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*again taken from the original CL posting here - http://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/bik/612288693.html
With the MASSive success of last month's bike ride, the second Honolulu Critical Mass of 2008 has much hope of being just as epic! By now the word has spread ten-fold so let's make the most of it and keep the ball rolling. The place and time is the same as last ride:
Where: Corner of Richards and Hotel Street--near the State Capital
When: 4:30pm~...the action starts at 5pm so try to arrive or catch up by then.
And remember, the more the merrier! Last ride had kids, adults, families, etc. So invite all those who are up for the ride.
questions? Please feel free to send them to
criticalmasshonolulu@gmail.com
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Do you have any more details on the ride?
Thanks
no planned route really, atleast to my knowledge.
updated with info on the crit mass on the 28th of MARCH
Fellow Velocipedists:
I cannot describe it. I can only suppose that the media will cover this Mass, since traffic was snarled for miles and the police made a couple of (unsuccessful) attempts to stop (or break up or arrest, hard to tell) the Mass... It was fantastic. The best ever. ****ing wild and rude and unapologetic of its rudeness.
With more than 50 riders representing a good cross-section of the local bike folk, including fixies, couriers, freaks, college kids, coffee shop employees, small children, crackheads, homeless, hammerheads, mountain bikers, etc., the energy was positive, free-flowing, and anarchistic in the extreme. We made an initial loop around and through downtown, and then headed to Waikiki on King and then circled around by the zoo and then back on Beretania. I just got back so it was about a 2-hour Mass, not counting the half hour buildup. The Mass weaved in and out, blocked all lanes, Massing and thinning out and then Massing again, holding its own against everything and anything it came up against.
The prophetic words that were used in jest are probably best. It was a 'Violent Thugs' mass the like of which Honolulu has not seen in years.
The next one is going to be even better. I hope to see you all there (if anybody still reads this thing). FYI they are having it at 4:30 now, and meeting on the grass at the Hotel Street side of the capitol.
The Honolulu CM used to be a bunch of cyclist willing to obey the traffic laws. They just wanted to make the point that bikes are legal vehicles on the road. 99% of the motorist on the road seemed to support the legal riding of the group of cyclist as they passed each other.
Based on the above ride report and the inappropriate riding I saw on the Capital grounds before the actual ride began; it looks like the present CM riders are just a bunch of self centered anarchist asses.
How are you going to make things better for Honolulu cyclist by breaking the law and pissing off our legislators, cops and motorist (especially the ones that USED to treat cyclist with respect)?
Folks see what they want to see -- we didn't snarl traffic, it was horrible before we showed. And I dunno how one can ride inappropriately around a park, but, um, our bad, I guess.
We had lots and lots of positive energy, especially on the ride thru Waikiki. Downtown was too cluttered, and I wouldn't want to try that again.
Tho it was fun having the cop yell at us but be unable to chase us because he was stuck in the lousy traffic and we weren't. It felt like a point was being successfully made.
What I observed was several of those waiting for the CM to start, riding into the building center area of the capital building, using the stairs and handicap ramps for trials style riding and riding on the walls of the reflecting pools. These actions were observed by the sheriffs stationed at the capital.
The above account comes from one of the guys that got the first several Honolulu CMs going. Since then, he seems to have leaned a little more towards the radical.
Hopefully you folks are obeying the traffic laws and not trying to block traffic. Can you confirm that to be true?
What was it that the cop yelled about?
I wasn't in that area, but I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of the BMX kids did some stupid stuff. They're kids, and I'll be more careful to look out for them and corral them when apropos.
The cop wanted to bust us for passing by stopped cars. It was pretty amusing.
There were a few red lights run, but almost exclusively for the purpose of keeping the group together -- i.e. the light changed in the middle of the rush, and the group finished passing through the intersection. I hear those who would like us to obey all traffic laws, but this seems a venal sin to me.
.... I hear those who would like us to obey all traffic laws, but this seems a venal sin to me.
'Sorry, I'm with CB on this one; regardless of the size of the CM group, doing stupid stuff gets observed, and undoubtedly gets re-written into things that did or didn't happen. Good luck gaining respect, HNL cyclists need it.
If you station one of your experienced, responsible riders at the front of the capital building to direct riders to the meeting place, that would likely solve that problem. (most of those riders looked like the hipsters rather than the BMX kids)
If there was enough room to safely pass traffic, then I really do not have a problem with the filtering. It is not illegal here and does make the point of how efficient cycling in traffic jams is. Unless the cop was willing to ticket motorist passing cyclist sharing the lane, then he should not have a problem with cyclist passing motorist sharing the lane.
As to running red lights, that is illegal. I would prefer to see Honolulu CM riders stop at red lights even if it splits the group. The lead group can pull to the side of the road and wait for the stopped riders to get a green light and then join back up as the back group catches up. What a great way to clearly demonstrate your intent to ride legally. Besides, running red lights gives the cops a valid reason to hand out tickets to riders.
Yeah, I'm new to all this, so I'm still getting my feet. Still, it wasn't the anarchic free-for-all that some described it as. What it was was disorganized and joyous.
March 28 CM
http://forum.dhhawaii.com/index.php?topic=1370.msg11038;topicseen
Great, the dumbasses in CM and a dumb cop create problems between cyclist and cops.
I watched the meet up and about 3 blocks of the last group in the ride. There were about 100 people that did the ride.
As a reference to the type of riders: less than 10% had helmets, zero spandex, 2 had flats before the ride even started and had to go around asking for patch kits and pumps, no kids this ride, a few messengers and the owner of the last remaining messenger service in town, mostly college students and hipsters (but there were a few older folks), one longhaul with bambo trailer, several nice FG/SS - most other bikes were low end, many in sad shape. One guy was a photographer on a BMX bike (he was not an experienced road rider, he said he was at the capital to photograph the Aloha Airlines bankruptcy bail out rally, when a friend rode by and told him about CM; so he decided to photograph it).
At least 4 people rode on the capital reflecting pool walls. One was about 45 years old. None were kids on BMX bikes.
Two motorcycle cops showed up on the adjacent road before the ride started. Made a lot of riders nervous about getting a ticket. I talked to them as the ride was starting. They were there because it is a nice quit, shaded street that they can stop and talk to each other while waiting for emergency calls during rush hour. They had no clue what CM was and did not really care beyond simple curiosity.
The ride started out fractured into 3 sub-groups at 5:20 pm. I followed behind the last group of about 15 riders for 3 blocks. The photographer was in this group. They split lanes between cars on a one way street, double left turn at a stop light. Truly dumb and unsafe, some even jumped the light. Two blocks later, heading east on King Street in the left lane, they stop at a red light at Alapai Street (I think -good for them).
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=s&ie=UTF8&hl=en&ll=21.303474,-157.85506&spn=0.001732,0.003353&t=h&z=19
The red light here is very long to allow traffic which comes off South Street to clear, then it remains red to allow traffic from Kapiolani Blvd. to turn right onto South Street with a green light and clear the intersection at King Street & Alapai Street. After waiting for awhile and seeing a more experienced cyclist run the red light, the rest of the group decided to run the red light. What they thought was a good gap was not, as the hidden traffic coming from Kapiolani Blvd. almost creamed them. The photographer (least experienced of the cyclist) had a car barely able to stop 2 feet short of broadsiding him. Other cars stopped about 5 feet from the group and waited for them to complete their illegal red light running. The motorist next to me, watching this, just shook his head and said “wow”.
At that point, I had seen enough and continued my normal commute home. So I missed the rest of the red light running and the confrontation with the cops that injured a female cyclist (reported in the link).
CM Honolulu is on the road toward’s harming all cyclist here.:mad:
Be sure and read the photographers comments in the link under "freezeaction".
Yeah, I don't think I'll be going to the next one either. The first one had growing pains, but this one just felt kind of . . . dumb, I guess. People without any sense of what the point of the ride was.
Of course, part of the issue was folks who weren't there for any long-term reason but liked to mess things up for drivers. And, as always in any non-hierarchical situation, the extremists ended up defining the actions of the whole.
I really don't know a good answer to that.
yeah i heard what happened. a lot of bad opinions from people. i wasnt there to participate. but this happened
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLav3EEYOVc
people were getting pulled over randomly throughout the ride, atleast one bike was taken away.
while passing the police station a cop decided to run after a cyclist in the middle of the street, said cyclist broke free but in result the cop fell and possibly knocked over another female cyclist. i dont know exactly how bad she fell, i wasn't there, but an abmulance was called and she was treated for a concussion.
edit: meh! im neutral in this matter. no comments from me. im sad for all parties involved.
I guess this is what happens when the only rule is to show up and ride. Maybe someone should take charge and establish rules? If that doesn't happen we'll probably just see future CM disasters.
pre-CM meeting 2 weeks before the evnt IMO!
http://www.kitv.com/video/15929956/index.html
Well, they made the news and the cops got the upper hand, so CM riders; will you help or hurt cycling in Honolulu?
Looks like help; the police are preparing to be sensible, and the conversation has been opened. Now it's time to start educating as well as getting attention.
The cops I talked to before the last ride were quite sensible. Most, but not all, the cops are sensible about not harassing cyclist. We need their help to prosecute illegal motorist.
With the injury last ride, the cops know they screwed up. They are taking steps to repair that image.
CM, by breaking laws and intentionally blocking entire roads are creating a negative image for cyclist. How does CM intend to repair the damaged image they have created?
What education is CM going to give, who will teach such education and who will receive such education?
Did you know that HBL already sends a cyclist to the police academy classes to teach a section on Hawaii cycling laws and the perspective of cyclist? Positive education not the negative CM of late. What we really need is to concentrate on the cops that did not learn the lesson in the academy as well as the <1% of motorist that are anti-cyclist.
CM harassing all motorist and trying to antagonize cops does not help cyclist.
My CM of one, as well as all the other CMs of one out there, riding to work and home each day does far more for cyclist than the law breaking “look at me, I’m an anarchist” types riding once a month.
Cyclist should ride legal and prosecute illegal motorist.
CM, ride legal and knock off the anarchist BS.
Sounds like the bike training on Oahu hasn't educated the public or the cops as to what is allowed or disallowed on the roads of hawaii, CBHI :rolleyes:
more training! :roflmao:
I agree with the "ride legal" part. Following the law makes it much more fun to tell others to fck off. If we all ride single file on the right, I'm sure it will piss off enough people.
Sounds like the bike training on Oahu hasn't educated the public or the cops as to what is allowed or disallowed on the roads of hawaii, CBHI :rolleyes:
more training! :roflmao:
Seems to work much better than what you have in Seattle.:p
Anymore news articles about you fighting with motorist up there.:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:
I guess this is what happens when the only rule is to show up and ride. Maybe someone should take charge and establish rules? If that doesn't happen we'll probably just see future CM disasters.
Critical Mass in Honolulu has had a lot of problems in the past with people who tried to "take charge" and this led to most riders taking part in a couple of rides and then dropping-out. The Take Charge bunch tended to try to use CM as an extension of their own personalities and this led to conflicts. Honolulu doesn't seem to have the same idealism as other Masses do. There is no sense of activism involved, just riding on the last Friday of the month. Even then, most of the time, there haven't been more than two people even showing-up until the February ride.
I run the website, but my work schedule doesn't allow me to participate in the rides anymore. However, I have tried to introduce a little bit of activism in the people who want to support CMH, even if they can't do the Mass.
Getting involved in petitioning the government for more bike lanes and bike racks; reporting junk bikes locked-up around town that obstruct other bikes from parking there; raising awareness about bicycle theft; etc. But, my efforts were rebuffed, in large part, by certain elements for whom the Mass is only about the monthly ride and nothing else. Those are they "let's block traffic" crowd.
The current revival of CMH is due to the efforts of a couple of guys who want Honolulu's Mass to be just like the Mainland. However, any discussions I've had with them about bicycle activism go in one ear and out the other. Even so, I seem to be taking the blame for what happens at the Mass rides, even when I'm not even there (see above post by me) and it does get a bit frustrating.
As I mentioned on the CMH website, the Opinions page is open to anyone who wants to send an email editorial related to CM or bicycling-in-general. Even with the Open Door policy, I haven't gotten many letters.
As for the May ride, I doubt if many people will show-up, especially with the crackdown by HPD in April fresh in everyone's memory. CM did get some press coverage, but I am yet to see anything positive coming out of it. Opportunities like that don't come very often, yet they seem to be getting squandered as they come.
Interestingly, the big cheerleaders for obstructing traffic all seemed to have been absent from the April Mass. I haven't gone to the rides in a long time, so my not being there wasn't unusual. I did go to the gathering at Anna Banana's afterwards to drop something off to a friend who was riding. I saw the press interview people and not much else going-on. I asked the current organizers of CMH to send me emails about the April ride, but still haven't gotten anything from them.
For awhile, I've thought about canceling the site. I still might, depending on what happens in the next few weeks.
I just found this post while Googling for something else.
I wasn't even at the Mass that day and I am not 45 years old. I run the website, but seldom go to the rides anymore, due to a conflicting work schedule.
OK :thumb:
Another rider at the March 28 CM told me that his first CM was the Feb CM. At the March ride, he started talking to me, pointed to another rider on a black bike with the word "Silly" painted in white on the down tube (as a take off on Surly). The rider I was talking too had been told at the Feb CM, that Mr. Silly was the owner of the CMH website. Mr. Silly later did his ride on the reflecting pool wall.
Mr. Silly looks about 45 years old. If you want to nit pick, I did write "about" in my post. I guess you are actually 42 or 43 rather than "about 45", right?
I accept that someone misrepresented Mr. Silly as the CMH web owner, and as such, I have removed the name from my post. If you do the same, the name will no longer appear in this thread.
...Interestingly, the big cheerleaders for obstructing traffic all seemed to have been absent from the April Mass.
Not too surprising that the trouble makers are the first to run and hide when the heat comes down. The cowards seemed to use the larger group of cyclist to shield themselves from the consequences of their own actions.
Yesterday I saw three dufuses (dufi?) riding Kalakaua the wrong way in traffic.
The interesting thing is that they were bike cops.
Not too surprising that the trouble makers are the first to run and hide when the heat comes down. The cowards seemed to use the larger group of cyclist to shield themselves from the consequences of their own actions.
Ah . . . no. Most of them were still there, just contained. A lot of them voted with their feet when they saw how boring the Mass would be, which isn't anywhere near the same thing.
Simply put, Critical Mass has serious problems in Honolulu - and around the world, it seems - in that it has a statement that it is trying to show bicycling as a viable alternative to driving cars, but lacks any direction in and of itself.
There are too many people who say they know "what Critical Mass is about" but, either don't participate or ride solely for the purpose of obstructing traffic and pissing drivers off.
Either way, I seriously doubt if the next Mass in Honolulu is going to have the same turnout as the February or March Mass or even the April Mass, for that matter. I think it will be back to the "one guy shows-up" status by August.
As the webmaster, that's really sad. Since CM could serve as an attention-getter for cycling issues in Honolulu with the monthly rides, especially with riders being activists the whole month prior to the rides.
As for myself, I continue to report junked bikes locked to bike racks and street signs around the city, as well as calling for more bike racks and bike lanes.
I wish I knew more about what HBL is doing on a daily basis, though. A lot of non-members see HBL as simply holding events and asking for money to pay for office space and salaries. When they ask me what HBL actually does, besides events, I have no answer.
Then again, when people ask me what CMH does, besides the monthly rides, I have no answer either.
Heh, yeah, but CM doesn't ask for donations. :)
Hey, if all CM did was have a few rides and pass out a few flyers on this go-around, then that's not the worst thing in the world. The cross-pollination of the different riders seems useful in and of itself.
Ah . . . no. Most of them were still there, just contained. A lot of them voted with their feet when they saw how boring the Mass would be, which isn't anywhere near the same thing.
Last CM was pretty boring. But what makes a CM not boring? Pissing off cars?
Last CM was pretty boring. But what makes a CM not boring? Pissing off cars?
You'd think a nice afternoon with interesting company of similar interests would be sufficient...something that's actually quite rare in Hawai'i.
bryanhayn -- having a little more room to breathe and a little faster movement.
Corking intersections, despite being, you know, illegal, makes things work better. Dunno.
bryanhayn -- having a little more room to breathe and a little faster movement.
Exactly! That was my #1 complaint last month. I could've walked my bike faster than we were riding.
Look what I just found...good news for Hawaii cyclists: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080513/NEWS01/805130348/-1/RSS02
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