On Friday May 22, at 7PM, our 2016, second ever Bike Party Davis began staging in the huge parking lot in front of Ken’s Bike & Ski-Board at 650 G Street, next to the Davis Food CoOp. While rain earlier in the day had threatened to cancel our fun, the weather enough cooperated that we still had a ride ahead of us! The chilly evening that did result, however,  was in direct contrast to the massively hot days that had led up to it. The surprise jacket weather we found ourselves in even changed the kind of bikes some people rode and kept a lot of others from coming out.

A bike party could not be denied, however, when Ken’s free-standing blue tent made its appearance in the parking lot. Not long later, regionally famous bike mechanic, Nic Loomis, could be seen scrutinizing the many bikes this evening’s riders, who kept trickling in, were bringing him to inspect.  Owner Ken Bradford, was there too on his bike readying himself to ride to his nearby home and back for a quick errand.

The most important man of the evening, and for the future of Davis and ultimately cyclists everywhere was standing all by himself at a table in front of the store  when I arrived.  I called out, “is Mayor Robb here yet?” Robb Davis and I had only become familiar with one another through Facebook and had never met, so when Ken answered that he was over there, I immediately walked over to him. We gave each other a hug as it felt like we’d known each other forever. A humble man, I knew I was in the presence of someone whose life was all about service.

Happy times were fully at hand as more and more of my bike friends and soon to be bike friends kept streaming in. Though I was a five or ten minutes early, Victor Morlin and his fiancee, Marcelle Martin were already  there, It was Victor, a gentle giant of a man, who got Bike Party Davis connected to cyclists from the huge Bike Party Sacramento  operation. Last month, on Maria Contreras’s mailing list (Maria runs a nonprofit bike organization in nearby Woodland), he saw a note about the St Patrick’s Day ride that Jennifer Donofrio, the Bike Coordinator for the City of Davis, who would also be also riding tonight with her sister Emily, was planning for a first ever Bike Party Davis.

He sent the news off to Bike Party Sacramento (BPS). Victor’s action brought the founder of BPS, Conrad Lawrence, to Davis and Bike Party Davis was given wings to fly. You see without Conrad, there would be no Bike Party.  Conrad tows the music. Behind his light festooned tall bike. While he has managed to clone himself in the State Capital City, as a handful of a others there now also  run music bikes, Davis, being new to bike party, only has Conrad. At least for now.

Maybe someone at the Davis Bike Collective will read this and start building music trailers we can begin hauling here in the Bike Capital of America where there’s always a two-wheeled event going on somewhere that would love to have sound amplification.

Coming back to Conrad, when he pulled into the parking lot in his VW van, we knew it was party time when we saw not only his blue tall bike in the trailer he towed, but also Phoebe Hill’s trike. Phoebe is another force who helped to make BPS so popular that it is pushing toward a thousand riders during the summer months. You see Phoebe’s documentary film work does such  a great job of selling BPS that not only does it bring out droves of new cyclists, but last December, for example, the Shriner’s Hospital people invited  BPS to participate in their annual  toy drive.

Not only did Bike Party Davis have an official Bike Party on its hands when Conrad and his crew, which also included Mary Ann Blackwell, the leader of the Bay Area Easy Riders Bike Touring Group, arrived, but when Davis Councillor, Lucas Frerichs ands wife, Stacie, rolled up on their bikes, the city of Davis had the one, two punch, with Mayor Davis (he starts at the end of June) to show why bikes will catapult to an even higher level as the true kings of this city.

From talking with Robb and Lucas, I learned, for example, that 2017 in Davis is going to be a bicycle year like no other. It is the 50 year anniversary of the first bike lane in America, if not the world. 2017 is also the 100 year anniversary of the incorporation of the City of Davis. And to think that our Mayor is a Car Free cyclist makes the possibilities endless. This along with the fact that one of his chief lieutenants, councillor Lucas is a fervent bike rider, and its Bike Coordiantor, Jennifer Donofrio is passionate about bicycling and her work, tells me Davis is ready to go to the next level of two wheel excitement!!

As bike rider after bike rider rolled in, two men were running their profession quality video equipment. Huck Vaughn and Erick Martocci were busy filming bike pumps in action, wheels turning, and people talking to them and to one another  every time I surveyed the small mass of people that was accumulating. They even got film of me riding Ruben Martinez’s 1956 Schwinn Corvette,  The ride Ruben had built into it was so sublime that it felt like a brand new magic carpet. This as he had also managed to make it look like it would fit it in quite well at a low rider car show.

Huck and Erick even made sure to get footage of Toby’s red bike cleats  and his girlfriend, Rose’s black leather wicked witch of the west tall healed dress shoes. Nor can I wait to see their work. Huck had only recently introduced  himself to me at the local  Grocery Outlet store I regularly frequent because I find so many organic bargains there.

As it turned out, Huck  had worked with Sinead Santich, who would also be riding tonight, on  Life Cycles,  the film festival quality video she had produced about the two wheel way of life. A beautiful production for which Sinead had full access to the University of Davis’s wealth of resources, what she created makes me feel so lucky that  my 1891 Eagle  and I got to be included.

By the time Dereald Nuez, Michael Gabriel, Joshua Endow (sans his tall bike because of the threat of rain), Elvira De Lange (a native of Holland), Ana Maria (who starred with me and  Jake Taylor in Sinead’s film) and a whole bunch of others had all arrived, it was time to go!

Almost three dozen in all we casually pedaled a few neighborhood streets, lined by huge trees that silhouetted the sky, before we then crossed 5th Street and headed into Davis’s downtown business district. As we passed restaurants and drinking establishments filled with Friday night revelers, we became the center of attention. Cheers went up and people called as the lights that turned on our wheels and outlined many of our bike frames made us a show worthy  of attention.

Our first stop was Whole Foods Market  at the back end of downtown Davis. Adjacent to the train tracks that it hides, it also sits behind a charming park called the Davis Commons. The Richards Ave bike tunnel it sits next to is the only bike/ped tunnel the entire length of the Lincoln Highway, America’s first coast-to-coast road that stretched in 1914 from San Francisco to New York City. In my book, “How America Can Bike and Grow Rich” , I talk at length about the Linclon in the chapter entitled “Lessons Learned from America’s First Coast-to-Coast Highway in Building the NBG“.

At Whole Foods, store manager Cyn Leo, whose bike we got back on the road at the Davis Bike Collective  had commissioned Kayla to administer the two shopping baskets that were  filled with delicious energy bars and a variety of drinks. And as we ate and drank, there was merriness all around us. One of our riders brought the game of badminton that could be seen being played with a glow in the dark shuttlecock. Wanting to stay longer, a ride had to be had.

We went out the back of the Whole Foods complex through a breezeway and past the Hot Italian Pizza Bar, the same spot where tonight’s ride would end, On the other side of the parking lot were the paved pathways that took us down to and along side Cache Creek. The darkness hid a  garden oasis teeming with waterfowl, native vegetation and a waterway so rich in nutrients that it glimmered in green, but we could still feel its magic as we rolled along.

After successfully negotiating a tunnel where I had to make sure to stop and let Conrad know that what was ahead was technical, we reached the only non-coastal redwood grove in America. The stately trees that blocked out the sky for the next several hundred yards had been planted by a UC Davis professor and his students in 1936. In keeping them regularly watered the succession of students and teachers who followed have built a rare ecosystem that offers needed shade in the sweltering heat of some Davis summer days. The place of peace that has resulted is also a sanctuary that students and teachers go to to clear their minds and be reminded of what is important.

Lake Stafford, the  body of water that was created when a part of  the creek was dammed up was next. It was on the other side of the small wooden bridge we crossed. Beautiful sprawling lawns looked out upon a lake surrounded by trees and other vegetation. For me, I come here a lot during the warmer months to write and do other computer work. Often I see a couple of otters swimming about.

The smorgasbord of paved paths and virtually car-free roads of the University of California at Davis were next. We made our way to the main bike way through campus called  the Sprockets Bikeway. Ambling along under a canopy of trees and through school buildings surrounded we reached Sprockets Tunnel. Here we crossed under usually busy LaRue Blvd and then made a quick left and right as we headed next for the Russell Ave bike path on the other side of the 113 freeway arterial.

On our way, we passed the Domes, a student housing complex of housing structures set in the middle of  mini farms that we could not see due to the  darkness. Soon, a bike/ped bridge took us to the wide open fields that were flanked by student housing on one side and Russell Blvd on the other. Russell Blvd, an extension of 5th Street served as the Lincoln Hwy talked about above. It was also here that we rode along a popular bike path for maybe a mile before we turned off of it.

Many cyclists use this path to ride to the towns and roads near Lake Berryesa as well as to Winters, CA,  a quaint popular getaway 12 miles away. The mammoth walnut trees that shade if here, however, in search of water have rumpled the asphalt with their roots. A plan is in place, thankfully, to move the path further from the trees.

Our turn off of  it and across Russell took us to Peter Wagner’s house. Peter is a popular local cyclist and substitute teacher who has a large stable of unusual bikes. Soon he was one one of them, a tall bike that placed him eight feet above the road and we were off again.

Phoebe Hill’s video 

We rolled in  and around the Village Homes housing sub-divisions that can also be thought of as the UC Davis Domes on Steroids. Darker than the rest of Davis, we could not see all the fruit trees and vines and other vegetation that filled the fence-free grounds through which we traipsed. And when my usually trusty headlamp failed on me, we got lost. I missed a crucial turn.

Somehow we got fragmented into two separate groups, both using cell  phones trying to figure out where we were. Luckily Councillor Lucas knew a shortcut that would  get us next to Arroyo Park and it wasn’t long before we were all back together again and riding the park paths that got us to another bike/ped bridge that crossed 113 again.

Soon we were on 14th headed for the massive  Davis High School complex when we then turned on Eureka and found our way to the College Park loop of massive and beautiful tree enshrouded homes. Our giant U-turn found us next on 8th and riding through the quiet and beautiful neighborhoods of what is referred to as Old Davis. Crossing 5th, we were back in town hungry for pizza.

Nor did Hot Italian fail us. Store manager, Ryan, had kept the ovens hot for us even tho we were 40 minutes later than what I had prognosticated. My failed light had been the biggest cause of this, though in hindsight I probably should have been going a teence slower in an area where such a  crucial turn could have been missed.

While they were closed and did have the inside all cleaned up, he had us sit at the outside tables where almost half a dozen pizzas were all gobbled  up in no time. And more than once,I heard the refrain, “I know where I’m going the next time I want pizza!”

What a fun night. Who needs ear splitting music and drunken crowds for a good party? I mean what could be better. Bikes, food, sightseeing and laughter. We had just experienced a Friday night that we will all long remember!!

Next Bike Party Davis – Friday May 27!!

Yahoo!!