Dude, it’s a bike… just let me ride it

I love biking. Even as an adult I still love stepping on my BMX and really seeing Los Angeles.  Yes, you read correctly, I still ride a BMX.  BMX riding might not be seen as cool, but it has it’s own culture just like any activity and reasons for that culture to exist; pant leg rolling to avoid catching your chain is a no-no because your shin getting clobbered by a pedal is a much greater fear; helmets are rarely worn, because you usually know when you are going to be doing something that will involve your head, usually:

And, bike lights are out of the question because they would be broken every single ride, something the Los Angeles Police and I disagree on regularly:

It is really with the last point that this article reminded me of biking:

Anonymous internet use? It’s totally over

Bike laws are made for people who bicycle.  BMX  is to Bicycle as The Air Force is to hang gliders.

I love riding my BMX because I have a great time and no one else cares.  It is a fringe activity and because of that it crosses the law (the norm) from time to time.  Bike lights are required while riding at night in Los Angeles County and the ticket for riding without one is around $150.  I am a safe rider, at least when it comes to my riding impacting other pedestrians and vehicles, but the fact that my harmless activity doesn’t fit within the bicycling laws means I have to pay the same fines as those who endanger others, and not just themselves, by their activities.

I hope as the internet shifts, if it shifts as this article projects, that the authorities don’t judge users who choose to BMX (tin-foil-hat) the internet because they love the freedom as the same group who put others at risk.

I saw and read this and had a strange 1984 feeling:

Intersection sensor activator puts an end to cyclist discrimination