Earth Day Bike Action -and- Critical Mass

"Ed Ravin" wrote in message
...
From somewhere in cyberspace, "andrew smith"
said:

What has that to do with a bunch of folks making enemies by intentionally
snarling traffic?

The traffic snarl is unintentional. The real purpose behind the Mass is
to get on your bike and have fun. Which you should probably go out and
do, given the grumpy tone of your post above.

I ride every day. What I don't do is ask 500 people to ride in the same
place at the same time with the intention of proving that I belong on the
street. I know I belong on the street. Whether someone else disagrees is
of no concern to me.

Besides, I can report to you that traffic in Manhattan that Saturday
was mostly unaffected by the Critical Mass.

This I can believe. One of the dumbest things I ever did was take public
transport from Jersey City to Brooklyn one Sunday morning on the way to
church. It took about an hour. All that time I realized my truck was
patiently waiting in the garage. The next week I made the drive in about 20
minutes.

a.

PS I'm not grumpy. I just disagree with the tactic of riding bikes during
rush hour to prove some point.

"Jym Dyer" wrote in message
...
Anyone who needs CM to ride the streets of NYC, shouldn't!

=v= Faulty premise. Nobody said anyone *needs* CM to ride
in NYC streets. It just makes it more fun by attracting more
bicycling and more bicycling community.

=v= That said, rides in safer contexts are an ideal set of
"training wheels" to get people ready for the streets.
_Jym_

P.S.: The streets of NYC aren't actually so bad to ride on.
Unlike other U.S. cities, the surface is ruled by pedestrians,
not cars.

In my experience, my local single track is probably better surfaced than the
streets of Manhattan.

a.

From somewhere in cyberspace, "andrew smith" said:

What has that to do with a bunch of folks making enemies by intentionally
snarling traffic?

The traffic snarl is unintentional. The real purpose behind the Mass is
to get on your bike and have fun. Which you should probably go out and
do, given the grumpy tone of your post above.

I ride every day. What I don't do is ask 500 people to ride in the same
place at the same time with the intention of proving that I belong on the
street. I know I belong on the street. Whether someone else disagrees is
of no concern to me.
....
PS I'm not grumpy. I just disagree with the tactic of riding bikes during
rush hour to prove some point.

Read my message again. We do it for fun. Pure, unadulterated,
joyous, celebratory fun. Tonight's Critical Mass in NYC, for
example, had well over a thousand (!) participants. We may have
made an enemy here and there, but we also made hundreds of friends
- people were lined up on Manhattan avenues and cross streets
applauding, cheering, and in general smiling, laughing, and enjoying
the spectacle. The Mass ended at the NYC Bike Show, where there
was not only free admission for the rest of the night, free indoor
bike parking, but also free beer from the Brooklyn Brewery. Read
my lips: FUN, FUN, FUN.

PS: You are grumpy. If you weren't, you'd realize that 7:30 PM, when the
Mass takes off, isn't exactly rush hour.
--
eravin@ | Grief can take care of itself; but to get the full
panix.com | value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.
| -- Mark Twain

It's no fun riding with folks you can't be sure know how
to ride properly.

=v= I think if you surveyed the many, many, many bicyclists
who went on last night's ride (down Broadway, up 6th Ave,
down through Time's Square, up again, over, up, and down
again, ending at a CHVNK 666 disco bike rally at the New
York Bicycle Show), "no fun" would be perhaps the last
words leaving their lips.

=v= You seem determined to diss Critical Mass no matter what
actual participants do or say about it, so about all that's
left to say to you is ...
_ _
( \ / )
_\ \ _ _ / /_
(((\ \ / X \ / /)))
(\\\\ \_/ / \ \_/ ////) hat-everrr!
\ / \ /
\ _/ \_ /
/ / \ \
/___/ \___\

Have a nice day,
_Jym_

PS: You are grumpy. If you weren't, you'd realize that
7:30 PM, when the Mass takes off, isn't exactly rush hour.

=v= And for such Grumpy Gusses, there is only one cu A
fun Critical Mass bike ride. Woo hoo!
_Jym_

"Jym Dyer" wrote in message
...
PS: You are grumpy. If you weren't, you'd realize that
7:30 PM, when the Mass takes off, isn't exactly rush hour.

=v= And for such Grumpy Gusses, there is only one cu A
fun Critical Mass bike ride. Woo hoo!

Since there's no need for bike riots here, I went mtb'ing alone this
morning. I saw some deer, geese, ducks, etc.

It was really nice.

Grumpy Gus

Since there's no need for bike riots here, I went mtb'ing
alone this morning. I saw some deer, geese, ducks, etc.

=v= I must've missed the riots when I was on Critical Mass.
Where/when did they occur?
_Jym_

"Jym Dyer" wrote in message
...
Since there's no need for bike riots here, I went mtb'ing
alone this morning. I saw some deer, geese, ducks, etc.

=v= I must've missed the riots when I was on Critical Mass.
Where/when did they occur?

Humor impairment got you down?

a.

"andrew smith" wrote in message link.net...
"Jym Dyer" wrote in message
...
Since there's no need for bike riots here, I went mtb'ing
alone this morning. I saw some deer, geese, ducks, etc.

=v= I must've missed the riots when I was on Critical Mass.
Where/when did they occur?

Humor impairment got you down?

well having gone to the nyc bike show friday night and seeing the
critical mass ride first hand all i can say it did nothing but hurt
the biking image..first off there was total chaos on the roads as
motorists and an ambulence were blocked in.there were quite a few
almost fist fights between angry motorists and the bikers who planred
their butts almost on top of the the hoods of their cars and blocked
them in.
it was quite in violation of quite a few new york laws as well.
nys law makes it unlawful for bikers to ride more than two abreast and
when a motorist needs to pass they must go single file.
no one stopped for red lights and intersections were blocked.all in
all it was pretty nasty scene......

I've said it many times before and have had my butt kicked by this group...I
really believe that Critical Mass approach is totally wrong - and an
embarrassment to all bicyclists.

"matty j" wrote in message
m...
"andrew smith" wrote in message
link.net...
"Jym Dyer" wrote in message
...
Since there's no need for bike riots here, I went mtb'ing
alone this morning. I saw some deer, geese, ducks, etc.

=v= I must've missed the riots when I was on Critical Mass.
Where/when did they occur?

Humor impairment got you down?

well having gone to the nyc bike show friday night and seeing the
critical mass ride first hand all i can say it did nothing but hurt
the biking image..first off there was total chaos on the roads as
motorists and an ambulence were blocked in.there were quite a few
almost fist fights between angry motorists and the bikers who planred
their butts almost on top of the the hoods of their cars and blocked
them in.
it was quite in violation of quite a few new york laws as well.
nys law makes it unlawful for bikers to ride more than two abreast and
when a motorist needs to pass they must go single file.
no one stopped for red lights and intersections were blocked.all in
all it was pretty nasty scene......