Blog: The Rapture

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The Rapture - Friday, October 21, 2011
After his May 21 rapture prediction failed, professional nutcase Harold Camping decided that May 21 was actually a silent judgment day, and the real rapture would occur on October 21. Well it turns out he was right. The rapture commenced at 8pm PST, as wheels hit the streets in San Jose Bike Party's 4th anniversary ride.

This month's theme was appropriately named "The Rapture" and riders were encouraged to show up as angels or devils. In honor of the 4th anniversary, there were four start locations: Santana Row (northwest), Berryessa Theaters (northeast), Campbell Community Center (southwest) and Eastridge Mall (southeast), all converging at the first regroup in downtown San Jose. Riders from all corners of San Jose, being raptured up into a great multitude to rule the streets for a night. Genius, if you ask me.

According to the Bike Party website, there were over 4,100 riders in attendance. The first regroup was in the parking lot of the Children's Museum and it was packed full. There were the usual Bay Area food trucks present, amateur fireworks, and a guy putting on a fire dancing show.

Thankfully I didn't see any motorized bicycles this time- those are not fun to ride behind. I did see a couple on razor scooters (they must've gotten tired pretty quickly), as well as a bamboo bike.

Unlike the past two rides I've done, I saw nobody hurt this time, no ambulances, and very little police presence (maybe most of them got raptured). I saw only one police car, and it was just passing through and drove off. Compare that to last time where there were squads of police at some intersections handing out tickets to red light runners. Despite the lack of police presence, I saw only a couple of red light runners this time. I guess people are becoming more behaved, or the troublemakers are active mostly during the summer, as somebody mentioned on the forums.

It was a great ride tonight. Thanks Harold Camping, we wouldn't have had a rapture ride without you!