Cyclists Roll to Rule Vancouver in Critical Mass Event

On the last Friday of every month, a phenomenon sweeps the downtown core of Vancouver. At 5:30 pm, the height of rush hour traffic, humans of all shapes and sizes and fashion sense, huddle over their handle bars and from the Vancouver Art Gallery on Georgia Street, set out to for a mass bike ride that brings car traffic to a complete standstill and renders pedestrians live Froggers, dodging and weaving across intersections.

Many of us simply stopped wherever we were and gawked at the seemingly endless mass of abiked humanity as far as the eye could see. Many of us took pictures.

This gentleman took it upon himself to be the traffic cop, and he appeared to relish the job. I must have taken twenty pictures of him and his entertaining gesticulations and expressive face.

I love the slightly mischievous twinkle in his eye. I hope I have as much sass when I reach his age.

Well over a hundred men, women, children, babies and everything in between participated in the most recent Critical Mass at the end of July.

Momentum Magazine describes the concept behind the Critical Mass Event:

we ride together in a big mass because together is more fun. That means we don’t go too fast and occasionally the front of the ride will stop and wait for the mass to bulk up so we don’t all become spread thin. This also helps make the ride safer and less confusing for those stuck in cars because we stay together. We don’t cut the ride in half at red lights but volunteer corkers stop and talk to drivers to get them to wait for us to pass. Since there is no leader of the ride, we are all responsible for watching out for ourselves, other riders and keeping it fun and safe.

I love the term “corker” for the official road rage diffuser position. I guess it’s like corking the bottle so nothing spills out – like homicidal urges to run over a cyclist.

I was impressed and a little surprised at how tolerant motorists were during the thick of it, at the intersection of Granville and W. Georgia where I took my photos and cars sat perfectly still in their lanes for well over 20 minutes. That’s probably 200 minutes in frustrated car driver time. Maybe they were as intrigued by the whole spectacle as the pedestrians. I’ve never seen anything like this in my city, and it was definitely inspiring to witness this temporary takeover of bicycles in our car congested city.

Everyone was having such a good time, the positive spirit of the event was contagious and strangers standing around began talking to one another. A man asked me if I would take a picture of his girlfriend who was somewhere in the Mass, and she appeared at the tail end, grinning ear to ear.

I got a few decent shots and her boyfriend was so pleased to receive them.

Lots of participants dressed up in various degrees of costume. From Superman, to pretty girls in body paint, the atmosphere was celebratory and light hearted.

Next time around, on the last Friday of July (July 31st) I intend to be right in the thick of it, butt on bicycle seat, helmet headed, and taking photographs this time from the inside out. I haven’t been on a bicycle in at least 5 years, so this should be a positive reintroduction to the two -wheeled beast. It’s something I used to enjoy so much, it’s hard to believe I haven’t cycled in so long.

Vancouver has a large, vocal community of avid cyclists, like VACC (Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition) who lobby for better cycling infrastructure such as more designated bike lanes, wider roads to allow for safer road cycling in the city, and more bike lockers.

One wish that has come true for member of VACC and others is the Burrard Bridge bike lanes trial, that begins today, closing an entire lane on the bridge to cars and devoting it to cyclists.

Today (Monday July 13) there will be various celebratory inaugural bike rides across the bridge, and the best one by far sounds like this evening’s ride organized by Momentum and the VACC for a ride over the bridge, followed by a picnic at Vanier Park, and a “Bike-in Movie” at the Museum of Vancouver (film will be “The Triplets of Belleville”) Meet at David Lam park in Yaletown at 6pm and it’s suggested you bring a blanket, food to share, and your own plate and utensils.

Critical Mass is opening up…the conversation about how we live and move around. This is not just transportation, it is about affordable housing (people “must” drive if the only choice is suburbia), the environment, and much, much more.