Was on the route committee for this ride. Our objective was to find a route that worked starting at Milpitas BART. We started with a route that sounded good on the drawing board, but when we tried it it was too hilly for cruisers and guys hauling music bikes. Then we tried another route, but we found out testing it Dixon Landing Road is not the place to take a huge heard of random bicycles. Too many lanes of freeway ramps. In the end we settled for a shortish route that otherwise checked all the boxes.

  

There was some eye catching participation in the theme.

           

Anthony knew Dom as somebody in a show he likes. The guy got locked up, so that's his cause du jour. "Free Dom!" At least it sounds right.

Noreen was a great reason to take out the camera! The weather was perfect.

        

Anthony did the pre-ride announcements. Stay to the right! Stop for red lights! Don't get smashed! Leave no trace. Enjoy sharing the experience with everybody else. Please find a way to help bike party be an asset to the community. For example, this route was too far out for the Ravens, so we have some trash bags. If you want to help filling them at the regroups we'd appreciate it. We're all volunteer everything, and it can't continue without people paying it forward.

Quite a few people said things like "Just not feeling like celebrating the red, white and blue this year." I was grateful for all the theme participation I could find.

  

Soon enough the ride was off. We held the start back a little while so that the sun would set. We'd get a great view instead of burned out eyes.

     

At first I looked for theme participation. After I realized there wasn't much of that I decided to try and get some overview of the event.

All around me I could hear gaggles of people talking. Felt relaxed and with it.

     

After that I stopped taking pictures. Did ride leader stuff for a while. Danced for a bit. Just enjoyed being around nice people. Had a great time.

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