...i went to critical mass in berkeley tonight.

i went to go meet a friend there who i don't hang out with very often, so i figured this would be a good opportunity to hang out, talk, ect. meh...the ride starts and we get separated and every time i try to ride next to her we get separated yet again. oh well, i don't think she was trying to do it, i just think the chaotic nature of CM is well...too chaotic to try to have a conversation...that and they have a rather large stereo system blaring annoying techno...

anyway. it's just ****ing gross. all these people think they're doing something good for the world, when really, they're just screwing everything up, and pissing people off. plus they ride too damn slow and nobody looks where they're going. i don't believe in anything they stand for. plus there was some jackass walking around interviewing for KALX who came up to me and was all "do you mind if i ask you some questions?" to which i replied "sort of, yeah." and then he just started asking me questions! then i just told him i had to go...somewhere else and walked away. jesus christ what a rude bafoon! also before the ride started there were announcements and a woman from some berkeley better transportation agency (something along those lines) started talking about all these initiatives to get fewer cars on the roads and get something called "car-free housing" in berkeley, so that people can get housing and not have to worry about needing a parking space or something and it just didn't make sense to me because, if you don't want to have to worry about needing a parking space, then...don't get a car...why do people without cars need special housing? just all this stupid bull**** that yeah, it's a great idea and it's nice to want fewer cars on the roads, but...it just ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN!!

i split while i was heading to the front of the pack and i heard some women talking about how critical mass is a "male-dominated scene." and yes, there are more males there than females, but...in all the rides i did in boston, i never saw anything that could be remotely termed as sexism or misogyny. i understand the point, i just don't agree with it completely. plus, if you don't like it, don't come, OR...go to the female-only mass ride termed "clitoral mass."

after i heard that i booked it down the nearest side-street and thought to myself: "one. less. male." heh.

i'm gonna go shower...i feel ****ing disgusting. god damn crusty-ass hippies.

hahahahah.

i placed my bet hours beforehand.

i have never done a cm ride and don't really have any plans to do one anytime soon. i have seen the ruckus they cause and it only seems to piss people off even more despite berkeley being biker friendly already. even after i go to copenhagen for 6 months this year where biking IS the way to get around, i don't think i will be joining CM anytime soon.

hrm, maybe i could have a piece on fixies for my kalx newscast since interviewing for CM is lame and my newscasts PWN. anybody? anybody?

hah! yeah...i shouldn't have gone. i just...shouldn't have. but for some reason i thought it would be different than in boston, and i wanted to maybe meet some new folks. too bad it's just as cliquey here as it was there...oh, the petitions..my god, the petitions...going around this group like VD in the GIs in korea.

It appears that this is not your scene. That shouldn't be a problem - everything is not for everybody. However, your attempt @ labeling this group as (in your words) "g/d crusty-ass hippies" is pretty disgusting in its own right.

well said...

To the original poster, why don't you think more carefully before you post.

Im not a hippy, my ass isn't crusty, and I go to CMs in Chicago to meet people, ride with friends, and get some exercise.

randy

After having spent 35 years in SF/Berkeley/Walnut Creek I know what you mean about the scene there. I went thru the 60's anti/war scene in Berkeley and it was the best example of political correctness that I ever saw. I especially loved your comment about Clitoral mass. I like Critical Mass as a concept but sometimes even the best of intentions go astray. Unless you have done Berkeley, you just wouldn't understand.

fixedgearhead

whatever people. critical mass is disgusting no matter who shows up. it doesn't help the situation, and in most cases it only fuels the aggression from drivers and adds to the violence between "cyclists" and motorists. i just see it as counter-productive, in most cases and here in berkeley, where there really aren't very many cars on the road to begin with, and most of the drivers are actually courteous, it's just plain pointless. i won't go again. the only time i went this time was (i'll reiterate) to meet up with a friend who i don't get to see a lot of.

there were quite a few crusty-ass hippies at the CMs i went to in boston as well. but they weren't the reason i stopped going to that one. mostly it was the violence that i saw happening during the rides and the trend that i began to notice in the first week following the ride (they only had it once a month there). drivers were pissy, more conflicts between me and drivers. and it really effed things up for the couriers i knew. i saw that it wasn't doing anything to help relations between cyclists and motorists so i quit going.

and to you mister CRUSTEDfish, just because something is offensive to you, doesn't mean that i don't have a right to post it here.

Alright, dude...you don't know anything about me, do you? I responded to your original post, because I knew that I'd draw fire from you because of my silly screenname that included "crusted" in it...

You've got to be careful, though...I'm a private and personal chef for celebs in chicago, and an "herb crusted fish" is a favorite of my favorite client...

things aren't always what they seem....

randy

why do i have to be careful? are you gonna poison my food?

Maybe smack you with his spatula

Careful!!! He might like it.

Watch out he might get Charlie Trotter involved, and that man is teatering on the edge of sanity.

i WOULD like it! RAR!

Actually, many posts (and users) have been zapped for what some users consider to be offensive posts. As my grandmother used to say ... if you can't say anything nice ... well, you know the rest.

From the forum guidelines:

We’re a community of cyclists, from different backgrounds and with different perspectives on sports and life. At all times, we expect our members to respect that.

Attacking a group of people (in this case, as you so eloquently put it, those "crusty-a** hippies) is not being respectful, and it certainly isn't being nice. Grow up.

BURN HIM!!!

eat ****. my opinion of critical massers will not be stifled.

oh..and i'm sooooo sorry that i "attacked" the poor, downtrodden hippies of berkeley. i'm sure they spend a lot of time reading the singlespeed forums here.

the thing about the so-called hippies in berkeley is that they're most times, anything but. old folks with ratty hair or ponytails and hemp necklaces gettin' all freaky deaky passing around joints in public places, yet, they tend to live way on up in the hills, building their houses with the sweat of others and surviving on the labor of others. most of them are wealthy business owners who, despite ascribing to these so-called "values" have "grown up" to be exactly the thing they hated when they were younger. authority figures, conventional society...y'know, "the man?"

hippies annoy me. patchouli is not an attractive scent on anyone.

Get off ya soap box ya wånk£r

I'm not sure bleach is stong enough to do the job. My mom used to use lava soap when she caught us with a case of potty mouth.

Also from the forum guidelines -

As a community with a diverse variety of members and readers, we ask that our members to post without using vulgarity. Vulgarity not only includes vulgar language and pictures but also sexist, racist, anti-religious and homophobic language which may offend other members. In addition, the "masking" of vulgarity by inserting * or another keystroke in place of one or more letters in a vulgar term is unacceptable in most cases.

right, because i'm the ONLY person to ever use vulgarity on the forum...ever.

Woohoo! I'm "unacceptable"!!!

Lets have a partay. Slothy, you're in charge of beer.

alright, i'll provide, but i can't partake. i'm "on the wagon," as they say.

thylacine, i have a bone to pick with you about the severe lack of pictures of the trials and road frames on your website...I WANT TO SEEEEEE!!

btw, the ti welding looks GREAT!

My goodness the skin in this forum has become awfully thin.

I want to be "unacceptable," also. Where do I sign up.


OTS, I can't agree with you more. ***IN MY OPINION*** CM is silly, and hippies (as a group, mind you) are stinky.

PS, if you weren't "on the wagon" you may not have minded so much.

Keep ya pants on - I'll be sending a trials frame AND a road frame off to the painters/powdercoaters tomorrow. The roadie is actually my own, so unlike every frikken other bike I make for my customers - which for some reason all request blue - mine is going to be metallic orange with gold pearl clearcoat.

Coz I'm P.I.M.P..

Email me at info(AT)thylacinecycles(DOT)com and I can let you know when the pretty pictures are in the gallery.

Thanks for the kudos on the Ti welds. I can't take any credit for them, coz they're my welders. All I did was be clever enough to pay him to do it, being the big bad boss man type guy and all.

You're showing your IQ ... again.