Critical Mass Report

This is from Kenton. I don't believe we have a portfolio for activism, but perhaps he should be christened the director of civil disobedience. Then again, that would not be in keeping with the "leaderless" philosophy of critical mass. In the spirit of our "self-governing collective," maybe activist figurehead makes more sense. But that sounds rather toothless. Any suggestions?

It was my first critical mass and I expected to be surrounded by anarchists and what the Free Press called "neo hippies"... While I am not sure what either of those two sweeping categories look like, I was really surprised to see such a broad cross section of our city out on Friday. Young kids in chariots and older folks who look like they came from Whyte Ridge. A leaderless group is something to behold and the train of bikes got off to a slow start from Central Park to the Leg. By the time we hit Broadway things were worked out and we took all three lanes, with the peloton stretching from Union station to the Leg buildings! I suspect the police estimates of 300 were drastically understated for sure. The highlight was Portage and Main where the critical mass stopped the long weekend Friday traffic for about ten minutes, cyclists raising their bikes in the air while letting only transit buses through (see attached photo). It really was a different feeling to be among so many other bikes on the same streets where I am normally paying rather close attention, lest I be side swiped by a bus or by a car that simply is not looking for a cyclist. All in all an empowering bit of civil disobedience that I would strongly recommmend to others. As expected with such a large turnout, the police were very low key and well behaved. My favorite tshirt in the crowd read "cycling is a moral act!"