Tonight’s Critical Mass ride in San Francisco marks the 15th anniversary of the bicycle convergence that takes place on the last Friday of the month in cities all over the world. The very first Critical Mass (originally called “Commute Clot”) took place on Sept. 25, 1992 in San Francisco. Wikipedia has more on the history of Critical Mass.
“Critical Mass celebrating 15 years of free-form bicycle advocacy”
Rachel Gordon, San Francisco Chronicle
The monthly Critical Mass rides are part political statement and part roving street festival and now are firmly part of San Francisco’s cultural fabric.
Critical Mass has no organized leadership. The rides are promoted by word of mouth and over the Internet. The only constant is that they are held the last Friday of the month and start around 6 p.m. at Justin Herman Plaza at the foot of Market Street. The routes are fluid, often determined on the spot.
Here Are A Few Related Posts You Might Enjoy:
- New San Francisco Critical Mass Blog
- San Francisco Bike Convergence: Pedal Monster & Bike!Bike!
- The 15th Annual Brainwash Bike-in Walk-in Movie Festival
- Apple WWDC 2007, A Global Convergence of Mac Developers
- Convergence 08, Bringing Life to Big Ideas
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Yo wassup you Mass of slackers!!?
; )
The call for this anniversary mass was to make 15,000 riders for 15 years! Sounds great, but in case you missed it, reports in April came in from Budapest that they hit 50,000 riders on earthday, which is on the way to doubling their record-breaker C-mass of 30,000 the year before:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/540398/critical_mass_budapest_2007_04_22/
In another 15 years bikes could rule the world
… But why wait that long ??
Leave No Pedals Unturned ! Pull out everyone in yur hood !
And if yur down with helping trigger more pressure and actions to help protect the monks and people of Burma, now being pummeled by the military dictatorship, 9/28 is a call for wearing RED for Burma…
And you can read more here:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/09/28/18450310.php
Would be nice to see a Red Mass contingent !
And heard some folks are coming out in “Mass-Querade” too.
Once again, a small number of disrespectful bicyclists inconvenience tens of thousands of people in the City of San Francisco. As the Chronicle reported, “Some [bike riders] sipped booze concealed in paper bags or smoked marijuana….†Besides flouting the Vehicle Code, one must wonder about what other laws these people are exempt from. I sure hope not to see anyone from my bank in the pack!
The Chronicle quoted Jill Fredricksen as saying, “It gets drivers angry and instills an emotion, makes them pay attention to us.” Yes, Ms Fredricksen, you and your fellow two-wheelers instilled in me the emotion of disrespect for all bicyclists, the emotion of annoyance with them, such that I avoid extending any courtesy to anyone on a bicycle whenever and where ever I encounter one. You and your kind have not quite instilled in me the emotion of revenge but I must believe other drivers are not so understanding.
As far as paying attention to you and your cohorts, we do pay attention to you, just like parents pay attention to the temper tantrum of a two-year old who is not getting her way.
The participants of Critical Mass imagine themselves as free spirits demonstrating to the ignorant masses of drivers the folly of owning and using a car. In truth, the participants are weak, powerless, unsubstantial people who combine 12 times a year to bring some small amount of meaning to their enervated lives.
Hey Don,
I don’t know what planet You live on, but if i see a banker having a great time riding a bicycle in a parade i consider it a triumph of life over the dehumanization and stupidity of the 9-5 world!
And when i see someone sitting inside a metal and glass container screaming and cursing at the top of their lungs because they can’t wait for 15 minutes for revelers to pass, THAT’S a temper tantrum! Or is it an adult psychopathic tendency induced by a society afflicted by a law and order overdose??
Should our worlds ever intersect will you please turn yourself in to the nearest block party and try to liberate yourself.
And FYI: Highway fatalities account for more than 94% of all transportation deaths. There were an estimated 6,289,000 car accidents in the US in 1999. There were about 3.4 million injuries and 41,611 people killed in auto accidents in 1999. The total number of people killed in highway crashes in 2001 was 42,116, compared to 41,945 in 2000. An average of 114 people die each day in car crashes in the U.S.
…And a friend recently told me of a “funny” dream she had where penguins and polar bears were leading a critical mass ride through a metropolis and did not merely INCONVENIENCE automobile drivers, they promptly removed their unnatural enemies from their vehicles and set these weapons of mass destruction ablaze. When a furious driver asked why they had just destroyed his SUV, a penguin said, “We didn’t get to vote on your decision to melt our habitat.”
I think Eric Cartman says it best with:
“I hate hippies!!”
But to be more formal, below is the offical stance of CM while riding in public. It’s found on this page:
http://www.critical-mass.info/howto/index.html
“The most controversial aspect of CM is the extent to which it blocks traffic. CM’ers are fond of saying “We’re not blocking traffic, we ARE traffic!” While that’s a cute phrase, it’s obviously pretty silly. It’s like a murderer saying, “I didn’t kill that human, I *am* a human!” Just because bikes are legitimate road users doesn’t mean they don’t slow down other road users — especially when they go out of their way to do so by taking up multiple lanes.
Remember that CM is supposed to be a celebration of cycling, not your opportunity to see how much inconvenience you can cause to others. It’s about asserting our right to the road, not denying others their right to the road.
Leave at least one lane open for cars. (So if you’re on a 4-lane road, take no more than 3 lanes. Except if you’re on a one-lane road, obviously you will take the whole lane.) Taking all the lanes, all the time, might be fun for you, but it certainly brings the police down on you quicker. Motorists will ring 911 off the wall with their cell phones if you block them 100%. It also doesn’t win you any friends. Are you doing CM to show motorists how much fun biking can be, or are you just trying to piss them off because it makes you feel good? Only CM riders can answer these questions for themselves. Also remember that your local laws may have a say about that (though some riders choose to ignore them).
Even if you decide that you don’t want to go overboard with taking lanes, understand that you can’t control the riders — some riders may want to take all the lanes all the time. If this is not the flavor you want for your ride, then make that clear in the fliers you make for the ride, and get other cyclists to apply gentle peer pressure when a few cyclists stray. Unfortunately if two people out of 200 decide to be jerks then your CM’s reputation will come from them rather than from the other 198. But since CM has no leaders, you can’t order anyone to ride the way you want, you can only try to encourage them.”
So you modern day hippies, please tell me that you abide by that. I live in Chicago, and had the great misfotune of seeing slackers on Dr. Suess bikes, flicking off motorists. Trying to both smoke a doobie and pick fights is a pretty funny sight. But seriously, I love how this group takes NO RESPONSIBILITY for their actions. They claim there are no organized leaders so when the s*** hits the fan, there is no one accountable. It’s pretty f’ing hypocritical that these people want us drivers to be responsible, but they in turn are founded upon irresponsibility. Typical extreme liberalism. If you don’t like the road systems, please, go to another country and find solace.
Think Luther Blisset said it better,
“On the human traffic spectrum you have the hippies on the far left riding bikes for peace and you have fascist pigs on the far right pushing nations and tanks and killing people for oil, and you can be damn sure we’ll ride with the hippies before we’ll hug a f*cker driving his Hummer.”
Brady, last we checked a bicyclist has never murdered a driver, at least not with a bike, so your cute analogy is POINTLESS spin ) and if you want an audience for your love-it-or-leave-it and i-hate-hippies skank take it to the Ann Coulter blog.
Peggy,
Nice generalization that motorists are all murderers. I guess ambulance drivers should start riding bikes. Same with police cars. I guess they can capture criminals on their Schwin-10 speed.
Furthermore, I don’t recall igniting a debate between bikers and motorists. I was simply stating that the Critical Mass group of bikers’ message is lost in their execution. You’re pissing off innocent motorists by disobeying the law. Is that the basis to which you want your message to get across?? Seems pretty stupid. If you think this is political, it’s not. You think that if people drive cars, their extreme right-wingers? I’ll bet the majority of Critical Mass members own cars. Just like I own a bike. It has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with accountability. The website that houses your main info states the proper way to hold a bike rallly. Isn’t it a failure on CM’s part if they can’t abide by the rules that they give to their members??!
Have a splendin day,
–Brady
Here’s another great story about these folks…
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/04/BAGF7P12RN23.DTL
http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/15/autos/green_car/index.htm?cnn=yes