BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Yup. Heres hoping for a lack of precipitation.

I just found out my gig tomorrow night will be, at the latest, until 10... so yes let's hope the precip holds out for both my gig and the ride!!! I'm looking forward to an awesome fun night!

I'm going to the Waffle Shop show 11-12, so I'll duck out early for the MM. Meeting at the Bronto?

What's at the Waffle Shop? You know I still have never been there and I live with a CMU art grad. Fail

THE UNEMPLOYMENT SHOW

When Fri, June 4, 11pm – Sat, June 5, 12am

Description Host David T. English talks about unemployment, interviews special guests, presents comedy skits, and tries to find work for the unemployed masses. He'll be talking with the unemployed, the under employed, the over employed, the unhappily employed, the seemingly unemployable, and picking the brains of people who have created their own niche. Come see it live at the Waffle Shop the first Friday of each month 11PM or watch it live stream online at waffleshop.org. Learn more at theunemploymentshow.com and find us on Facebook.

You know that MM is tomorrow night right?

(Yes, we are having it--rain doesn't stop us.)

Can you clarify when and where?

WS this friday is the first episode of The Unemployment Show: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Unemployment-Show/112265645477036?ref=ts

Rain would stop me unfortunately; my front wheel/brake combo is in no shape to handle it. Getting that fixed Saturday, a day late & a dollar short...

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=119259108092079&ref=ts

I'm 50/50 on riding tomorrow night. A friend of mine is having a little get-together, I'm not sure If I'll end up drinking or not, but if I do I'm not going to attempt to ride a bike all night afterwards.

I'll be there, rain or moonshine.

I have a rough route in my head for tomorrow, hitting some roads that CM, FOC, and MM rarely touch.

I'll see if I can make it. I need to catch up on sleep at some point though waking up before 6am the last 3 days hasn't been kind to me.

Yeah I had to get up at 6 AM today, hopefully I'll still have the gumption in.... ooof, 18 hours from now....

First-timer here, I get off work at 9 so I think I'm going to come check this out.

Hard to be "late" for a mighnight ride, but if you take a nap and oversleep or some nonsense, I'll be tracking it on http://twitter.com/trackpghcycles - request access today to track us tonight!

There was talk of a pre-ride at the Arts festival in another thread (which I cant find). Any details or interest?

I had originally thrown out that idea, but I didn't check the previously scheduled Friday Night Lights ride on the calendar, don't want to cut into that. plus I've had other stuff come up and I can't ride tonight anyway.

Good news: I picked up some sweet monster socks at thick.

Bad news: My bike has been hijacked by them until they can get around to inspecting it for the ms150.

The only other semi-road ready bike I have is a '79 free spirit, with the original tires. Not sure if I feel like risking it at night. If anyone has any sort of bike (that isnt a tall bike) they feel like lending me, that'd be sweet, otherwise I'm probably out.

Or if you've got a set of 27 inch tires laying around...

(that isnt a tall bike)

There is always a clause.

I don't know if it will be too small, but you can ride my commuter or my fixed gear if you life (I'll ride what you don't).

(I just sold my road bike, so that all I have...)

how tall are you?

Nick: I'll ride your commuter if you don't mind - as much as I've been wanting to try fixed, I don't feel like midnight mass is the best place to try it out.

I'm 6'1"

The commuter may be a bit small then... You can ride my roomate's full suspension Giant, I think it's a 19"-20"

That works. I'll drive to your place before the ride. Thanks!

First timer here...is anyone riding fixed on this ride? Wouldn't mind going but didn't know what kind of pace everyone is riding.

There were a decent number of fixies last month. Consider it a no drop ride Lou. If we climb a big hill, we always wait up at the top for everyone. Hope to see you tonight!

i'll be riding single speed or fixed probably 38x16... i'm kicking myself for not having my other bike fixed yet right now

I'll be riding fixed tonight as well. 52x18 so don't worry about being left behind if we have any big climbs, chances are I will be right back there with you.

lol @ gear ratio difference

Cool...I'm at 46X16, don't have a problem with hills. I'll try to make it out.

52-18 is cool. It has 9 wear spots. It's about the same as 46-16, which has 8 wear spots. So his tires (theoretically) will last longer.

I'll be fixed- 49x17.

I'll be geared with a TRIPPLE up front! I'll never be confused with a hipster...

I'm considering how badly I want to tangle with a severe weather alert. Seems unfun.

It is still 4 hours away. Who knows what the weather will do in 4 hours.

I'll be riding triple (like always) and come on! Severe weather rocks. We can call it a "Lightning Ride"

I suck. Gig went late, didn't get home till 11:30, and I have a last minute gig I have to be at at 9 AM tomorrow. Sorry guys...

Poor judgement on my part--my ankle started giving out halfway up the first hill to the point that i wasn't going to be able to make it up in ANY gear. Guess I need to wait until a ride doesn't fall after 12 hours of work and a bad week for my lower extremity.

hey kayla,

the guys were charging up that first hill pretty fast, i turned back to find you but you go a lot faster downhill than i do... maybe next time.

noah, what do you do?

Sorry Kayla, I was leading the charge up the hill. I think most of the people were kind of ticked off we started that fast. I think it was road rage/cycling death/ELBL shenanigans frustrations boiled over into that hill climb. I encourage you to come back to next months ride or the FOC, both should be less aggressive than tonight. We did all take a break at the top of pretty much every hill though and waited for everybody to get to the top.

Tonight was a little more aggressive than usual. I don't really have a reason, I just like sprinting in little spurts. Like Piece said, we did stop and wait up for everyone anytime the group started to spread.

If you hate hills... sorry about that.

My biggest faux pas of the night, besides being the designated "caboose" of the group was flipping that one guy off on the South Side who uttered the "bikes are the new hippies... you should all kill yourselves" line.

Hey, I guess I'm still human, even on my bike.

Nick, you make a good caboose because you are easily identified with your vest.

Also, if you aren't already part of the FB group:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=119259108092079&ref=ts

this ride sounds fun. i kind of wish that it happened more than once a month. i had a brutal past 2 weeks at work with the longest hours i have worked in my life or else i would have come out. next month i will make it a priority!

Mark, I'm a musician... to be honest after working my day job from 7-4 then gigging that night I was probably too pooped to take part in the ride. Sounds more intense than FOC.

@ndromb Well my main reason for doing it was because it's fun.

Oh yeah, and those talking about how it always rains as soon as you leave the house and stops as soon as you get where you're going, that's exactly what happened to me this morning. Started raining at 6am, was almost clear skies by 8am.

I'm glad you made it out Peirce. I feel like the last time I saw you was June MM last year.

Stefb, there are about 3 rides a month on Fridays--

First Friday- Midnight Mass 11:59p

Second-to-last Friday- Flock of Cycles 6p

Last Friday- FOC crashes CM 5:30p

I was thinking about a slower FOC style MM the second Friday of the month... Midnight FOC?

@ndromb--a midnight FOC would be very cool and might allow me more chances to ride thanks to a nights-and-weekends work schedule.

Regardless, I plan on coming to the next ride I'm free for, whichever one that may be.

Ugh. I checked the weather, decided to go for it, and then fell asleep on the couch. Can you make midnight earlier next time?

What about a late night FOC--10p? (As much as I love midnight rides while riding, I hate them the next day during a 13hr work shift.)

Lyle, I'll do my best.

I'm down for some 10pm slower rides, like alot of other people here i'm up at 530am..I passed out before midnight last night! Haha.

10 pm would be great. I'm usually back from work by then (will be next Friday, at least).

ah, i remember even 4 years ago when i was up at 5am, worked 10 hour days, rode a bunch, and could stay up until midnight and not be that tired the next day. getting older is tiring.

Late night FOC would be swell. Then the cm trouble makers can complain that we're taking up all 4 rides of the month, haha.

Riding full suspension last night wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, my shoulders are a bit sore though.

haha, I was just telling Rob that you dominated the ride last night (he likes to use the suspension as an excuse for being slow).

It's called "Flock All Night"... meet at 10p on the second Friday--a lights required, helmets encouraged, slow paced, courteous, safe, party style ride.

Since many of us are riding the MS next week, I think the first one will be next month.

Sound good?

I'll be in Chicago for the Late Ride and visiting family but count me in for August.

August is pencilled in on my schedule. July is probably out.

South Side on Friday definitely has a different character at 1:30am compared to 7:00pm (Midnight Mass vs. FOC)

Definitely. Next time I'm bringing my recorder to capture all the awesome comments.

Oh man I'm totally in for Flock All Night (FAN). I'm down for doing a small one for those who aren't doing MS150 next week... and yes we will definitely avoid SS on a Friday night......yuck.

Next time I'm bringing my recorder to capture all the awesome comments.

Two of my favorites from last night:

- Girl on Carson Street sidewalk: "Hey, why am I not with the bike party?"

- Screamed from a passing car: "[Unintelligible unintelligible unintelligible unintelligible] bicyclists!"

seriously group rides without helmets is a bad idea... i'm all for people choosing not to wear helmets when they're doing their thing, but not wearing a helmet in a group ride is just dumb...

1. liability

2. too many people making decisions in a small space to anticipate every move.

if you're going to make something optional make it lights, but really neither should be.

@ieverhart

I think my favorite was

"Cyclists are the new hippies... so go kill yourselves!"

Don't forget that lights are required by law. People might be relatively safe if there are enough others around them with lights, but they will be coming and going before and after, and the headlight, at least, is crucial.

(Oh, and cyclists *are* the new hippies.)

I don't want this to turn into an argument about helmets, but I think there are some reasonable arguments against mandatory helmet usage. However, like Lyle said, lights are the law.

With that said, there is rarely more than one person in the group without a helmet. Last night there was only one helmet-less guy (just happened he also didn't have lights...or brakes...)

As for favorite comments, I liked the girls in the limo that wanted to party at the Westin.

Mark, although I wear a helmet and I always recommend wearing a helmet, I don't feel like I can tell someone they have to wear a helmet.

i agree totally, but if you're going to make someone follow the law, you can make your own laws too.

in a group of 15 people at night were 13 have lights and 13 have helmets, i think the two most likely to have serious injuries are the two without helmets (unless someone is lacking both). this is of course a bunch of BS i just made up, but i still think its true.

on a sidenote i don't really like riding with people with trail lights, i like my night vision, i know some people feel differently though.... when kayla split i was actually heading to the back because 1. i didn't want someone inexperienced dealing with an asshole in a car and 2. because i didn't like all the lights in the pack.

when kayla split i tried to find her to make sure she was ok, but i started too late after finding out she was in our group... by the time i was convinced i had lost her i was at the bottom of the hill and looped around up forbes, but y'all were long gone, i called some friends and had a nice ride anyway though

I try to avoid making laws because it only causes arguments, and I already get attacked enough for these rides.

I almost ate it last night and so did Nick, so maybe a better statistic is, if there is 15 people in a ride and 13 of them aren't named Nick, the two most likely to be injured are named Nick.

Although the brighter lights can be annoying, there were definitely sections of the ride where they were valuable.

Also, I don't think Kayla is that inexperienced--what lead you to believe that? (You didn't catch up to her did you?)

I think you also forgot to mention reason 3: She is a cute girl ON A BIKE...

(Kayla, I'm sorry we are talking about you.)

I love the bicycles are the new hippies. That could be a shirt! My response would have to be "a**holes are a**holes forever!".

I think Nick's? response was "drunken kids from the suburbs are the new rednecks"

i didn't know who was in the back, i just didn't want someone in the back that was inexperienced dealing with the cars. kayla actually wasn't in the back anyway, the caboose was... duh!

all that aside, there should be a designated sweeper on night rides, i was just kind of volunteering for that position since it wasn't assigned. a couple people were doing that @ FOC and it was helpful, it meant there was never just one or two people stuck at a light, but 3 or 4... definitely good for safety

My favorite: while we were stopped, sitting on Carson behind a giant pile of automobiles at many red lights, moving an average of 2-3 miles per hour the entire length of the road, some drunk girl yells, "Hey are you guys in a race?!"

Most of the climbing was at the start. After that, it wasn't so bad.

and a google map of our route.

Distance: 19.39 mi

Elevation gain: 1225 ft (after I fixed the bridge and tunnel errors)

nice work! pretty

Mark, you are right. I take blame for some of this. I should have briefed everyone before the ride and I should have asked someone to keep the group together (like I asked marko last time).

I think the reason I did at FOC and not MM was this is the second year of MM and that was the first FOC.

This whole thing kind of bugged me, so I talked to some none cyclists about it, and they made a good point--if I want these rides to be welcoming to everyone, I should brief the ride before the ride--every time. I should not expect that everyone knows what is going on (even though the majority does).

Although I am sure this is going to annoy some people, I am going to make short announcements covering the "policies" of the rides before every ride.

I hate to do it, (although I naturally talk a lot-I hate hearing myself talk), but I think it will make future FOC, MM, and FAN rides go much smoother.

Another reason I hesitate doing this is I don't want people feeling like I am bossing them around.

You guys can talk about me if you want, lol. As much as I hate to use this as an excuse, I have a bum ankle that doesn't like going through its full (limited) range of motion after standing at work for 12 hours straight. That hill was just a bit much in that respect. Aside from that, I would have been okay keeping up--maybe with a little more help from my gears but keeping up nonetheless.

Also, Noah-I'd be down for next Friday. I'm working a short shift and only til 9 so I'll be back in Oakland in time.

Kayla, what do you think abotu the ride briefing?

While I DID know the basic deal (from reading stuff on here), I think a briefing would be good anytime there is someone new. Would make it feel a little more welcoming, maybe?

I think you are right. I just hate feeling like I am forcing people to listen to me.

I had a talk with someone else on this board last week before the ghost bike lock-up. It was around the idea that when you try to organize something with the idea to involve the community, someone is always going to have a problem with some aspect of it.

I just hate being the one to have to announce the guidelines because then someone always turns me into the enemy. (Exibit A)

The conclusion we came to: if you want to do something and you believe in it, you just have to "not give a ****" about some people--I just hate to alienate anyone.

Nick, a potentially better idea so you don't have to repeat the same thing at each ride is to do a "roll call" of sorts. Take a rough count of people who have done these rides before and those who are new. A simple shout of "so who's new here and/or new to this ride?" could clarify this. Then you could do the rundown.

Interesting link by the way. Honestly, I still find myself somewhere in the middle between the original Critical Mass mindset and the new FOC one. By that I mean, if the group isn't too large that I'm fine with treating it as one vehicle (at traffic lights), meaning some would technically be "running" lights. I just feel if half or more make it "legally" through a light then the rest should just keep going. To me it should be a "common sense" thing more than anything. To follow general traffic rules is the goal, but not 100% of them, because frankly, how many motorists do?

...not that I'm hating on cars, hardly, I'm just advocating common sense over having to follow traffic laws 100% to the letter.

Nick, re; the link: Whooo, somebody's living in a little dream world, CM orderly and non-violent? Where can I get some of those rose-colored glasses WITH the accessory blinders? FOC letting cars bully us? Really? Dude has some victim issues. Don't let that stuff get you down, there's alway going to be somebody. Still, a humorous read.

A briefing is always a good idea before any such group activity. If you don't want to always be the center of attention, appoint someone else to do it.

That facebook link is silly. His only gripe is FOC/CM doesn't run enough lights. Are you kidding me? Of all the crap to complain about, not running enough lights is a hard one to argue.

He says he wants CM to be fun, cheer, get peds and other cars involved and make everyone happy. That is EXACTLY what FOC-style rides have done, and if he was not so stubborn he would know that.

Nick, I agree with you on getting the rest of the group through (if the group is relatively small and tight together), however on the last FOC I think the ride was too stretched out to do this. On out FOC-crashes-CM ride last week, we started to occasionally do this towards the end, and I think it was fine when the group was tight and small.

I think it is important to point out that I never said FOC is to be 100% law abiding--I said that the ride: stops at lights, lets cars pass when they can do so safely, doesn't offensively block cars, and acts courteously to all road users.

If we bend some laws to keep the group safe that is fine. I am only against the stupid amount dangerous/senseless acts that some CM riders take pride in.

@mustion - ok, i have to ask, where do you book a 9am gig? and what do you play?

Fox Chapel apparently. I play in a steelband. We get hired for all kinds of weird gigs. Key word being, "hired".

one thing about helmets, if you post the ride you own the ride and the liability if someone gets hurts. might not be the rider suing you after the fact either, could just as easily be their family. just something to consider, especially for the night rides as they are inherently more dangerous.

arg. I'll call my attorney tomorrow.

Midnight Mass tonight?

Assuming the rain has come and gone by then, I'm down.

Looks like the weather should be clear, so I'll try to make it. Unfortunately, can't make any guarantees...

Not going to end up making it after all.... hope you can still get a few people together for it.

Lame, Shawn.

I'll be there, bringing a friend from out of town. Nick just called me and said he wasn't going to make it.

Damn wish I was riding a bike instead of the 28x. Looks like a nice night.

5 people tonight. Haha.

I know, but the kids get up at 7:30 no matter what time I go to bed........11 o'clock mass sounds better to me haha... I'll 100% be there for next week's ride, though.

Sorry I didn't make it. I wasn't in a condition to be riding.