‘Ride or die’: Sonoma Bike Life aims to take back the pavement

A crew of adolescent boys on oversized BMX bikes have been spotted swerving through traffic all around town, ruffling the feathers of motorists and pedestrians whose reactions split the difference between anger and concern.

They call themselves “Sonoma Bike Life” and are part of a populist movement comprised mostly of teenagers seeking to “take back the pavement” in cities everywhere.

Founded in 2007 by the Harlem-based “Cycle Squad Maniacs,” bike life groups are now found in Canada, Europe and South America, as well as in cities all over the United States.

The riders travel in packs of “wheelie crews,” pedaling hard with one wheel popped in the air. With an arsenal of impressive tricks in the bike life milieu, you might find a rider traveling at full speed while planking off his handlebars or standing up on the saddle, or effortlessly surfing a bike down the street, one foot on the handlebars and the other on the seat.

Sonoma Bike Life (SBL) members post video of their “rideouts” on Instagram and YouTube, and use social media to organize outings. They were among the more popular entries in last year’s Fourth of July Parade, eliciting gasps and cheers from the crowd. “Look at that! Whoa!” exclaimed the parade emcee as the boys demonstrated their tricks. “Pretty darn cool,” he added.

But not everyone is charmed by SBL’s antics, with their safety being the first concern of local complainants.

Robert Wilson, former owner of Sonoma Old School skate shop and current champion of the “pump track” proposed for Maxwell Park, posted a lengthy correspondence on a neighborhood social media site in an effort to influence the behaviors of the boys who ride with SBL. “I’m posting this in hopes that someone might know whose kids these are and stop them before someone gets hurt,” Wilson wrote.

Acknowledging that he was also offended by the kids’ “disrespectful” behavior, Wilson said he was more bothered by the potential for serious physical injury to kids who intentionally swerve into traffic for fun.

“I’m not posting this to rag on some bored kids. I post this mainly out of concern. Please, if you know a parent of this wheelie-popping gang of kids, please speak to them about… their current and escalating behavior before we’re reading an article in the Index-Tribune about an injured child. I know how this may end, and it can be avoided,” Wilson wrote.

Other commenters were less charitable about SBL riders, characterizing their behavior as “reckless,” “scary” and “rude.” Indeed, the language on SBL’s go-pro videos tends to be salty, with the boys talking to one another the way teenage kids sometimes do.

But the bike life movement has supporters and a growing roster of riders. In Santa Cruz, some 700 showed up for a recent rideout, and on-again/off-again NFL running back Marshawn Lynch has led massive bike life rides through the streets of Oakland, pedaling in Beastmode himself. Bike life is a growing subculture often claimed by black and brown boys, and - proponents argue - a healthy alternative to roaming the streets.

On a bitterly cold afternoon earlier this week, about 20 SBL riders met at Olsen Park, at 569 Linda Drive, to practice their tricks. Asked if they were aware of the adult consternation surrounding their sport, they began shouting out impassioned rebuttals.

"At least we're not on drugs!" said one.

"We're playing outside!" shouted another. "Grown-ups are always complaining about that."

"We're just having fun! Being kids! Old people forget what it's like to be young," a third said.

The boys told the Index-Tribune that some of the adult behaviors they've encountered have been pretty aggressive, like the time a motorist sped ahead of the group only to pull sharply in front of them and slam on his brakes.

"It's like, you want us to ride safe, and then you do that? Whatever," said one of the boys before mounting his bike and expertly pedaling off with his fat front tire popped into the air.

Sonoma Mayor Logan Harvey has been following the community conversation about SBL, and has brought Sonoma Police Chief Orlando Rodriguez, City Manager Cathy Capriola and personnel from the nonprofit Operation Bicycle – where many of the SBL kids are learning bike maintenance - into the conversation.

“We’re always critical of teens for spending time on their phones, but the second they go outside and cause a little ruckus, people complain,” Harvey said. “These are largely good kids growing up in an increasingly aging community. As someone who grew up here, I know it can be a little boring. But there’s nothing illegal about doing a wheelie. We want to promote a community where everybody feels safe and where our kids are allowed to be kids.”

In one SBL video found on the internet, a group of about 10 boys is pedaling along Highway 12 as motorists roar past on their left. They stay in the bike lane for the most part, but occasionally swerve toward the traffic paralleling the path, until their shenanigans catch the attention of a passing Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputy.

He pulls his cruiser off the roadway and corals the boys, who straddle bikes and adjust helmets while studying their feet. “I just scraped a bicycle off the road on Grove. We had to life-flight him out,” the deputy says, eyeballing each kid in turn. “I want you to understand that this is serious.”

The deputy makes his point and the kids pedal off.

But teenagers are predisposed to ignore warnings about ill-advised behavior. “Pull us over for wheelie-ing and swerving? Guess what we’re gonna do now!” shouts the rider who voices most of SBL’s videos. He yanks his bike up onto one wheel, expertly cutting right and then left. Most of the other riders likewise pop a wheelie, intentionally pedaling toward fixed objects like parked cars, then swerving away at the last moment. “That’s bike life!” the narrator laughs. “Ride or die.”

Contact Kate at kate.williams@sonomanews.com.