Midnight Madness 2008

I have ridden in Midnight Madness a handful of times. Sometimes I was a kid and every yea without fail I would fall off my bike or smash into my Mom. But this year I’m a big kid now and me and my boy rode bikes from Ivan stewarts electric bike center. Eveyone was jealous ESP when he won 2^nd in the light you bike contest! Midnight madness is so fun and it is beautiful to see my beloved San Diego at night.

Great ride for a great cause. Fun way to get out and see San Diego from a different perspective. We registered early then headed back home to watch the Olympics and rode back down before the start but now that I know that you could have won 2 round trip tickets to anywhere, I might dress up next year!
To answer the question, «why pay for a ride you can do every night for free» … Charity buddy. Same reason you pay to do a run or walk put on by an organization… Charity!

As I type this review, a twinge of guilt is setting in because I am one of the «bike bandits» who didn’t pay the $ 28 dollars to ride. In my defense, I wasn’t sure I was going to attend until the last minute, AND I rode the 20 miles on a one-​speed beach cruiser, with semi-​flat tires, wearing flip flops. NOT the best idea I have ever had, especially because the other people in my group all looked like they were about to ride in the Tour De France. The route wasn’t quite as flat as I had hoped, but it was a really fun ride. I was definitely out of breath and sweaty by the time it was over, but we finished in just about 2 hours. If you do the ride on a beach cruiser like I did, it’s kind of like a really intense spin class for two hours.
I can’t imagine being drunk on this ride, the hill in Old Town was scary enough sober! We tried to make it to the Waterfront for last call, and missed it by about 5 minutes. Next year we will hustle a little faster, so we can get our drink on… AFTER the race.
I enjoyed all the people in costumes; two of my favorites were the «Just Married» couple in full wedding regalia, and the 70’s couple with fros, bell bottom spandex, a bubble maker on the back of their tandem bike, and a boom-​box bumping Saturday Night Fever tunes.

This is one of the few bike rides we ride every year. This year it seems there were a lot more people riding than in previous years. This is more of a family friendly bike ride. Seems there were a LOT of bike bandits/​crashers but you really can’t stop them as the ride is on public streets.
We had a lot of fun on our purple tandem. My hubby put a lot of LED lights on our bike which we got a lot of praises from a lot of bike riders. Our lights also lit up the street and our feet as we rode. It was sad that when we riding up Rosecrans near the high school that we passed a lot of single bike riders on our tandem. (Everybody knows that tandems are very SLOW up the hill but are very fast down the hill.)
The costume contest they had is always nice to watch. The couple who won were dressed up as a bride and groom (tux and wedding gown) with a bed on top of their bike. They did a great job and won the trip for two anywhere Alaska Airlines flies. The second place couple were dressed up with big hair from the 60’s with the lava lamp, disco ball and a bubble machine on the bike. It was very interesting riding behind them (got a lot of bubbles in our face).
It was nice to see all the different lights which people had put on their bikes (both large and small). We will be back next year to do this ride!

This was my first Midnight Madness and its not going to be my last. It’s a pretty easy ride with some amazing views of the city.
I knew that there were going to be a bunch of crashers. But what I didn’t count on was the amount of booze. I get a little freaked out when I see anyone drinking and operating a vehicle. Plus, there were kids in bike trailers and it’s just not safe to have intoxicated people around them. It’s my only real complaint.
Other than that, it was a great experience. One that will definitely be repeated next year.

Midnight Madness was fun, and while it was exciting dressing up and yelling and screaming, it seemed like I was one of the only ones. The crew I was riding with would yell and make noise, and other bikers would look at us like we were crazy. We’re riding bikes at midnight people… loosen up the spandex and have some fun!
The vibe was the biggest downside to the whole thing, with everyone just kinda being quiet and riding. It seemed like the people in the cars passing by were having more fun as I would pull up to them and stick my head in their window saying «Brrrraaaaaiiiiinnnnnsssssssss!»
Sure the streets were shut down so your supposed to feel «safe» but we were on many roads where we were riding with traffic and no separate area for bikes-​mainly the Old Town sections. I feel just as safe riding in Critical Mass and at least that is free and it seems like people are actually excited to be there.
The ride itself was pretty mellow, and I decided to go at a pretty decent speed, finishing in about an hour with the spandex and Lycra crowd.

I think rides like these are prime examples why friends make their own routes. In short, this was a bit too «family» for it to be «fun».
I cant get over the price too. Why pay to do something that’s free every midnight of the year except this one night?

8 pm Sat, Aug. 16, 2008
If you like to bicycle at night with no traffic for a good cause or just because, ride in Midnight Madness.
Some people actually enter in the race and donate to the charity, others dress up like lunatics and just pedal until they drop getting drunk along the way.
It’s a party on wheels – not to be mistaken for Critical Mass as the lanes of traffic are closed to cars.
Website:http://www.sandiegomidnightmadness.org/