Critical Mass discussion

Comment

Comment by Aaron Bussey on August 29, 2009 at 10:07am

Sorry if I blasted past anyone while racing to the front attempting to get us to mass up...I was just so pissed off though...so annoying that we were being led by a group of douche bags

Comment by Doug Haynes on August 29, 2009 at 10:03am

Bob,

A fixed gear, or fixie, is a bike where there is no free wheel at all and the bikes that look like a fixed gear with only one gear but that have a freewheel are single speeds.

I like turns, they keep things tight and I am starting to feel that any long straight shot should not be on a very wide open road as that encourages people racing.

I agree that if a lot of people want to make it a the 'leaders' just keep their pace and mass up and let the hot rod kids go where they want at the speed they want forming a new front. I understand where the people with the splitting the mass argument are coming from but it is really a moot point because when the front gets going fast to avoid splitting it just creates a split mass at the rear of the pack.

Not everyone not at the front is skipping out an taking initiative; the mass front to back needs people to lead by good example, be the voice of reason and try and help to keep conflict and stupid behavior by cyclists to a minimum on the mass; you don't have to be the front of the pack to be a leader.

Comment by Bob Kastigar on August 29, 2009 at 9:39am

Now that somebody brought it up...

Are there two kinds of fixed gear bikes?

One with a single gear but can coast and hence requires brakes?

The other with a single gear but cannot coast, is fixed to the wheel and (except for legally) doesn't really require a brake?

Is there a different name for these two types? What is standard, acceptable names?

(Probablly a subject to create a form for. Feel free to do so.)

Comment by Erin on August 29, 2009 at 9:23am

Sorry to be so ignorant, but what's a "fixie"?

Comment by Doug Haynes on August 29, 2009 at 8:51am

I'll agree mass was way to fast, I had to do double time the entire thing and was hardly keeping up where as normally, even on my tall bike, I can go from back to front and front to back at least twice over even the longest mass.

Because of the high speed of the front of the mass there where huge gaps which only got worse when cars would charge the empty spots because no one was corking. In my opinion I think no one was corking because they didn't want to stop for fear they would end up left behind by the fast mass. Plus the insanely long mass only serves to make the hot headed motorists twice as pissed and twice as hostile to corkers and I am not sure if I can really blame them; it has to be very annoying to be stopped and instead of a dense wall of bikes with a definable end see a loose bunch of stragglers go on forever with huge gaps. This made the entire mass more dangerous, less enjoyable and caused people to drop off early.

This was, for me, the least enjoyable mass I have been a part of and that includes one where I was caught by mass as a motorist.

I am rarely in the very front of the mass but I can't imagine that if the few regulars who 'lead' the mass went slow and just let the fixie pixies run off and realize they where alone after a while they would slow it down; I know fixies are getting popular but I can not believe that in the last month they have increased in number enough to steal the mass.

On a side note: I find it interesting that the mass that kept getting planned 'short' so it would be easy for beginners was the one that moved so fast it was hard to keep up...

Comment by Aaron Bussey on August 29, 2009 at 1:25am

I tried getting a big mass up while going on Iron...did it help at all?

Comment by Andrew Bedno on August 25, 2009 at 11:13am

PRE-RIDE planned Wednesday 7:30pm from D'Agostinos River West, 752 N Ogden (Chicago/Elston)
Hydrate+chow, then ride route remainder south to 31st beach, under 12 miles.
South of UIC is least familiar to me (never seen bubbly creek), so what I most want to confirm.
Then north past NavyPier home to Foster for me. Chance of rain. PLEASE for safety I don't want to pre-ride this alone.

http://thechainlink.org/events/water-mass-preride

Comment by Aaron Bussey on August 14, 2009 at 2:00pm

Davo - you crazy man hahaha I was referring to the Drive.

Comment by Davo on August 14, 2009 at 1:49pm

"Comment by Aaron Bussey on August 4, 2009 at 11:06pm @ Julie I totally thought the same - I was like "Ok Who wants to go on LSD?" "

Did you mean ACID or Lake Shore Drive either way I've done them both on mass

Comment by Aaron Bussey on August 4, 2009 at 11:06pm

@ Julie I totally thought the same - I was like "Ok Who wants to go on LSD?"

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