Wow, what a night! 1,000 riders, by two separate counts, in two separate places, even! So many good thoughts and good times…this really is what it is all about.
Major props go to the many, many volunteers that make the rides flow – many people who go unnamed, who help in all those little ways that are really so hugely important: all of you who helped remind someone to stay on the route; all of you who reminded someone to check their behavior; all of you who helped make rest stops “work” by making sure we all moved in deep to make room and helped get us moving again when it was time; all of you who towed music trailers, couches, and sidecars; all of you who thanked the cops; really just ALL of us, for being so positive and wonderful, showing this valley how to really roll.
A special shout-out to both Santa Clara County Sheriffs and De Anza-Foothill Community College Police, who together blocked off traffic (corked) for us at one of the nastiest intersections – Stevens Creek and Stelling, then Stevens Creek and De Anza. That was wonderful – thank you, thank you, thank you!
I remember saying at our 1-year anniversary in October: we happily reached 200 riders in a year, and hoped to see 1,000 riders in 5 years. That vision has come to pass over 3 years early, and it’s awe-inspiring. Remember to keep it positive, keep it creative, keep it hopeful – we will turn this valley into a Bike City yet!
As usual, please share your (polite & appropriate) relections on this ride in the comments below! Stories, thoughts, reactions, links to pictures or videos, tales of encounters from the ride are all welcome!
Hey John. I think Youre right. I guess because of my experience working @ a night club, the way we dealt w drunkards and Aholes would be to 86 them out the front door, since SJBP is an open event, aside from being polite and talking down drama of bad behaviour, the last option would be to confront people which nobody wants it to come to. Fully understood. I want SJBP to be peaceful but I also fear for our longevity because of their actions. I like that many people help others but the security factor must be aggressively confronted. I like how some bike clubs hold eachother accountable and mostly promote positivite energy on the ride now how can we channel that into a security force? -For the mud of the ride. Dj2xjo
If the drunkards/asswipes in SJBP need to be ‘aggressively confronted’ or a ‘secrity force’ needed to police them, then you can pretty much bet that SJBP will be finished for good on that ride.
No offense, but I doubt there are 10 people in all of SJBP that want to be a part of either of those tasks. Again, I think most riders are like me: I just want to ride and the moment that it because a hassle to ride in SJBP is the moment I say adios.
For most of us, life is already too full of having to deal with difficult people and we participate in SJBP solely because it is an outlet from that. It is just simple fun.
I love riding in SJBP, I truly enjoy it. But I love and enjoy it because it is four hours a month that I can just ride and have a good time. I really think that I’m like most participants. I don’t want to have to deal with drunkards and asswipes, it’s just easier to do something else.
Besides, you can’t 86 people from an open event. And there is no holding anyone accountable in an open event anyway, that’s almost by definition.
I agree with you. I guess we’ll just have to deal with buttheads @ SJBP until they just stop showing up. Talking them down seems to be the most reasonable method of managing their actions. I pray that one day there will be a nice ride without any drama from people like this. See you next ride! For the LOVE (not the mud) of the ride…. dj2xjo
Unfortunately, I think that’s the only thing everyone can do: just tolerate the buttheads. But with all due respect, I don’t even think wasting the time and effort to talk with people like that is worth it.
I really think just totally ignoring them is the least bad option (since there isn’t a ‘good’ one). I mean, just not react to their schtick at all. When they mouth off to you, you just act like they didn’t say boo. When they act up towards motorists, you just give it all a lot of space and keep riding.
People who cause drama want attention, that’s why they do it. That’s what children do when they don’t get attention for the good they do: they do bad things because some attention is better than no attention.