Today, both Seattle dailies (the Times and Post-Intelligencer) ran the CM altercation story on the front page, above the fold. I get the Times, and read their article. Among today’s letters to the editor are numerous vitriolic rants against cyclists, directly generated by a few asshats on the CM ride.

One woman wrote of her experience riding a CM, “While I found that many people involved with Critical Mass are friendly, considerate and eager to promote a positive image of bicyclists, I observed that many other members participate solely to show off their trendy bikes and purposely annoy drivers.”

Ouch! That’s a little close to home, eh? Is it a coincidence that the guy who was run over by the Subaru last Friday evening was riding a custom fixie?

Cascade Bicycle Club (over 10,000 members, me included) posted this extremely rational statement yesterday:

http://www.cascade.org/Advocacy/pdf/cbc-cm_statement_07-28-08.pdf

A story: I was out with a Cascade group ride (Tuesday night EST) a couple years back, when an unfortunate incident occurred, but was extremely well handled by the Cascade ride leader.

We had at least two dozen wheels out on the road, and a minivan slowed and signaled to turn right into a driveway. Our group split to allow this driver to make their turn. Just as the vehicle slowly turned into the driveway, some dick on a touring rig shoots out of the following group, bangs his elbow against the quarter panel of the minivan and screams, “HEY!”

A teenage girl jumps out of the minivan, shaking like a leaf and with tears running down her face. Our ride leader immediately took her aside, apologized and offered contact information at the club. He then took the dickwad touring guy aside and dis-invited him to all future club rides.

I very seriously doubt this task was at all pleasant for the ride leader. I really don’t imagine that’s why he volunteers to lead dozens of riders all over the east side every week. He totally stood up and did the right thing. when one of his own riders fucked up.

The lesson: Cascade good, CM asshats. QED.

Mikey

I bike commute 40 miles round trip, and to have a bunch of city-riding, skinny-pants, hipster no-helmet-pushing-your-fixie punk-asses get all belligerent, provoking the slightly perturbed driver into road rage, get all the news and hate, does NOTHING for the people who actually commute, not just ride their Crayola bikes from Lava Lounge to Lindas. Fucking posers giving cyclists a bad name. Fucking grow up.

I’m glad no one was seriously hurt, but the mob mentality was just waiting to bust out, and that driver got the short end of it. When its one car vs 20 cyclists I wonder who the “defenseless” one is, especially if there are U-locks and knives involved.

I rode with critical mass seattle one time. I dress more or like some of those other kids when I ride, even if I don’t really fit in with them. If a cop thought I was just some “punk kid” and had lowered his shoulder and put me into the curb, I could have broken my collarbone, my wrist, my neck. In most jobs, you can’t work with a broken neck, or so I’ve heard. And I’m lucky: as a physician, I make a good living, and I have disability insurance. But what would have really happened after the cop accused me of assaulting him?

More likely, no one would have had the camera on his ass, and I would have been hauled to fucking jail, and charged with a felony. Then my license to do my job would be revoked.
His word against mine. And he’s the cop. And the outcome? Well, let’s just say that’s a pretty huge fucking difference in what can happen to a man, to go from calmly riding along, to having his life sacked by criminal charges. Thank god for that film, whatever this kid does for a living, he doesn’t deserve to have it turned into shit.

Drivers need to realize that these people on bikes that they think might be jobless, shiftless punks who don’t have anywhere to be….that these people might be the doctor going to the hospital to take care of their grandmother. That they might be their stockbroker. That they might be the guy who was going to open a new restaurant down the street. People keep assuming that the bicyclists are the “other,” and not the “us.”

Ride safe out there.

Getting the word out is awesome! Rolling 500 strong through the streets of DT Chicago at rush hour, is not. Like everyone else who rides their bike, people just want to go home after their day of work, regardless of how they get there. They interrupt pedestrians, cars, buses, etc. I ride my bike to work and Critial Mass gets in my way of getting home!

What are some more solutions for advocay? Organize rides with your friends, not 500 of your closest friends. Work with the city to get permits if it starts to get big. You shoudln’t need permits with good path planning and organization. Start hosting fundraisers that benefit cycling advocacy. Get involved in organized non-profit groups like Chicago Bicycle Federation and CAMBr. Do not unleash mass chaos on the people (drivers) you are trying to get a long with. Do your OWN advocay with people you know, work with, or see doing something “wrong” on their commute or ride. Be-friend other cyclists. I got 6 people in my office to start riding to work in the last year. I did it only by talking about it in the work place.

My personal asshole opinion? Yeah, I can be a dick and this is what I really think…..Critical Mass is simply a place for hipster douch bags that can’t think for themselves, so they just become one of the pions. A few strong voices rise up and tell the others what to do. Mob mentality develops.

Iraq comments on “pu$$y” are just ignorant and dumb. If I recall correctly, Person was one of the first Marines into Iraq. He was written about in “Generation Kill”. Read some of the other comments he makes…real genius.

The only hop
better than hip,

Is that of the bunny
or maybe the kick flip.

Hip hop is dead, long live hip hop.