balto charlie

Just got this off a local forum , Charlie

Washington DC counter-inaugural critical mass bike ride - (7:30 AM - 11:00 AM)

Plans are being drawn up right now to have the largest critical mass bike ride DC has ever seen. We will meet at Union Station at 7:30 in the morning and ride out into the city following the same route that we followed when after the long ride several hundred of us were corralled and "preemptively" illegally arrested in Pershing Park in September 2002.

<https://counter-inaugural.org/lightningbug/web/?action=detail&mode=view&listing=141>

tulip

hmmmm...I do not like CM at all. I also do not like big parties for civil-liberties-stealing vote-supressing idiotic oil magnates from Texas. The public spaces on the Mall are already being fenced off--so much for "public" spaces. And I don't think I would like to be arrested (but I've never tried it); I just want to ride my bike to work.

Sounds like it'll be a long and interesting commute that day. Thanks for the heads-up.

balto charlie

Hey I've never been part of one but protest do have a fond space in my heart. As long as the bikers are well behaved (no destruction) then I say make yourself heard. With our local climate(DC) I don't think the police will allow disturbances to alter the 'party'. I witnessed one CM in NY during halloween, was great. They really took over the streets in costume and bike. Charlie

tulip

IF they are well-behaved--that's a big IF. Many CMers do not consider being "well-behaved" part of the CM culture. I'm all for meaningful protest, but not if it backfires on the protesters or the cause. When the protest detracts from what is being protested, you've lost me.

A few years ago, when all the anti-war protests were going on in DC (which I fully supported--the protests, that is), there were some groups of people who thought it a good idea to call attention to themselves by not wearing clothes. What the h#*l does not wearing clothes have to do with a war for oil? It left the impression that the only people against the war (in this particular case) were radical, naked anarchists.

But I digress...this is a bike forum, right? Ride on!

Gus Riley

It will be an interesting read when it is over. I wonder if GWB will walk the route or drive it this year? Maybe he should ride it?!

tulip

He'll most likely take a helicopter.

roadfix

trouble makers......
may all your bicycles be confiscated....

Roody

Mybe we will see naked CMers at the inaugaration?

rustychain

What type of bicycle seat would you recomend for riding naked. One more question please, would it be OK to wear ear warmers? Its cold in D.C. in January

tulip

I am not responsible for any unclothed cyclists who show up to this thing!

Travelinguyrt

The prez will be riding in an armored plated HUMMVEE such as the kids in Baghdad and its burbs do NOT have

michaelwlf3

I like a Brooks B-17 for naked riding.

roadfix

I agree. The B17 is comfortable for naked riding. More than three quarters of all naked riders I've seen over the years were on B17's.

michaelwlf3

Yes, the one I ride is about 5 years old, and it's just like sitting in a big hand.

brokenrobot

Eh, don't be grumpy. If they obey the laws, I'd certainly hope no bikes are confiscated! After all, we *do* still have a bill of rights around here, even in DC, even under Bush.

roadfix

I've ridden one right out of the box, very comfortable & no break-in at all, naked. With shorts, padded or not, they're super comfortable.

michaelwlf3

Sometime you and I need to have a conversation about fixies. I am standing at a crossroad here and I keep vascillating over whether to convert one of my bikes or not. The controversy centers around the hilly terrain herabouts. The guys at 63XC say that you should have a taller gear for the downhills so it doesn't beat you to death, but I am not at all sure I have the stamina to ride a taller gear up some of these grades. It's not like you can coast and rest, like with a SS.

Should I start a thread in the fixed gear forum?

Biker2004

Uhhh yeah and I would recommend a Schwinn gel seat cover for those that simply NEED to bring themselves to utter humiliation and then die of pneumonia!!!

JBar

RIDE ON!!!! Protest is patriotic.

dobber

So is Critical Mass about the bike or the protest? The kiddies need to adopt a line here, don't tell us about how the police are coming down on cyclists when actually you are political protesters who happen to be pedalling.

H23

Give 'em hell!
Those republican dorks deserve all the naked angry bicycle riders DC can muster!

cyclezealot

Good reading I suggest...Put out by People for the American Way...A constitutional lawyer interprets the so far minority decisons of Scalia/Thomas..
Piece is called "Courting Disaster." Recommended reading...Takes decisions and explains them to laymen..
Two examples...about civil liberties...The Bill of Rights is just a piece of paper intrepreted by imperfect people...
Scalia/Thomas, minority dissent.-1992, under 'Forsyth County vs.Nationalist Movement.. allows use of controversial speaker fees and large permits for permit preparation and police protection...
It is reported authorites wanted to demand a cool $1 million to allow the Seatle Free Trade protest in 1999...
"McIntyre v.Ohio" in 1995..Government to prohibit anonymous leafleting on policy issues..
In "Denver Area Educational TElecommunications Consortium vs. FCC." upheld Federal restrictions on so called 'offensive' cable tv programming in areas such as health , literature and art..
Other interesting stuff in the report, like - voting rights..etc..Like Right to vote is not a constitutional right...

brokenrobot

I agree - at least insofar as that this protest is NOT a Critical Mass and should not be marketed as one. However, I don't think the police have any right to suppress behaviors protected under the First Amendment, whether those activities are on bike or on foot, whether called Critical Mass or not.

Critical Mass is about the bike; this upcoming protest in DC is about democracy vs kleptocracy, free speech vs corporate speech. Critical Mass is important for cyclists; this upcoming protest is important for everyone who believes that human rights are more valuable than corporate profits or that a sustainable future on Earth is a better gamble for all humanity than is a possible Christian heaven for the richest amongst us.

michaelwlf3

Yeah, bunch of naked dumbasses on bikes in the wintertime will teach them a lesson.

Roody

Cool.