November 5, 2021 | ACTIVE LIFE | By Lorea Zabaleta | Photo by Benjamin Curry
With origins shrouded in mystery, The Croooozeee is a much-beloved Colorado College tradition.
Occurring each full moon, or as close to it as possible, a mob of CC students hop on their bikes, howl, and generally get rowdy on the streets of Colorado Springs (safely, of course).
“It’s basically a giant get-together of students to ride bikes through Colorado Springs,” said Cröözëmästër Whitton Feer ’23. The main objective of the ride for Feer: “[To] let out any pent-up energy throughout the block, dance, and party on certain locations throughout the Springs.”
Feer’s duties as Cröözëmästër include public relations and marketing, or more accurately, blasting the Outdoor Educationemail listserv and various GroupMe chats to both announce and hype people up for the Croöözze. Memes are his communicative medium of choice. Feer also rides in the middle of the cruze horde with a speaker.
As to how he got the coveted position, “It’s just kinda something I inherited,” Feer said. He also said the job is usually given to someone “who really really enjoys the Cruze and cares enough to keep it going and make it happen.”
The other Cröözëmästër, Aidan Powell ‘22, who rides “the tall bike” – a Frankensteined, metal contraption with two wheels – has also been involved with the ride since his first year. Powell went on his first Croozeeë within the first few weeks of his first semester at CC and in the years since, the tradition has remained once of his top three favorite things about CC.
On his first Crooze, Powell recalls showing up to a “huge group of people dressed in bright colors, loud music, and suddenly everyone just started howling and took off down the streets.”
Due to the nature of the Block Plan in conjunction with the cycles of the moon, the Croözee often falls towards the end of the block.
Feer said this is “really great” because it means that everyone has a lot of work they’re not doing in favor of the Crooze.
“There’s a really beautiful contrast to going from organic chemistry homework 15 minutes previous to dancing around and riding bikes with a bunch of people that go to the same school as you, but you may or may not know,” Powell said.
And in particular, when the moon is full during (or close to) fourth week, the Croözers take a lap in the library.
“We usually try and make it on fourth Tuesday,” said Feer. “A lot of people have exams Tuesday… or people are committed enough or they’re put aside their work for an hour or two [to participate].”
This special fourth-week library lap also usually occurs on the (quiet) fourth floor. Feer said this is to garner more attention to the Croose and also is “a nice form of punishment” for those who didn’t join.
The Crüüze is beautiful in its simplistic, sleek design. There are only three rules:
- Helmets
- Flair
- And a good attitude
Of course, a bike is also recommended but is luckily easy to acquire through the high availability of Pike Rides (this is not a sponsored article).
Feer said that his favorite part of the tradition is how every single person can have a good time.
“There’s a bunch of people at CC that aren’t super into the house party scene, super into the frat scene, but still want to get out and socialize and meet a bunch of new people,” Feer said. “I think [the Croözë] is a really, really great way to do that. And it’s just like, so, so rowdy and fun. And I think it’s just like quintessential CC party culture in a really good way.”
The Cröuöze follows approximately the same route every time: from campus to one specific parking garage in the Springs. There, the Cröozërs have a dance party. Powell said the whole parking garage “bounces” because there are so many people dancing.
The Crüzë is just this “mob of energy” that makes everyone smile.