Critical Mass

One of the things on my Cali Bucket List has been Critical Mass.  It only happens on the last Friday of each month, and for more than a year, I’ve been prioritizing other things on that day.  Critical Mass happens all over the place, but it started here.  This is the city for every kind of cyclist.  As we will see.

With only three last Fridays left, I was determined to make this THE day.  Being the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, I was unsuccessful in finding anyone to ride with me.  Undeterred (for once), I hoped on the train with my bike and headed to our fair city.

This is the beautiful clear view of the Bay Bridge from the Embarcadero.  Normally, the fog might roll in at this point, but it was a clear and blue for the ride.

Allegedly, the ride starts at 5:30, but it wasn’t until 6:25 that we got rolling.  Note the man in brown booty shorts.  They were furry and most of his cheeks were hanging out.  I’m fairly certain that soon after this photo, he was naked, as were a few other men.  Is it just SF, or does this happen everywhere?

When these guys showed up, they said, “We’re the only ones in costume…”  They shouldn’t haver worried…with the naked guys, the people decked out in Goodwill finds, the spandex and bike shoes, they fit right in.  There was no dress code, no typical bike, nothing usual about what was going on.  Fixies, cruisers, tandems, mountain bikes, hybrids, retro bikes, single speeds, road bikes.  Whatever you have, come with it.

When I arrived at 5:15, there were about 50 riders assembled.  As it got closer to 6:00, the crowd thickened.  Everywhere, people were in clumps with friends and people they just met.  Many people walking by asked what was going on.  The vibe was positive and upbeat.  I am bad at estimating people in scattered formation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was at least 1,000.

One of the unusual things about this event is that there are no leaders.  They call it a xerocracy.  There is no specific person starting the ride or dictating its route.  At various points while the long wait was happening, someone would start yelling…and many others would catch on.  This happened a few times (maybe 10 or 15 minutes aparat) before nearly everyone was yelling.  That must be the signal that people are ready to ride – when everyone is yelling for it.

The police escorts lined up.  At least 15 of them here, and more throughout the city. They put on their helmets after the loudest group yelling…another reason that I think it’s the signal.

This woman had a fun bike, clearly doesn’t like what BP has done (who does?) The bubbles out the back were a fun touch.  We started riding down Market Street and made our way to Union Square.  I loved the impromptu nature of the ride.  When we got to Union Square and the mass was thin, we circled the square to “Mass Up.”  At intersections, massers corked the cross streets to keep the flow going, but sometimes, we’d hit a red light, stop, and the mass would yell their suggested route.  “Riiiiight.”  “To the Bridge!”  They would yell with exuberance and encouragement.

I was thankful to have a bike with gears and a free wheel, as the hills may have taken me off my fixed gear, had I been riding it. 

 

The mass.

    The highlight for me was the ride through the Broadway tunnel.  As soon as we got through, we turned right around and went the other way.  There was lots of whooping and whistling all the way through the tunnel.

I have a lot of fun on my bike, but this might have been the most smiles per mile.  It was just a joyous thing to be riding down the center of Van Ness, through tunnels, the Marina, and the Presidio with so many other people who loved their bikes.  Just like the Maker Faire, there were so many different types of people doing this.  I hope I can do it again next month, but if not, I’ll get to it in Boston.