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Cynthetiq · 05-15-2008, 02:26 PM

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View: Radical Cyclists Take to L.A. Freeways to Say Bikes Are Better
Source: Wired
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Radical Cyclists Take to L.A. Freeways to Say Bikes Are Better

For the second time in two months, a bunch of Los Angeles bike advocates calling themselves Crimanimalz took to one of the busiest freeways in the world to make the case that, when your freeways are gridlocked, bikes are better.

About 30 cyclists rode onto the Santa Monica Freeway (I-10) at the height of Friday's rush-hour commute and went east to the San Diego Freeway (I-405), where they rode north to the Santa Monica Boulevard exit, moving easily through traffic. In all, they rode more than two miles.

"There's thousands of cars and you're just flying by," said one of the group, called RichToTheIE, by phone on Wednesday. "It's an amazing feeling."

The renegade rides are a radical off-shoot of the popular - and often controversial - Critical Mass rides held each month in cities around the world as cyclists grow increasingly vocal in asserting their rights to the road and extolling the environmental and societal benefits of ditching your car in favor of a bike.

Such rides are usually limited to downtown areas, but Crimanimalz are taking them to the freeways of Los Angeles to prove that riding a bike is faster than creeping through bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Crimanimalz first appeared around the end of last year after Santa Monica police started coming down hard on the monthly Critical Mass ride.

"The freeway is the last stronghold of the car, so when you've got 30 cyclists flying down the lanes, you feel like General Custer, you feel like the good guys," said Alex Cantarero, another of the group "People look on the bicycle as an anachronism. Now with high gas prices, the car looks like an anachronism."

Crimanimalz has held three Crimanimal Mass rides since April 18, when 15 cyclists rode almost three miles on the Santa Monica and San Diego freeways.

They haven't had much trouble with the California Highway Patrol, who managed to nab two of the cyclists in Friday's rides but let them off with a lecture even though Section 21960(a) of the California Vehicle Code gives police the authority to cite cyclists for riding on highways.

Bay Area cyclists haven't been quite so lucky. They've been busted biking over the Bay Bridge as part of their campaign to get a bike lane added to the span.

The Crimanimalz plan to keep pushing their luck - they're promising more Crimanimal rides. "We want to do a bigger freeway with more riders," said Cantarero.

The rides have garnered mixed reaction from cyclists at the Midnight Ridazz website.

Photo by Alex Thompson. See more on his Flickr page.

During one of the Critical Mass rides in NYC there was a huge amount of arrests. A couple I knew were locked up and they didn't get out for 72 hours or so. They were really upset that they were arrested and "singled" out from the rest of the group. They were also upset they missed a number of other activities and that they had to spend hours in a holding facility that was a garage so sitting on the floor was not pleasant.

I believe they got what was to be expected, and a little extra. If they weren't protesting they wouldn't have lost 72 hours. A little responsibility for their choices and decisions.

I'm not a fan of this kind of civil disobedience especially since one of the riders almost ran me over as I crossed the street.

This would have been an interesting thing to see, that's for sure. Some of the comments I've read on many of the cross posts state that the drivers and auto people felt more alienated by this type of protest. I don't know if I agree, but there is a point in the video where you can see there isn't much traffic during the exchange and drivers give lots of clearance to the riders.

As a motorcyclist, it was always dangerous when I split lanes. People sticking their arms out, sometimes in traffic actually opening doors to pour out cold coffee. California allows for lane splitting, but many states like NJ/NY do not.

The video doesn't do it much justice

Crimanimalz information click to show