General Cycling Discussion - Critical Mass

Anyone ever ride in a Critical Mass Ride? Rode in one last month in San Francisco, hundreds of bicycles, taking over the streets, like a fantasy, then I rode in one in Sacramento......got a ticket for obstructing traffic.......what a bummer. Need more riders in Sacramento......less than 20 showed up. We need hundreds like they have in San Francisco.......then they might see our point, not ticket us........atleast we got some people thinking!:dance:

I have to agree Badger on this one. I live in San Francisco and been witness to several Critical Masses. All it really accomplishes is piss off drivers and reinforce the notion that cyclist are nothing more than unruly freaks. Critical Mass may have been started with the right intent in mind but I think that it's gotten out of hand and now way too many people just use it as a way to act like idiots.

Ditto.

I too must agree. Cyclists will never get the support of the non-cycling public by blocking roads. Motorists think they "own" the roads and only a few feel inclined to share them with us.

Ron

Agree with Badger and co. All critical mass really does is piss people off and make us less popular. Think about that next time you are riding alone and get honked/abused by a driver. It's all well and good to want to make one's feelings about traffic issues known, but critical mass is not the way to express that sentiment.

Can I also ask exactly how many of these critical mass riders would be prepared to show up at a local government meeting in order to demand more cycle-friendly roads be built? I somehow get the feeling that it's not very many.

Chris

A local group of "cyclists" hold a CM ride the first sat of every month. I saw a blurb about it in the newspaper, they were mad that they had 3 cop cars fallow them down the street, and two bike cops in front of them the whole time. Most of the article was about these "cyclists" who were complaining that the cops were harassing them when riding. I saved a copy of this paper somewhere, I'll post a link later.

I figured id check it out next month, that happened to be last Sat. I had my mtn bike in the back of my truck, I ran into the store to grab a quick drink, it was 104degrees... When I came out of the store, there was a dozen or so "cyclists" gathering in the parking lot. None had helmets, most were on bmx bikes, and / or home made "chopper" bikes. I then saw two bike cops sitting on there bikes across the street watching, waiting for the ride to start.

After seeing this group, I didn't even think what to do next, I jumped in my truck, and took off, there was no way I was going to be associated with that CM ride. Im sorry, if you want to promote cycling, do it legally, the best way is to show others how to ride legally, and safely. You would be surprised what kind of an example you are setting when you ride your bike, I know, I get comments about it all the time.

I didn't want to even post that I showed up at a CM ride, what would the members think? I was naive, and curious, I wont be going back.

That's OK Joe, we all get curious about various things from time to time. At least you learned what it was all about.

Chris

Last night, I got tired of the endless commercials for SUV's and genetic research during the Tour de France and found a program about Critical Mass on FSTV (one of those educational channels at the far end of the satellite channel list)

The show detailed some of the history of CM, from it's beginnings in San Francisco in 1992 to the world wide movement it is today. From the outset, the intent was not necessarily to inconvenience the automotive public, nor even to make any particular political statement. It was intended to get together as a group of cyclists who could ride together in parts of the city where a lone cyclist may not be able to - either because of the traffic or because of the neighborhood. It existed for several years simply as a once a month community bike ride. Initially, there were no leaders, and the people who happened to be in front determine the route.

(An interesting side note was the origin of the name. The name "Critical Mass" is taken from Ted White's documentary film about bicycling, "Return of the Scorcher". Part of the film shows this phenomenon: In China, cyclists often cannot cross intersections because there is automobile cross-trafic and no traffic lights. Slowly, more and more cyclists amass waiting to cross the road, and when there is a sufficient number -- a critical mass -- they are able to all move together with the force of their numbers to make cross traffic yield while they cross the road ).

As with many such events, it grew in size and began making an ever greater impact on city traffic. Apparently the big shift occurred in the summer of '97, when the mayor of San Francisco happened to get stuck in traffic due to a CM ride. His reaction was to get the SFPD to impose a pre-defined route with police protection. Some CM riders didn't care for the heavy-handed attempt by the police to prevent riders from straying off the approved path. Press reports at the time said that over 250 riders were arrested, although later it turned out that it was closer to 150, and that charges were dropped for all of them. The show that I watched had some interesting footage of the arrests, including shots of police throwing bicycles into a pile on a trailer, and a picture of a large SFPD officer with his knee on the neck of a young woman while she was being handcuffed. The ensuing "police riot" is the image that most people have of CM.

There is a lot of very interesting information at http://criticalmasshub.com (which I liberally quoted from in this post because I didn't remember all the details from the documentary I watched last night). I guess the point is that people ride in a CM for a variety of reasons, from protesting against our automotive society to just enjoying a fun bike ride. The look and feel of CM varies widely from city to city. While it's easy to paint CM with a broad brush, bear in mind that CM in your city is probably radically different from CM somewhere else.

With all that said, I have to admit that I've never ridden in a CM, but given the opportunity, I would jump at the chance. The nearest one to San Angelo is in Austin, the last Friday of the month at 5:00pm. The CM website gives suggestions for organizing one in your city, so maybe I can find the 3 other cyclists in town and get one started....

Keep an open mind

c~

bikes don't BLOCK traffic.
bikes ARE traffic.

bicyclists pay taxes and have a right to public roadways.

Originally posted by poptart
bikes don't BLOCK traffic.
bikes ARE traffic.

bicyclists pay taxes and have a right to public roadways.

That's true. But governments can and have banned bikes from certain roadways before. It's already happened on some roads in this country, and if cyclists want to go out of their way to piss people off (the way that critical mass does), these people will vote for governments that will ban cyclists from more roads in the future.

Chris

It's funny how people generalize Critical Mass. It's becoming such a dirty word in the bike community. It reminds me of how bicycle messengers are spoken of my everyone else.
The Critical Mass rides here in Edmonton have evolved slightly. We still ride on the road but we generally take up only one lane. When there's 40 or so cyclists, it is "as far right as is practicable". As local law states. The police told us this themselves.
What's the crime in a bunch of cyclists riding together once a month? Agreed, there are a few dumbasses in the group that I ride with who ride way too slow. I find that personally annoying. Bikes are traffic because they have the speed and momentum that pedestrians don't have.
I guess I can say that I like Critical Mass and I ride in Critical Mass and I may go to bicycle hell for taking part in Critical Mass. I just don't like slow Critical Mass. That's about all I have to say about Critical Mass I think.
It's odd that I have such a strong urge to say Critical Mass now that it's become such a dirty word.:D

I thought this was a topic about a coup at the Vatican.

I'm imagining Scareface... but replace Tony Montana with the Pope and his AK. Now envision the point where he says... "Say hello to my little friend".