SF Critical Mass???
 

So is Critical Mass happening in San Francisco. I heard it was the third Friday of ever month. But is it actually on the last friday of every month?

id like to join

last friday

It's the LAST Friday of every month. Meets around 6PM at Justin Herman Plaza (Market & Embarcadero).

Last friday of the month...sit around a while, ride slow a while, maybe end up somewhere cool, yell at some folks in cars...I've found that except for certain rides (anniversary ride, halloween ride) sfcm has lost much of its appeal. I'd much rather be riding fast with the Montano Velo crew on Friday nights.

I second that. My friends want me to go but I really really don't want to. Too many people, too much noise, too many drunk/stoned people who will **** **** up. bleh. doesn't even serve a purpose anymore as far as I can tell, except making motorists hate us more.

Oh and for what its worth I think riding in CM is more dangerous than my daily commute.

Okay, so how do I hook with a crew of fixed riders to ride on Friday Night? What is this Montano Velo group that r-dub is speaking of?

meet at montanovelo bike shop in oakland. at 7 (i think)

even though i talk ****, ill probably be at CM anyway, you can join us till i get sick of it and run off (which i pretty much guarantee will be in under 30 minutes). also theres a benifit for a biker who got creamed by an suv at boxdog from 7 to midnight.

what biker that got hit by an suv... and where's boxdog?

critical mass on a skateboard is highly effective and totally fun, especially if the broadway tunnel is involved somehow. the ride on halloween 04 when the hotel strikes were going on was exceptionally fun, we had the tunnel closed for like 2 hours. aww.

boxdog = ye olde bike shoppe = biceteria, 14th bw guerrero/valencia

His name is spyder, boxdog is at 14th and guerrero in the mission. Puckman told me about it.

i'm terrible with names, i know that place-

If you get to Montano Velo too early, you can look around the shop at all of their awesome wares, and go down the street to Fentons for a huge-ass sundae.

Last CM Friday I was on my way home (by bicycle as every day) going at normal speed until I hit CM and came to a grinding halt. I was ready to team up with car drivers to get rid of it. Luckily I got out of it fairly quick and such action was not required. Anyway CM annoys the hell out of me.

hello sunshine! :)

tell us how you really feel
:D

but i'm there with you, but understand that in the big picture, its a good thing, but i'll probably not be doing one anytime soon, or be identified as "one of those CM people" by non cyclists, i take that seriously, like using the "N" word :eek: ok maybe not that strongly, but....ok no more whiskey i can't connect the thoughts.

whiskey at noon? *high fives*

critical mass is like alot of things.

its like raspy toilet paper on bulbous hemroid
its like a finger in the cog while cleaning your chain
its like war for peace or f'ing for virginity
its like going to a war protest with the black block
its like biting the hand that feeds you
...crying over spilt milk
...using your nails on the chalkboard
...leaving the toilet seat up when you live with a woman
...drinking out of the milk carton
...not changing the toilet paper roll when its gone
...eating ice cream out of the cartoon

rough week ostro? :D

nah...im at work bored...and i agree with 46x17.

when i first rode CM i liked it, but i have to agree with many of the anti sentiments, its counter productive.

+1

I just don't see how getting a "mob" together to be inconsiderate to people you are trying to "educate" is supposed to improve the plight of bike riders..

+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.

ok, since i hardly ever post on topic, let me try it out.

Critical Mass is a good idea, but it is executed poorly.

just for background (i know most people know this), the term Critical Mass came from a westerner who made some observations about bicycling in China, where the rule of the road is the bigger the vehicle, the more right-of-way. well, bicyclists that need to take a left at an intersection find it almost impossible to cross the other lane of traffic if they are alone. they wait there until they accumulate a bunch of bicyclists all wanting to turn left. at some point, the group reaches critical mass, where the group becomes large enough to have right-of-way to make the left turn. the oncoming traffic yields to the "larger" vehicle.

i love the idea of a bunch of cyclists being "one" vehicle. supposedly, some of the earlier tenets of CM was that if the head of the mass goes through a green light, then the rest of the mass follows (even after the light turns red). this is legal because it's all "one" vehicle.

so, problem #1 for me with SF CM, is that the pack does not stay together well enough. in my mind, it should be a cohesive and dense pack.

problem #2 - and this happens all the time - the mass goes through Union Sqaure. great, the mass gets exposure, you get to see some babes shopping, you're in the middle of the city. but then, for some reason, the riders in front decide to go all the way around the square. so, the head meets up with the middle of the pack, and then there's no head, no tail, and it's just a big merry-go-round. that bugs the **** out of me.

and then there's the times when the pack heads through a tunnel, and after they get through, they promptly jump the curb and go back through the other side. just annoys me.

i envision CM as this ephemeral entity that snakes through the city. one second it's there, the next second it's not. instead it ties up the broadway tunnel for an hour for no reason.

so, have fun if you go! great weather for riding today.