You are hereA Midnight Ridazz recap: The one with the apologies and stuff...
A Midnight Ridazz recap: The one with the apologies and stuff...
Besides the bit of a tiff at the first stop, Tuesday's ride was a blast! It was BY FAR the largest Midnght Ridazz ride Austin's ever seen, easily topping 100 participants. Besides the stop at the Rio House we made our way up to the Poodle Dog Lounge (one of my local watering holes), cruised over to a DOPE apartment complex off of Far West that included a secluded three-tier swimming pool with a WATER SLIDE, and then rode on to a top secret spot in Hyde Park for the biggest sprinkler/slip-n-slide I've ever seen, home brew beer, and an impromptu dance party. The second swimming spot was much nicer, the crowd behaved much better, no residents got pissed off and Mims only had to pick up ONE discarded can on the way out. Nice job of packing it out with you y'all!
That was the most fun I've had on a Midnight Ridazz ride in a long time, and that's saying something because these rides are EASILY my favorite pub crawls all month long. Though the ride was big and wild, I don't think anyone was injured or had a major crash even though we travelled nearly 28 miles over the course of the evening. Way to keep it safe y'all! Unfortunately not all was fun and games, and I feel I need to say a few more things after yesterday's straight up madness.
Here's an open letter to the Rio House that I sent out just a few minutes ago:
First off, I'm personally sorry I crashed your pool last Tuesday. While I didn't recall the planters getting spilled or take part in the taunting verbal exchange, I obviously had a role in the event being one of the riders who passed through your gate. If we'd have known that we'd be seen as terrorizing and harassing, I can assure you we'd not have come. While I cannot apologize for everyone on the ride (that's up to them), I know that several other Midnight Ridazz have shown their remorse in various forums and have offered to assist in making amends. Though it seems like I've pissed off the owner of the planter irreparably, several members of the community (including myself) have offered our time and resources to repair the damage done, either in the form of replacement plants, or even cleaning up or renovating the existing beds. Really, we want y'all to know that we aren't out to mess up your place or cause problems, we just want to help and if possible, patch things up. Again I apologize for my role in last Tuesday's ill-planned swim, and if there's anything I can do to make it up to you I'm at your disposal. My contact information is attached below, feel free to use it.
Remorsefully,
Jason AbelsJason@ATXBS.com
512-699-1564
As I've said in my correspondence with Stella and the other residents at the Rio House, I AM sorry for my part in things. Stella has already said her final word on the matter, where she continues to refuse my apology or attempts to make amends. If any of the other residents would like to meet about what happened Tuesday, let me know and I (and hopefully some of the Ridazz organizers) can swing by and talk.
Matt made it out to last nights' APD bike meeting, where several of the residents showed up to confront (sorry Marisela) discuss the issue with members of the cycling community. Unfortunately I didn't make it, but here's what he has to say about them:
These kids that got shat on came to the bike meeting tonight, and actually contributed. They are cyclists, and decent people. They are primarily owed an apology... but i hope we can go beyond that and make it right. I know that a lot of people don't care, but at lease keep this shit on public property, so there is a hint of an argument.
I agree 100% Matt. We were in the wrong in this instance, and the onus of making things better rests on our shoulders. We do need to be better cyclists, myself definitely included. Hell, here's something I typically don't do. Stella, I'm sorry for taunting you in my emails. I tried to word things nicely and make it clear that I was sorry, but I couldn't help the asshole showing through between the lines. Though you might not have noticed it (according to your post) I did include my responses in the previous entry so as to maintain full disclosure of the events and the conversation surrounding them. My mention on the website about "boring assholes" was in response to another persons email, and I made sure to include the boring assholes that ride bikes, too. I believe they were the group you pointed out when you addressed your first email response to "you assholes". Life's full of them. I wouldn't classify myself as BORING by any stretch, but the latter tag definitely sticks. You know what? I'll go ahead and accept that what's good for the goose is NOT good for the gander and I'll shut up about it. I'm sorry for repeating the "boring assholes" term. I also still offer to replace any damaged plants/pots/soil, even though I wasn't the cause of this. Since you've refused I extended this offer to some of your neighbors, maybe us cyclists can take care of one of the apartment's beds or do some cleaning to make it up to y'all.
She's shut off her comments, mine are open, so unless anyone else has anything to contribute I guess that wraps it up. After re-reading this whole debacle I gotta say, one thing I LOVE about life is that it's always so freaking UNEXPECTED! LOVE IT.
Update: Here's the police report data from the other night:
Report Number: 2009-2022131 Report Date/Time: Tue, Jul-21-2009 22:05 Offense Date/Time: Tue, Jul-21-2009 22:05 Offense(s): CRIMINAL TRESPASS Offense Location: 606 W 17TH ST, AUSTIN 78701 Census Tract: 700 District: 1 Area Command: CENTRAL WEST Investigator Assigned: Case Summary:
Interesting. I also DID just get a response from Stella (everyone else was cc:d as well), though it was far from what I was hoping for:
Stella to Jason 11:13am:
Interesting change of tune.
Whatever.
I tried! If any other residents are interested in our offer, please let me know.
Plants… anarchy… veganism… trespassing… police… What we really should be focusing on here is the impromptu dance party. We need more of that.
April
(the girl who may or may not have started said dance party)
I never got offered cheese cake and invited to your house! WTF! LOL!
After reading what was written on ATXBS and what stellatex has written I find it funny how when someone offers a hand of friendship to stella she want to cut it off and beat them with it, Maybe its because stella is a anarchist and it was an "organized ride" (anarchist but, she is a former Texas Capital tour guide?) Or may be its because she's a feminist and Jason is a male (and we all know to trust a persons gender and not their actions right?). I truly thing the issue here is that stella has interacted with Jason once on a personal level (under not the best circumstances) and the rest by impersonal email. As she reads the email she sees Jason with a smug smile and insincere tone in his voice, (and even only meeting Jason briefly a couple of time I can tell that is not the case). Or she is just an angry attention seeking vegan Fem Dom bitch with a chip on her shoulder and a hatred for all things.
P.s
Yes it was fucked up the ride got that out of hand, yes some bad apples got caught up in mob mentality and thought they where “FUCKING COOL!” yes it is understandable why the cops where called, but not everyone that offers an apologizes is being facetious.
Joshua
T.H.
You should never have gotten personal. Period. Grow up.
But an apology for wrongdoing requires some level of personal interaction.
I believe she's talking about the personal insults to Stella, like the ones posted above in Texas Hooligan's comments. I've refrained from personal insults, "Fuck You!"s, etc. because I don't believe that's the way to solve this problem. We need to discuss it like adults, and come to an agreed-upon resolution for making it up to the offended residents, if possible. I've tried to do so and many other people like Jessica, Leslie, and others are attempting to do so as well. Unfortunately our efforts haven't been entirely well-received, specifically by Stella, but hopefully if everyone takes a deep breath and calms down we'll be able to resolve this issue soon.
The mob mentality can get out of hand, we've all seen it. The Midnight Ridazz is not about terrorizing people or "making a statement". We are a bike club that has themed bike rides. They are fun, people pitch in and make them even more fun. Bad apples come and go, they usually never last more than one ride. When things go bad, the true ridazz do what they can to help make it right. From accidents or injury and helping with medical bills to making sure someone gets a cab home after the ride. Midnight Ridazz rides are fun and meant to be just that. We are not trying make a "bad ass" image or statement.
I believe Jess has been making arrangments for some sort of apologetic gesture. If it is accepted, then good. If it is refused, then I am sorry we could not find resolution.
If your dog shit in someone's yard, offer to pick it up.
Casey
Yeah that's true (no need to insult), I guess I've had stuff stolen and messed with from so many houses I've lived in (not in ATX, though) that if anyone actually apologized for being a douche over it I'd be happy, even if it was a bit tongue in cheek. Still waiting on an apology for that guy blasting "My Humps" so loud in the car it woke me up at 3am back in late 2005...
Does really matter if the Ridazz were polite or noisy whilst crashing the pool at the Rio apts? The bottom line is that its trespassing none the less.
A BBQ with lots of freshly killed animals ready to sear and sizzle as an amends to a vegan?! haha... I bet she'd love it!
I wasn't on this ride, but it's clear as to why residents would be pissed at a very large group of uninvited people showing up on a Tuesday night.
But at this point you've done everything you can do. It seems that nothing is this world is going to make miss stella happy.
If she doesn't want those raggedy-looking plants replaced than that's her choice. Perhaps the Ridazz can make it up to the non-sanctimonious residents of the complex by throwing a big BBQ cookout. I be willin' to do some grillin', everybody loves food!
Yeah, I'm wondering at this point if she's even listening to our lamentations and apologies. Some of us are genuinely sorry, and Jason saw the errors he made and attempted to correct them like any good person would.
A BBQ would be awesome.