I used to zoobomb a lot during the first few months, but then I learned the real problem with it: even something nuts like riding tiny bikes down a big hill gets boring... even routine. On two separate occasions, I even gave people rides home from the hospital after they arrived in an ambulance... but that didn't stop it from feeling completely non-dangerous after a few months.

Those crazy kids just kept taking it up and up to new and crazy dangerous levels. Got to keep the adrenaline going, right? They've been doing it for close to three years now, so they've really stepped it up by now, it seems.

I wonder if the bike community will rally behind them when someone gets hit?

Reminds me of those nightime bikers on 39th that got killed by a drunk last year.

If they had of had lights, that drunk might have muddeled his way home safely.

And to think some folks are convinced this is the product of "intelligent design".

The arrogant spandex and spokes boys remind me of gays practicing unprotected sex....pure suicide. If they keep up their mindless antics, they'll eventually self cancel....good riddance to 'em all.

unlike you, I won't feel sorry for any driver who hits them.

Actually, i've always wanted to do that. Looks like fun.

Yeah. What IS the world coming to?

Why, back in the day, kids knew how to be REAL rebels. For starts, if you wanted to be really romantic and dangerous, you wouldn't have a cause...

Specially nothin' as pansy and babyish as a bi-cycle. No, back in the day a hotshot ride was "Just a little deuce coupe with a flat head mill
But she’ll walk a thunderbird like it’s standin’ still
She’s ported and relieved and she’s stroked and bored.
She’ll do a hundred and forty with the top end floored"
(sing it, boys)

"And comin’ off the line when the light turns green
Well she blows ’em outta the water like you never seen
I get pushed out of shape and it’s hard to steer
When I get rubber in all four gears"

And when those kids crashed racing or playing chicken with their cars, you took 'em to the morgue, not the hospital. Along with assorted spectators, and girlfriends along for the ride.

I mean, really, can you picture James Dean riding a souped-up kiddie bike down a hill for thrills? Or even wearing a seat belt, for christ's sake. Sheesh. Kids these days. They just don't make 'em like they used to.

All kidding aside, though, I'm guessing from your tough talk Jack that your kids are still at the age where you or your wife accompany them when they go to parties?

"The arrogant spandex and spokes boys remind me of gays practicing unprotected sex....pure suicide. If they keep up their mindless antics, they'll eventually self cancel....good riddance to 'em all"
wow...now there's an intense piece of homophobic hate.."good riddance to 'em all"...listen roseman..it's not just us queers that have the monopoly on unprotected sex..AIDS is killing straight people at alarming rates all over the world. I'm almost speechless at your spewing.

I'm not going to support Zoobombing and the like, but I know a cyclist and he has the best legs I've ever seen.

At the risk of sounding evil, I sincerely hope one or more of these dumbasses bite the bullet - and the rest take a hard lesson from it.

I have to agree with Jack on this one, if they are going to put themselves at risk that's one thing, but to risj the lives and emotional suffrage of innocents is another thing.

You know I love you, Jack, but this was a very crotchety post and attracted agreement from the crotchetiest wingnuts in your audience. Are people like Roseman "your people"? Just asking. If so, you might try adding some special "Grandpa Simpson" html tagging to posts like this one, so we know to read them with the proper inflection.

Sorry, Matt, but I won't accept the responsibility you're offering me for someone else's homophobic off-topic comment. I do stand on my own post, however. Sometimes your cranky old grandfather is right. The "f*ck drivers" wingnuts in the bicycling community (a tiny but vocal minority) give normal young guys like you a bad name. They're mentally ill, they're going to get someone killed, and if it's one of them, I won't be shedding tear 1.

I gotta go with Matt on this one. I agree that zooming down steep residential streets and highways at night isn't one of the brightest ideas I've ever heard. If one of these folks meets the destiny they're flirting with, I too feel sorry for the person behind the wheel.

But sincerely hoping that one of these "dumbasses bites the bullet" is a wee bit extreme in my view. Sounds like TTM and Roseman have some "issues" to deal with.

sincerely hoping that one of these "dumbasses bites the bullet" is a wee bit extreme in my view

Agreed.

Do you people know anything about zoobomb? This is not the lycra croud. It is more the PBR croud. So if you want to compare them to anything, maybe try gearheads that don't particularly care for burning fossil fuels.

Think about the other things people like to play with: guns, ATVs, boating, often all involving beer. If this country wasn't built entirely to accomodate the car, whould zoobomb really be so dumb? They know the risks, and it's legal, so let them be.

Careful Evan, that timestamp on your comment is during working hours (by a minute), and that's a governmental email address you gave. Steve Schopp will get his panties in a twist over that one...

And Jack, I would not tar you with Roseman's brush. You aren't responsible for his comments. You do control the content of your blog. I know from experience that you are good at gauging a live audience, and are good at measuring your message and presentation to the room. I just thought it was interesting how the comments to this particular post made you feel, as they indicate who is currently in your self-selecting audience.

Matt: The more people who come to this site, the more misguided people who come to this site. But most of the readers are good folks.

There are days when I wonder why I do this. But if it moves the city in the right direction, it's worth it.

The night the zoobomb (or whatever these people want to call it) claims its first fatality, everybody will be calling for change. I'm just trying to get something done before then.

Jack, this is exactly the sort of comment I would expect from someone who never did anything more daring as a kid than take a pee behind some bushes. I mean, really. Do you, and all the "knuckleheads" on this thread who agree with you, mean to suggest that you've never done anything in your life that reasonable people might call "stupid" and "dangerous"?

Sometimes the wages of stupidity are death, to be sure, but thank god we all get a chance to make a choice between living a little, and emulating plain oatmeal our entire lives.

If one of these morons caused the death or injury of someone I cared about, they'd be living very dangerously indeed.

I'm rooting for the cars.

sincerely hoping that one of these "dumbasses bites the bullet" is a wee bit extreme in my view

Of course it was - that is how it was intended.

I don't mean to suggest that the entire group is at fault here - within any group or organization there are bound to be the loose canons or whackjobs or whatnot.

However, I am not going to shift from my position on this. If one or more of these guys, in an attempt to get an adrenaline rush, puts innocent drivers, families and potentially other pedestrians at risk with little to no regard for anyone other than themselves then, IMHO, they do not deserve the privildge to do so unharmed.

There are so many other adrenaline (or extreme) sports that they can do without potentially harming others that there is no excuse for this behavior. Am I blaming the bicycling community? Hell no. That’s like blaming every driver on the road for a hit-n-run or DUI.

However, another thought just occurred to me as I review the previous comments and contemplate this response. When two or more vehicles get into an accident, whether it was due to reckless behavior or not, more times than not insurance is exchanged.

Bicyclists, while permitted to use the streets with traffic, are not required to carry insurance. So if they strike your vehicle tough luck.

Don’t get me wrong – if Bicyclists follow road rules and give the respect to cars they wish drivers to bestow upon them, I’m all for it. But if they share the road it is my opinion they should carry insurance. After all, they are operating a vehicle on the street – period.

But I duress. Back to the matter at hand – any one who would purposefully commit an act that would endanger others will receive no sympathy for me… quite the opposite. I would (almost) rejoice.

PS: What’s with the motorcycles coming up from CA and whatnot driving between vehicles on I-5? I know they do it in CA (not sure if it is legal or not) but that’s GOT to be dangerous. Last thing we need is our own motorcyclists being influenced to endanger themselves and others so they can get from point A to point B faster.

Are any of you motorcyclists? Do you practice this behavior? Can you at least explain to me the why behind it?

So let's see, people doing something legal that might endanger others....but mainly endangers themselves. kind of like smoking.

Just an observation, but that kills a few more people than will ever die in zoobomb crashes.

but mainly endangers themselves.

Not true when you head onto the Sunset Highway on the hill.

So let's see, people doing something legal that might endanger others....but mainly endangers themselves. kind of like smoking.

Not exactly - and it's not "might" endanger others if they're riding into traffic. It's does endanger others.

As far as smoking - you have a point but it's a separate issue - and one that is (slowly) being addressed. That's obvious by the growing number of places where one can not light up any more.

Now, to ban cell phone useage while driving....

The poor kids who died horribly *right outside my door* (as you call it 39th-close), where I could hear ambulances rush closer and closer until I got up and went outside and saw blood and crushed bone and horror and moans and blood and blood and blood... had lights.

Since no one has ever died from zoo bombing, its still safer than getting in a car and driving. I expect that even is someone does die from zoo bombing, it will still be safer than driving.