The Sharks had a season to remember.
They were in contention for the Stanley Cup until the end of the
last game of the season. Too bad, Pittsburgh won, so we didn't get
the cup. Despite that, SJBP was in the mood to celebrate their
best season to date. This month's theme was "The Sharks Ride!" I
was expecting lots of fan level participation. I ran into the
Ravens on the way there, and some of them did very good jobs on
their Shark outfits.
Daniel added some shark repellent to
his food. Didn't hang around long enough to find out if it helped.
Thanks for the pizza guys!
On the way to the start I realized
that some comedian had put some koala bear statues in the
eucalyptus trees. I guess that makes us more like Australia
somehow. Most mysterious if that's not the reason for the
sculpture.
With the long summer evening the
start was a daylight affair. When I got there Cesar Chavez Plaza
already had a lot of bikes on it. True, the group that celebrated
the theme were a tiny minority, but there were plenty of us.
Just before we rolled the crowd was
a lot thicker than it was when these pictures were taken, but by
then I was thinking about rolling, not taking pictures.
Once again, Bang has a new cargo
bike. Guess that means he sold the last one and had to make
another one.
Gary was proud to be wearing one of
the shirts from SJBP's first Sharks Ride.
Katie and I had the other popular
design from that time. Gotta be old school bike party to have
either of those shirts!
I found out later that there was a
guy walking around the start dressed head to foot as a shark, but
I missed that sight. Once we started rolling I just took out my
camera when we stopped at lights.
I talked to Karen for a while.
One thing we have in common, we've both been single longer than we
wanted. She's also allergic to cats, but her list of "must have
qualities" for a guy include him having a job and being less than
twenty years older than her. Since I've neither of those qualities
I didn't object when she moved on to focusing on someone else. But
hey, if you're 40ish and have a decent job the odds might be good
talking to her. For sure she is quite creative and has good
stamina.
Luke counted us all. I heard later
on facebook that the count was 1140ish.
These pictures were taken near the
grocery store that anchored the shopping plaza where we regrouped.
Never found out whose bike that was,
but whomever it was is a serious Sharks fan!
By this point in the evening everybody was in a good mood. A lot
of fun was being had all around. Lots of smiling faces.
I left the regroup just a little bit
early so I could get to the corner I'd volunteered to bird before
bike party. Timed it well enough, they got there not that long
after I did.
The only problem is that I've not
practiced taking pictures in the dark enough with this camera.
Didn't figure out the right mode until almost everyone had gone
by. Hopefully next fall I can do a good sequence of pictures in a
situation like this one.
I think after the second regroup a
lot of people went off in different directions heading home. I
only saw a few hundred go by before I figured out it was over.
Headed for home myself, glad to have been there for the ride.