12 Months of Bike Summer
“When Bike Summer came to Los Angeles in 2008, it never left,” Alec Shwartz told attending cyclists at a summit hosted at the beginning of the year. The All City Ridazz summit, called by Midnight Ridazz founding member Roadblock, would bring cyclists together to build momentum for a strong year for bikes in L.A.
But it was several years prior when the party truly began, when eight friends got together for a “Midnight Ridazz” ride on the second Friday in February 2005. On bikes and skateboards, their 18 mile tour of fountains kicked off a tradition that gave way to a flourishing bike culture, centered around exploring the city’s streets and open spaces after most drivers had cleared the roads and were settling onto their couches in time to catch the latest car chase, cutting off their favorite primetime show.
“People want to have the desire to get on their bikes for fun,” says Roadblock, adding, “That’s what Midnight Ridazz is—it gives people a fun reason to get on your bike. It wasn’t a protest; it wasn’t like bike to work—both of those things are difficult for different reasons.”
The Midnight Ridazz rides have continued since every second Friday of the month, without a single lapse. While there was a time that the group didn’t get much credit from other cyclists in the city, the rides have grown to more than 2000 riders at its peak, and the ride calendar on www.midnightridazz.com, where anyone can sign up and post their own ride, was filled nightly by the end of 2008, listing rides in all parts of the city. It wasn’t long before several rides would be listed on any given day.