Comment

Comment by jen on March 28, 2010 at 6:09am

I totally agree with Dug. These are the exact reason I stopped riding mass in 2003! Its sad to hear that things have not gotten better.

Comment by Bob Kastigar on March 28, 2010 at 6:08am

A very good post, Doug. There does seem to be an increase in the number of child-acting participants who just want to raise hell.

You are right: a good test is watching those who want to cork in the lane going in the opposite direction, or those who want to ride on the wrong side of the road.

We do need more to set an example instead of remaining quiet.

Comment by Reddog (Cliff) on March 28, 2010 at 6:01am

Good post Doug. I agree with you. I have had a love/hate relationship with CCM for some time now. Mostly I stay with the ride until the end. But there have been a few times when I have been so fed up that I outright bailed on it because I did not want to have anything to do with it.

I will continue to show up and do the mass for as long as I am able to. (hopefully for years to come) but whether I finish it largely depends on the sort of behavior I see on the mass. And on how organized or disorganized it is. Sometimes, CCM can be the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Sometimes, not so much fun.

Comment by Doug Haynes on March 28, 2010 at 4:47am

So I know no one cars but I thought I would fill the group here in on why I do not attend CCM more then I do currently.

Every time I ride CCM I end the evening hating everyone who rides a bicycle.

Considering I ride a bike this is an awkward situation. I then swear off the event, skip a bunch and as the memory of the bad fades I go again because there are some cool people on the ride and parts of it are a good time. You want involvement and a positive message it's time for CCM to start self policing the FUCKING MORONS who make it less fun for the participants and help to perpetuate the negative stereotype of both the event and cyclists.

Some examples from this last mass...

-DRUNKS. Hey, I like booze as much as the next guy but there is a time and a place for everything. Getting shit-house drunk still in the plaza in front of the cops is stupid and I actually enjoy watching you get a ticket for the open container. Closely related is getting to drunk to ride your bike; how big of an asshole are you when you wipe take somebody out because you are to wasted to ride? Double up on the asshole if you damage their bike or injure them.

So besides drawing the heat and hurting others what is being a complete drunken retard doing for cyclists other then making them look bad? When you get drunk you give up some control of your emotions and tend to make bad choices; I am a pro at this. Is an event where it is very likely for there to be heated conflicts a good place to impair your emotional control and decision making skills? Personally I don't drink before or during mass, after is a whole other matter though... Listen, I'm not out to kill fun but if you want to have a couple of beers make it just that and maintain the ability to function like a human!

-TRICK RIDING: As much as I admire your ability to bust mad fixie skidz and do all kinds of other tricks there is, like getting wasted, a time and a place and in the middle of a congested group of people on bikes is not it. Once again I am not out to kill fun but last year I took a spill off my tall bike because somebody in front of me ate it busting their dope fixie skidz in front of me. This last mass I saw a moron who when we started to circle in the plaza was riding backwards on his bars and running into people and eventually ran into a bike cop while telling me how good he was at it. Is looking cool worth the risk of wiping other people out and pissing off the police?

DUMB ASS CORKING: Why in the hell do people cork cars turning away from the mass or otherwise on a path that is not going to interfere with the mass or put anyone in danger? Why piss off people if there is no reason to? If mass is supposed to be about sharing the road then maybe we should actually share the road... All you do when you block a car there is no reason to cork is you have, in my opinion, gone from trying to help keep the people in the mass safe from irresponsible motorists to being an aggressor and actively trying to piss off motorists and where is the upside in that? If somebody can give me a legit reason for this I'll change my opinion but I simply can not see one.

IRRESPONSIBLE/DANGEROUS RIDING: Do we really need to be in oncoming traffic? Do we really need to be on the sidewalk? Do we really need to be splitting lanes on the oncoming side of the road if it is congested? What is the point of this beyond pissing people off or just being a show off? Why put yourself at risk of injury, increase the chance of a conflict with a motorist or put pedestrians at risk of injury when there is no good reason to do so?

ENCOURAGING TROUBLE MAKERS: This last mass I saw one of the self proclaimed 'leaders' of CCM encouraging the above mentioned stupidity and arguing with people who where trying to stop the dangerous behavior. This was by far the most upsetting thing I saw for two reasons. 1. If you want to lead you should be setting a good example and promoting the positive, not the negative. If you want CCM to continue, grow and improve promoting the behavior that leads to conflict and/or accidents is not the right thing to do. 2. Every time I see people encouraging this crap when the proverbial 'shit hits the fan' they simply ride off and leave others to clean up the mess; this applies to everyone I see encourage this stuff not just the 'leader' I have seen do it in the past.

OUTRIGHT HARASSMENT OF DRIVERS: From time to time you see a car caught in the mass or caught to far out in an intersection and getting pissed off. There was a guy in a minivan this last mass like that. It's going to happen and there is no way to stop it but there are a ton of ways to make it worse, such as: slapping his car, calling them names, yelling at them, spitting on them or otherwise harassing them. I have seen every single one of these things, and worse and it is horribly wrong. For one thing is that kind of stuff respectful of a person as a human being in general and more importantly is it going to make the situation worse or better? I'm going to go with worse which raises the question of why would anyone want to create more conflict and more anger?

There is probably more stuff but I just don't have the energy, or memory, to keep listing stuff. However I do have one thing left to say:

If you enjoy mass, want mass to grow and want it to be a positive experience for all involves, old, young, new or veterans of the ride then work to help self police the ride. If you see somebody acting horribly tell them! If a bunch of people tell somebody they are being a jerk they are going to get the message, never underestimate the power of social pressure.

Personally I'm not getting mad about it anymore; I'm going to tell people when they are being jerks and if they persist take their picture for later use and move on, I am done arguing with morons on bikes when I could be arguing with morons in cars...

Comment by Spencer "Thunderball" Thayer! on March 28, 2010 at 3:50am

Conversation moved to the "THE RING!"

Comment by Spencer "Thunderball" Thayer! on March 27, 2010 at 6:23pm

Who cares if it's not what it used to be?

Yeah when I hear these sort of things it usually reminds me of my Grandfather complaining that kids don't know how to have fun anymore. : )

Comment by Bob Kastigar on March 27, 2010 at 1:54pm

Comment by H3N3: I would certainly support anyone who wanted to resurrect the happy hours, but

What about The Cigar Box of Justice? Fortunately we haven't needed it for quite a while!

Comment by Steven Lane on March 27, 2010 at 8:02am

CCM Happy Hour doesn't have to be a monthly thing, sporadic gatherings over the last few years have done pretty well, and I always meet someone new and interesting. I've tied Critical Mass T-shirt printing parties to Happy Hour with great success, but plain old house parties do the trick nicely.

Coincidentally, Howard also thought the Snow Ride should be removed from the Bike Winter calendar because it was too hit or miss. Thankfully, it wasn't removed cause the press jumped on the story a few weeks later and it became one of the media highlights of the season.

Many old traditions that seem to have died off can be easily reborn with a little initiative. The most important part of the Critical Mass spirit is that anyone is able to jump in and make something happen.

Who cares if it's not what it used to be? You are free to fail! No boss here to fire ya. I've hosted events that were complete disasters with just one person showing up, and I've had events that pull a hundred people and everyone is smiling ear to ear cause it's just that awesome when happy bike people pull together to have fun!

Don't be guided by fear and doubt! Just go for it!

~steven

Comment by Aaron Bussey on March 27, 2010 at 4:55am

such a sappy sentimentalist now aye Howie?

Comment by Spencer "Thunderball" Thayer! on March 27, 2010 at 3:28am

I think this is a good idea.

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