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April 01, 2004

Steamboat Local: Critical Mass

Included as a curiosity, since my not-NYC home is in Steamboat, Colorado.

From the Steamboat Local & Today by ?

Critical Mass
No Leader

It's Friday, March 26th, and here I am sitting in traffic. I'm hot off the plane and ready for a fun night in NYC, but instead I'm watching the meter run up my tab from the back seat of a checker cab. As we inch toward the intersection, waiting to turn left, I peer around checking out the weirdness that is New York, seeing more people on one street alone than probably even exist in Routt County. It's crazy here, and then suddenly the late evening scene is enveloped with a horde of bicycles. It's almost like a fog of cyclists! I've never seen so many people on bikes in one place in my life. There were bike messengers on their track bikes doing circles in front of us, keeping the car traffic stalled at the intersection. Behind them, hundreds of cyclists cruised up the avenue, yelling, laughing, and everyone having fun. The cabbies were having none of it, laying on their horns, inching toward the crowd, but I was loving the sight. Here I am, fresh in NYC, and I'm witnessing a Critical Mass* first hand, and out of the window of a taxi no less! Damn the meter and my steadily increasing fare; this is cool.

I have only ever read about Critical Mass rides, where groups of cyclists meet, typically on the last Friday of the month. They gather together almost spontaneously and ride through rush hour traffic. For some it is a form of protest against the hazards of our car culture, for others it is a celebration of bicycling in all forms. For everyone involved it means safety in numbers, as a large mass of bike riders can easily take over a street, stalling all automobile traffic in every direction. These rides occur all over the world, with no real implicit organizing, except for the guiding fact that no one is in charge. This world is a Xerocracy, where the very people involved at any given moment make the decisions at that moment.

Seeing a mass firsthand was a bit of an enlightening experience. By witnessing this form of protest, this direct action, and feeling the positive energy shared by the various cyclists present (couriers, commuters, racers), I felt the need to do something. Anything. I've always had a love affair with the bicycle, but now I want to share that with other people. I want bicycling to be seen not only as the fun recreation that it is, but I also want it to be seen as a clean, viable, cheap, speedy form of transportation. And I want it to be safe.

Since that Friday night, I've made some decisions on things I can do to enact positive change. I'm gonna drive my car less, I'm gonna help maintain the local mountain bike trails, I'm gonna wave at everyone I see out riding, not scare hikers on Spring Creek, join Routt County Riders, Bicycle Colorado, IMBA and take part in a Critical Mass ride. Maybe I'll see some of you on the last Friday of the month, rush hour, for a velo-revolution...

*(Critical Mass- defined as the minimum amount of people required to make something happen)

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