Advocacy & Safety - Unsanctioned cycling events?

I'm thinking of doing an unsanctioned cycling event, if I could ever organize such a thing. No warning the city or the cops, no getting permits, no assistance.

The projected route would be--just to be fair--a circular route from Essex to Dundalk to Catonsville to Essex community college campuses, all in a ring. I guess if you could ever hope to have some 300 people show up, they could start wherever and end where they start; doesn't need a big group. Projected impact is bigger locally with a big group, but bigger globally with three groups.

The law says cyclists ride in the right lane, as far right as safe, on the smooth shoulder (unsmooth shoulders are hazards) or bike lane, unless avoiding hazards or (when safe) overtaking other cyclists. Cyclists follow traffic control utilities: stop signs, traffic signals, right turn lanes (you ride in the lane immediate left the right turn lane; if turning, you get in the far right turn lane), traffic cops. Cyclists may not speed. Cyclists may cross to the left late when turning left (preferably the right most left turn lane? It's not clear by law), and may remain to the far left of the left most lane on a 2 or more lane one way street.

That's what the law says.

The law does not say 6000 asshats on bikes can't clog the living **** out of the streets by all going from one place to another at the same time. This is exactly what cars do during rush hour anyway.

So I'm thinking, you know. A rotational trip, campus to campus, a large number of people. Ride with traffic, stay within the law. The guys that make the light before you, well, they're ahead of you now. You'll catch up at the next light while they wait.

The point here is bikes are legal road traffic, and you don't need to schedule a mass event. You don't need police assistance. What happens if everyone in college decides car insurance is too damn expensive, and you have 2500 college kids coming to and leaving from the local community college campus every hour? Bikes are a lot more open; they'd wind up talking to each other waiting for the light to change to leave campus, they'd wind up making more friends, they'd wind up all heading to the mall after class, then you have 300 college kids going in this direction and 600 college kids going the other way and another 400 going on this route... all together ... all on bicycles.

It could happen.

What would happen? ... wanna find out?

And what could they possibly charge you with? There's drinks and food at each campus (okay, somebody drives with an SUV), you're just going from place to place. The cops can't come out and go, "Too many bicycles, you people need tickets, we're going to demand money from you and keep writing tickets until you all go home!" If you get a ticket that's your fault; don't run stop signs.

I think it'd be highly amusing. Like that time I completely destroyed an engineering model of a bridge with a pneumatic press just to see how much of a beating it could really take (hint: that design, it doesn't work; I would stay away during rush hour).

To what end?

Geeze, that last campus is WAY out there, what a trip.

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Community+College+of+Baltimore+County+Catonsville,+South+Rolling+Road,+Catonsville,+MD&daddr=Barnes+%26+Noble+near+Inner+Harbor,+Baltimore,+MD+to:Community+College+of+Baltimore+County+Dun dalk,+Sollers+Point+Road,+Dundalk,+MD+to:Pizza+John's,+Back+River+Neck+Road,+Essex,+MD+to:Rosedale,+ MD+21237+(Community+College+of+Baltimore+County)&hl=en&ll=39.25512,-76.466217&spn=0.194334,0.308647&sll=39.30269,-76.59111&sspn=0.194202,0.308647&geocode=FcvwVgIdiR1t-yHi4IOFgFG30A%3BFfF3VwId9RBv-yFFhSPVe_t7-g%3BFdUoVwIdHpBw-yHDDov9wFMIPg%3BFTjYVwIdNYJx-yE0jKVdWbSXgilHq6JTeP3HiTHv03HzEup2mA%3BFSqHWAIdKPtw-yFBku1LjAqcRQ&mra=ps&dirflg=b&doflg=ptk&z=12&lci=bike


To what end?

Just for amusement. It's legal, it would annoy the cops, it would annoy the city, it would stress the transportation infrastructure. Thus it's amusing.

It's like electric cars. Imagine if you could get a Chevy Volt into 50% of your city's homes. Now, that night, all the transformers explode off the poles and nobody has power for like 3 weeks. Do you honestly think the power infrastructure can handle electric cars? It'd be hilarious.

In either case, you'd have someone with a lot of money trying to fight for a failing business model, because it's expensive to adapt. Though, our state's laws forbid the degradation of pedestrian or bicycle traffic facilities, thus if the transit infrastructure fails then you must improve the transit infrastructure.

Speaking of infrastructure stress by sudden mass increase in use... 1996 MD House Bill 1096 / Senate Bill 641, clause 1:



Statement of Legislative Policy - Bicycle and Pedestrian Access

It is the policy of this State to encourage bicycling and walking as energy efficient modes of transportation, to adopt the goal of significantly increasing the percentage of trips performed by walking or bicycling by the year 2000 and to ensure that bicycling and walking receive a reasonable degree of all transportation funds under the control of the State.


You asked for it.

Sounds almost like a Critical Manners ride.

Depending on what your city/police force is like, whether or not you are actually breaking any laws, they may still give you crap (you'd be surprised what chicken **** little stuff they can find to pop you with, too). Also, depending how big your group is, I wouldn't count on being able to contain everyone into following the laws. There's an asshat in every group.

Secondly, depending on your local laws, whether or not you consider it a sanctioned group event, the city may still consider a group event, and if it has laws governing such, you could be cited in violation of those ordinances. Not saying that's right, but it's possible. If you're going to do that, I'd try and keep all association as loose as possible. If you have a group of people who are all meeting at places and especially if there are drinks and such, it will probably be labelled as an event, like it or not, and you'll have little defense. As far as who they will or can actually cite, I don't know, but they'll probably at least break you up.

Unless your area isn't that hard ass. We've done some decent sized rides before, and as long as we stop for lights and stop signs, most folks don't care, really. It's just a possibility you should consider. When your aim is to rabble rouse, don't be surprised if the rabble is roused, so to speak. :p

Depending on what your city/police force is like, whether or not you are actually breaking any laws, they may still give you crap (you'd be surprised what chicken **** little stuff they can find to pop you with, too). Also, depending how big your group is, I wouldn't count on being able to contain everyone into following the laws. There's an asshat in every group.


Not my problem if you run stop signs. When you get squashed, I keep your bike.




Secondly, depending on your local laws, whether or not you consider it a sanctioned group event, the city may still consider a group event, and if it has laws governing such, you could be cited in violation of those ordinances.


Don't see how that matters, as public infrastructure is legal for moving people from one place to another. If someone told me I needed a special permit for a lot of people to use the roads at once, I'd call my local rep and news station (Fox is right here) and complain. You're allowed on the road... unless you guys know each other, then you need permission. WTF?



Unless your area isn't that hard ass. We've done some decent sized rides before, and as long as we stop for lights and stop signs, most folks don't care, really. It's just a possibility you should consider. When your aim is to rabble rouse, don't be surprised if the rabble is roused, so to speak. :p

Not my fault if the infrastructure can't handle it. Maybe you need to rethink your infrastructure if it's taken down by a bunch of guys on bikes.

Actually, somebody did a motorcycle run yesterday... the motorcycles (not cops) were actually blocking traffic when the light changed and waving their friends through traffic signals. ~_~ One was right in front of me, I was waiting at a green light that was blocked. Almost just ran because hey, he's not a cop, and the traffic control device says go. Didn't want to mix up with a bunch of motorcycles and startle the riders though.

And then I caught up with and passed the motorcycles. Traffic sucks downtown, but I can ride in the bike/bus lane. :)

That's a lot of bikes.

When you get squashed, I keep your bike.



how glib. :notamused:

have you ever ridden a critical mass ride, blue? you should. then try to organize a critical manners ride.

I wouldn't worry about getting permits unless (1) you need to use public property for the start/end or rest stops for the ride, or (2) you have so many cyclists that you'll need to alter the normal traffic controls and traffic rules to proceed effectively, most likely at the mass start.

Asking 300 cyclists to start a ride at a public park or town square, without making facility reservations and providing restroom accommodations, is asking for trouble. But if you get permission at the start and stop sites and set up porta-potty facilities as needed, and don't need to direct traffic, you probably won't need a permit. Ask the city.

Some of our local large rides get police assistance to do mass starts in urban areas (blocking traffic at intersections to let the whole group get onto the main road and through the first couple of busy intersections). Others start in rural areas with little traffic; we started notifying the police for those rides as a courtesy, but the police didn't care since no traffic assistance was needed.

Why so? When you consider the context, what would really happen if everyone started biking to college? You don't get any warning for this; nobody is going to help you. There just happen to be 300 people on the road on bicycles all at the same time now.

It's a mass irritant, for sure. Cyclists are slower than cars, and don't flow with traffic perfectly well, so they annoy motorists. A large number of cars being replaced with cyclists decreases overall congestion, but it does change road dynamics due to the large number of slower moving vehicles. A large number of cyclists just plopped out there... does funny things, but it's close enough.

If the infrastructure can't handle it without preparing, then maybe we need new infrastructure. If you need to pee, you should have gone before you left; the next campus is what 10 miles away?

Engineers don't design road systems to make the rarest peak traffic events convenient for everyone; they design to accommodate recurring traffic conditions, if they can even do that, depending on funding. Sometimes they design a road for traffic they expect 20+ years later, but it has to be a somewhat realistic expectation. There's no realistic expecation in most areas of the US that any given streets will see a sustained 300 cyclists per minute on a regular basis. It's a rare event most pragmatically handled by patience and/or police assistance.

As for accommodating the physical wants and needs of cyclists during events, if you don't make them comfortable, they won't attend your event again.

Engineers don't design road systems to make the rarest peak traffic events convenient for everyone; they design to accommodate recurring traffic conditions, if they can even do that, depending on funding.

http://www.cpabc.org/bikebill.htm

http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/planning/community_planning/bikeped/westbikeped.html


This is cute too, but unrelated:

http://search.maryland.gov/search?q=cache:DcT7K3YyEOwJ:www.mva.maryland.gov/Resources/Violation_Code.pdf+Bike+Ped+Access+2000&site=Transportation_MVA&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&client=search_md_1&proxystylesheet=search_md_1&access=p&oe=ISO-8859-1

0881 THROWING OBJECT AT BICYCLIST
0882 OPEN DOOR INTENT INJ BICYCLIST
0883 PED-BICYCLE PROH-VEH CROSSING

We actually have vehicle violation codes for rolling down your window and throwing a soda at a bicyclist, or trying to door someone. No idea what 0883 is.

VEH DRIV FAIL EXER CARE AVOID COL W/BIKE/MTR SCTR OP BY PER

... citation for failure to exercise care to avoid collision with bicycle ...

THROW OBJ AT/IN DIR OF PERSON RIDE BIKE/MTR SCTR

... citation for throwing objects in direction of person riding bicycle or motor scooter ...

... why are these even laws? Can I throw rocks at pedestrians? They're not on bikes...

If the infrastructure can't handle it without preparing, then maybe we need new infrastructure.

Infrastructure can handle it just fine; there are four races near here every year that run mostly on 2-lane 65MPH roads with no shoulder. I often work communications for them, and have to drive from rest stop to rest stop. I've never had more than a few seconds' delay in passing even a fairly large pack. What would normally be a 10 minute drive might turn into a 12 minute drive with 4-5 separate packs of riders.

It's interesting, though, that these groups of 50-75 riders who have mostly never met have a pretty good system going; when a car is coming from behind, one near the next visual obstacle will signal when it's clear, and the signal will be passed all the way to the back to wave the car around. (sure, it's often a pass across a solid yellow, but the point of the solid yellow is that you can't see around the obstacle - having a spotter who can see past it covers that problem) Funny how many clubs that ride together 2-3 times a week can't manage that.

Funny how many clubs that ride together 2-3 times a week can't manage that.

That's because so-called "experts" are really dumb. You find people who have done things their whole life, know everything about it, and then ... some amateur who doesn't understand and hasn't been indoctrinated asks a question, and it's like... oh... that makes sense ... why didn't I think of that?

Back in 2003-ish people in the security industry constantly told me security makes things harder. Then I demonstrated a high-security system I put together--which was based on the work of many other people--and showed how the maintainers of the system (the people selling it) had to do one or two extra things to make Java run ; while people using the system didn't have to worry about security breaches as much (hackers, worms, etc.), and people developing software for the system got much better feedback (because stuff would crash if it was wrong, and the debugging information gained by triggering the security systems in that way told you what you did wrong).

... oh, also I demonstrated that the Java JRE was less secure than running straight C programs under that configuration. Go figure.

A lot of people did a lot of work. These were all people that looked at the state of the art and said, "... what? No, why?" and then did things that were considered impossible. I picked up a lot of it, glued it together (poorly), and then showed a few colleagues how it worked. It was taken like voodoo magic.

In truth, the concept that "any security makes things harder" is as silly as saying that "any improvement in bike durability or handling makes it harder to ride." Remove your quick release skewer, which weighs a few grams and adds drag, and tell me how much easier it is to get up hills without the weight... especially when you hit a pothole and your front wheel drops off your bike. One of the major improvements in security that somebody did was enforcing a policy by which memory cannot be altered--ever--if it's executable program code, which is correct behavior but completely breaks buffer overflow attacks. That's "more secure" and "correct," but it just isn't done that way.

Large, cohesive groups of people don't normally come up with new ideas. It's the hacked-together newbies that figure stuff out.

So set up a CM ride starting from one of the campuses. They run traditionally on the last Friday of the month. What's the big deal?

Back in 2003-ish people in the security industry constantly told me security makes things harder.

Now it's the inverse; they think that harder->more secure rather than more secure->harder. Look at how many places have ridiculous password requirements (8 characters, at least one uppercase, one lowercase, one digit, no spaces or punctuation, etc.) that pretty much guarantee you'll have to use something that's either obvious or written down.

IMO, better to go to something like a passphrase that could be anything and still be memorable. Sure, one of my Truecrypt passphrases is straight out of a book, but first you've got to get your hands on the physical layer, (thumbdrive) then run a dictionary phrase attack with a dictionary bigger than Project Gutenberg to get that (relatively obscure) book and find the right >50 character chunk in it. Anybody who's willing to do that to get the serial number list for my insured valuables and a few backup copies of PGP private keys (without their passphrases) has a lot of time on their hands. Then again, I occasionally encrypt boring stuff with throwaway keys too, so that anyone looking will waste a lot of time.

Meanwhile, I need my SSN and a 7-10-digit PIN (numbers only, I can guarantee you anybody not keeping this written down somewhere is using a DL number, phone number or something similarly easy to find compared to a good password or passphrase) to get my online paystubs. No access to the money or any ability to do anything other than view and print paystubs, no account numbers, nothing more than how many hours I worked, how much I made and how much went to taxes. Both of my bank accounts and my credit card, OTOH, let me in with 5-8 character usernames and passwords to transfer funds, etc. My cards only have 4-digit PINs to make purchases and withdrawals, my alarm code is limited to 4 digits, etc. I have yet to get an explanation as to why my paystub needs so much protection when the money itself is just fine with much simpler codes.

Return route?

I'm thinking of doing an unsanctioned cycling event, if I could ever organize such a thing. No warning the city or the cops, no getting permits, no assistance.

Stop arguing with everybody, and do it already, tuff guy.

Stop arguing with everybody, and do it already, tuff guy.

Yep, that's what the "organizers" (can't think of a better word... it's not very organized) did here. They started out with a small group doing night rides to avoid the summer heat. People found out through word of mouth and eventually a Facebook group, and now the Night Riders is a twice-weekly ride going on two years now. The same people also started the FortWorth CriticalMass group (despite the name, it's more like Critical Manners). Maybe get a few friends to start this with then grow it virally through FB.

Stop arguing with everybody, and do it already, tuff guy.

I have no friends. I'm not very social. I don't know how to motivate people into doing things. I'm not a politician (I want to run for city council, but it seems like the only thing I'd get out of that is a pay check ... I fear resistance by the cartel-in-power would stamp out any attempts by anyone to change what's not working, and so progress cannot be made).

I'm good at solving engineering-style problems, not social-style problems. When I attack social problems, I point out all the social errors, the poor thinking of the masses, the corrupt thinking of the leaders, the mistaken ideals of the state that they've pushed down onto the people, and why they don't work. I point out short and long term thinking contrasts, and why current attempts fail. And I ... in no way have any plan for convincing anyone to actually listen. That's the social problem: make the politicians shout loudly at the people, or the people shout loudly at the politicians. How do you convince either?

You're thinking about it too much. Hop on your bike and ride. Maybe 5,999 other riders will follow.

I have no friends. I'm not very social. I don't know how to motivate people into doing things. I'm not a politician (I want to run for city council, but it seems like the only thing I'd get out of that is a pay check ... I fear resistance by the cartel-in-power would stamp out any attempts by anyone to change what's not working, and so progress cannot be made).

I'm good at solving engineering-style problems, not social-style problems. When I attack social problems, I point out all the social errors, the poor thinking of the masses, the corrupt thinking of the leaders, the mistaken ideals of the state that they've pushed down onto the people, and why they don't work. I point out short and long term thinking contrasts, and why current attempts fail. And I ... in no way have any plan for convincing anyone to actually listen. That's the social problem: make the politicians shout loudly at the people, or the people shout loudly at the politicians. How do you convince either?

Why do you want to be a leader of people when you readily admit you aren't very good with people?

This is cute too, but unrelated:
THROW OBJ AT/IN DIR OF PERSON RIDE BIKE/MTR SCTR
... citation for throwing objects in direction of person riding bicycle or motor scooter ...
... why are these even laws? Can I throw rocks at pedestrians? They're not on bikes...These aren't exactly laws -- they're offense codes.

Every offense is supposed to be backed up by a law (throwing rocks at people is probably a violation of an assault and/or battery law, for example) but one law can have many "offenses". I think they do it this way so they can do metrics on it later.

For example, there's one law that says stop at red lights. But the police can have a separate offense code for failure to stop before turning right, before going straight, before going left, going through at a low rate of speed, going through at a high rate of speed, going through when there was traffic in the intersection, etc.

As for computer security, you really seem to want to talk about unrelated stuff, don't you? :)

Why do you want to be a leader of people when you readily admit you aren't very good with people?

Three months ago, I wasn't very good at riding a bike.

These aren't exactly laws -- they're offense codes.

Every offense is supposed to be backed up by a law (throwing rocks at people is probably a violation of an assault and/or battery law, for example) but one law can have many "offenses". I think they do it this way so they can do metrics on it later.


http://www.mva.maryland.gov/Driver-Safety/Bicycle/default.htm

"A person may not throw any object at or in the direction of any person riding a bicycle, an EPAMD, or a motor scooter"

I remember reviewing the house bill for this, which IIRC was proposed in something like 1998 but didn't pass until 2002, 2003, or 2008 .. I honestly can't remember. It also contained the 3 foot passing law, though (which I would have struck and rewritten as one meter; and also explicitly added a subsection to clarify that it is illegal per se to pass with less clearance. If you strike a cyclist, you are not automatically exercising due care because you're following the letter of the law; just like a 0.06 BAC is not illegal per se to drive, but if you can be shown impaired, you get a DWI).

But yes, the law actually says don't throw **** at cyclists and Steven Hawking.

bluefoxyic...... just wondering..... does the term banana revolution have any meaning for you?

Three months ago, I wasn't very good at riding a bike.

That doesn't answer the question, though. I didn't ask whether you thought you could, I asked why you want to.

Ductus exemplo.

If you think something is worth doing, do it, don't sit here on the internet talking about it.

I know more than a few engineers who are excellent at solving social problems, however every good leader I've met does not have the attitude of "Let me go on the internet and try to sound smart." If you think your time is worth that, you might want to reevaluate.

bluefoxyic...... just wondering..... does the term banana revolution have any meaning for you?

Something about a spinning yellow berry?

That doesn't answer the question, though. I didn't ask whether you thought you could, I asked why you want to.

I thought it was a challenge question posing why I should bother doing something if it requires skills I admittedly don't have a firm grasp over.

Also, whenever you ask why I want to do something, you should consider if it's physically possible for it to cause amusement.

It would also greatly amuse me to either fix or completely destroy the economy here. Either would produce interesting outcomes. As well, to cause minor social changes and see what happens wrt economy, social climate, political climate, the like.

I'm like a very, very bored deity. Mortals fry bugs with magnifying glasses; I try to make the vast majority of mortals stop for five minutes a day to relax their mind and take an introspective look at their thoughts and at the world around them, and see if they eventually stop to question if small beetles deserve to die by frying, whether or not they have feelings or the capacity to care or not. I'm not going to go out preaching about how bad it is to crush small insects simply because they're within your visual field, though.

It would also greatly amuse me to either fix or completely destroy the economy here. Either would produce interesting outcomes. As well, to cause minor social changes and see what happens wrt economy, social climate, political climate, the like.

I'm like a very, very bored deity.

Maybe its time for Navy Seal Team Six to pay you a visit before you act out on your fantasies. Get some medical help, you need it!

I have no friends.

Now that's just shocking...

Now that's just shocking...

But it's not surprising is it?

Not my problem if you run stop signs. When you get squashed, I keep your bike.

I'm just telling you what to look out for.


Don't see how that matters, as public infrastructure is legal for moving people from one place to another. If someone told me I needed a special permit for a lot of people to use the roads at once, I'd call my local rep and news station (Fox is right here) and complain. You're allowed on the road... unless you guys know each other, then you need permission. WTF?

You're arguing semantics. You're saying it shouldn't be considered a group event because what if you happened to all just bike to school, it's not illegal to be on the road, blah blah blah. And I'm not saying you're wrong; I'm saying real life isn't semantics. The city may not agree with you, may consider it a group event anyway (depending on the size of the group in relation to the town, and especially if there are designated meeting points) since regardless of hypotheticals, you are at least a loose group, and may cite you based on any group event organizing ordinances they have. It's not unusual to have a city ordinance saying you have to have a permit for on-street events, and this may or may not include/exclude whether you obey traffic or not.

I'm absolutely not saying it's right, or Constitutional, or anything else, I'm just letting you know it's something to look out for. There's a lot of ordinances and laws on the local level that really skirt the Constitution sometimes. The state and federal level get a lot more attention in the department. If you're going to do it, just be prepared for possible consequences.


Not my fault if the infrastructure can't handle it. Maybe you need to rethink your infrastructure if it's taken down by a bunch of guys on bikes.

Again, I'm not necessarily disagreeing (although I would point out that while I support bike infrastructure, designing the backbone of it around a 1% share of it doesn't seem like a good idea to me), I'm just saying the city may not see eye-to-eye with you.


Actually, somebody did a motorcycle run yesterday... the motorcycles (not cops) were actually blocking traffic when the light changed and waving their friends through traffic signals. ~_~ One was right in front of me, I was waiting at a green light that was blocked. Almost just ran because hey, he's not a cop, and the traffic control device says go. Didn't want to mix up with a bunch of motorcycles and startle the riders though.

And then I caught up with and passed the motorcycles. Traffic sucks downtown, but I can ride in the bike/bus lane. :)

That's a lot of bikes.

At any rate, I'm not trying to discourage you from doing it. I'm just trying to give some friendly advice on how it may go down and what you should be prepared for, as someone who has dealt with the city a few times in the past. It's not a guarantee these problems will occur, but be prepared to deal with them. But, if it works out, and people have fun, you could have a firm hand in starting a large, regular cycling event in your city, which is pretty cool. Best of luck, whatever you decide.

Ductus exemplo.

If you think something is worth doing, do it, don't sit here on the internet talking about it.

I know more than a few engineers who are excellent at solving social problems, however every good leader I've met does not have the attitude of "Let me go on the internet and try to sound smart." If you think your time is worth that, you might want to reevaluate.

No, but I think it makes perfect sense to go online to a group of people with experience or interest in organizing people for cycling advocacy to get a feel for it before you do it.

look at http://www.sjbikeparty.org/ for some ideas

The projected route would be--just to be fair--a circular route from Essex to Dundalk to Catonsville to Essex community college campuses, all in a ring. I guess if you could ever hope to have some 300 people show up, they could start wherever and end where they start; doesn't need a big group. Projected impact is bigger locally with a big group, but bigger globally with three groups.Out of curiosity, do you have the means to pull this off?

And really, what I mean is, can you get enough cyclists to come? Around here, there's a bunch of fairly large rides with lots of different groups. If you're looking at the advocacy angle (as opposed to spandex-filled training rides), the people who mostly come out to that sort of thing are the "social" folk -- mostly younger, lots of hipsters with fixed gears, almost no spandex, few helmets, etc. But these folk are fickle -- if they don't think something is going to be fun, they won't show up. And if they show up and it's not fun, they won't come back. Herding these folk is like herding cats.

The "Thursday Night Social Ride" has turned into the largest ride in the area, hitting around 300-400 people every week. The organizer has been "spoken to" by the city and police quite a few times about the ride -- for the most part, the city has been fairly supportive, but the ride has been told not to go to certain places (even though it's completely legal to do so), has been kicked out of it's original starting location (though again it's completely legal even even appropriate) and he's been given lots of flack about people on the ride breaking traffic laws and snarling traffic, and nevermind the problem of drinking and smoking pot at parks. It hasn't happened yet that I know of, but I imagine that if there is ever a severe accident and somebody is seriously injured or killed, he may be the subject of a lawsuit.

He's a charismatic guy, and he also negotiates free or almost free drinks with local clubs and bars at the end of the rides, which seems to have been a large part of the large turnout.

I don't know that anything you do will be similar, but it's almost turned into a full time job for him. On the bright side, I think he's setting himself up for a career in politics or public relations with it all -- which isn't a bad thing at all -- but it's not like one can just say "let's get 300 cyclists on a ride on wednesday night!" and actually pull it off. Even this guy, with all his dedication and charisma took at least six months for his ride to take off.