Golden Cruiser Ride (May)

While in the course of my 12 days of Lookout I happened across the season’s first Golden Cruise on the last Tuesday in April. As I rode down 13th, kitted out for glory against my 4.5 miles of backyard mountainside I spied hundreds of hip young gunslingers mobbed outside Woody’s Pizza in a mess of music, people and cruiser bikes. That night when I returned home I marked the calendar for May 25th: Kate and I were definitely going. As sure as May flew by in a blur, yesterday found us on the last Tuesday of the month and in the midst of cruiser mayhem at the Golden Cruiser ride.

We rolled in to Golden a little after 6:00pm and took up residence with the growing mass of cruiser fanatics at Woody’s Pizza. Enjoying a cold, $3 New Belgium draft pint in the sun on the porch (a perk of the ride) we soaked in the line of vintage-actual and vintage-new cruisers on display in front of the restaurant. Woody’s, Golden Bike Shop and New Belgium Brewing put on the event the last Tuesday of every month from April through October. In talking to some of the veterans I discovered that last month’s cruise included nearly 200 riders. May’s iteration of the spectacle promised to include even more. Nearing the magical hour of 7:00 we got our instructions from one of the guys in the red “STAFF” t-shirts. The ride would commence when the music began at 7:15. Music? People began filing out of the restaurant and off the porch and made their way to their designated steed; Schwinns, Electras, customs, low-riders, mountain bikes, downhill machines and hipster fixed gears; you name it everyone was represented. I think Kate boasted the only Puch in the bunch which made her somewhat unique, attracting the covetous glance of many a cruiser fanatic.

Thor...God of Cruising

Sure enough the music (an IPOD hooked up to 4 bookshelf speakers on a bike trailer) began promptly at 7:15 and to pulsing techno rhythms the mass of bikes and riders set off down Washington St in Golden. The sight was really impressive to behold, my pictures will barely do it justice. The line of cyclists (300+ at some estimates) strung out the entire length of Washington as the slow moving beast of a ride moved north. I cannot capture the lighthearted, whimsical attitude of the group sufficiently enough in words to recreate even a fraction of the experience. Everyone rode freely and carelessly down the street. Every rider carried with them a smile--and many a homemade beer cozy of some kind. We saw a lovingly knitted beer cozy that clearly was crafted with the utmost in care and attention. I struck up conversations with a number of random folks: a cowboy, some hipsters, a guy on a 10” travel downhill bike, some old dude with a flower in his hair and more on his bike and, last but not least, 'Thor the God of Cruising.' Most had never done the ride before, but as I can attest as someone who also had never done the ride, this certainly wouldn’t be my last trip.

Regrouping Mid-Ride: Cruisers in the Park

In talking with some of the organizers of the event this clearly is the case for many who come out one time, only to become hooked on the event and return again with 10 of their closest friends. The ride’s quickly become somewhat of an underground, cult happening. What started as a few dozen riders now has grown to a serious horde of a group ride. With a 75+ rider increase at each ride, the pace according to some at which the ride has grown in recent time, the ride should easily crest 500 by mid-summer. And while the growth represents the vibrant health of Golden and West-Denver’s biking scene, its not without growing pains. At the end of the ride while the mob was safe again within the salubrious confines of Woody’s Pizza (comfortably munching wood fired pizza and nursing $3 pints until the 9:00pm New Belgium bike raffle), the ride had left in its wake a less than pleasant memory for some in Golden. No mayhem, litter or destruction, but enough of a taste of the 'other' to apparently require a bit of backlash. As the police arrived to the scene in response to complaints about traffic stoppages, noise and reckless cyclists clogging the streets, it became clear that group ride fame and cult status comes somewhat at a price. A 50 person ride is one thing but a 300 person cruiser mass is a camel’s back crushing monster that even relatively bike-tolerant Golden couldn‘t abide without some grumbling. So while the ride organizer argued with the Golden police about the impossibility of having 300 riders moving in single file down the road, the levity and capriciousness of earlier dissipated and brought the evening back to reality. While the sight of 300 bikes moving through a quiet mountain town may appear idyllic to some, this is still America, and that dream is just not shared by all.
In any case, I think Kate and I will be back in force next month for June’s Golden Cruiser ride. We’re planning on bringing some of our closest friends. We’re going to be more prepared and hell I may even knit some beer cozies. We’ll be veterans of the ride at that point and will need to help look the part to keep up the image of the summer evening’s balloon-tired revelries. As they say, when in Rome do as the Roman’s do…and if 400 Roman’s want to ride around slowly on bikes, listen to music, drink a little brew and meet new, like-minded people…then who really can argue with that?

The way it should be