Parisian Nights

Perhaps its that I leave for parts unknown in a month and a half, perhaps its the regular emails I've been recieving
from friends in Barcelona and Israel, or perhaps its that I just bought
my touring bike today... but I find my thoughts turning to Europe more
and more lately...

So what a wonderful surprise to find out that Paris
has become the latest city to discover that night time is the right
time and join the Midnight Bicycle League with their own incarnation of
Midnight Mass...

Mike Kushnir, former midnightmasser is living in Paris right now and apparently spearheading the formation..

thanks to inspiration from “midnight simon”, me and a bunch of the bike squat folks are starting up a parisian chapter of midnight mass, the legendary vancouver institution that sees 30+ bike kids mass at grandview park in east vancouver to go on a late-night jaunt through the streets of our fair city.

If you're on the continent, or plan to be in the near future, drop these kids a line and go explore one of Europe's greatest cities by moonlight and bikelight!

Come to think of it, if you are doing any travelling in the near future, why not see if there's a Midnight riding city on your route!

-Victoria BC Midnight Mystery Ride - 2nd Friday of the month.
-Portland Oregon Midnight Mystery Ride - (site appears to be down for now - midnight//at//riseup.net for more info)
-Tallahassee Fla. Midnight Mass(!) - (apparently) First Friday of the month.
-London, England Friday Night Ride - First Friday of the month.
-Los Angeles California Midnight Ridaaz - 2nd Friday of the month. The site also functions as a hub for creating and promoting other group rides in the LA area --

Use this site to create and promote your own rides.

Anyone can create a ride. This is how it works, you got some friends? You make a bike crew... You got a bike crew? You throw a ride. Check out our suggestions or make up your own rituals... We just want to ride. The true hope of the Midnight Ridazz everywhere is to spread bicycle culture, promote safety and to share the road with motorists in a spirit of good will (and yes, party our farking icicles off while doing it.)

-- So if you're down in the area, its a great resource.

These are the few that have come across my radar - likely, by no means an exhaustive list. So travelling massers, get out there and represent for the old hometown, and help spread some delicious vancouver bikelove around the globe. We've got a slice of culture here unlike anywhere else - and if my ambassadorial experiences in Victoria, Seattle, and Portland are any indication, bike culture is best when shared.

(hat tip to Charles for the Paris link!)