What is critical mass?
Is it always a mass ride to protest against the cars and fuel pollution or some other political movement or is it sometimes just a ride for fun with other riders 'en mass'?
I'm keen to pop along to the local one in Nottingham but what i dont want is to become part of an angry mob who abuse other road users. I dont mind the odd rant and rave at a car driver that clearly hasnt seen you but to just kick a car for wanting to get past (as some photos suggest) isn't really me and not something i want to get involved in.
Has anyone been along to any CM rides before and what are your comments on it?
I've been to two to see if I could see the point of them. I was very sceptical before going and now wish to apologise to every other non cycling road user in the area on both occasions.
The majority of people were just happy cyclists but en mass like that simply held up the traffic (yes, I know that's the point but I don't get [i]the point[/i] if you see what I mean) with a fair few "angry at everything" types who probably type on Internet forums with their own secret code like "duzzn't" and "cudunt" and call the Police "Babylonions" 🙂
No, they did nothing to promote cycling as a transport option and far from "taking back the streets" they just bothered everybody in the vicinity.
It [i]should[/i] be rather wonderful. London has a mass skate, monthly I think, which I've seen and which friends have been on. Hundreds of skaters, trundling round a fairly fixed route together. It's self-marshalled, knows where it's going and doesn't get in anybody's face, partly because it's later in the evening.
I am perfectly sympathetic to the idea of critical mass, but a lot of them do seem to be rather antagonistic. But then, a lot of motorists are antagonistic too. The logic "if it pisses the drivers of cars off then it must be bad" is not a terribly compelling one.
🙂
I think a lot depends on numbers. If cars are being held up by hundreds of bikes then the 'we are traffic' line has some merit. Cars being held up by 15 people deliberately cycling at walking pace spread across the road with enormous chips on their shoulders is something else in my view. If you're after either a good ride or promoting cycling then I'd stay well away.
Agreed. I have been on one mass with hundreds of people, mostly having fun, and one terrifying one with, as MrSalmon says, a dozen industrial-grade asshats out to cause trouble.
the best way to reach a critical mass is for more of us to commit to riding bikes as transport as well as leisure.
doing without a car and riding more means more of us on the roads and that's the real way forward. bikes have a longer future than cars and the faster the car / bike ratio changes in our favour the better. i know it's a long way off in reality, but many of us can ditch the car and make do without, it's not as hard as you think it'll be.
a fair few "angry at everything" types who probably type on Internet forums with their own secret code like "duzzn't" and "cudunt" and call the Police "Babylonions"
😀
My opinion of CM has been pretty much summed up by BigDummy up there. It really [i]should[/i] be a great thing, but sadly it's been taken over by the great unwashed "sticking it to the man, man" brigade.
Me and a mate went on a CM ride. It was just us that turned up. Dispite my best efforts on the mass side of things, I'm not sure it was much of a success.
As ever, BD has summed things up nicely there. The usual minority of asshats ruining it for everyone.
I'd agree with the philosophy of Critical Mass, Reclaim the Streets et al, but like so many of these things they are synonymous with soap-dodging hedge-monkeys - whether that actually describes the people who go on them or not. I want to organise a tweed ride instead. That'll show them.
james-o - Member
bikes have a longer future than cars
Can that statement be quantified in anyway or is it just that - a statement with no basis in reality or fact?
That's a genuine question, not a dig. What makes you say that James?
I was driving through London once on the way back from a meeting. It was the first time I had driven my car in 5 weeks. I had ridden to work every other day.
Some grotty hippy on a pink shopping bike tapped on my window and said 'You should get off your fat ass and ride a bike instead of polluting London every day. People like you make me sick'
This summed it up for me. I told him he should go home, have a wash and give his mum her bike back.
Then he gobbed on my windscreen.
I used to go on CM in the mid90s, but kind of got a bit sick of the pettiness of people (on both sides) and the aggression and violence after a while.
The one I particularly remember was going out to the Mile End Road to a spot where a woman had been killed the day before. There were police helicopters overhead, we had motorbike outriders, there were riot vans parked up down side streets, those strange motorbike police with the whistles keeping junctions clear, and then when we got to the place where she'd been killed and about 1000 cyclists all shouted and screamed - that really made your hair stand on end.
The crusties with the mobile sound system were always good for a laugh, although they always seemed to hide their smokes when the police came near 😯
"ass-hats"
"hedge monkeys"
This thread is the BEST for derogatory nicknames I have seen in a long time. Made me laugh!!
😀
with a fair few "angry at everything" types who probably type on Internet forums with their own secret code like "duzzn't" and "cudunt" and call the Police "Babylonions"
Do you want a signed pic? I can sort one out for you, no probs. 😀