Comment

Comment by BalloonBiker on March 28, 2010 at 4:57pm

I'm also starting to enjoy critical mass less and less. This past mass got started very quickly and set off at a breakneck-speed through downtown. I was able to catch up to the front and communicated to some fixie riders that the ride was very separated and dense, but they just looked at me like I crazy, so I corked completely open intersection.

Later when they turned onto Michigan Avenue and the group apparently got separated, I attempted to help get the ride back onto the map...though I didn't do it perfectly, and we ended up following a parallel route to the gandhi ride.

Being in front it actually kind of boring. The energy that you feel from the crowd is lacking. I find the pressure to decide whether to mass up or not to be frustrating. Perhaps its just my personality, but I was rather hoping that someone else would take over. However, whenever people would get ahead, they would just wait for the rest of the group to catch up.

When the mass did get turned on Western, it was good to see someone else take initiative, however I did feel rather unsafe as the conditions on western were rather unsafe since cars joined in with us on there.

I'm more than willing to step up and help make an experience fun, but lately Critical mass has just been a let down.

Comment by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on March 28, 2010 at 3:22pm

-I also have found myself doing mass less often. I usually leaving upset or embarrassed at some cyclists behavior.
I agree with Todd's comment-
I'll probably get shot down for this one, but I don't care for the 'tradition' of intersection circling hold ups, expressway incursions, etc. I believe stuff like this contributes to the atmosphere of anything goes. I fail to see how semi-aggressive rudeness makes a positive statement for bike advocacy.

-Also, has there ever been discussion about leaving a couple of extra maps in a certain place at Daley Plaza after the mass leaves? I stayed back to give a friend a map on Friday. Luckily I did because 5 minutes after mass left about 30 Loyola students who had rode down from Rogers Park were SUPER grateful I had an extra map for them. By the time my friend got there another group from Iowa had showed up (CTA wouldn't let them but their bikes on the blue line) and another straggler or two. We all rode up north and met up with the mass at North/Halsted.

Comment by Doug Haynes on March 28, 2010 at 12:41pm

I was there from start to finish including talking to the police.

Unlike the people who choose to piss the guy off and ride off into the sunset I choose to do something when things got out of control rather then make things worse and then ignore the negative.

On more then one occasion he was restrained and put back into his car and was no longer making trouble when people attacked him causing the entire scene to turn into violent over and over.

Comment by Spencer "Thunderball" Thayer! on March 28, 2010 at 12:30pm

Dug, were you there at the scene? Did you try and stop fellow masses from making the crime worse? I'm just curious.

Comment by Doug Haynes on March 28, 2010 at 12:21pm

He nudged one couple on a tandem trying to drive into the mass and was stationary after that. He was trying to edge into the mass and then stopped by the participants. To say he 'drove into the mass' would be an over statement.

The point of it is that he was only about 3 foot from where he had been parked and there is no way to sell that to the cops when the guy has been beaten like that guy was.

Aaron, it was intense but there was no reason for it to be as intense as it was. With the guy restrained people where taking pot shots at him and spitting on him; how is that helping anything about the situation. TWICE he was calmed down and in his car waiting for the police when mASSers went out of their way to wind him up for no reason I can see other then to make the disturbance worse then it was.

Comment by Spencer "Thunderball" Thayer! on March 28, 2010 at 12:16pm

Dug, correct me if I am wrong but I believe the drunk drove his SUV into the Mass?

Comment by Aaron Bussey on March 28, 2010 at 12:16pm

That was an intense confrontation last year

Comment by Doug Haynes on March 28, 2010 at 11:58am

Spencer, the something special we would loose is people who are angry with us for truly good reasons. When there is conflict and the police show it is nice to be able to take the moral high ground but when people are openly hostile or behave to far out of what is right and acceptable it becomes hard. The drunk on Division last year is a prime example of that; he should have gone to jail as it was obvious he was in the wrong when the incident started but by the time the cops got there he was bleeding from a head wound, his shirt had been torn off, his car vandalized, he was soaking wet and had been spit on repeatedly. At this point it is hard to sell the angle that he was the aggressor and if/when an altercation like that leads to serious injury for a cyclist that impression could mean a lot.

Todd. I'm not going to stop going; I am just going to change my attitude. I agree with you to a point on the circles but they are fun for a short period of time.

Comment by Todd Allen on March 28, 2010 at 7:06am

Thanks notoriusDUG, I agree with everything you said.

Except, that by not participating, you leave the mass just a little bit worse off. One less cool head to help set the good example.

I'll probably get shot down for this one, but I don't care for the 'tradition' of intersection circling hold ups, expressway incursions, etc. I believe stuff like this contributes to the atmosphere of anything goes. I fail to see how semi-aggressive rudeness makes a positive statement for bike advocacy.

I cut a little slack when such antics are proposed by the likes of Todd Gee and others who put some real effort into their advocacy. But for those who do nothing, stop being so self indulgent.

Comment by Spencer "Thunderball" Thayer! on March 28, 2010 at 6:14am

I both love and hate all of those thing Dug. If we got rid of it we would loose something special about the Mass. That's just my opinion of course. When I see something I believe is out of line I STEP IN and stop it.

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