Tonight SJ Bike party went to San Jose’s Deep South and celebrated Mardi Gras in our own way. (share below your experiences of Laissez les bons temps rouler! )
Reflections – The Mardi Gras Ride
Written on February 17, 2012 at 9:00 PM, by Ian
Written by Ian
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greg faucher
February 17, 2012
I just discovered Bike Party tonight at the Nob Hill store on Santa Teresa and Bernal. It looks like a lot of fun! The bikes look great and the lights are fantastic!
Only thing is… when I got home ( in my car ) at 9:30 PM I almost clocked a bicycle when I opened my door. Please tell people to get a headlight, or at least a flashing taillight because the bike I almost took out had no lights at all.
DVSteve
February 18, 2012
We routinely encourage everyone to have lights when they ride but some people just don’t listen!
andrea
February 17, 2012
I had seen the bike party before for the first time around christmas last year. I think it’s a great thing and I am all for it but in all honesty if I was stuck behind a huge group of bicyclists I would be infuriated. Maybe you guys can figure out a way to give residents a heads up a week or a few days in advance. This could also be an opportunity to spread the word to people in the community, if I would of known you were gonna be in my neighborhood I would of made plans to be outside to enjoy all the bikes riding by..
spaz
February 17, 2012
Why don’t you tell us in advance? I wanted to join but too late!
Maxim
February 18, 2012
what happend to a 2nd regroup ?? i was following a huge group of ppl and nobody stoped at the parking lot next to the movie theatre …
Gil
February 18, 2012
Great ride. Perfect weather. Sucks the security didnt allow us on to the Century Theater. Remember they always post the route the day befor or just keep up with the test rides and you can get an idea where the nex ride will be.
Craftsman
February 18, 2012
Had a great time. Nice weather and great ride. Thanks for planning. Can’t wait for the ride next month. I didn’t see too many cars trapped or people misbehaving. Thanks to JustinT for the preride from Downtown SJ and the small group that formed the ride back. Very helpful.
Mystress Prynne
February 18, 2012
Some woman in our group thought we were supposed to go INTO the drive in, and when we got turned away (duh), she told us to just keep riding. Looking back, I think we should have stopped in the parking lot.GT
al
February 18, 2012
Punk asses trying to respresent their block were throwing rocks at the bicyclist and I was one of the one’s who got struck by a rock. The rock was the size of a baseball. Got clocked on the side of the head. Others got hit too.
John Doe
February 18, 2012
What happened to your Twitter feed? Did not hear about this ride…
Art De La Cerda
February 18, 2012
Last night was the first time we saw SJBP my children enjoyed all the wonderful bikes with the music and lights. I myself would like to get involved with SJBP.
Moya
February 18, 2012
There were idiots in a van(?) throwing raw eggs at SJBPers near the beginning of the ride. Not cool. Luckily they were bad shots and they didn’t hit anyone, I don’t think.
Tian
February 26, 2012
I saw them to. I must have seen a dozen wasted eggs on the ground after the one that flew by my ear. What a waste of food!
David
February 18, 2012
My first experience with the San Jose Bike Party was having my whole family roused out of our sleep when your bicycle event rolled by our home continuously for over an hour last night.
Most of what I saw was people having fun riding with their friends. Cool. What I did not appreciate was the inconsiderate minority towing trailers full of stereo equipment cranked up high and the whistles and the horns. Keep it down.
Leslie
February 19, 2012
The noise level, as we were in the neighborhood, did come across my mind. Sorry about the rude awaking, bike party has requested people to keep the noise down in residential areas in the past.Some people don’t listen.
tsss
February 18, 2012
get over it david haha the ride was over at like 11… stop going to bed at 9 on fridays
Anonymous
February 18, 2012
Maybe David works construction or something and has to get up at 5 in the morning. Isn’t this why we turn the music down after 10?
PT
February 18, 2012
I’m an avid cyclist and since this ride went by the g/f’s house we thought we’d give it a try. I had NO idea of the stop at the parking lot at Bernal/S.T. We wanted to ck. out the cool bikes and RIDE, not sit in a parking lot full of roach coaches. We bailed when the cops started amassing.
I’m ALL for promoting cycling/cyclist’s rights/cyclist awareness, etc. but this is most certainly NOT the way to do it. There were way too many IDIOTS, breaking too many laws, pissing off and disrupting too many drivers. Case in point: Some guys were crossing Santa Teresa at Bernal, passing the cars in the left most lane – on the LEFT of the cars! It is fools like them who ruin it for the real cyclists around here.
And to the guy in the yellow shirt who wiped out nice and hard, early in the ride, right in front of me – haha, karma’s a beotch you moron.
theCat
February 23, 2012
Thank you for not riding with us.
COmmunity Activist
February 18, 2012
I couldn’t stay for the entire ride but I had a nice time. I especially liked to see many people put out lawn chairs to watch SJBP roll by in south san jose.
I think volunteers did a great job of guiding the riders as well as helping to clean up.
steve
February 19, 2012
Congratulations to those 6-8 dudes on go-peds for their utter lack of clue. Please go away.
Other than those losers the ride was great. Rode behind the chariot for along time. I wasn’t bummed the second regroup was banned, I’m all for more miles with less stops.
craftsman
February 19, 2012
I agree with Steve… Chariot was awesome. Good job and great music. Dudes on Go Peds were annoying…especially the exhaust fumes… its Bike Party… Not Cheap Ass Chinese Go Ped Party…
Rider 44
February 22, 2012
I agree with Steve and Craftsman.
Used to be, when you clicked on ‘How We Ride!’ up at the top of this web page, you could click on the following link.
http://www.sjbikeparty.org/how-we-ride
The page still exists, but I don’t see any link to it.
If you read the section under ‘Communicating with Fellow Riders…’ you’ll see it mentions, ‘boo that person’.
I usually try to stay positive and communicate positive things in a positive voice like,
‘nice decorations on your bike!’ or
‘Thanks for keeping in the right lane’.
But when my delightful evening is interrupted by a certain type of cyclist, I loudly and rudely proclaim my opinion to everyone around me…
‘BOOO!!!! TWO STROKE SMOKE! BOOO!’
dirt bike dave
February 19, 2012
I too was assaulted by the low rent punks throwing the rocks. This is a mardi gras ride. The only thing that should be thrown are beads! Thank god the cops showed up 2 save my life. What has the world come to when punks throw rocks at bike party. Other than that great ride!
Steve
February 20, 2012
The route was great! Loved all the turns. The longest we stayed on one road was about 3 1/2 miles! It was cool. Made the ride fun and fast and interesting! It was also nice to have a shorter ride so those of us who have to work Saturday morning can get home at a reasonable hour! Much appreciated to all that helped! Thanks ravens and that kick-ass garbage can trailer!
WIldMonteMan
February 20, 2012
GREAT BIKE PARTY and I had a great time. Thanks to the people I saw picking up garbage at the re-group. I owe you a beer next time. Job well done. The chariot has got to be the best damned party within a party rollin’. Rock throwing? Egg throwing? I am so glad I didn’t experience any of that. Although I did see the usual fucking idiots riding against traffic and running a few reds. Sorry to say but if you’re one of them and get run over I hope the entire bike party ROLLS on past your miserable situation adding insult to injury.
mqmurilmi
February 20, 2012
Is anyone in SJ planning to ride SCBP next weekend?
Tian
February 26, 2012
I agree that the ride was great. I wish we’d have had that second regroup. Below is a link to a bunch of pictures of that ride.
http://tian.greens.org/SanJose/BikeParty/MardiGrasRide/index.html
Randy
March 1, 2012
This was my 6th ride and it was the first time I had to deal with insults and threats from observers. I did not encounter rock or egg throwing but I did get insulted by several groups of ghetto fools. They acted like of a bunch of ignorant territorial dogs,barking at anything that went by
. If I did get hit by anything I would have retaliated reluctantly. There was also the security guard at Hitachi on Great Oaks Boulevard shining his green laser on the riders as they passed by. That was really stupid and illegal as well. I hope none of my fellow riders were injured. In the future, can Bike Party avoid going through these crappy low income neighborhoods? Otherwise, I will start carrying a weapon with me on future rides.
ripper rider
March 17, 2012
Nice weather and fun ride but i have to say the crappy neighborhoods was no good.I didnt know i need to pack a weapon for this ride and the dummies riding against traffic.Most people that ride bike party drive cars to and should let cars pass.Put yourself in there shoes.Let them pass.I have to say the group we rode with was awsome.Cant wait for the next ride.