bring us your tired, your cycling masses
March 30, 2006 1:20 PM   Subscribe

Tomorrow night is critical mass, the monthly bicycle ride that takes place everywhere from NYC to SF to Budapest and London. Simply, it's a massive collection of bike riders at 7pm on the last Friday of each month to reject conventional car culture. More importantly, it is a grassroots movement that has its fair share of critics, but it questions police authority and highlights much broader privacy issues for all. In an era of peak oil, bicyclists want to come together as a group and dispute the primacy of the automobile. Find yours in your city and ride safely tomorrow night. photos here.
posted by yonation (65 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: critical mass has been done five times before.



 
... and remember, we aren't blocking traffic, we are traffic. over 100,000 vehicles ride in New York every day, and they are not considered "blocking the road". Ask yourself before you criticize, why do I think that polluting, unsustainable chunks of metal are the normal while the bicyclist, the pedestrian and the like are the ones blocking?
posted by yonation at 1:21 PM on March 30, 2006


Ask yourself before you criticize, why do I think that polluting, unsustainable chunks of metal are the normal while the bicyclist, the pedestrian and the like are the ones blocking?

OK, I asked myself that, and I got an answer.

"Because driving a bike on a busy road, whether powered by fuel or by human legs, is tantamount to suicide."
posted by Ryvar at 1:25 PM on March 30, 2006


Remind me, are bicycles above or below circumcision in the list of Reliably Pointless Arguments Recycled Ad Infinitum?
posted by Armitage Shanks at 1:27 PM on March 30, 2006


Thanks for this. I have been reading Metafilter for years and had somehow missed the 6,000 previous threads about Critical Mass and ensuing firefights.
posted by Mayor Curley at 1:28 PM on March 30, 2006


i remember some previous thread about critical mass on metafilter... it surprised me how much anger and bile was directed towards the critical mass folks. i guess some participants can be assholes, but drivers can be assholes too-- i don't think it's fair to judge the whole event based on a few jerks.

it's been a long time since i've participated in critical mass (in san francisco), but i always found it to be such an amazing feeling, to-- just for once-- feel like i really belonged on the road, and wasn't just an afterthought that cars could run over at any moment.

to me the best thing about critical mass is that it helps you envision an alternative to how things are now. it's so much not about enacting concrete reforms as it is about firing up your imagination & inspiring comraderie amongst bicyclists. just my 2 cents.
posted by jcruelty at 1:29 PM on March 30, 2006


I'd have more sympathy for this if bike riders were nicer to pedestrians.
posted by unreason at 1:34 PM on March 30, 2006


I have been reading Metafilter for years and had somehow missed the 6,000 previous threads about Critical Mass and ensuing firefights.

meh.

it hasn't been mentioned for a while (in the blue at least) and its a recurring event; do my best to remind people.
posted by yonation at 1:34 PM on March 30, 2006


You're right. It's about time to treat bicycles the same as automobiles.
I'll begin my campaign for full bicycle licensing and registration immediately.
posted by rocket88 at 1:35 PM on March 30, 2006


Why not just take out an ad?
posted by caddis at 1:36 PM on March 30, 2006


Ask yourself before you criticize, why do I think that polluting, unsustainable chunks of metal are the norm while the bicyclist, the pedestrian and the like are the ones blocking?

Only if you ask yourself why you think being so militant best gets your point across. I'm just not sure how "Jesus Christ, those assholes are blocking traffic and it pisses me off" translates into more people riding bikes.
posted by billysumday at 1:37 PM on March 30, 2006


heee hee, you're exactly stuck in the position i outlined. WHY is it militant to have 200 people ride bikes together but not militant to have 200 cars ride together?
posted by yonation at 1:39 PM on March 30, 2006


Only if you ask yourself why you think being so militant best gets your point across. I'm just not sure how "Jesus Christ, those assholes are blocking traffic and it pisses me off" translates into more people riding bikes.

Yeah, that's the crux of my problem with Critical Mass. Being self-righteous and pissing people off isn't going to convince anybody. I'm a bike commuter, but I think Critical Mass is really, really counterproductive.

It doesn't help that, while on foot, I've been nearly run over by a gang of CMers running red lights.
posted by COBRA! at 1:40 PM on March 30, 2006


When slower traffic deliberately impedes the progress of faster traffic, things get ugly. That's the sole objective of many of the critical mass riders I know, and they deserve to catch hell for it. I say this as a two-wheel rider (fuelled and unfuelled) who thinks that far too many automobilers are dangerously unaware of how they habitually endanger the lives of people using other modes of transportation.
posted by Buzz at 1:40 PM on March 30, 2006


The one in West LA and Santa Monica takes place on the first Friday of the month.
posted by Rashomon at 1:41 PM on March 30, 2006


The idea of Critical Mass is great and I'm all for it. It is too bad though that they manage to attract this angry, fringe element that goes around giving the finger to people who happen to be in cars.

It doesn't elicit sympathy for their cause and its a backward step - when that same motorist later heads to the polls to decide on, say, the new bike lane initiatives.

(Plug: It's better when all concerned actually get together and meet to solve problems in their own neighborhood, such as with the Better Valencia Project which aims at eliminating yet more auto traffic lanes in order to make room for pedestrians. The militants can have fun working out their petty anger - I'm more concerned with working toward actual change.)
posted by vacapinta at 1:42 PM on March 30, 2006


This really has been done to death. Posting it again solely because it's the end of another month is pointless.
posted by smackfu at 1:43 PM on March 30, 2006


This is goofy. I have been in CM's, and at this point, I think they accomplish about as much as the "Free Tibet" bumper stickers do.

I want smarter, better, bike-friendlier urban design and legislation, too, but this isn't the way to do it. CM's just irrirate the non-choir.
posted by everichon at 1:45 PM on March 30, 2006


*irritate*, consarn it!
posted by everichon at 1:46 PM on March 30, 2006


I dunno, I feel like I belong on the road every time I ride there. CM ain't helping, sorry.
posted by fixedgear at 1:47 PM on March 30, 2006


heee hee, you're exactly stuck in the position i outlined. WHY is it militant to have 200 people ride bikes together but not militant to have 200 cars ride together?
posted by yonation at 4:39 PM EST on March 30 [!]


Because the roads are made mainly for cars. Because bikes are able to negotiate their way through large numbers of cars, but cars are not able to negotiate their way through large numbers of bikes, so that bikes prevent the people in cars from being able to get home on time. Because the bike riders in this rally are deliberately trying to slow down everyone else's commute, making everyone else miserable to prove a political point. Because bikes have no registration and therefore in practice don't need to follow traffic laws, and usually don't. Because the people in bikes tend to go through red lights and crosswalks, making it difficult for pedestrians to walk home. Because they show no politeness or respect to said pedestrians. That about covers it, I think.
posted by unreason at 1:47 PM on March 30, 2006


My only response to this whole thread is that I might just make it up to downtown Phoenix for the ride. Haven't gone on a group ride, CM or otherwise, in ages.

-lifelong cyclist, never owned a car.
posted by loquacious at 1:48 PM on March 30, 2006


"WHY is it militant to have 200 people ride bikes together but not militant to have 200 cars ride together?"

Are you really asking that? In general, the 200 cars that are going down a street are all going in different directions. With Critical Mass, there's 200 bikers all unified in their hatred of those "polluting, unsustainable metal cans."

See the difference?
200 cars: aimless strangers
200 bikes @ Critical Mass: 200 people with a vendetta against anyone that has a car.

It's pretty easy to see why some people aren't too happy with Critical Mass. Personally, I have never had a problem with it, except that during one of the SF events, I was on the sidewalk and was hit by a biker that seemed totally careless to the fact that he just smacked into a pedestrian. Or when you're already packed into a BART car (y'know, instead of driving one of those 'polluting, unsustainable metal cans') and some biker with dreadlocks & more tattoos than teeth forces his way into the car.

And COBRA! speaks the truth.
posted by drstein at 1:48 PM on March 30, 2006


WHY is it militant to have 200 people ride bikes together but not militant to have 200 cars ride together?
Well, they can carpool, for one. There's a few CMmers that I talked to when I was out in California a few years ago who were dictionary-definition militant about screwing up the roads for motorists on the ride. There's few, if any, motorists who are that militant about keeping bicyclists off the roads for any reason.
posted by boo_radley at 1:51 PM on March 30, 2006


Oh, I should have mentioned that I if I do make it, I fully intend to protest Critical Mass' protest tactics by obeying all traffic laws and riding in a sane, friendly manner.

Just like I usually ride. I might get left behind but then I probably won't get arrested or run over by a meth-huffing desert hick in a monster pickup, either.
posted by loquacious at 1:52 PM on March 30, 2006


There's few, if any, motorists who are that militant about keeping bicyclists off the roads for any reason.

Eh, I dunno about that. Go biking in LA or Phoenix and get back to me on that. Sure, they're not usually intentionally blocking bike lanes, but they sure do like to honk, throw things and cuss a lot.
posted by loquacious at 1:53 PM on March 30, 2006


... and how many people are killed each year by cyclists vs killed by automobiles? do you really argue that cyclists are more dangerous to pedestrians than cars? that's gotta be one of the dumber objections to CM i've heard.
posted by yonation at 1:54 PM on March 30, 2006


that's gotta be one of the dumber objections to CM i've heard.
Well, that's no surprise, since nobody said that cyclists were killing pedestrians. Inconveniencing and rude to pedestrians, yes, killing no. It's fine to argue, but argue against what people are actually saying.
posted by boo_radley at 1:59 PM on March 30, 2006


Ryvar writes "'Because driving a bike on a busy road, whether powered by fuel or by human legs, is tantamount to suicide.'"

Despite the best efforts of the motoring public it's not most places.

rocket88 writes "I'll begin my campaign for full bicycle licensing and registration immediately"

That'd be great.

unreason writes "Because bikes have no registration and therefore in practice don't need to follow traffic laws, and usually don't."

Or you just don't notice those that do?
posted by Mitheral at 1:59 PM on March 30, 2006


do you really argue that cyclists are more dangerous to pedestrians than cars?

Maybe I'm missing something, but I just read all the comments, and I didn't see anybody make that statement.
posted by jefbla at 2:00 PM on March 30, 2006


I think it's great that bike-riders have a special day to get together and act like complete douchebags. As a car-driver, I'm a complete douchebag and other car-drivers are complete douchebags, but we never take a day to drive all our cars to the same spot of the city and act like douchebags in unison. Car-driving is only an exercise in individual douchebaggery, and that's a shame.

Pedestrians and people in wheelchairs, you're also douchebags. Didn't want to leave anyone out.
posted by notmydesk at 2:01 PM on March 30, 2006


Pedestrians and people in wheelchairs, you're also douchebags. Didn't want to leave anyone out.

There is a guy at my gym who likes to take his wheelchair on the running track and throw elbows at runners who go past. He's a douchebag.
posted by COBRA! at 2:03 PM on March 30, 2006


Previous discussion of Critical Mass on Metafilter: [1], [2], [3], [4].
posted by normy at 2:04 PM on March 30, 2006


Get the hell out of my way. I've got an SUV to park, and THAT's critical mass, baybee.

/troll
posted by disclaimer at 2:04 PM on March 30, 2006


There's few, if any, motorists who are that militant about keeping bicyclists off the roads for any reason.

You're quite wrong about that. However...

and how many people are killed each year by cyclists vs killed by automobiles? do you really argue that cyclists are more dangerous to pedestrians than cars?

If there were as many bicycles on the road as cars, and the cyclists drove with the disregard for others that I see everyday from the existing ones, crosswalks would be even more treacherous than they are now. I have never (as in NEVER) seen a cyclist yield to a pedestrian. The best-case scenario is the cyclist giving the pedestrian a wide-enough berth to make the ped merely feel nervous. And I count myself in that asessment-- when I'm cycling, my momentum is precious and it turns me into a self-centered asshole. So I tend not to cycle through areas with even moderately busy sidewalks.
posted by Mayor Curley at 2:05 PM on March 30, 2006


First off, I try to commute by bike as much as possible.

But, Critical Mass annoys me, and I finally can point to why. As Nation of Rebels points out, too often people on the left get drawn up into trying to commit short term revolutionary action (ie. giant massed bike protests) instead of seeking minor but useful changes (say riding your bike as much as possible).
posted by drezdn at 2:06 PM on March 30, 2006


As per drezdn's point from Nation of Rebels/The Rebel Sell, it seems like a MUCH more useful direction for CMer's energy would be to lobby politicians for proper bike lanes and enforcement.

I used to be a CM participant. Even I got pissed off at them. "Hey cars! You shouldn't be mad! We're just obeying the law. En Masse!"

Creating a new collective action problem (a CM rally snarling traffic) is not a way to solve an already existing one (bike-unfriendly car traffic.).
posted by generichuman at 2:15 PM on March 30, 2006


How about stopping at the stop lights so I can cross the street? That would be nice.

It says in this FAQ that Critical Mass folks obey traffic laws, but I've had to (on several occasions) walk blocks out of my way to find a spot where the herd had thinned out enough to let me cross without fear for my life. This was in Manhattan.
posted by aparrish at 2:21 PM on March 30, 2006


Cycling as transportation seems to be one of those subjects where discussion almost always devolves into the reinforcement of opinions (on all sides) by anecdote, assumption, supposition and unsupported generalization. "Motorists should respect cyclists", "cyclists are irresponsible", "cyclists should be more law abiding", "the laws are unsympathetic to bicycling", "cycling is too dangerous", "only because of motorists", "a bicyclist nearly killed me", "a car nearly killed me", "cycling is healthy and good for the environment", "that's unrealistic, I live too far from work/I can't get hot and sweaty/can't shower/don't have time/prefer the gym", "bicyclists are arrogant hippie, communists", "motorists are arrogant, selfish, slaves to consumerism", "bicycles hold up traffic", "bicycles are traffic", "you're wrong", "no, you're wrong", "yah boo sucks to you", etc., ad infinitum.

I'm not entirely sure why it's such a contentious subject in the first place and don't suppose many minds are ever changed either way, anyhow. What's apparent is that claims from any side are rarely supported by substantial evidence. Where are the academics and researchers producing useful papers, data, objective analyses and theories that address the specific arguments that are always raised? It seems like a field crying out for (at least attempts at) objective research.
posted by normy at 2:37 PM on March 30, 2006


lobby politicians for proper bike lanes

The really militant bikers are against bike lanes and sidepaths. They claim that they're more dangerous than riding in traffic, but I've never seen a study that controls the kind of cyclists that would ride on sidepaths but not streets (probably less experienced) and the kind of streets where sidepaths are put in the first place (probably more dangerous.)
posted by transona5 at 2:37 PM on March 30, 2006


I've been to two critical masses in NYC (including the infamous RNC one), and there's one fact about it that seems to be missing in these arguments: it's FUN, and everyone can participate. Everyone! Being able to rollerblade down the middle of broadway in times square and not having to worry about a taxi broadsiding you is freaking awesome. All the politics around it are really overhyped, I would chance to say that the majority of the participants are NOT there to bring up the peak oil concept to strangers (at least, not me and my friends). We are just there to bike/blade with a few hundred (or thousand) like minded people. All the mean people are in the front anyways :). I apologize if it's held you up in the past, but hey, it only happens once a month, and its at night, and you can join in!

yes, i rollerblade and im a dork
and i will most likely be there tomorrow now that they arent arresting people anymore

posted by Mach5 at 2:38 PM on March 30, 2006


Mach5 nailed it. Being a public pain in the ass in a large group is loads of fun. If some people need radical politics as an excuse, then so be it.
posted by nebulawindphone at 2:45 PM on March 30, 2006


transona5 writes "The really militant bikers are against bike lanes and sidepaths. They claim that they're more dangerous than riding in traffic,"

At grade bike paths are more dangerous than sharing the lane, I avoid them at all costs.
posted by Mitheral at 2:48 PM on March 30, 2006


I don't have a problem with critical mass. I have a problem with the Bicycle Coalition using it's influence to affect traffic flow decisions that defy logic and cost taxpayers ridiculous amounts of money. You need look no further than the fact that when driving down Market Street, one allegedly cannot make a turn onto 101 via the Octavia onramp. One has to circle the entire fucking block. And when the city presents an opportunity to create a bike lane on any road, they saturate meetings with cyclists who won't even use the new lane just to get it pushed through. There's no "critical" examination of how actual traffic patterns work. They're just playing monopoly with city streets.

/end SF rant
posted by quadog at 2:52 PM on March 30, 2006


unreason writes "Because bikes have no registration and therefore in practice don't need to follow traffic laws, and usually don't."

Or you just don't notice those that do?
posted by Mitheral at 4:59 PM EST on March 30 [!]


No. As a pedestrian (I walk to work), I see loads of reckless bikers, probably a much higher percentage then I do drivers. Furthermore, bikers more frequently cut me off at the crosswalk when they have a red light. Because bikes have no license plate, their riders seem to feel immune from traffic laws. That's what annoys me. Bike riders want the same rights that cars have, but they don't make any attempt to follow the same rules.
posted by unreason at 3:00 PM on March 30, 2006


As a car-driver, I'm a complete douchebag and other car-drivers are complete douchebags, but we never take a day to drive all our cars to the same spot of the city and act like douchebags in unison.

Monday morning, 8:30, central city business district? Saturday, 3:30 PM, the freeway exit that happens to lead to both a) my house and b) the mall? Suburban train station parking lot, 5:45 PM Friday? Ad freakin' nauseam. We are all douchebags now.
posted by scratch at 3:23 PM on March 30, 2006


"Ask yourself before you criticize, why do I think that polluting, unsustainable chunks of metal are the normal while the bicyclist, the pedestrian and the like are the ones blocking?"
Because the rest of the commuters aren't blocking traffic to prove a fucking point?
God, I hope this gets deleted soon.
posted by klangklangston at 3:42 PM on March 30, 2006


I have been on a number of CM rides here in Sydney over the years. The one across the Harbour Bridge in summer is quite a highlight. Unsure if this is typical for other CMs, but we normally get police cyclists as an escort - probably more to keep motorists in check than cyclists.

Anyway, getting back to the point, I have given up on CM. It was fun at first, and at worst motorists would be inconvenienced by a maximum of a few minutes, which is not very much in the grand scheme of things.

However, on the most recent CM I participated in, there was just far too much of the juvenile "antagonise motorists at all costs" attitude that others have referred to, which only creates enemies without increasing friends.
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:01 PM on March 30, 2006


I just wish that CM would schedule their rides sometime other than Friday night when everyone's just trying to make it home as quickly as possible after a week of hard work to relax and see their families. Why not schedule it on a Tuesday or Wednesday night?
posted by gyc at 4:02 PM on March 30, 2006


Bike riders want the same rights that cars have, but they don't make any attempt to follow the same rules.
Momentum is king. That being said, your statement is the exact reason why I stopped riding with the San Francisco crit mass group. I felt like we were doing cyclists far more harm than good.
posted by nlindstrom at 4:03 PM on March 30, 2006


Being self-righteous and pissing people off isn't going to convince anybody. I'm a bike commuter, but I think Critical Mass is really, really counterproductive.

OK, that sums it up for me, as well. Including the bike commuter bit. If anything, it makes my life as a bicycle commuter *more* dangerous, as drivers pissed off by CM are more likely to disregard my safety, to put it nicely...
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:11 PM on March 30, 2006


Because the rest of the commuters aren't blocking traffic to prove a fucking point?
God, I hope this gets deleted soon.
posted by klangklangston at 6:42 PM EST on March 30 [!]


the commuters ARE blocking traffic by sitting in jams with their air conditioning going, by causing asthma rates to skyrocket, global warming to increase (not only cars, i admit, but they're the biggest growing segment).

you are seriously a dipshit. i am not an advocate of any of the bad CM tactics, but I would block your car any day of the week.
posted by yonation at 4:13 PM on March 30, 2006


The really militant bikers are against bike lanes and sidepaths.

I don't know what a 'really militant biker' is. I'm an educated cyclist who doesn't like mandatory sidepath laws and feels that a little poorly applied paint is not making me any safer. Effective Cycling and Probicycle make the case much more eloquently than I could.
Cyclists should expect and demand safe accommodation on every road, just as do all other users. Nothing more is expected. Nothing less is acceptable.
I don't need a 'separate but unequal' facility, thanks. I want to ride in the road. I don't need a license, or registration. It's another tired old fallacy that 'bicycle riders use the roads paid for by car drivers." This is so much bullshit. The measly gas taxes could never begin to pay for road building, maintenance and upkeep.

In Pennsylvania, where I live and ride, roads are paid for out of the general fund. Since I pay taxes here, there goes my claim to the road. I also own a car, BTW. Since I pay federal taxes I'd like to ride across a federally funded bridge that carries an Interstate highway across the Delaware River, but I can't do that since there is no bicycle facility of any kind.
posted by fixedgear at 4:14 PM on March 30, 2006


I'm glad to know when this is. My hiking club is going to go hike verrrryyy slowly just in front of the bikers. Wearing 100% hemp clothing. Cause we pay taxes, too, and we want to walk in the road, and everybody should always get whatever they want. Especially if it makes us feel superior and inconveniences the evil masses on their bikes with their rubber tires and composite frames and helmets made from petroleum products.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:28 PM on March 30, 2006


the commuters ARE blocking traffic...

No, they ARE the traffic. They're not blocking anything. Christ, just have the stones to admit that you enjoy intentionally screwing with the evening commute to prove some sort of point.

And didn't you get enough of this when you "hee hee"d about it last year?
posted by schoolgirl report at 4:31 PM on March 30, 2006


hilarious that everyone attributes "militancy" and "evil masses" attitude to the bikers when its clearly a case of displacement. i don't see that attitude written or expressed by many bikers. if YOU think that way, don't blame it on them.
posted by yonation at 4:32 PM on March 30, 2006


Hilarious that you would go out of your way to deliberately inconvenience people then try to blame the people yo inconvenience for feeling inconvenienced. Hi-fucking-larious! HEE HEE!!!LOL!!!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:35 PM on March 30, 2006


hilarious that everyone attributes "militancy" and "evil masses" attitude to the bikers when its clearly a case of displacement. i don't see that attitude written or expressed by many bikers. if YOU think that way, don't blame it on them.


Yup. We all got together in a covert cabal and decided that even though every single biker drives in a safe and courteous manner and obeys appropriate traffic laws, we are nonetheless going to consider them militant and abrasive. You've cracked the code.
posted by Pontius Pilate at 4:44 PM on March 30, 2006


It's Raining Florence Henderson: No helmets made from petroleum products for me. I wear this old-school leather hairnet because it pisses off vegans.
posted by fixedgear at 4:46 PM on March 30, 2006


Here is a situation that drives me nuts: I'm about to make a right turn onto a side street where I would normally have a right of way except when their are pedestrians or bicyclists. I look in my mirror and notice a bicyclist coming up behind me, moving in the same direction, so I slow-down or stop in order to let them pass before I make my turn. They just assume I'm going to be an idiot and cut them off, so they stop. Now it's a right-of-way stand-off - and I hate when someone tries to abdicate their right-of-way. I sit there and wait until they go - and they always give me a nasty look, as if I'm just waiting for them to go so I can run them over.
posted by mullacc at 4:46 PM on March 30, 2006


Yup. We all got together in a covert cabal

There is no cabal.
posted by dersins at 4:49 PM on March 30, 2006 [1 favorite]


my usage of "hee hee" might betray a certain callous type of argumentation but i don't find that it detracts from the substance.

my claim is that bikers are not more militant than car drivers, that they don't "block" anything more than cars, and that they in fact demand equal roads (and yes, this extends to traffic laws and registration) and parking for their bikes (another major issue that nobody addresses). some bikers confront pedestrians and car drivers, just like some car drivers mow down pedestrians and engage in heavy road rage.

now, bikers don't "get together" like some evil cabal, trying to stop you from getting to your hiking route or your TIVO, they create a spectacle to convey their attitudes to demand to being seen on the road. As jcruely elegantly wrote, most of the time we are *battling for our lives*, trying to avoid cars, buses and suvs, breathing in pollution, etc. and this so most people can sit alone in cars, in traffic jams, wasting precious fossil fuels and contributing to our obesity problem.

my claim is that people see them as militant and whatever because you've been conditioning to think that. the statistics about their prevalence, about cyclist "violence" towards cars and pedestrians just simply doesn't support other arugments.
posted by yonation at 4:50 PM on March 30, 2006


"and they always give me a nasty look, as if I'm just waiting for them to go so I can run them over."

That's probably my fault, mullacc. I've got the survivors conditioned by now (who says you can't teach a hippy?).
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:50 PM on March 30, 2006


*gets in to work after bike/bus commute, checks thread*

Yup, same as it ever was.

As for that tired old horse "Cyclists use roads they don't pay for!!":

Y'know, I wouldn't really mind all that much if they just stopped funding most of those roads with my taxes. Riding well-traveled singletrack off road is much more soothing and easier on the bones then any asphalt pot-hole collecter any day. And since I live on sand and pebbles, it's even fun when it's wet.

On preview:

Hey, yonation? As a lifelong cyclist and activist, please shut up. Thanks for reminding me of the CM ride, but shut up.

Your arguments are circular, your attitude is toxic and you seem to have pissed off just about every active cyclist in this thread. Why are you wasting your energy and breath arguing with cyclists instead of trying to calm down and go do something productive and positive for cycling, like maybe going out and lobbying for good bike lanes or stronger laws for car vs. cyclist injuries and casualities? Anything other than continued in-fighting with hardcore, living and breathing cyclists.

Be the change you wish to see in the world, fuckass. Haranguing people to change doesn't work, and confrontation like blocking traffic just pisses people off and convinces them that you're an asshole, your methods are suspect and your cause is invalid.
posted by loquacious at 4:50 PM on March 30, 2006


Kidding. I kid my hippy friends!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:52 PM on March 30, 2006


that they in fact demand equal roads (and yes, this extends to traffic laws and registration) and parking for their bikes (another major issue that nobody addresses).

How about this. Start paying registration on your bikes, start paying appropriate license fees, start paying mandatory insurance, and generally following the other financial and legal obligations that car drivers have to endure, and then you guys can rightfully demand equal roads and parking. Until that day, you can demand absolutely nothing.
posted by Pontius Pilate at 4:54 PM on March 30, 2006


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