A Message from the Critical Mass list to bikies... > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: [msn-cm] Re: Fwd: [Bikies] Critical Mass Victim > From: "Sarah Rogers" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Wed, October 31, 2007 10:45 am > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Wow, what controversy! > Instead of complaining about rides, get your sympathetic friends together, > come to Critical Mass, and make your concerns known to riders before we take > off. We usually wait around the Capital for at least half a hour before we > ride. This is plenty of time to discuss riding etiquette, what lanes to > take over, what streets to avoid, et cetera. Critical Mass has no leaders. > If you can sway enough people to your side of things, it may make for a much > more enjoyable ride. > It's tough, though. When I first started riding Madison Critical Masses > about a year ago, the rides were very, very negative. Not only did we block > 4 lanes of traffic with only a dozen bikers, the riders scowled and yelled > and polluted the ride with their negativity. That was my first impression > of Madison's CMs. I tried to get the riders to at least leave one lane open > to buses -- only one other person agreed with me. "If we leave one lane, it > endangers our lives, as cars would fly by extremely close to the ride." > This is true, too, and I've seen it happen... But since last year, I've > gotten more and more of my positive-minded friends to ride. We try to bring > celebration, fun, and energy to the ride. I don't see many of those > negative folks anymore (or if they do ride, they keep kinda quiet). The > ride is not so negative -- now we just block 4 lanes of traffic with SMILES! > As the saying goes: Agitate, Educate, Organize. Well, it looks like we > have the agitate and organize part down, but we're still working on the > educate part. We need more signs describing to folks what we're all about > (which is hard to pinpoint in itself, since everyone rides for their own > reasons). I've brought flyers to each ride in the past several months, a > flyer that describes Critical Mass' history and purpose, -- but we can only > hand them out to the cars directly behind us, and to passersby. > I would LOVE to see more diversity in Madison's Critical Mass. In > Pittsburgh, the only other city I've ridden CM, there are cyclists, > spandex-wearers, kids on BMX's, hipsters, punks, college students.... In > Madison, it seems like the only folks coming out have a bit of a hippie > streak in 'em. Anyone who rides their bike on a regular basis in Madison > must realize that things are far from perfect -- angry motorists, buses > cutting me off, peeved pedestrians on bike paths, abruptly-ending bike > lanes, dark roads, potholes... the list goes on and on. So I invite > EVERYONE to Critical Mass. Please! > Also, I'm completely open to taking just one lane -- imagine how FAR the > ride would stretch! Maybe this is an experiment for next month? I'm down. > Love, > ~ Sarahtops > PS: Someone want to share this email with bikies, and invite them to the > Critical Mass listserv, please?
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