Sunday, August 19, 2007

Riding without pants

So what do we do here in Santa Cruz? Why we have Alley Cat Rides just like everybody else. Why one even showed up in the local rag (The Santa Cruz Sentinel). Where was that? Oh yes, here it is. “A group of pantless cyclists in stretches moments before the No-Pants Alley Cat bike race started Saturday afternoon.”…… Wait a minute….What?....pantless cyclist?... Maybe I should just read the whole thing.

August 5, 2007
Cyclists strip for Santa Cruz alley cat ride
By JENNIFER SQUIRESSentinel staff writer

SANTA CRUZ — Wearing pink boy-cut briefs, Taylor Saxe and Dana Landing led a group of pantless cyclists in stretches moments before the No-Pants Alley Cat bike race started Saturdayafternoon. About 20 underwear-clad riders gathered at the Town Clock for the scavenger hunt-style cycle across the county.

"We just live to ride," said 18-year-old Landing, whose biking attire was ruffled pink shorts with black accents.

The two Santa Cruz women organized the underground event, one of many alley cat races in the area. Word-of-mouth and online announcements attracted a healthy mix of locals and out-of-towners to enjoy the weather and the leggy freedom Saturday.

The pants-free decree was just to make it memorable. "We kind of gave people a reason to go shopping," said Saxe, 19, in metallic pink briefs. A couple men wore boxers or running-style shorts, but most of the riders had bright briefs. One man brought extra pairs of leopard print undies in multiple colors in case anyone needed an outfit; another wore only striped briefs and tossed a messenger bag over his shoulder.

Alley cat rides draw on the skills bike messengers use, like knowing back roads and shortcuts that can sheer minutes off of travel time. Riders are given a manifest of stops or, on trickier courses, just clues as to what the stops might be. Saturday, riders had to hit the five checkpoints between Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz and Mid-County in whatever order they thought will be the fastest. "Everyone here can figure out their own way," Saxe said.

As riders gathered in the late-afternoon shadow of the Town Clock to pore over the clues — hint: "find the ugliest coffee shop in town;" checkpoint: the Ugly Mug in Soquel — concerns about police stopping their nearly-naked event were barely there.
"If they really think this is indecent exposure, boo to them," Landing said. "Thumbs down"


No, that didn’t make it any better. Now let me get this straight, why did they want to ride around in their underwear? "We just live to ride," said 18-year-old Landing, whose biking attire was ruffled pink shorts with black accents". You know, I have been accused on more than one occasion of “living to ride” but it never motivated me to ride around in my tidy-whities. There is just something spooky about this; it’s kinda like everyone getting together to drink Kool-Aid.

And then of course there was the punny, “concerns about police stopping their nearly-naked event were barely there.” Funny you might bring that up, because I did notice while driving my patrol car around the downtown area that there were a couple of young ladies riding their bikes in brightly colored men's underwear. And since I am a straight white male, the last thing I was going to do is bring this to their attention. I may have been a case of selective amnesia and I wasn’t going to be the one to spoil it for everyone else.

You can't buy entertainment like this.

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