Keeping Boulder Weird

Thursday Cruiser Ride an Antidote to Boulder Bike Bling

By Jenny Shank, 4-22-05

	Thursday Cruiser Ride, from Boulder Bicycle Commuters

If you hear the roar of a mobile crowd rapidly approaching from down the street, a cacophony of honking horns, blasting boom boxes, and grown men and women hooting, hollering, and ululating, and then you see a hoard of cyclists in various states of dress and undress whiz past on bicycles outfitted with streamers, baskets, and custom paint jobs, it must be Thursday night in Boulder, Colorado. The people at the Sports Garage, a local bike shop, began the Thursday Evening Cruiser Ride many years ago as an occasion for a social bike ride throughout the streets and paths of the town.

According to the group’s Web site, the ride continues year round, but participation during the daylight savings months can swell to 50 or 100 people. The group maintains a casual, cruiser-bike oriented aesthetic that contrasts with the self-seriousness attitude of many of Boulder’s cyclists. The website attests, “Customized or decorated bikes are right at home; outrageous dress or costumes are applauded; bells, horns and other noisemakers are encouraged.� And while many Boulder cyclists prefer to take sustenance solely in the forms of energy bars and electrolyte-balancing sports drinks, on the Cruiser Ride, “a provisioning stop for some riders is usually made at one or another liquor store.�

I grew up in Denver, where a bike is just a bike. When I moved to Boulder, I quickly discovered that the people here take their bikes more seriously, dividing themselves into factions, roving the paths and streets in lupine packs. My first month in Boulder, I called a local bike shop and asked the man who answered if the store carried Huffys, a perfectly respectable bike in Denver. The man made a noise that can only be described as the international sound for contempt. “No. We don’t carry Huffys,� he said, pronouncing the brand name as if it were an infectious disease. “What exactly were you looking for?� he asked.

“I don’t know,� I said, “something durable and cheap.�

“Well, a Huffy is cheap all right. I don’t know, why don’t you try Wal-Mart.�

I eventually bought a used bike, and after several experiences of bike path rage at the hands of ridiculous, Spandex-clad middle-aged men zooming past on $4000 De Rosa or Colnago bikes, I came to loathe this species. I fantasized about what would happen if any these string-bean-bodied men were magically transported to the 8 Mile neighborhood of Detroit and they screamed “On your left!� in that particular, superior tone that they have.

It wasn’t until I learned about the Thursday Cruiser Ride that I discovered that there was another type of Boulder cyclist, one who harbors the freewheeling spirit that recalls the kooky hippie days of Boulder’s past, before the town came to be dominated by cyclists who are totally into bike bling. Participants in the Cruiser Ride don’t choose their outfits for their aerodynamic capabilities; in fact, sometimes they don’t choose an outfit at all. One day last summer, my husband and I were sitting outside on the back porch of our condo that overlooks a bike path frequented by the Cruiser Ride. I saw a whir of pink flesh zip past, and I asked, “Was that guy naked?�

But we didn’t have a chance to verify the nudity. The next week, the Cruiser Ride was accompanied by two bicycle riding Boulder police officers.

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