Critical Mass?

I have, in San Francisco. It was a very cool experience. I rode next to a guy with a boombox-trailer.

Wow. How many bikers were there? I imagine there were hundreds?

Crazy amounts, no joke.

Yep. Ohio. There’s a TON in the summer. In the winter, not so much.

What?

What is critical mass? I’ve never heard of it before.

http://critical-mass.info/

So it’s a huge group of self righteous people that get together and ride there bikes on the streets making people in cars late for work?

That’s one way of looking at it.

I ride pretty consistently but missed it this month because i was back east for Thanksgiving.

@simone54—I think it’s silly to think of any “huge group” as having one mentality. Some are self-righteous, some are not. I ride for various reasons and it differs from month to month. Cars rule the roads every day, I think 3 hours a month for bikes is fair.

laureth – Thanks for that info, lurve for you.

;)

My impression is closer to Simone’s. I don’t think there are many valid reasons to intentionally snarl up traffic.

Of course, I live in Boston, where most bicyclists seem to believe they are above traffic laws; I’m amazed I don’t see more car-bicycle accidents, because for every one responsible bicyclist, there are ten asinine ones.

@cwilbur—can’t the same be said for cars? There are a lot of bad drivers out there too! I think proper city planning has a lot to do with the difficulties that arise between cyclists and motor vehicles. In Europe, many cities are designed to easily accommodate both. There are far fewer collisions, and from my understanding, less tense relations between the two groups, especially since even drivers will also cycle frequently. One thing to remember even when road rage arises is that cyclists are incredibly vulnerable. Human life is far more important than racing to the next light. I have had cars act very aggressively toward me when I am on a bike and they perceive I am doing something wrong (even though it is usually when I am doing something legal—they just don’t understand the law!). Giving someone the bird is far different then swerving toward them. Even yelling at me or honking can startle me to the point where I might swerve or even fall. I think more respect needs to be given from BOTH sides. I encourage anyone who has not done it to commute to work or errands for one week by bike. Then you will have a better idea of what cyclists are going through and why they might make some of the decisions they do.

@emilyrose: Not to the same extent.

Cyclists may be extremely vulnerable, but that doesn’t account for some of the things I’ve seen—ignoring lights by plowing through a mass of pedestrians that stepped out as the lights changed or by zipping around a stopped car in order to run a red light.

That sort of asinine behavior doesn’t excuse hostility from drivers, but it isn’t excused by it either.