Critical Mass - May '09

It is part and parcel of Critical Mass that these arguments are always had. If you participate in them, then you've bought into the idea, even if you think you're against it, whether you want to or not. :)

i disagree

lets talk about it tomoro, on bikes.

cool. i'll be wearing my national front sash

nah. Unfortunately I think CM is, if anything, counterproductive to it's goals. There was so much aggro on the last one.

i disagree

:)

the super sweet thing about cm is the pace. perfect for stopping by the offys

but def needs less agro

Anyone riding in from west? I may turn up and would be heading in from Shepherds Bush.

i think i might head down to this one, my first critical mass. i'll be on a red soma- come say hello

there were some angry young men on the last one blocking traffic for no reason but then again emotions were high as we visited two ghost bikes

the heat might makes tonights bubble over but hopefully not !

I be the fat bloke in the thundercats T-shirt, on a black SS Marin MTB, with rather bling pink pedals.

Gonna check this out tonight, see what the lark is about - I'll be dressed in black on the black Touche if anyone wants to say hello.

see what the lark is about .

expect a veeerrrry slow crawl through london....and lots of waiting around.

i'll be there.

The reason why there is more trouble on CM now I believe is because its status as a commonly or customarily held event has been established.
Now that it is no longer required to give notification to Police for its jaunts about town and the controlled zone around Westminster the Police have cut the numbers of officers escorting the ride.

This unfortunately leads to more un-meditated friction points where now when cyclists block intersections there are no Police to back them up when the motorists start edging forward and revving their engines.

I think the Police presence was a pretty good thing overall for CM, in the main allowing people to exercise their rights and have a good ride.
Of course there were times where the cops behaved in a shoddy fashion pushing people about and trying to segment the ride into tiny pieces.

As for direct action protest groups trying to co-brand CM to suit their ends I think that is wrong. I just want to have a ride around the city every once and a while and not feel so much in the minority or vulnerable.

Direct actioneers are just selfish attention seekers dressing it up as philanthropy when if the were serious they would engage in politics and letter-writing, not stopping poor people going on holiday.

We live in a relatively stable country and our system of government allows for corrections in-line with public consensus that happen over time, they are just trying to subvert democracy in this country.

They are not the Pankhursts of their day.

good info^
sun is shining, weather is sweet. should be a few faces there today.

Anyone got a chainwhip I could borrow? could return on Sunday. Cheers!

Anyone got a chainwhip I could borrow? could return on Sunday. Cheers!

http://204.73.203.34/fisso/eng/schpignone.htm

never used a chain whip

it's to get the cassette off a freehub, so I don't think that'll work. Cheers anyway.

Yeah climate change can fuck off, CM is about riding bikes on busy roads. Loving todays climate!

Sunny and no clouds, I'll be there with a beer.

That was interesting. nice chatting to everyone, nice to meet you Mr C. _. Values. I bailed at marble Arch when I noticed everyone starting to head away from my house..

Well, that's my CM cherry popped - excellent sunny evening - although I only made it as far as Buck House...

i made it to trafalgar square, numbers had seriously thinned out. all good fun though and no major aggro as far as i could tell. apart from one incident with a motorcyclist at hyde park corner- i thought he was gonna kill us all.

i made it to trafalgar square, numbers had seriously thinned out. all good fun though and no major aggro as far as i could tell. apart from one incident with a motorcyclist at hyde park corner- i thought he was gonna kill us all.

People seemed to be getting a bit pissed off there. Some taxi driver almost drove over my back wheel (until he realised I wasn't moving..) and some fella got very upset that he may miss his plane.
What happened with the motor bikes then? I saw everyone surround the ones who tried to break through the blocks, and saw smoke from them wheel spinning or something..

I'll reserve judgement until after another one I think, and I may ride a bike with flats rather than clipless pedals next time :)

it was my first too, and im undecided about it.
there was a good spirit in general, but a minority of people who seemed to be up for a fight.
it was so slow too- on the ride (when i left cm) from trafalgar square back east i felt like i was flying...

Enjoyed it, lots of forum spots, but quite disrupted--it seemed to get split up unusually often, we had to wait a lot, and it thinned out much earlier than usually. But lovely evening, great company, lots of nice chats. Bring on the next one!