.


But +1 to the point you were making anyway!



la duderina
05.4.09 - 1:08 am

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Ha you made my point for me. You are too young to have experienced skateboarding when it actually was cool! Bammo next.



Roadblock
05.4.09 - 1:10 am

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no, man, it was never cool because BMX was always cooler. Right from the get-go. der.



la duderina
05.4.09 - 1:12 am

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You were born what 1986? 87? By the time you were 6 skateboarding was already on the way out. GTFO



Roadblock
05.4.09 - 1:14 am

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So to further refine my statement based on proof positive provided by my man PC:

Dear city council and LAPD, if you want to stop the group rides, then remove the novelty of riding bicycles by building so much bicycle infrastucture it becomes a normal mundane form of transit.



Roadblock
05.4.09 - 1:19 am

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how could it be on the way out, if it was never IN? is what I am trying to say.

this isn't an age thing. This is a BMX vs. skateboarding thing. relax yourself.

I'm just, as a bmxer, fulfilling my duty of talking shit on skateboarders, that is all.

I don't want to be in breach of my duties! Substantial performance is not enough!



la duderina
05.4.09 - 1:21 am

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Yeah, well bombing down steep ass hills in Western Flyer wagons was cool, until I became one with the wagon handle!!!!



bentstrider
05.4.09 - 1:21 am

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And bmxers got their respect as far as trick hairiness. But all the great artists and filmakers came from skateboarding culture. Bmxers had no taste.

Who is the spike jones of bmx? No one. Who was the dog town and z boys of bmx? No one. Who is the jason lee and chris pastras of bmx? Who was the tommy guererro and stacy peralta of bmx No one. Bmxers were wearing flourescent motocross type shit. Haha gtfo



Roadblock
05.4.09 - 1:24 am

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Duderina, if you weren't there to experience it then you would never know if it was cool or not. Don't get your bike shorts in a bunch I'm mostly joking.

Who was the david carson of bmx? No one. Transworld and Raygun magazine influenced design culture for decades....

Hey but bmx was always respected for the difficulty of the tricks. Motherfuckers would show up at ramps and impress but they still acted like dorks. Hahah



Roadblock
05.4.09 - 1:28 am

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Just wanted to swing by and say that I've thought about this argument, and the future or non-future of group riding in LA a lot, and I think RB is closest to the truth, and that PC is WRONG

AGAIN.

I won't actually explain my thoughts cause fuck that shit I'm tired.

Also, BMX = Bowel Movement Ten. Just thought of that - I should be a writer (of acronyms)

Okay? Thank you, goodbye.



Alex Thompson
05.4.09 - 1:33 am

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Are you kidding me with that? OMG...have you seen the fixie culture surrounding you???!!

ALL influenced by BMX!

Jumpin Jimmy Pratt??!!

Gary Ellis??!!!

I would drop more names if I had time, but this shit goes back to the SIXTIES man, the SIXTIES!!!

and I have to study.






la duderina
05.4.09 - 1:34 am

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Y'all some NERDS

Trust me - I know what they talk like - and that's how yer talkin

Also

My period and comma keys are broken - makes it hard to write

Go back to work BMX nerd!



Alex Thompson
05.4.09 - 1:36 am

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Looks like we could all use the 12 step program.



bentstrider
05.4.09 - 1:37 am

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but you basically made my point - thrice..

I've done nothing of the sort. Please pay attention. Here we go...

First Creative people are attracted to unconventional things - like riding bikes in big groups in the car capitol of the world.

Indeed they are. And no matter how many bike paths you manage to cause to be built, LA is not going to stop being the car-culture capitol of the world any time soon. And note that spending one's Friday or Saturday night on a big group bike ride with friends, rather than in a bar or nightclub or cocooned at home with the S.O. and a rented DVD, is not exactly conventional in any city that I can think of, and not likely to become noticeably more conventional in LA even if they do build the Expo Line Bike Path.

And I'm glad you mentioned skateboarding and punk music too.... as a life long skateboarder I remember when skateboard was cool - when there wasn't a video game and when espn didn't commercialize it AND when you had to hunt down skate spots and get chased by guards for shredding buildings. Now skateboarding is for lames and little kids. There are parks everywhere and you have to wear helmets and basically be a little dorky jock. Skateboarding became normalized for the most part.

Yes...erm, so quite a few people ride skateboards these days, you say, then? The ol' skateboarding thing hasn't quite vanished into obscurity, has it? The ease of skateboarding in these times hasn't exactly caused skateboarding as a phenomenon to vanish into the ether, yes? Eh? That's what you're saying, then? Yes? Lots of folks scooting around on the skateboards, are they? Yeah? Skateboarding not dead despite the existence of things like skate parks--"infrastructure," you could even call these things--correct? Right? That's what you're saying, right?

Because frankly, I'm having a hard time seeing how that even remotely proves your point.

Same thing with punk music. Now that orange county has churned out screamo bands with no message at all, all the jocks and lames are into a ripped off watered down message-less mundane music. Punk is now happy and mainstream and lame. Its no longer a novelty.

Yes...erm, so quite a few persons listen to the punk rock nowadays, then, is it? The ready availability of punk music and punk-ish attire, far from causing punk to vanish from the face of the earth, has resulted in a goodly number of !@#$? sapiens slooshying the ol' punk, then, yes? Eh? That's what you're saying? The fact that it's no longer difficult to read about, hear, or observe punk music and punk culture, instead of making the entire population of Gaia spurn all things punk, has instead resulted in a positive explosion in the numbers of folks listening to the punk tunes and attending the punk hootenannies, non? The existence of a record and concert industry eager to provide a venue for punk musicians to play punkishly to punk fans--the existence, that is to say, of what one might call an "infrastructure"--hasn't made the punk phenomenon disappear? Yeah? Hmm? That's what you're saying? Right?

Because, see, this would rather seem to militate against the idea that making it easier to do stuff causes fewer people to do stuff.

And point three - the rollerskate ride in paris. Yup notice that its an unconventional way of getting around? Its probably 200 times the size of paris cm.

Indeed, I do notice that it's an unconventional way of getting around--just as riding a bicycle in Los Angeles is an unconventional way of getting around today, and (here it comes) just as riding a bicycle in Los Angeles will be an unconventional way of getting around tomorrow. Because I don't know whether you've noticed, but LA's built environment is such that a lot of stuff is really quite far apart, and this will continue to be the case even after the Bike Fairy pulls millions of dollars in funding out of his ass, solves all the right-of-way issues, and builds you a bunch of bike paths.

Barring a radical change in human nature, average folks in LA will continue to favor motorized transportation, whether public or private, for a good many of their daily trips well into the future. Oh, sure, if we get the changes we want, more people will make more trips by bicycle, but the average lazyass isn't going to start riding fifteen miles each way to work every day. Or were you expecting the Bike Fairy to pull European-style city centers and home-to-work proximity out of his ass also?

What else oh yeah SF. Well when SF was invented the did NOT have the bicycle infrastructure they do now thus once again proving my point.

Proving your point? Your point that bicycle infrastructure makes group rides go away? Yes, I suppose so. What a disappointment it was last time I went to San Francisco and found that Critical Mass had disappeared.



PC
05.4.09 - 1:40 am

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Wow, that'll be really easy to read. Nice work fucking up the italics tags there, Pee.

Let's try that again...



PC
05.4.09 - 1:41 am

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but you basically made my point - thrice..

I've done nothing of the sort. Please pay attention. Here we go...

First Creative people are attracted to unconventional things - like riding bikes in big groups in the car capitol of the world.

Indeed they are. And no matter how many bike paths you manage to cause to be built, LA is not going to stop being the car-culture capitol of the world any time soon. And note that spending one's Friday or Saturday night on a big group bike ride with friends, rather than in a bar or nightclub or cocooned at home with the S.O. and a rented DVD, is not exactly conventional in any city that I can think of, and not likely to become noticeably more conventional in LA even if they do build the Expo Line Bike Path.

And I'm glad you mentioned skateboarding and punk music too.... as a life long skateboarder I remember when skateboard was cool - when there wasn't a video game and when espn didn't commercialize it AND when you had to hunt down skate spots and get chased by guards for shredding buildings. Now skateboarding is for lames and little kids. There are parks everywhere and you have to wear helmets and basically be a little dorky jock. Skateboarding became normalized for the most part.

Yes...erm, so quite a few people ride skateboards these days, you say, then? The ol' skateboarding thing hasn't quite vanished into obscurity, has it? The ease of skateboarding in these times hasn't exactly caused skateboarding as a phenomenon to vanish into the ether, yes? Eh? That's what you're saying, then? Yes? Lots of folks scooting around on the skateboards, are they? Yeah? Skateboarding not dead despite the existence of things like skate parks--"infrastructure," you could even call these things--correct? Right? That's what you're saying, right?

Because frankly, I'm having a hard time seeing how that even remotely proves your point.

Same thing with punk music. Now that orange county has churned out screamo bands with no message at all, all the jocks and lames are into a ripped off watered down message-less mundane music. Punk is now happy and mainstream and lame. Its no longer a novelty.

Yes...erm, so quite a few persons listen to the punk rock nowadays, then, is it? The ready availability of punk music and punk-ish attire, far from causing punk to vanish from the face of the earth, has resulted in a goodly number of !@#$? sapiens slooshying the ol' punk, then, yes? Eh? That's what you're saying? The fact that it's no longer difficult to read about, hear, or observe punk music and punk culture, instead of making the entire population of Gaia spurn all things punk, has instead resulted in a positive explosion in the numbers of folks listening to the punk tunes and attending the punk hootenannies, non? The existence of a record and concert industry eager to provide a venue for punk musicians to play punkishly to punk fans--the existence, that is to say, of what one might call an "infrastructure"--hasn't made the punk phenomenon disappear? Yeah? Hmm? That's what you're saying? Right?

Because, see, this would rather seem to militate against the idea that making it easier to do stuff causes fewer people to do stuff.

And point three - the rollerskate ride in paris. Yup notice that its an unconventional way of getting around? Its probably 200 times the size of paris cm.

Indeed, I do notice that it's an unconventional way of getting around--just as riding a bicycle in Los Angeles is an unconventional way of getting around today, and (here it comes) just as riding a bicycle in Los Angeles will be an unconventional way of getting around tomorrow. Because I don't know whether you've noticed, but LA's built environment is such that a lot of stuff is really quite far apart, and this will continue to be the case even after the Bike Fairy pulls millions of dollars in funding out of his ass, solves all the right-of-way issues, and builds you a bunch of bike paths.

Barring a radical change in human nature, average folks in LA will continue to favor motorized transportation, whether public or private, for a good many of their daily trips well into the future. Oh, sure, if we get the changes we want, more people will make more trips by bicycle, but the average lazyass isn't going to start riding fifteen miles each way to work every day. Or were you expecting the Bike Fairy to pull European-style city centers and home-to-work proximity out of his ass also?

What else oh yeah SF. Well when SF was invented the did NOT have the bicycle infrastructure they do now thus once again proving my point.

Proving your point? Your point that bicycle infrastructure makes group rides go away? Yes, I suppose so. What a disappointment it was last time I went to San Francisco and found that Critical Mass had disappeared.





PC
05.4.09 - 1:42 am

reply


PC - get a blog

(when are you gonna take your own advice? It would actually be cool to read! Have you read Mixtemotions blog? So great!)



Alex Thompson
05.4.09 - 1:42 am

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What?! Skateboarders and hipster are getting into fixed gear foo! Bmxers are still holding out complaining about ONELESSFIXIE!


Ahahahahaha

Get due fugg out!!!



Roadblock
05.4.09 - 1:43 am

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I give up. Can we get some quote function infrastructure here so that we don't have to do that shit anymore? Hey, if your theory is right, it will make me stop posting because posting will be easy.



PC
05.4.09 - 1:44 am

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Mixte has a blog? WHAT? I pretty much gave up on cyberstalking her when she set her Twitter updates to private.



PC
05.4.09 - 1:45 am

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RB, if you can manage to slog through my fucked up post, please do so. You'll see that you've actually disproved your own point pretty hilariously.



PC
05.4.09 - 1:47 am

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Here's her blog - I'd hyper link it but the angle bracket keys are broken

http://mixtemotions.wordpress.com/

It's my favorite Rida blog of all to tell you the truth



Alex Thompson
05.4.09 - 1:50 am

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Punk is mainstream and no longer the rebellious thing to do for the "cool kids" the tastemakers the rabble rousers the inovators..... its mainstream its everywhere.

Right now group rides, though huge in our minds, are not the mainstream. Its still an outlawish FUN thing to do. And its why the cops hate us. Cause were unconventional. When it becomes mainstream to ride a bike, then the small group tastemakers move on.

Fuck why am I on my lousy cellphone writing this shit. I can't make my point clear enough....

And punk music is mainstream so much so that its in the spurmarket cause everyone is into it. Punk no longer inspires one to throw a molotov cocktail into a gap, its playing INSIDE the gap.

Fuck this ill answer you better tomorrow. Best be prepared for my righteous onslaught. God dammit I gotta work too.



Roadblock
05.4.09 - 1:51 am

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Also - there is nothing hilarious about 100 words or more - just ask any professor at Joke University



Alex Thompson
05.4.09 - 1:52 am

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All I gotta say PC, is that in saying that I disproved my own point about you proving my point - you re-proved my point!



Roadblock
05.4.09 - 1:54 am

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RB, if you can manage to slog through my fucked up post, please do so. You'll see that you've actually disproved your own point pretty hilariously.


It's true, I just forum orgasmed allll over PC's post.



onelessfixie for life.


now stop being so god damned entertaining people so I can stop avoiding work.


RB, if you could block me, seriously, that would be great. For reals




la duderina
05.4.09 - 1:54 am

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I just need to throw this computer out of the window.

I have a computer that MR is blocked on. but this one is right here.



la duderina
05.4.09 - 1:56 am

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La Duderina

You are failing to attain HULK status and whining about it

Does a lack of primary punctuation keys prevent me from attaining HULK status on the regular? NO! I DO WHAT I WANT!

The HULK is not introspective and is excellent at law

Be more HULK less Dude

Less weed more anger

Less unwashed more green

This forum is post-pre-post-HULK status - - - troubling



Alex Thompson
05.4.09 - 1:59 am

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Shut your fucking computer off read books dummy!

^^^4 reals



Alex Thompson
05.4.09 - 2:00 am

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Don't even try to hulkjack this thread foo.



Roadblock
05.4.09 - 2:04 am

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@RB: Infrastructure made skateboarding mainstream. There's more of it. Yet there are still street skaters doing their own thing like in the old days but updated.

Infrastructure made punk mainstream. There's more of it. You can get it at the mall. Yet there are still punks making organic punk culture with house shows and zines, very much like the old days but updated.

Mainstreaming/infrastructure didn't kill skateboarding or punk for the masses *or* for the counterculture. To be sure, the counterculture is full of different faces now, but it didn't go away.

Mainstream skateboarding and punk are bigger than ever. Underground skateboarding and punk are as big as ever. It didn't work the way you think it should work. You're wrong. Boo ya. Partial performance at best. Uncured material motherfucking breach.

@AT: His disproval of his own point was hilarious, not my pointing out of it. My professor at Joke U told me to read sentences carefully before commenting (hilariously) on them.



PC
05.4.09 - 2:06 am

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It's done

I've hijacked it

such is the disturbing power of HULKs

The longshoreman is dozing

The 1L is reading

It's just you and me - - - and I'm about HULK SMASH on some dozing too



Alex Thompson
05.4.09 - 2:06 am

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Awww fucking longshoreman posting in his dozing

There's nothing funny about reading carefully PC

Petty Cure!



Alex Thompson
05.4.09 - 2:07 am

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I'm still awake. But you and duderina have at it. I'm off to read Mixte's blog. Man, her writing style here and there couldn't be more different. I wonder if I have to have a Wordpress to leave comments? Hmmmmm? Lesseeeee.....



PC
05.4.09 - 2:08 am

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Right PC? She exposed a new side of her writing and further - a skill for presenting different Mixtes - - - it's like a Mixte Expo!



Alex Thompson
05.4.09 - 2:13 am

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Homie, do you see skateboarders - as many of them as there are - shredding buildings like they used to? No. They now shred skateparks like little dorks in diapers. Shredding building is the equivalent as group rides in bicycle culture - the outlaw type shit and skateboarders don't get out there and destroy property like they used to because there is infrastucture - which drew out the mainstream. Now moms take their kids to the parks. Sure its bigger but its also TAME. Which is my point that you so elequently made for me yet again.

If ya want to TAME cycling culture then BUILD infrastructure.

Thankyou good night.





Roadblock
05.4.09 - 2:17 am

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On the topic of skateparks, the Victor Valley is still left with one, sole skatepark up here to serve a region that is too spread-out and full of traffic mishaps to skate to.

So as far as kids not grinding off of public buildings, it still happens quite frequently up here, Hell, I'm forced to turn these kids away from the high school knowing there are few places for them to legally go.

Funny thing though, before the population exploded up here in '00/'02, there were actually three separate parks serving Hesperia, Apple Valley and Victorville respectively.

But, just as families with eager kids move up here for cheaper housing, the PTB yank the licenses from these facilities and purposely add to the ever-growing lists of "boredom-induced" crime up here.



bentstrider
05.4.09 - 2:24 am

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AT pondres (sic) UNTAMING tame



Alex Thompson
05.4.09 - 2:24 am

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I'm seeing a pattern in my life...... skateboarding - tamed - move on - hardcore music - tamed - move on - graffiti - tamed - move on wolfpack hustle NEVER GONNA BE TAMED NEVER GONNA MOVE ON.



Roadblock
05.4.09 - 2:27 am

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I'm am gonna get a mouth full from all the bmxers that ride wolfpack hustle when they get wind of all my shit talking hahahah



Roadblock
05.4.09 - 2:30 am

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Are you kidding me? Maybe it's not you and your friends anymore, maybe it's not the same spots anymore, but it still goes on. Believe me. And again, you're trying to cram the ambiguities of the real world into some dumbass formula.

How about this: down here in San Pedro a bunch of skaters--some of them guys in their thirties and forties who have been shredding forever, and some of them young kids--got tired of being chased off of people's private property and they built a skatepark straight guerilla style under the Harbor Freeway. This was literally an outlaw act; they didn't have permits or anybody's blessing, they just did it. After the fact, and after some back-and-forth between them and the cops and Caltrans and the city, the authorities gave them their (sorta) blessing, and the Channel Street Skate Park exists to this day as a semi-legitimate piece of skateboarding *infrastructure*. And yes, parents drop their kids off there. So is this mainstream, or is it underground? It's mainstream in that you're in no danger of getting ticketed or arrested if you skate there, but it wouldn't exist if there weren't still a big enough culture of outlaw skaters to build it in the first place. (And you don't have to wear a helmet if you don't want to.)

So...after all that...at long last...again...could it beeeeee, could it possibly beeeeee, that things are not as simple as your world view seems to demand that they be? Hmm?



PC
05.4.09 - 2:31 am

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And if you don't give us some quote function infrastructure in here PRONTO, my buddies and I are going to break in and build it ourselves. 'Cause we're underground like that.



PC
05.4.09 - 2:33 am

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Hahah

Yeah man I'm speaking in generalities. Of course there will always be outlaw groups even after LA becomes bicycle utopia. Don't let the exceptions prove the rule.

Actually to address your point about LA being too spread out and people never abandoning the car, I think you are wrong on that too. I'm already abandoning my car almost completely and in fact localizing my life because of it. Even though I am quintuple HULK status cubed (read: wolfpack hustle status) and can ride anywhere in the city I'm not leaving my general 5 miles radius - which is exactly like the netherlands is organized. Its not like the netherlands is much diffferent in size than LA. Travelling from city center hollywood to northridge, which has its own city center is a lot like travelling by bike from amsterdam to the hague. After enough infrastructure is put in for bicycles, la will start to seem more like what it is, a country made up of small cities. People WILL start localizing their lives and cities WILL start becoming more distinct from each other. Stronger city vcenters will develop in places like north hollywood, sherman oaks, hollywood west hollywood culver city... it might take 50 years but eventually LA would look like a small european nation. It can happen with bicycle infrastructure. Another point to throw at whiners in city govt and lapd.



Roadblock
05.4.09 - 2:45 am

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You don't want quote infrastructure dude... its going to attract the masses and start to look like every other forum. The conversations will no longer be outlaw. Don't be trying to tame this ferociously underground website! Haha



Roadblock
05.4.09 - 2:48 am

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Two points:

1) Not everyone is manimal like you (and me).

2) When are we going to get a quote function. WHEN.



PC
05.4.09 - 2:49 am

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Make the trolling and image spamming go away forever! Give us infrastructure! I, and the thirty people standing behind me, demand it!



PC
05.4.09 - 2:50 am

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PuppyPuddleBustle Status attained!



Alex Thompson
05.4.09 - 2:55 am

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Hahahah

In that case fuck quote infrastructure.



Roadblock
05.4.09 - 2:55 am

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wolfpack hustle NEVER GONNA BE TAMED NEVER GONNA MOVE ON.

god I hope not.



la duderina
05.4.09 - 2:58 am

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Wait a minute... you aint no manimal! Just cause you kick it with manimal don't mean youz a manimal!



Roadblock
05.4.09 - 2:58 am

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GTFO.



PC
05.4.09 - 3:00 am

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You too.



PC
05.4.09 - 3:01 am

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You two. GTFOU2.



PC
05.4.09 - 3:01 am

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I heard you went to school at S.T.F.U.



Roadblock
05.4.09 - 3:03 am

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Yeah, the first time I heard that one I still had my dialup account.



PC
05.4.09 - 3:18 am

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Now GTFO.



PC
05.4.09 - 3:19 am

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Browsing this thread on a sidekick phone is like being on a dialup account...


GTFO



Roadblock
05.4.09 - 3:42 am

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wolfpack hustle NEVER GONNA BE TAMED NEVER GONNA MOVE ON.




ACTUALLY, if this........

it's actually very simple. If you want the group rides to stop.... build bicycle infrastructure. This is not a threat it is common sense. In other parts of the world such as The Netherlands, group bicycle rides are practically non-existent. Why? because the streets are so safe for bike riders that bike riding is no longer a novelty but just another form of transit. make riding a bicycle a normal part of our lives and we'll find something else to do besides ride in giant groups.


...........comes to fruition.


It will.





PC is always right







la duderina
05.4.09 - 4:06 am

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except for when he calls LA spread out. I mean, come on. LA? spread out?

I don't think so.


back me up on this bentstrider. These city boys don't know the meaning of s p r e a d o u t.



la duderina
05.4.09 - 4:29 am

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At this point, it's more like "Roadblock is always wrong." Haha. Hahahaha. Hahahahahahahaha.

GTFO.



PC
05.4.09 - 4:32 am

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Our definition of "spread-out" is a quite literal term when it comes to San Berdo and Riverside Counties.

Best example would be the fact that most areas of both counties have had their rural quality stripped away by the building of cookie cutter housing and the poor choice of placing stores/activities every, 5-10 miles between the various neighborhoods.

Couple that with the fact that certain businesses and NIMBYish residential groups also make certain that any public-transit is routed away from these neighborhoods and then suggest that freeways be made from the 2 lane, rural roads that existed there years before.

Yes, Los Angeles might have some of this, but it's nowhere as bad as the county supervisors in these counties have gotten rich off of.



bentstrider
05.4.09 - 10:00 am

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People are localizing already. I think it's largely being done in reaction to traffic congestion, but people are finding out they actually like being part of a neighborhood - it fills a human need for community.

The bicycle is an obvious part of this congestion/localization phenomenon. Nothing wrong with infrastructure, but the mere act of more & more bikes on the street will help drive a shift in consciousness. I think it's happened to most of us.



mr rollers
05.4.09 - 11:17 am

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I was wonderin' how PeeeeeCeeeee found my blog! Then Esther Bunny asked me if I haz blog, cuz she saw this! anyhoo :::::BLUSH::::: BLUSH::::: BLUSH:::::: and THANKS GUISE... and now I can't write anymore since I am thoroughly embarrassed! Srsly, compliments from you gaiz, who fo' realz write *SO* well make me feel like I'm gonna faint! The End! <3



mixtemotions
05.4.09 - 10:26 pm

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Dont even think it. we will never get infrastructure. If we still have the same mayor, he cant even pronounce the word b i k e. The LA dot is the hardest battle.Besides we will always have group rides, you know why. LA will always be a car city. Even when we are projected to run out of domestic oil in 2012. What a car city creates is deep loneliness and depression. You can meet enyone there are no public spaces and this is why groups rides will never end. biking is more dynamic than skateboarding because any one can do it. It's more dynamic than any of those things because it is not a trending sort of thing that passes. My grandpa was biking. It's the only solution that brings us all together. Infrastucture will never exist here, did you hear la bonge get his panties in bunch about removing car parking for bicyclist and sharrows and paint on the road is not infradtructure no matter how much you want it to be and we cant even get to that stage. I know i will die before infrastructure gets here. Mad max kinda fututre will come before there is infrastructure.



veronica
05.4.09 - 11:07 pm

reply

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