Critical Mass in Birmingham

i'm going to walk out on a brittle and flimsy limb and say i don't understand the point.

i've tried a few times, but i still don't get it.

i've got it in toronto - it had a fun/freewheelin'/liberal/carnival/hippyish vibe which you could either love or loathe. also, having around 200 people show up helps.

in brum i it's too slow and antagonistic - drivers see 20-30 cyclists deliberately annoying them as they leave work late on a friday night, compounding their already bad mood. not a good way to tempt people over to an alternative mode of transport. in fact, if this is the aim, i think it has a negative effect ie: "cyclists are self-righteous wankers, i'd prefer to drive, even motorists are more accepted than asshole cyclists".

i propose either speeding up and properly dominating a lane of traffic (as a car would), or making it more of a party atmosphere so at least some of the motorists can get along with it...

+10000000000000000000000000000 and thats why the last several critical masses I've been to were in london, not here.

maybe bhams mass has changed but last few times i went in bham (over a year now) it kinda felt the FOE bunch monopolised the mass. i started to think thats probably the genuine speed some of them ride at.

And why the hell is it on the 1st friday of the month when the rest of the world does it on the last?!

rant over.