Cyclocross is sweeping the cycling world.   Bike manufacturers are rejoicing and local clubs all over the USA are hosting grassroots races that are single-handedly restoring the “community” to the bike racing community.

Stephen Bilenky of Bilenky Cycle Works is doing his part to incorporate as much fun and creativity as possible to his annual Bilenky Urban Cyclocross Race.

Thanks to race organizers like Bilenky, cyclocross races are not blindly adopting the attitudes and formats of traditional local criterium bike races.  The one consistent theme, however, is that everybody is there to race and aren’t afraid to suffer in rainy, muddy and cold weather.  Bring the pain!

Somewhere deep in the bowels of the US Cyclocross Republic, Bilkeny’s Urban Cyclocross Race is more akin to Blade Runner, The Road and Mad Max than to the lycra and carbon fiber images we associate with bike racing.  Racers ride through tractor trailer beds, past boats, through toxic puddles and oil stained cement.  This is, hands down, the most creative race in cyclocross.

******  Watch their Huffy Toss here.  ******

A few weeks ago LA showed its true colors when a group of gangbangers in the Highland Park area of East Los Angeles shot a cyclist in the back.  Every few weeks the Midnightridazz, a bike enthusiast group, gathers to take part in themed mass bike rides across East LA, Hollywood, downtown LA, Silver Lake and Echo Park.  Known to last until the wee hours of the morning, these rides are made up of hundred of bike riders.  Unfortunately, last Friday’s “Neverland Ride” turned out to be more like the “Straight outta Compton, crazy muthaf&^%@# named Ice Cube” ride.

The sad truth is that on most of these rides there is a large percentage of people working on a buzz or already drunk as hell riding fixed gear bikes with no breaks, breaking traffic laws and/or wearing costumes.  One could see how a 300 person ride like this could get out of hand quickly.  But, did all of that culminate into the shooting on July 10th?  Nobody knows.

As the group was riding through Highland Park (an area most people won’t walk through in the daytime), bottles began to fly from a house on the corner.  The street was littered with broken glass, making it difficult for the bikes to get through.  This split the large group of cyclists.

After word spread ahead that a female cyclist had fallen or been knocked down, many riders went back to check on her.  That’s when the trouble started.  Approximately 10 gangbangers ceased throwing bottles at the cyclists in the street and began beating riders and stealing their bikes.  One of the gangsters had a shovel and was threatening to hit people.  That’s when things escalated.

One of the riders yanked the shovel from the hands for the thug and yelled, “What’s up now!!!????”  In the following seconds other gangsters and riders exchanged punches.  Next, the rider holding the shovel found himself facing a black 22 caliber handgun.  As the rider turned to run, the gangbanger shot him in the back.

Apparently the backpack the rider was wearing helped slow down the bullet; keeping it from lodging into his spine.  The police arrived in a few minutes and were now faced with a gunshot victim and a standoff with the thugs.  The police stayed camped out in front of the house until early morning.  Eventually, there were able to apprehend all of the gangsters and return the bikes to the owners.

About these rides…

Midnight Ridazz and other rides like them across Los Angeles garner polar opposite responses from the bike and non-cycling community when asked about them.  To some, these rides are an excuse for people to rebel and cause traffic problems and proclaim “bikes have rights too”, though this mantra is illustrated by incessant violation of traffic laws.  To others, these sorts of rides are a way to “wake up” drivers in a city that is infested with car drivers that feel cyclists have no right to be on the road.  What’s more, some cyclists feel this is their way of showing that they’re fed up and  tired of being hit by cars or run off the road by malicious or irresponsible drivers.

It’s important to note that this is not a cyclists vs. automobiles situation.  Many riders in the LA cycling community frown upon these sorts of rides, as they feel they drive a wedge further between the cyclists and drivers.  To some it forces an unneeded tug-of-war.  To others it creates a necessary discomfort that is needed to force motorists to learn that they don’t own the road.

Either way, this is the sort of Los Angeles we love. Viva Venice Beach.