1) There were more people than I thought would be there. Like seriously, hundreds and hundreds of people. On bikes. With beer. Jesus.

2) People of all bike-varieties were in attendance, from BMXers to beach cruisers to heavy-modifications to professional-grade street bikes. It was a multibikular extravaganza.

3) If you are slow, you should probably still try to stay near the middle of the pack, not near the front or the very back. There is safety in numbers, especially when you are doing something illegal, so staying in the heart of things will grant safety from legal repercussions, as well as fending off stray cars that might not be so concerned about running down a smaller group of riders.

4) The frequent stops were a bit too frequent and long in duration, though from what I hear they may not always be that way. It was brought to my attention that these stops would probably have been more fun if I had taken a shot or two before heading out. This may be true. The drunk people seemed to be having a really, REALLY good time.

5) There is something really satisfying about having people cheer you as you ride your bike down their street in the middle of the night. I’m pretty sure that most of those people had no idea what C.R.A.N.K. Mob is, but assumed we were some kind of parade or part of a charity event.

6) This ride is LONG. We took off around 10pm, and I left when the group hit Marina del Rey at about 1:30am. God knows how long they went on after that. I get the impression the only reason they stopped again is because there were so many injuries on the most recent leg of the ride.

7) Speaking of which: drunken people on bikes tend to get injured more frequently than sober people. Just wanted to put that out there. Do with it what you will.

8) The cops did a remarkable job of tolerating the whole ordeal. They pulled up to one of the stops, in front of Long’s Drugs and Trader Joe’s on Sepulveda, and— despite the fact that we took up the entirety of major streets, were shooting off fireworks in the middle of the city, were blaring loud music as we rode, and were hundreds and hundreds of people congregating in what could be, especially in Bush’s America, interpreted as a threatening way—held on to their cool, and even extended a hand of friendship, saying through their megaphones ‘Be careful out there tonight, there are a lot of drunk drivers. We’ll try to help you out by blocking traffic.’ Well played LAPD. Well played.

9) I think I’ll do it again next month.