And I made the call.
Coming out of Katy’s coffee shop this afternoon, I was nearly run down as I crossed the crosswalk, first by a bike slowly making its way up the hill and then by another bike rider speeding down the hill and yelling at me to “watch out”. I got in my vehicle and followed him down to 23rd and up 23rd to Cherry, where he ran a red light, stopping cross-traffic. Along the way I saw several other bikes headed in either direction — far more than normal on a Sunday. As I passed the Twilight exit on Cherry, I saw a group of a dozen or so bikers gathered in the alley. I continued on, following the original rider as he turned left on 27th. When he reached Union, he didn’t stop and cut off a car coming down the hill. When I caught up to him at 23rd, he told me he was racing and I could “f*** off”. I decided then to head home, turning left from Union on to 23rd. While I had the green arrow, another biker cut off the car in front of me as he turned from 23rd onto Union. As I drove up Cherry, I noticed the other bikers were gone from the alley next to the Twilight Exit. One guy was sitting on a stool next to a bike and the propped open door on the alley side of the Twilight Exit. I pulled up to him and asked him about the bar, whether it was open yet. He said “yeah”, and that he was “here for a bike race”.
As a former bike racer and a former bike messenger, I love the thrill of a fast ride as much as anyone. And as an occasional patron of the Twilight Exit at its old location, I had no grudge against the bar and wished it all the best in its new location. I even tried to organize a welcoming party at the bar on Saturday the 7th, but their opening was delayed until after that date. I’m not so sure I want to go there now. What I saw today was ridiculously dangerous. Is this what we can expect from our new neighbor, the Twilight Exit?
Seriously you wasted a 911 call on the fact that a bunch of kids were racing. Shit the twilight had pretty much next to zero involvement other than we met outside of it for a pit stop. The CD cops have way more important things to worry about like i don’t drug dealers, guns, gangs.
“We,” huh? As I tell my 6-year-old, when we do something wrong, WE TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR IT. We don’t blame the people who call us out on our bad behavior. You think that since you’re riding (racing) a bike, the rules of the road don’t apply to you?
Your comment speaks volumes about this incident. (And no, I’m not the person who called the cops.)
Seriously.
I’ve called 911 a number of times. Once when I was threatened outside my house on 21st, twice when people from the CADA apartment building on 21st and James were fighting in the street, and a couple of times when I heard shots fired at 23rd and Cherry. It is for emergencies, not because you are irritated by rude antics. As for the bike racers, no one should have to tell you not to be jackasses. Grow up.
As for the TE. If our neighborhood 911 calls are going to change from “shot’s fired, critically wounded at Garfield Youth Center” to “OMG, I am totally upset that a there are too many bikes on the road” then I want 5 more TEs.
Leave the TE out of it. They had nothing to do with it, and you are retard. Get a life for chrissakes. You have way too much time on your hands.
As an avid cyclist and regular racer, I am appalled at this story and particularly shocked at Dave’s response. Any real race on open roads must require that racers obey traffic laws. If you want to ride fast without stops and traffic, enter one for which the roads are closed.
Dave – you are part of the reason that I have been run off the road, screamed at, and verbally threatened by drivers while riding. The police in the CD definitely have more important things to do, so STOP PUTTING OTHERS IN DANGER and wasting their valuable time.
.. really? You called 911? On the twilight because a bunch of bicyclists that were racing were meeting there?
In the grander picture of things, I think the CD has far bigger fish to fry than a bunch of messengers racing around, honestly it brought a bit of a smile to see such a report as opposed to the usual drug dealing or shootings.
Anyways, I guess my biggest disappointment is that you couldn’t separate the Twilight from the race. Do you have any indication that the TE was sponsoring or condoning the race as a business? Were they organizing it?
If not, then I consider both the title of this post and I suspect how you reported the incident to 911 as pretty damning of a great new business in an area that sorely needs it. It’s really a shame that you couldn’t separate the activity from the business.
From one bicyclist to another:
Are you “racing” to bars in cap hill & cd because you don’t have the sack to show up at a real (safe) racing venue?
Yeah, that’s pretty much what I thought. Also I can see your pasty white ass crack hanging out of those ironic skinny jeans while you’re walking your fixie uphill.
Keep racing like that – the herd needs thinned.
Ha, Ha! Hilarious.
Nothing like wet, cold jeans, butt crack, and pushing a bike around. More time for everyone else to admire that fine biking a$$. Ha!
Oh, and someone should tell these kids: GET A LIGHT ON THAT FIXIE!
ha ha ha ha ha ha…
Heh, I don’t want to say I agree, but yah, I agree. I’d rather have more safe, reliable citizens on bikes than jackasses not paying attention to anyone else but themselves.
I know there are a-hole drivers out there that are prejudiced to all bikers based on these cracked out few, but it still doesn’t give anyone the right to break traffic laws and put others in danger. When I see a driver breaking several traffic laws, I call the cops too. I never follow any drivers or bikers, but if I consistently see them breaking law after law and causing them to be a threat to mine and others’ safety, yes, I would report them too.
BTW, isn’t it cheating to “win” a race by running through lights and whatnot?
So I run one to three red lights everyday during my commute to work and back, five days a week. I guess you automobile drivers get all twisted up over this, but I’m sorry, I’m not going to wait at every red light for a CAR to either come behind me, or for a car to stop at the light in the opposite lane, or ride my bike up onto the sidewalk to hit the crosswalk button to get THE LIGHT TO CHANGE FOR ME-A BIKER!!! Get it you twat brains? THE NON-TIMED LIGHTS DO NOT ALWAYS CHANGE FOR A BIKER LAWFULLY WAITING FOR A GREEN LIGHT! You somehow continue to perpetuate this myth that cyclists get to participate in all the same privileges of the roadway based on the single assumption that the signal light mechanism functions the same for all mobile modes. So when you pull up to a non-timed light in an automobile, the light changes for you. Lucky. Then you see me, a biker running a red light and think “law-breaking jackass” and echo this cliched misperception in every biker bashing opportunity that presents itself. Sad.
Usually I like to keep the Twilight Exit out of opinion debates like this one, but this story is so ridiculous that I had to chime in. After all The Twilight Exit is famous for encouraging people starting at a very young age to race bikes though our neighborhood. Owning a bar comes with a lot of responsibility. We need to make sure that while enjoying the place people are kept free from harm. From others as well as from themselves. We have the duty of keeping minors, drugs, thugs,and retarded frat boys out. Maybe we should include idiot writers from from the CD News as well (to protect them against bicyclists that run red lights. It’s for their own good). By law we have to do many things to keep our neighbors and patrons safe. Controlling what manner of vehicle or how they operate it to get here is NOT one of them. Not to worry, though. We soon plan to ban people that speed, tear the tag off of their mattresses or J-walk. I will write my city representative and request signs at all major intersections in the CD that say “If you are going to The Twilight Exit please obey all traffic laws or some idiot will call 911 and blame The Twilight Exit.” So, if by “Is this what we can expect from our new neighbor, the Twilight Exit?” you meant “Do they plan to operate a safe, clean, and enjoyable public house?” The answer is “Yes.”