Who's in the Wrong? Hundreds of California Teens Blocking Traffic on Their Bikes Beat The Shit Out of Mercedes Driver Who Tried to Run Them Over

Who's in the wrong here? The gang of unruly California teenagers who overtook Olympic Blvd on their bicycles, or the man who tried to run them over with his Mercedes? A lot of different angles you could look at this from. A lot of jokes I want to make about how we all dream of plowing through a herd of cyclists with a motor vehicle, but feel like might be in bad taste after what happened in New Orleans last week. 

Up until the beating, and the eventual destruction of this man's Mercedes C230, I'd say this was fair play by both parties. Cyclists vs drivers is an age old rivalry. On one hand, the Cali teen bikers are simply filling their role in society. When you opt for bicycle as your mode of transportation, it's your civic duty to inconvenience as many drivers as humanly possible. The laws of the road don't apply to you. Except for when you want them to. In this situation they don't. And if Cali teens don't occasionally throw an impromptu mid-day bike parade that nobody asked for in a high traffic area, then who is going to bless Los Angeles with the sickest fucking wheelies you've ever seen? 

But a Cali teen bike parade wouldn't be a Cali teen bike parade if it didn't have it's detractors. This driver is giving them exactly what they asked for. It's a lot like running with the bulls. The objective of running with the bulls is to get as close to the bull as possible without being gored. To get right in there between the horns. You want to get as close to death as possible. That's the honorable thing to do. Popping a wheelie with an angry vehicle breathing down your neck is what a Cali teen bike parade is all about.

I can only imagine what a thrill that must be. It's unfortunate this particular Cali teen bike parade ended how it did. Once the angry Mercedes driver managed to weave his way through the teens, there should have been a mutual parting of ways. Like in any competition, things can get heated during battle. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird despised each other on the court. But at the end of the day, despite the AIDS, Bird would shake Magic's hand and say "good game". They respected each other.

Tracking the driver down, beating the shit out of him, and destroying his Mercedes is a bridge too far. And I know what you're thinking. "They kill the bulls at the end of running with the bulls, so shouldn't they destroy the vehicle at the end of a Cali teen bike parade?"

That's a pretty good point. I don't have much of a rebuttal for that. I guess having your car beat to shit is what you sign up for when you elect to be the bull in a bike parade. That driver really should have had a better escape plan. Should have found a highway instead of driving to a closed garage. But I still don't condone it. Hopefully the Mercedes has good insurance.