The night before the summer’s last Critical Mass

When Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac (#42-100, 2008) asked the PDX Bike Militia about Critical Mass, they said “It can be an empowering experience. I can’t see how it could aggravate the problem; it gives drivers a chance to experience what we experience everyday. And for us, it gives us some of the feeling of security that drivers posses daily. It is a shift in roles that is important in expanding folks’ perspective.”

:the context:

Tomorrow area cyclists will converge to create a Critical Mass claiming a right to Vancouver’s roads.  Unlike the July ride, the August ride hasn’t been preceded by a Vancouver Police Department statement or a local media frenzy. Aside from its size, the July ride turned out to be unexceptional. How the August ride turns out depends on the actions of  hundreds of individual cyclists who show up to participate in the ride, and of the police officers, motorists, and pedestrians who come in contact with the ride.

The May and especially June rides got spread thin and at least once split into two groups. This was cause for concern for CM participants as a mass spread too thin leaves riders vulnerable and encourages motorists to try and drive into the mass. On the July ride, I rode at the front to see how decisions regarding the direction and pace of the ride were negotiated.  A number of individuals were clearly riding at the front to encourage other front-riders to go slow and wait a long time at intersections for the rest of the ride to catch up. For the most part, these voices were persuasive and the front kept a pace that helped protect the integrity of “the mass” and the safety of riders.

:what we’re observing:

My research into Critical Mass Vancouver began in April 2009.  My researcher assistants and I have interviewed Critical Mass participants and we’ve participated in Critical Mass to experience it “wheels to the asphalt.”  Although we are  still in the early stages of the investigation, some initial observations are worth sharing. To those familiar with the Vancouver Critical Mass these observations may seem obvious; after all, these are points that came through really clearly in the interviews and in our own experiences in Critical Mass.

• Most people who participate in Critical Mass find it empowering. To cycle around the city and not have to worry about cars!  Fabulous.  For cyclists who feel marginalized on the road, its such a relief to know that by cooperating with other cyclists they can reverse the relative positions of cars and bikes. Participants are inspired to imagine a future in which streets are always so full of bicycles–so peaceful, quiet, safe, clean.

• Some participants have expressed ambivalence about making cars wait so that the mass could stay together as a group.  They feel bad about inconveniencing drivers and worry about whether annoying some motorists might have negative consequences for cyclists.  But people seem to believe that corking to keep the ride together as one mass is fundamental to Vancouver Critical Mass, and necessary for maintaining the safety of the riders.  As marginalized group, cyclists can’t invert the existing status relations without causing at least some irritation to motorists–who understandably take for granted their position of dominance over bicycles that they get to experience the 717 or so hours a month when it’s not Critical Mass.

• People who ride in Critical Mass have fun.  Critical Mass is a celebration–a mobile community happening where people make real connections and experience the sense of freedom that comes from being a part of something larger than the individual self, where through coordinated action the collective is able to accomplish something more than the sum of the uncoordinated actions of individuals. It is an effervescent community that is creative, funny, and diverse.  Its actions are coordinated not by organizers, but by shared expectations about the ride and the kind of behaviors that are required for a successful ride.

Michael

Advertisement