Celebrate thy Nerd-om!
Help make this month’s “Revenge of the Nerds” ride memorable by wearing a costume to support the theme.
What a fantastic ride last night! Around 1000 people passed the split where the ride took two routes, and a bit over an hour later everyone was back together again near Capitol and McLaughlin. Everyone seemed to enjoy their chosen route – even the hillsters who looped around in circles climbing above Evergreen valley! The strong energy, playful spirit, and all-around helpful, friendly vibe made the night amazing.
Volunteers really stepped up, with folks directing traffic right and left and helping to round everyone up at regroups – nice job with the soundsystems! Big props to the “Bumpin’ Beaners” and the big black soundsystem for great tunes and the help leading us out. Several volunteers even met up afterward, bringing the community together once more before bedtime. Share your reflections here in the comments – if we see any recurring themes, we’ll add to this post.
Please post & share photo/media links!
Kick off the year Running the Bulls with a mellow OR challenging ride through the Evergreen hills!
You've always wanted to run!
We will start together at Eastridge Mall (Eastridge Center) then split horns at Ruby & Quimby, with the “mellow” flatter steer chase heading North and West. The “challenging” steeper bull run will roll East and South. Both rides will meet up again on Yerba Buena road near Hwy 101 to ride to downtown San Jose. We’ll try to keep the mellow steer ride regroups short so we can coordinate both routes to meet at a similar time on Yerba Buena. If you’d like to go back to Eastridge after Regroup #3, simply take a right on Tully Rd.
Mellow Steer Ride: MapMyRide (the flatter version), “Visual Map” (all of ride) , the “Turn by Turn” directions (double sided format)
- or -
Challenging Bull Ride: MapMyRide (the hilly version), “Visual Map” (only miles 3-10.5, see other map too), the “Turn by Turn” directions (double sided format)
Note: The Mellow ride at 220ft elevation overall is slightly more than average…but the 486 ft for the “Challenging” ride is great… but only if you know how to ride! Be sure to let faster riders pass on the left *inside the rightmost lane* and let slower riders merge right.
For Pre-Rides please look at “more” down below.
Note that the VTA Alum Rock station is only about 2.75 miles away and the Curtner station is about 4miles away. (DT SJ is 5.65 mi away – you can park there and join a Pre-Ride)
As always we need Volunteers at key intersections and to ensure riders go deep in to the regroups!
***UPDATE***
Directions for today’s test ride.
TURN BY TURN DIRECTIONS for Jan 9th
What are your New Years Resolutions? Smaller hills than the first ride?
We’ll see, we “might” even investigate starting in two places. But we will still focus on the east side.
OUR Test Rides’ New Years Resolutions? To have many more riders step up and OWN the ride — the test rides process… and during the main rides: the start, during the ride, at key turns and in and out of the regroups!
Even if you don’t have Facebook, the overall information is there.
Bike Party comes quick this January! On the 15th!
Wear your scarfs this month!
Test Rides are a way that we prepare the SJBP route & train volunteers for the main ride. We need many more volunteers & we need these tasks (listed below) performed for both the Test Rides and the main ride. Your help is appreciated. For those that get up early on a Saturday, or want to catch a ride en route this ride’s for you… next Saturday, Dec. 12th, 10:00am-1:45pm
1. help market via FB, SJBP page,etc
2. send out info on FB (direct messages only)
3. print out guest list (2 per ride)
4. make & format documents – “Turn by Turn Directions”
5. create route & site captain sheets on google docs
6. recruit friends to join the test rides – or volunteer
7. lead a test route, ensure pace is good, regroups brief
Monumental. Beautiful. Well-organized. Noisy. Unbelievable. Brilliantly costumed. Poorly lit. Clean.
Those are just some of the words this webmaster has heard about Bike Party tonight – and for those that were keeping score, the good outweighed the bad by 3 to 1. Tonight, our second anniversary ride, struck yet another new mark in South Bay history, as four thousand riders (see count) hit the streets to build community through bicycling.
I’m proud of this city, proud of all of our riders, proud of our fantastic organizers and volunteers, and even prouder of the potential we still have to achieve. A lot of heart and soul (and sweat and lost sleep and sometimes even blood and tears) goes into these rides, and it’s showing. Things that were uncommon just a few months ago flowed smoothly tonight:
Of course, life isn’t perfect: We still get a lot of complaints from neighbors about noise, we still leave trash at regroups and along the route (because really, we ultimately need to leave NO trace, not just little), and there’s still room to improve our organizing with better communication and more organized volunteers.
But when you allow yourself to sit back and think of the achievement, it’s wild. Think of all of the now-regular riders you know who never or almost never rode their bikes before they started riding Bike Party. Think of all of the friends you’ve met. Think of the impact we’ve had on passers-by and spectators, demonstrating without a doubt that cycling IS an accessible and reasonable method of transportation in this highway-slashed city. Consider on top of it all that this started 2 years ago with 25 riders and it’s still run completely by volunteers with small donations, and it’s even more impressive. It’s worth a huge pat on the back.
Happy Birthday, Bike Party! Here’s to many more!
–
If you would like to add your photos, please join our flickr group
Need updates? Join our facebook group or our twitter.
Loved it so much you want to volunteer? Sign up here.
Hosted on Linux | Powered by
Wordpress | Layout based on Martin Mihalev's Greening theme