September Critical Mass San Diego

Have you ever heard of this?  Until about Monday I hadn’t until I talked to a friend in San Diego about getting together for a bike ride.  If you don’t know what Critical Mass is then I will summarize – think 4 hour long bicycling flash mob.  No official organizers, word of mouth and internet coordination and no planned route, just the mass of cyclists behaving like one large organism moving down the street.  CM riders don’t obey any of the stop lights or signs they encounter, in fact they are doing well to obey the direction of traffic on the street (I don’t agree with everything I saw last night).  You can read all about the heart of this thing HERE.

So if you watched the video you get the idea of what it looks like.  If you read the Wiki entry you know what the issues are and essentially how it works.  Now, for my impressions.

Its a blast! It was a little uncomfortable blowing through red lights with the masses because by my very nature I am a rule follower.  When I ride on my own I depend on traffic laws to keep me as safe as possible so ignoring some of the essentials really goes against my grain – but I do understand.  You get comfortable riding in the mass and you get good and weaving around other cyclists and riding in VERY close proximity.  In fact, you get very dependant on it very quickly.  There is safety in numbers.

The message is good. I like what the heart of the event is supposed to communicate.  Alternatives to driving cars everywhere.  Making motorists aware of the presence of cyclists and how they need to keep an eye out for them even when its unexpected.  Cycling is a very entertaining and healthy way to get around.  I would love to see more of that mentality here in Murrieta.

In numbers, people demonstrate the worst of humanity… I wish I could say that everyone there maintained the ideals of the event.  But instead, I heard cyclists taunting motorists.  I heard them calling drivers names and banging on their cars.  I saw some disposing of beer cans on the road as they went along their way.  I saw too many people blowing an opportunity to show that they are truely different by behaving exactly like the people they want to educate.  I have news for you, it doesn’t work like that.

All in all, it was fun and I would love to do it again but I do have my reservations about the behavior of some of the cyclists.  I don’t suppose you can get everyone to behave themselves all the time but I don’t know if it should ruin a thing that doesn’t hurt anyone, the police tend to just keep an eye on and definately gets some healthy attention.