+1000!

this statement could be applied to just about every silly demonstration, bit of campus-"activism", petty rebellion and non-revolution, etc. sad!

i don't like CM as a platform for "bike awareness" because it doesn't have means that are A-effective or B-realistic. trying to get drivers to be aware of cyclists by blocking their cars so huge packs of slow moving cyclists can pass doesn't get the point across because it's not like that in the real world. its usually one cyclist who has a problem with one car; not a mob of bikes against heavy traffic of cars. education is usually a one on one process, in my mind at least. but, we don't live in a perfect world, nor do we live in my mind (sadly for us! ha). CM as a platform for politics is about as ineffective as all those demonstations at city hall or dolores park were for ending "the war" or stopping our reliance on "oil", or the fur-protestors in front of nieman marcus... their message is great, sure, and just and true and all that, but their means of conveyance just doesn't hit the audience that it needs to on the levels that it needs to be on to communicate effectively, effeciently, or educatively.

as a group bike ride, it also fails. too many people in the way, too many strangers. but, riding through that broadway tunnel for an hour, really fast, without the worry of a car on your left or right --- that is supremely fun and solitary.