Showing some pride for our ride

Keep CalmThis month’s theme is the Rainbow Ride and we’ve been busy getting ready for this great ride. But before you get on your bikes, we need to have a talk.

We’ve been doing this ride for seven years now and  this free ride just keeps getting bigger and better, but with no budget and the behavior of some individuals, we are close to having to shutting this thing down or making it into a much smaller ride.

We are at the crossroads. Either behavior improves, or the rides get smaller, or we just say well, seven years is as good as it gets in San Jose.

Think about that; for the first time in seven years we could be faced with a Friday night with no bike party.

Given that this month’s theme has an underlying theme of Pride. We want to ask every one to have some Pride in the Ride. Have some Pride in your city.  Let’s highlight some of the ways that this ride has been jeopardized and to highlight our rules going forward.

  • Respect our volunteers; the Ravens (our garbage bikes) and BIRDs (route leaders at turns). Follow their lead.
  • Ride safe and with respect. Do not ever harass, touch, or hit cars and motorists. Obey all traffic laws and let cars pass whenever it is safe.
  • Excessive trash from bottles, cans, and paper make us unwelcome guests at Regroups if we don’t pick it up ourselves. For the last couple of years we have taken money out of our own pockets to clean up after rides, and we now have reached our financial limit. Have pride in you city and valley, keep it cleaner than you found it.
  • The use of fireworks, firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices has to stop. On one ride we spotted a 14 year old boy throwing firecrackers into a crowd. If any one witnesses activity such as this, please inform a BIRD (volunteer with a BIRD patch) and we will report that person to the police.

San Jose Bike Party was the first Bike Party and is known around the world. Let’s keep this thing going. We need you to get involved and we also need volunteers to keep this thing going. If your interested in volunteering email us at sjbikeparty@nullgmail.com

Rainbow Ride Artwork