so our Tuesday night community rides have grown so large that of course the pigs are now in on it. last night, the ride leader announced that the po-po would be riding with us on bikes, escorting us on motorcycles and supported by patrol cars..

we all cheered. we thought it would be great. thinking that we now are important in other's eyes.

W-R-O-N-G

the entire ride was filled with cops on motorcycles stinking up the air with loud engines, exhaust fumes, blazing lights, speeding back and forth too close to bike riders, reving engines and constant "STAY TO THE RIGHT" through their loudspeakers. they became intimidating and controlling rather than *******. they also took over the planned route. it sucked. at one point we all reached a big parking lot where we stopped to regroup and wait for the whole group (300+ riders) and i just kept waiting for the gas to start pouring in or the fingerprint station to appear. i was done with it. turned around to start heading back and it was at this point where i noticed they brought a po-po bike paddy wagon. a huge trailer for carrying all the bikes they would be confiscating. riding back, i also saw the vans they would be using for arrests and how big of a deal it was. mind you, this is not a protest ride... simply a community slow ride after rush hour (8pm). never has an entire street be taken over by us and there has only been one confrontation (that happened on campus with some gangsters) which ended peacefully.

about 1/4 mile further i noticed a commotion and saw a tall bike laying on the ground and the pigs all excited like they had just arrested someone. i think they are gearing up for Friday's critical mass ride (the first in a while here in Tucson) where they will be ready to bust heads.

i think the Tuesday night ride is done for. i hope nothing else happened after i left, but as long as the cops are there--> i won't be. fuhck that. (any other tucson riders here have more to add?)

so my advice to you all is keep your rides small and underground unless you are riding a critical mass... cuz johnny law is waiting for you to do something wrong.