Rock The Bike: BLOG
Evil Forces and Villains Beware: Raging Fires and Falling Ash Couldn’t Stop The Super Hero Ride II
(Southbay Cruisers” Super Hero Ride II Recap)
Had the evil forces of the world had ganged up on us on Nov 15th? It started like many other days in Southbay Los Angeles. Blue skies, a slight breeze, warm temperatures reaching close to 80 degrees….Yes! This is gonna be awesome! No wind, no rain, unseasonably warm temperatures….what more could you ask for from a November Cruiser ride?
Then about 3 hours before the start of the ride a large brown cloud overhead starts to creep over the ocean. What the? This must be the evil forces of the world decending upon us, trying to stop the Super Hero Ride II! Of course we all know it was fires raging throughout the Southland, one as close as Palos Verdes, that helped create this large brown cloud.
We hope that all of you that have family and friends in the areas affected directly by the fires are OK. We know that many of you had intentions of showing up to to the Super Hero ride but have asthma or other health related issues or concerns, which prevented you from attending. Or maybe you had loved ones you we’re concerned about in the areas directly affected by the fires. We hope all is well with everyone living in those areas.
At any rate, we couldn’t let the evil forces of the world stop us from our Super Hero Ride II. The Smoke and ash in the Southbay along the beaches didn’t appear to be nearly as bad as other areas. In fact I saw a huge barbecue along the Strand on the way to the ride. And so the ride went on as scheduled, and oh what a ride it was!
We met at our usual spot at Hermosa Pier. All kinds of Super Heros from the Justice League and even a few Super Heros that we had never heard of of showed up too. Batman, Super Girl, CatWoman,Lucha Maria….Lucha Maria?….Well that was one of the more creative Super Heros on the ride.
We definitely saw some creativity with costumes. No cape in you wardrobe, do what one girl did and tie a target bag around your neck to become the Target Super Hero. Lucha Maria(Mary)decorated her bike by painting old rags from her dad’s wood shop. And Super Hero Sara, as always had one of the most creative costumes of all(see pics on www.southbaycruisers.com)
We started off with a little Supersonic jump roping while we waited for others to show up at the Pier. One lady in her 70’s even joined in to do some jumps, proving that jump roping is for the young as well as the young at heart.
About 20 of us then set off on a course destined for Valley Park. To the tunes of Wonder Woman, Batman, and Raiders of the Lost Arc booming from the soul cycle we headed up Hermosa Avenue amid cheers from neighbors and people passing in their cars. We were joined by Julio and his stereo system, Jolly(aka Catwoman),Mary(aka ‘Lucha Maria’),Super Hero Sara, and others.
We eventually made our way to Valley Park in Hermosa Beach where we were greeted again by some new friends from Mira Costa High. “Hey are you guys the Creepy Cruisers?’ No, were the “Southbay Cruisers, last month’s ride was the Creepy Cruise, this month it’s the Super Hero ride…”
While Julio and Mary got the barbecue started we got our first game under way. Super Hero Wheel Barrel Racing. 5 energetic teams stepped up to the challenge and the competition was fierce but only one team walked away with the gold.
Next was Super Hero Arm Wrestling where we saw the Catwoman(Jolly) battle Lucha Maria!(Mary) for the the coveted Spiderman Mr. Potato Head doll. It was a a fierce battle with Catwoman scoring an upset. Catwoman was later challenged by our Mira Costa friends to defend her title. Let me tell you, these kids…cheerleaders…we’re strong!
Next up was the Spiderman Web Wrapping. Nothing like wrapping a friend or significant other in toilet paper in a park late at night. Chris and Mary, our Mad Scientists took the gold there. We then took to some three legged races(see the pics below)
We spent the rest of the evening dancing, climbing trees, posing, giving piggyback rides, and generally acting goofy. Not unusual for us on a Saturday night in Valley Park. Just another great ride behind us now.
Thanks to Mary for taking many of the pics and for helping to organize this ride!
See pics of this ride on www.southbaycruisers.com
Thank You Fossil Fool for another Awesome Night of Cruisin’!
When we learned that Fossil Fool and his Choprical Fish were in town for the weekend and up for a Cruiser ride we headed off to Marina Del Rey to meet him for a night of bike rapping. After hooking up at the bridge over the jetty at Marina Del Rey we headed off to Dockweiler and some nighttime campfire rapping!
Here’s a video of the highlights of our adventures…
Pics are posted on www.southbaycruisers.com
THANK YOU FOSSIL FOOL! COME BACK AGAIN SOON!
Mobile go go dancing party bike on the streets of New York
I heard from Andrew about his dancing bike months ago, but he didn’t have, ahem, a clean photo. Well, here’s the New York Post’s take on it. Click the photo for more.
New York Post’s article on the PoleRider.:
I really wish Andrew had emailed me this one when he told me about the rig two months ago. Nice shot, and a pretty phat party bike. You went there.
New Bike Culture cafe in East Bay looking for kitchen crew
Craigslist posting:
FRIDAY 12-12 at 8PM: Full Moon Bike Ride to the RoLLeR DiScO Benefit Party for WEF
Did you know…
Not all full Moons are the same? This Friday’s is the biggest and brightest full Moon of the year! So get your ticket and put on your disco threads and come along for a rockin ride out the the Whole Earth Festival Fundraiser, Friday, 12/12…
8PM Full Moon Bicycle Cruise starting at Rainbow City (in the park close to F St and Covell) arriving at the DISC by approximately…
8:30PM RoLLeR DiScO Benefit Party for Whole Earth Festival
RoLLeR DiScO Benefit Party for Whole Earth Festival
Whole Earth Festival Benefit
Roller Disco at the DISC! (a roller disco dance party!)
Friday Dec 12! € until Midnight
At the DISC
2801 2nd Street
* Beer, Beats, CFR (a local psychedelic jazz band), Dance, Costumes, Auction! Items include a hula-hoop, crafts, a massage & a horseback-riding lesson!, Skates, Bake Sale
Pre-sale tickets at Armadillo. Tickets are $10 presale and $12 at the door, sliding scale.
One love!
Rainbow
530.574.2652
Just Picked Up some Waterproof Speakers for some Winter Cruiser Rides…
Although we’re fortunate to not have nearly as much wet weather here in Hermosa Beach,CA as other parts of the country, that doesn’t mean you won’t get caught in a downpour on a cruiser ride.
Granted, no one melts in the rain. However rain as I’m sure you are probably well aware, isn’t the best thing in the world for a bicycle stereo system to be exposed to, and can easily ruin one.
What’s more even though it doesn’t rain as much in So Cal as in other parts of the country, you can get some pretty foggy nights on a fairly regular basis here near the beach. As we head into this time of year it’s not uncommon to come back with damp dripping speakers whether it’s raining or not.
With those factors in mind I set forth to find me some waterproof speakers and I ran across these by Pyramid…
http://www.shop.com/31697375-p.shtml
I actually picked these up (Pyramid 5071WP 2-way Waterproof Speaker System) from Amazon for about the same price…I think Etronics was the seller on Amazon that I bought them from.
I was a little skeptical at first about them. I couldn’t find one third party review about these speakers anywhere on Amazon. However, my buddy Julio, who also has them on his bicycle stereo system swears by them.
So i picked them up and hooked them up to my soul cycle head unit. They sound awesome! I just connect them to the stoker bar on the back of my xtracycle, although they are small enough that you could probably bungee them onto a rack on any bike. The lows and the highs come out really clean, and I can turn up the volume much louder than my last pair without much distortion.
And of course the added benefit that they are waterproof makes them one less thing to worry about while on a cruiser ride.
Of course the soul cycle head unit and my ipod cost considerably more than the speakers. Both of those items are definitely not waterproof, but I’ve found that placing a couple plastic see through bread bags over the head unit and ipod keeps them dry. Heck use a third bag if you are concerned.
Curious what other people’s strategies are for cruisin’ in the rain with a stereo system. Obviously it’s not something most of us plan to do. But undoubtedly at some point you could get caught in the rain.
Southbay Cruisers: The Roller Derby Ride III Recap…
The evening of November 1st, 2008 started off with a threat of rain, but our spirits weren’t dampened as it turned out to be another great Roller Derby Ride! The weather turned out to be just perfect. We met at Hermosa Pier and got things kicked off with some jump roping on Hermosa Pier. With the Super Hero Ride right around the corner, and given that Roller Derby players are pretty much Super Heros in their own right, we headed off to the Toyota Center cruisin’ to our Super Hero mix.
Our route was one of our favorites. Starting off on the Southbay Bike path, we eventually made our way through residential Manhattan Beach, the Manhattan Beach Mall, and then industrial El Segundo. Our favorite part of the ride took us underneath the Douglas Station “Roller Coaster” Tunnel where we had fun racing back and forth a few times before continuing on our journey to watch the Angel’s City Derby Girls compete.
Once there we were treated to another intense roller derby match. We’re still bascially lost on the rules of the game. Let’s see the jammer, she’s the one with the star, scores all the points, and everyone on her opposing team is trying to stop her, right? At any rate it was an intense game with many spills and falls. And we saw our very own Southbay Cruiser Sonia Sanchez help her team, the Block Steady Crew, to victory against the Prison City Derby Dames.
We cruised back to Hermosa after the game and finished the night eating at Rocky Cola Cafe. It was another awesome night of cruising. We look forward to more Roller Derby Rides next year!
For photos of this ride and a look at other upcoming Southbay Cruiser Rides see our website at www.southbaycruisers.com .
Up Next…The Super Hero Ride III: Cruiser Ride/Barbecue/Games/Karaoke on Nov 15th! This will be EPIC!
Welcoming Solano Cyclery, Ken’s Bike & Ski, and The Bicycle Chef to the Rock the Bike
Ever since Interbike we’ve been signing up some great new Dealers. Here’s a small profile of a few of them:
The Bicycle Chef, in Sacramento, CA
With their recent move to a spacious spot on N Street just outside Downtown Sacramento, The Bicycle Chef has redoubled its commitment to supporting commuters and lifestyle cyclists. Manager Whit told me that they actively support sustainability by encouraging customers to keep and repair old bikes. They make a lot of people smile that way. And it only boosts their reputation when people are rolling around town, psyched that they’ve got that good bike feeling again and all they had to buy was a pair of brakes and new tire. And now they’re going to be the Sacramento joint for Mundo test rides. They’ve got the affordable, bright red single-speed Mundo, perfect for flat cities like Sacramento.
This is the kind of shop you want to buy a bicycle from. Ken’s is huge in size but still owner-operated, and has been in business for decades. I could tell by the questions Ken was asking about the Mundo as he pondered it over, that this shop that supports every sale with superior service over the life of the bike, not just the first year or the 30-day tuneup. In other words, it means something to buy a bike from Ken’s.
I personally prefer not to test ride bikes in a parking lot, and conveniently, Ken’s is located next to a few good residential blocks where you can pedal hard and test the bike out. They’ve also got the bright red single-speed Mundo in stock.
Located on Solano Ave. in the Berkeley/Albany area, Solano Cyclery was our host for the street party / Xtracycle rally on Solano Stroll. This fellow Xtracycle dealer has a great reputation for quality service and shop spirit. They picked up the Down Low Glow when they heard about its unique Side Visibility safety benefit. Another cool shop that cares about your safety and style. Definitely worth a visit, and they have the Down Low Glow in stock, which is more than I can say for Rock the Bike at the moment.
