Friday Evening: Critical Mass

Just woke up from a great night. Last night was Critical Mass, a bike ride which occurs on the last Friday of the month in cities around the world. It's free to participate and there isn't an organizational structure to the Mass. If you want to lead, then you make a map, or get in front and lead the people. The Chicago Critical Mass is pretty popular and in warmer months attracts thousands of cyclists.

Many serious cyclists are anti-Critical Mass because they feel that it reinforces stereotypes that cyclists are fringe, law-breaking assholes who don't care about who they inconvenience and who have no problem fueling animosity between cyclists and non-cyclists and motorists. I totally get that and I myself feel a little conflicted.

I've thought it over and I feel a little differently about the matter. Critical Mass doesn't have a specific agenda. So you can make it whatever you want for it to be. I think it's a great way of showing that bikes are fun and they can get you anywhere you want to go. It's especially effective when we go to neighborhoods that I don't usually visit. The people there are always excited to see all the bikes ride by.

I definitely like to play up the fun factor. I decorate my helmet with balloons and it's really great fun. It brings a smile to people's faces and it really just looks cool. Bonus points for making yourself more visible and being able to find your group in a crowded area.

After work, I met my friend Lisa in Daley Plaza and set to work customizing her bike. I'll look for pictures of it later. It looked good. I then did my helmet and fulfilled my promised Bike Salute for Dubi Kaufmann for his Bike Salute project:

After customizing the helmets of Zach (my boyfriend) and his brother, it was time to take off from the plaza.

We were all in front for the first couple of miles or so. I saw my friends Colleen and Dana on the sidewalk. Lots of people got a kick out of our helmets. I wanted to fall back so we could see more people, so we did. I talked to some guys who were biking from LA to NYC. I was impressed.

I saw some more people whom I had met on previous rides including John Greenfield and Ellen and some other assorted people from The Chain Link.

We made it to the final destination: Garfield Park. After milling about a bit, we took off to Lisa's place and ordered a pizza. The way home was great. It's always fun to ride around with the balloon helmets without the mass.

What a great night!