Crankmob 1-17-2008 - Hills, Spills, the LAPD, etc.

Last night was Crankmob, and it was pretty awesome!

I've been recovering from a bad cold for weeks now, and was prepared to call it an early night, but my buddy Eddie ignored my call in which I explained I was going to skip it this month and called back half an hour later asking "When should I be at your house?"

Since I was feeling tired and lazy and hadn't ridden my mountain bike in a while, I figured I'd take that. Holy cow was that a good idea! Going from a fixed gear bike with 23mm tires and a racing seat to a many-geared mountain bike with a front suspension, 1.5" tires, and a gel seat was like going from sleeping on the floor to a king-size waterbed. It was an especially wise choice since there were lots and lots of random hills thrown in this time. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera,

So many people showed up to this ride (400-600 people). It was great to see so many familiar faces and so many friendly new ones. The heat wave we've had recently really makes for great night-riding.

We started out at Sawtelle and LaGrange as usual, rode around West L.A. and Brentwood for a bit, where I saw the first spectacular spill of the night as a guy cut a corner too tightly, braked to hard too avoid a car stopped in the oncoming lane, spun his rear wheel out and did a 360 degree spin. He was OK, got back up, and continued riding. While riding in Westwood, we ran into the 5-0 for the first time that evening. Everyone was going through an intersection, when a cop flipped his lights and siren on. We started yelling for everyone to stop, and the group that hadn't entered the intersection yet waited. The squad car raced into the middle of the intersection, parked diagonally in the oncoming lane, and the officer got out of his car, lost his cool, and began yelling over the intercom about the importance of obeying the lights. The lecture was more or less preaching to the choir, as everyone who'd run the intersection against the light was off on their way, while those of us who were all for letting emergency vehicles have as much room to maneuver as possible were still there behind the entrance to the intersection.

We made our first stop at the park behind the Federal Building, and this was pretty cool. I spent most of this stop fixing a flat on Jordan's tacoed wheel, which I pinch-flatted in the process and had to patch twice. Courage stopped to help and she did this cool trick with the tire levers that made it way easy to get the tire bead off the rim, which was awesome. I got distracted by being hugged by Tarsis, who looked smokin' in a French Maid outfit, which was great, and by a giant inflatable soccerball which would land with a loud thud every few seconds, which was not so great. I also learned that a dollar bill, or a piece of a cardboard cigarette pack, can provide a temporary fix to a blown tire sidewall, which came in handy. Fixing the tacoed wheel had to wait for the next stop, so I just undid the rear brake. (The front brake provides 70-80% of the stopping power, so the rear brake is basically an assist/backup anyway.) The tacoed wheel didn't bother Jordan much, as he rode his bike with no hands most of the way to the next stop. At the next stop, we got the wheel a little straighter with the help of a handy spoke wrench, but the cops moved us along before we could get the brake back on.

Spoke wrenches, especially multi-size spoke wrenches, are pretty much a must-have item. For $4-$8, you get a tool that can help you get a wheel straightened out in a matter of minutes, and take your wheels from unrideable / minimally rideable to almost perfect.

If you haven't been on a major group ride before, and are looking for a general idea of what to bring in terms of essential/repair gear, here's a brief list of the helpful stuff:

Lights (a white headlight is legally required in L.A.)
Spare batteries
Tubes (bring several)
Patch kit(s)
Tire levers
Pump
Adjustable crescent wrench
15mm combination wrench (if you've got a fixie (this may be 14-16mm, check your axle bolts))
Allen wrenches / multi-tool
A small pair of pliers
A spoke wrench
A chain-breaker.

You can go far beyond this in terms of additional tools that might come in handy, but with that selection you can easily fix 95-99% of basic maintenance issues that come up while riding, and aside from the lights tubes and pump, all those tools can fit in a pretty small bag. (Bring enough gear to keep yourself (and others) out of trouble, ride safe, and don't steal or shoplift, and you'll be welcome on almost any ride.)

So, to get back to the ride, we were hanging out in a massive parking lot, people were dancing, having fun, doing tricks, and generally having a good time, when the LAPD again appeared (with helicopter no less), came over the loudspeaker to declare us "an unlawful assembly" and giving us 5 minutes to disperse. Exactly how an assembly can be unlawful, given that "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble" is beyond me, but not something I had any interest in discussing, so I dispersed.

Then we rode around and ended up in Rancho Park, where more hanging out, having fun, dancing, etc. occurred until again the LAPD invited us to move along, so we rode out and ended up at the Century City 7-11. I watched a couple of guys get into a shoving match, and watched an ENORMOUS dude that I'd never seen before start yelling "Hug it out!", and that seems like a pretty good way to intervene.

The cops again appeared, and this time, since it was about 2:30, and since we were about a mile from the starting point, I decided to call it a night. (This night was a little law enforcement heavy, but aside from the one cop who lost his cool at the beginning of the evening (and who was much calmer when we saw him at the 7-11 at the end of the night), they were as friendly and professional as you'd hope they would be.)

Ride safe, and come out to the next one next month!

(If you can't wait that long, hit Taco Tuesdays on Tuesday, or check the calendar on www.midnightridazz.com).