EBBP – February 2015: Bleeding Hearts

Weeeeee’re baaaack. Love and blood combine for a special Friday the 13th Valentine’s celebration. Feel the warm tingly feelings of love pass through you, or is that the blood loss?

We’re starting at Mosswood Park, which is not a BART station but is very near to MacArthur BART. Meet at 7:30, roll at 8.

Invite your friends, and please remember to take ownership of Bike Party by encouraging everyone to be safe and respectful of your fellow riders and the spaces we ride in. This is how we do it:

• Stay to the right
• Stop at lights
• Ride straight
• Don’t hate
• Pack your trash
• Don’t get smashed

Happy New Year, and looking to East Bay Bike Party in 2015

Happy New Year to all you Bike Party people!

We want to give you a status update on the future of East Bay Bike Party.

As part of our efforts to keep our monthly ride fun and safe, we are spending the month of January doing outreach to local bike clubs in an effort to build a “coalition” of riders who share the same ideals on which EBBP was founded. Because of that, we have decided to once again cancel this month’s edition of East Bay Bike Party.

If you know of specific East Bay bike clubs and organizations we should reach out to, please tell us about them in the comments. It would be ideal if you would also supply us with the name(s) of the club leader(s) as well, so we know who to contact to get the ball rolling.

We WILL be back in February with what we hope will be a much more fun and noticeably safer ride. Please bear with us during this transition.

Thanks so much!

Announcement – December’s East Bay Bike Party is Cancelled

The East Bay Bike Party Volunteers have unanimously chosen to cancel December’s ride because of actions that grossly disrespect its core values. These same actions have also disrespected the communities in which we have visited. The Volunteers apologize to the communities that have been negatively affected.

East Bay Bike Party (EBBP) is a 100% volunteer powered event for and by bike enthusiasts. We are a loose knit group of idealistic volunteers trying to spread bicycle love. EBBP has some core values and simple rules.  Your participation in Bike Party means acceptance of, and adherence to these core values/rules.

Despite concerted thought and effort over many months to more effectively communicate our values and reign in behavior counter to those values, we’ve experienced a general decline in civility at our bike parties, manifested by:

• Riding into oncoming traffic, attacks on motorists
• Property destruction / tagging
• Threats directed at volunteers
• Theft of bicycles and personal gear
• Disregard for music volume limits in residential areas after hours
• Offensive and exclusionary misogynistic music
• Littering

November’s ride gave us more than enough examples of the above behavior. To top it off, someone stole a bicycle belonging to one of our dearest volunteers.

The above behaviors are NOT East Bay Bike Party. As civility has decreased, so too has the artistic expression of themes and female participation. Over time, many of our wonderful friends simply stopped coming to the Bike Party that they helped create. So to the people who have taken Bike Party from us, we are taking it back in December.

Although the vast majority of bike party participation has been great, please use December’s time off to reflect on Bike Party’s values and in turn, increase your appreciation, participation, and commitment to East Bay Bike Party.

EBBP – November 2014: Be Like Mr. Rogers

Hey Bike Partiers!

The theme for this month’s ride is both serious and whimsical. As more and more people join us on our monthly ride, the less-than-stellar behaviour of “the few” becomes more and more prominent to residents. As part of our “How We Ride” ethic, we always strive to minimize the impact of those folks because, like it or not, they bring a negative reputation to our ride, and we don’t want that.

This means that, once again, it’s time we get back to basics.

We strive to be neighbourly. And who better embodies being a good neighbour than Mr. Rogers? So…let’s dress like Mr. Rogers and BE like Mr. Rogers!

Sing along with me! :)

It’s a beautiful night in the neighborhood
A beautiful night for a neighbor
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won’t you be my neighbor?

It’s EB Bike Party’s Neighborhood
A land of make-believe
Won’t you ride along with me?
It’s EBBP’s Neighborhood
So much to do, so much to see
Won’t you ride along with me?

I’ve got lots of friends for you to meet
In this land of make-believe
A friendly face on every street
Just waiting for you to greet.

It’s a beautiful night in the neighborhood
A beautiful night for a neighbor
Won’t you be my neighbor?

Ride Details:

• Meetup at 7:30pm; roll at 8:00pm. Note that we will be leaving PROMPTLY at 8:00pm in order to get folks to the ending spot (and BART) in plenty of time.
• Start Point: Fruitvale BART
• Route sheets will NOT be distributed! The “sweeper” will have route sheets to give to people who have flats or other mechanical issues.
• Ending point is less than 1.5 miles from BART. Only two stops on this route (1 regroup + end stop)
• Don’t forget the 3 Ls: Lights, Locks & Layers!

REMEMBER, this is our community and YOU CREATE THE CULTURE OF BIKE PARTY. If you see something that is disrespectful, say something! We all love Bike Party and want to see it keep on keepin’ on.

How We Ride:
* Stay to the Right (don’t ride into oncoming traffic)
* Stop at Lights
* Ride Straight (ride predictably, don’t swerve)
* Don’t Hate (avoid conflict, show respect for locals)
* Pack Your Trash (leave no trace!)
* Don’t get Smashed

EBBP – October 2014: 10-10-10,000 ZOMBIES!!!!

The EBBP Facebook Group has eclipsed 10,000 members, setting off a terrifying chain reaction of death and re-animation among the group. On 10/10 the transformation of the entire 10,000 will be complete.

Unlike past zombie pandemics, these zombies appear highly evolved. They ride bikes to overcome their typical slowness. They also exhibit some other strangely compelling behavior. Early reports suggest that all seem to:

• Stay right
• Stop at lights
• Ride straight
• Love others
• Pack their trash
• Maintain their wits

Aside from their putrid appearances, their positivity is infectious and is likely to result in the continued growth in their numbers…

• When: Friday Oct 10, 7:30pm
• Where: West Oakland BART – Ends near Lake Merritt BART

EBBP September ’14 – Polka Dots and Stripes, a Patriotic Bike Party

• Theme: Polka Dots & Stripes, a Patriotic Bike Party.
• When: Friday Sep 12, 7:30pm
• Where: Start at Pleasant Hill BART, ends Concord BART

A slight twist on the usual Americana…
A little twisted like your beloved bike party.
There’s no doubt, we’re some lucky folks. Freedom is awesome, so let’s celebrate. Show some imagination, there’s a lot of ways to show your patriotism.

Freedom requires mutual respect and care for one another (even those in autos!). So remember these simple rules:

• Stay right
• Stop at lights
• Ride straight
• Don’t hate
• Pack your trash
• Don’t get smashed

EBBP August: Classy Tops and Crazy Bottoms

• Theme: CLASSY Tops and CRAZY Bottoms.
• When: Friday Aug 8, 7:30pm
• Where: Start at Union City BART, ends Hayward BART

Note that we will be leaving PROMPTLY at 8:00pm (and not the usual 8:15pm bike party time).

Remember, our classy bike party rules:

• Stay right
• Stop at lights
• Ride straight
• Don’t hate
• Pack your trash
• Don’t get smashed