Do you really think that this helps???

Atlanta Critical Mass...

First the iReporter (CNN's naming of regular folks who file things with them and then they use for content on their website) on this little story calls himself the Shelbinator. Strike one my friend, strike one. No grown man should be called the "fill in the blank"-inator, unless your name is Arnold, and you're the governor of California. Strike 2, you're having or taking part in a critical mass ride. Strike 3. The cops busted things up a bit, and hassled everyone, as I think they should. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a cop lover or anything like that, but critical mass rides are stupid, and don't help anyone. Why you might ask? Let me answer.

First, critical mass rides were devised to try and show the people of "insert name of your favorite big city here" that cyclists exist, and should be recognized, and while I applaud that effort, there are better ways of doing it. Throwing a bunch of people on bikes, and clogging up city streets for hours at a time hardly endears cyclists to motorists, and actually, it ends up making them hate us more. Why do critical mass rides continue then you might ask? Well, mostly because the people doing them aren't the people who ride their bikes a lot. They're normally hipster kids, or older adults (people in my age bracket) who need to find some sort of "cause" to champion. The hipsters do it mostly because they know it's a form of civil disobedience, and they're begging for the cops to get involved with it. The other adults, as I said, are looking for a cause, and they think that this is a good one. I'm glad that they think of cycling as a cause, but from those of us who are out on the roads riding 6 or 7 days a week, will you knock it off? Why? Mostly because you guys in your khaki shorts, skinny jeans, and capri pants are not helping people like me who do ride a lot. You're not helping us at all. As mentioned before, when you create this mess called critical mass (normally from what I've seen the rides tend to go down roads that cyclists don't tend to use much at all, but rather are used for this ride to create the biggest traffic back-up possible), drivers get really super duper pissed off at the people doing it. Hell, when I'm out riding and training people get pissed at me for holding them up for 15 seconds, let alone minutes, or hours while a bunch of people who barely ride bikes go out and make motorists more and more angry.

Here's the thing. I'm convinced that critical mass rides have the direct opposite effect of what they're supposed to do. They do make motorists pay attention to cyclists, but in a bad way. Next time they see some guy riding down the side of a road, they remember being held up in traffic because you critical mass punks wanted to "protest". You talk about cyclist deaths on the road, and while tragic, yes, most of them are accidents, and accidents, when you put fast moving 3 ton vehicles up against something that weighs maybe 180 pounds with rider and bike, is going to make the vehicle the winner. What we need are more community outreach programs. What we need is cyclist awareness training, if you will, for motorists. We need to work to make recognizing cyclist rights on the open roads something that is impressed upon drivers in your home state when they receive their license to drive. We need communities to approach and embrace cyclists. We need more cycling travel lanes (like in Europe) where you can ride your bike fairly safely, or even just wider roads. We need cycling activism, and critical mass isn't it.

Critical mass doesn't help, it hinders, and it also makes people who ride and train all the time, targets for those who have been angered by your actions. Before taking part in a stupid critical mass ride, think about what you could do that would be a better use of your time and how that actually relates to cycling, and not just because it's something "cool" to do. Write your local department of transportation, write your local senators and representatives to your state Congress. Do something worthwhile. You, who do these stupid critical mass rides, are endangering me, and the people I love more when do it, so please, knock that shit off.