LAPD at it again...

The first big group bike ride I ever went on was a Midnight Ridazz ride in Los Angeles in 2006. There were about 1,300 riders (or so I was told), and it was one of the most amazing, exciting things I've ever done. It wasn't a protest per se. It was more about getting out on your bike with like minded people and having a good time. And, a good time is what we had - despite the LAPD helicopters flying overhead and patrol cars trying to herd us.

Since then, I have participated in more big group rides than I can easily count. They've been in more than a half-dozen cities and they have had varying contact with police and sheriff's deputies. Often, police are fairly chill, and when they are harassing us, they're quick to calm down when you stop and talk to them rationally for a moment.

But with more and more frequency, people are catching police officers, on video, violently and needlessly lashing out against cyclist who individually aren't doing anything out of the ordinary. Viewers of the rides see a cohesive group of people acting together in defiance, but the reality is that most of the riders hear nothing more than a meet-up time and location through a friend or on the internet. They show up to have fun on their bikes. Even less involved people join the ride as it snakes through city streets. There is so little cohesion that targeting random participants makes practically no sense.

This only happens because someone in power is threatened by bicyclist. If the police are the "arm of the law," who is the body, and what do they have to lose if you get out of your car and on to your bike?