Critical Mass Ride in Vancouver

[marksthespot]

Anyone take part in the ride yesterday? Was my first critical mass ride and it was super fun.

I'm posting this in "The Shore" section because I could see the north shore for most of my ride ;)

Nothing better then rocking a stubbie of Red Stripe while riding down Howe Street.

http://www.thoughtrotate.com/lift.jpg

I saw a few big squish bikes out representing. This was a wicked bike event and I would definitely recommend hitting this next year. I hear the June one is the biggest.

[M@M]

Anyone take part in the ride yesterday? Was my first critical mass ride and it was super fun.

I'm posting this in "The Shore" section because I could see the north shore for most of my ride ;)

Nothing better then rocking a stubbie of Red Stripe while riding down Howe Street.

http://www.thoughtrotate.com/lift.jpg

I saw a few big squish bikes out representing. This was a wicked bike event and I would definitely recommend hitting this next year. I hear the June one is the biggest.
i may have seen you, what were you riding? i was on my rampage with supert, reppin the nsmb t. such a fun ride. hopefully july will be as much fun.

[gotham]

Where'd you all go?

I caught the tail end of it down in English Bay after you guys had ridden around Stanley Park I think..some crazy costumes! There was even some guy on a barca lounger being towed by someone else.

[Mic]

Nice one - didn't it start out in SanFran? I can remember reading the opinion of a radio guy, something like "THey are terrorists. Shoot them - you cannot negotiate with terrorists."

[SkunkworkS]

What a fucking amazing ride.

We started at the art gallery, headed south onto some bridge, then cut through Chinatown, north to Hastings, east across Hastings and some small streets, hit another bridge, looped back to Stanley Park, stalled the entire Lions Gate for a good 20-30 minutes, through Stanley Park and cruising the seawalls and beaches before ending it at Kits.

I wasn't hard to miss. 50 pound bike and a wheezing kid upon effortless roadies and commuters. :fu:

I still don't know why the poor bastards in the first half of the group turned off onto Denman instead of going straight to the Lions Gate. I was pretty stoked to be leading the rest of the pack to the bridge.

When else would I be able to lie in the middle of the LG bridge, chill and watch the sunset without being run over or arrested?

Over 3000 riders for sure. I'm not surprised if we got 4000 plus.

[Couch_Surfer]

I hate critical mass. I commute to work on my road bike (although not every day) and the CM does nothing but piss off drivers and make traffic worse. All I need when riding through traffic is some guy who's already agro, even more pissed off at bikers because we pulled a ridiculous publicity stunt.

[Duncan]

I hate critical mass. I commute to work on my road bike (although not every day) and the CM does nothing but piss off drivers and make traffic worse.

I agree, and I bike to work every day. Maybe if I blocked traffic every day on my commute I too could be commended for "saving the planet". D.

[schoenrock]

i missed it, i drove my suv to whistler instead.

[switch]

i missed it, i drove my suv to whistler instead.:lol:

You're on a tear this evening.

[schoenrock]

:lol:

You're on a tear this evening.
switch......i am the tear.

[switch]

True.....and synchro is still feeling it.

[Mic]

..what is wrong with CMs ??

[switch]

They plug up the roads and inconvenience a lot of people?

[Mic]

switch, there has to be another reason, i can imagine - otherwise it would not be sensible/useful/reasonable/insertWordHere

[switch]

switch, there has to be another reason, i can imagine - otherwise it would not be sensible/useful/reasonable/insertWordHere
Yes, there's another reason:

http://www.foodsubs.com/Photos/alfalfasprouts5.jpg

[Mic]

Best reply in a while - yes :lol: do you think because they are all so "alternative" OR that they think they will sprout...? :lol:

[switch]

It's people making a statement on the use of automobiles, with an (obvious) emphasis of use in the downtown core.

But you don't get a lot of votes pissing people off.

[marksthespot]

It's people making a statement on the use of automobiles, with an (obvious) emphasis of use in the downtown core.

But you don't get a lot of votes pissing people off.

Nice thread high-jack. Way to block the traffic. ;)

While I do think that once a month is a bit too frequent, i'm told the June one seems is the biggest so I'd definetely recommend hitting it next year.

As per your granola/bean sprouts comments, events like this get a whole wack of good looking ladies out on bikes. This is never a bad thing.

Since this was my first critical mass, I felt it was more about the reclamation of urban space for "other" activities. Like the "No cars on Commercial" day or things like that.

As per making drivers more agro they should listen to the Police and ICBC ... "Chill, Focus, and Relax"

[smoochy]

funny thing about bikes pissing off cars once a month is that the cars piss of bikes and pedestrians every day of the month. they pollute our cities, are exceptionally dangerous and dominate the designs of our society. and few people question it, even when being in a car is what is holding you up, whether in typical vehicular traffic jams or by a critical mass of cyclists. instead they get pissy that cars aren't moving as fast as the advertising promised.

i'm not so starry-eyed to think that some vehicle use isn't required, especially in the vast expanse of canada. but there is an assumption that it is the only way to do things and that everything else should come to a halt to make it happen (ie: only cars can trump other cars). critical mass demonstrates that public spaces are for more than just mechanical boxes.

an interesting site that shows land use patterns (http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm104.htm)

[StuKen]

http://bb.nsmb.com/showthread.php?t=80982