Wolfpack Dragrace Report
Posted By Sean Bonner On May 4, 2008 @ 1:33 pm In Biking in LA, Events, Law Enforcement | Comments Disabled
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Last night was the Wolfpack Hustle [3] Midnight Dragrace [4] that I mentioned [5] the other day and for those that showed up and stuck it out it was one hell of an event. Somewhere between 200-300 riders were in attendance around the 11pm when qualifications were supposed to begin but due to the crowds and chaos things were *a tad* bit late to start. Previous races have seen the full support of the LAPD (with at least one race even having officers in patol cars blocking off the 2nd st tunnel for us) so just after midnight when the cops showed up people weren’t too surprised or worried. Ooops.
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The first officers on the sceen jumped out and grabbed the first person they could and started yelling “Lets see some ID” to which the biked masses gave a collective “um, whatever” and casually strolled away. One person was issued a ticket, I didn’t see it exactly but I think it was for standing around in the streets or some dumb crap like that. After a bit of back and forth the officers informed us (via megaphone, in a tunnel, which means only the people within about 5 feet could understand them) that because of “the bars getting ready to close” it wasn’t safe for people on bikes to be on the streets, but also the sidwalks weren’t safe either so we needed to all go home immediately. Apparently the cops were expecting a grip of drunk drivers to be plowing through streets and onto sidewalks or something. Several people asked about the legality of such a request since California vehicle code requires bike riders to ride on the streets and prohibits use of the sidewalks, but those questions were responded to with “For your own safety you need to leave now or we’ll write you up.” So um, yeah.
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Luckily we were able to coordinate a change of venue and at least 1/3rd of the original riders reorganized in a parking lot off Figeuroa and Riverside and the races continued from there. It was fast and furious and fun, and finished up just shy of 5am. Amazing loot was hauled off by the winners and just about everyone who stuck it out until the end walked away with something. I got a hat. Its awesome. Here’s the rest of the photos I took. [9]
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Related posts:
Article printed from Los Angeles Metblogs: http://la.metblogs.com
URL to article: http://la.metblogs.com/2008/05/04/wolfpack-dragrace-report/
URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanbonner/2464681101/
[2] Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanbonner/2465519256/
[3] Wolfpack Hustle: http://wolfpackhustle.com
[4] Midnight Dragrace: http://midnightridazz.com/viewStory.php?storyId=1145
[5] mentioned: http://la.metblogs.com/2008/05/02/get-your-bike-on/
[6] Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanbonner/2464680139/
[7] Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanbonner/2465510120/
[8] Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanbonner/2465518212/
[9] Here’s the rest of the photos I took. : http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanbonner/sets/72157604878986554/
[10] Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanbonner/2464691065/
[11] Wolfpack All City Race 2: http://la.metblogs.com/2009/02/10/wolfpack-all-city-race-2/
[12] 7 a.m. Report: Silver Lake Stromwartch11!!1: http://la.metblogs.com/2008/12/15/7-am-report-silver-lake-stromwartch111/
[13] A Christmas Poem for the ages: http://la.metblogs.com/2008/12/24/a-christmas-poem-for-the-ages/
[14] Car-Free Report: To Newport Beach and Back (With An Unplanned Sidetrip To Pomona That Totally Sucked): http://la.metblogs.com/2008/12/08/carfree-report-to-newport-beach-and-back-with-an-unplanned-sidetrip-to-pomona-that-totally-sucked/
[15] 7 A.M. Report No. 2: Silver Lake Stromwartch111!: http://la.metblogs.com/2008/12/16/7-am-report-no-2-silver-lake-stromwartch111/
Click here to print.