Tuesday, October 04, 2005
I went to my first Critical Mass bike ride last Friday (they occur the last Friday of every month in Boston). It was definitely one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. I started with a crowd of 250 people or so around 6PM in Copley Square and rode a full two hours. According to Tom, it went on even longer than that.
Basically, we rode all over downtown Boston entirely taking the streets over so that no cars could pass. It's sort of a protest that attempts to make drivers aware of the fact that the bicycle is a viable option for city driving. I think it also helps to make drivers more aware of bicyclists in general which many times they are not. Boston drivers are just terrible and careless. But that's another rant entirely.
Anyway, I have no idea exactly where we went but it was really everywhere downtown and then up to Cambridge. It's totally disorganized which makes it even better. The decisions as to where to go are made on the fly by the people in the front and no one person organizes the gathering. It just sort of happens and then the crowd dissipates into the alleys after a few hours. The best part was being able to leisurely ride through downtown Boston and take the time to admire the buildings and city environment. Normally this isn't possible because you're in a car trying to avoid the maniacs or you're rushing around with the crowds on the sidewalk. The John Hancock building is really cool piece of architecture!
The international site is http://www.critical-mass.org and the Boston site is http://www.bostoncriticalmass.org. Definitely try it out even once. It's a real experience.
Words of the Day
atelier - a studio for an artist
scrivener - someone employed to make written copies of documents: scribe
boff - to have sex with
aquiline - curbed down like an eagle’s beak: hooked
evince - give expression to: express, show
Basically, we rode all over downtown Boston entirely taking the streets over so that no cars could pass. It's sort of a protest that attempts to make drivers aware of the fact that the bicycle is a viable option for city driving. I think it also helps to make drivers more aware of bicyclists in general which many times they are not. Boston drivers are just terrible and careless. But that's another rant entirely.
Anyway, I have no idea exactly where we went but it was really everywhere downtown and then up to Cambridge. It's totally disorganized which makes it even better. The decisions as to where to go are made on the fly by the people in the front and no one person organizes the gathering. It just sort of happens and then the crowd dissipates into the alleys after a few hours. The best part was being able to leisurely ride through downtown Boston and take the time to admire the buildings and city environment. Normally this isn't possible because you're in a car trying to avoid the maniacs or you're rushing around with the crowds on the sidewalk. The John Hancock building is really cool piece of architecture!
The international site is http://www.critical-mass.org and the Boston site is http://www.bostoncriticalmass.org. Definitely try it out even once. It's a real experience.
Words of the Day
atelier - a studio for an artist
scrivener - someone employed to make written copies of documents: scribe
boff - to have sex with
aquiline - curbed down like an eagle’s beak: hooked
evince - give expression to: express, show
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