Critical Mass Birmingham

scruffyduncan

Hi there,

If you commute from Birmingham city centre then you should definitely make it along to July Critical Mass. We are meeting outside the cathedral from 6pm on Friday 1st of June. From there we ride at a leisurely pace around the city centre for an hour or so before gong to a local pub for refreshment and socialising. Last month we had over 80 riders so it was fun, safe and sociablle and mad a big impression on the public in the city centre. Certainly the support and enquiries far outweighed the odd impatient motorist. Next month we are hoping for well over a hundred. Follow the link for more details

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?ei ... 1467879931

See you there!!

The Rookie

scruffyduncan wrote:

If you commute from Birmingham city centre then you should definitely make it along to July Critical Mass.

Depending of course whether you want to be a sensible productive and constructive member of society or just Pee everyone off I guess.......

Simon

scruffyduncan

What? By driving a car?

Seriously, we are held up by motor traffic more often than we hold them up. When we do delay cars it is for a matter of seconds, perhaps a minute at absolute most. We ride legally and thank motorists for their patience. Come along, you might just have some fun.

This is one of the few opportunities cyclists have to assert their right to use the road as equals. It's an hour a month, for the rest of the time we are bullied to the fringes, it is a very constructive thing to do.

Monkeypump

scruffyduncan wrote:

...for the rest of the time we are bullied to the fringes...

Absolute nonsense.

greg66_tri_v2.0

scruffyduncan wrote:

, it is a very constructive thing to do.

No, it really isn't. It focuses motorists' dislike of cyclists very effectively though. Thanks for that.

It is also a gigantic PITA for all road users, not just cars. I've been held up by CM in London a couple of times when I've been on my way home on my bike. It's fcuking annoying.

Still, "scruffyduncan" is a strangely apt name for a CM advocate. Has that ring of the soap-dodging trustafarian that makes up a far whack of CM riders.

CiB

scruffyduncan wrote:

6pm on Friday 1st of June.

July, presumably.

greg66_tri_v2.0

CiB wrote:

scruffyduncan wrote:

6pm on Friday 1st of June.

July, presumably.

When you don't work, the names of the months are not so important...

The Rookie

scruffyduncan wrote:

Seriously, we are held up by motor traffic more often than we hold them up.

Nope, not for me.

scruffyduncan wrote:

We ride legally and thank motorists for their patience.

Most CM I see are guilty of obstruction, I will presume you are as well until you produce a video otherwise.

scruffyduncan wrote:

We ride legally and thank motorists for their patience.

And How do you respond to those motorists who get peed off at being held up by your willful and unnecesary obstruction? Like most the CM we see on youtube i suspect!

scruffyduncan wrote:

This is one of the few opportunities cyclists have to assert their right to use the road as equals.

I do it quite well in a constructive and productive manner most days, I ride in a way which respects the fact that cars are faster than me, nearly all respond by showing me appropriate respect when needed, ying and yang, give and take.

Simon

nation

TBH I've never really felt bullied on the road in Brum, most of my issues are with the extremely car-centric urban planning, particularly junction design.

The flipside of that, though, is big wide lanes on main routes, and a lot of very handy bus lanes. I don't get squeezed or close passes very often.

About the only time I'm held up by cars is at Salford circus at rush hour. I'm not comfortable filtering right up to the roundabout because it isn't unusual for a wide gap to open up and two lanes of traffic to collectively floor it, meaning you can be stranded between them even if you're eight to ten cars back in the queue.

scruffyduncan

wow! with cyclists like you who needs the rants of petrol heads? If you don't want to come, don't come. Some of you have clearly been reading too much Jeremy Clarkson. Presumably you were in your cars when ou were held up by CM? Well, get out of the car and ride a bike.

I work for a living, I cycle 10 miles each way to that job. I also take part in a wide range of cycling, both sport and leisure. I am pretty typical of the people you will meet on a CM ride. I understand some people may think it's not for them, but this vitriol is wierd.

bails87

scruffyduncan wrote:

this vitriol is wierd.

Agreed. Maybe I'm missing some terrible thing that happens at critical masses :?

notsoblue

scruffyduncan wrote:

wow! with cyclists like you who needs the rants of petrol heads? If you don't want to come, don't come. Some of you have clearly been reading too much Jeremy Clarkson. Presumably you were in your cars when ou were held up by CM? Well, get out of the car and ride a bike.

I work for a living, I cycle 10 miles each way to that job. I also take part in a wide range of cycling, both sport and leisure. I am pretty typical of the people you will meet on a CM ride. I understand some people may think it's not for them, but this vitriol is wierd.

+1 It is a bit weird isn't it? I barely notice when the CM's happen here in London. They create no hardship. I don't sympathise with the more anarchic elements of CM, but its pretty harmless.

nation

bails87 wrote:

scruffyduncan wrote:

this vitriol is wierd.

Agreed. Maybe I'm missing some terrible thing that happens at critical masses :?

It's one of those things that varies by city, because you get different crowds at each.

The one in Glasgow was fecking awful when I lived there, because they would deliberately block junctions and then square up to the police when they arrived to try to sort some of the mess out. I lived in the city centre at the time and they managed to make the place practically impassable for pedestrians on a couple of occasions.

EKE_38BPM

I've been to two London CMs and what a waste of time they were.
The only good thing about the first one was the nice girl I met. The second one didn't even have that to commend it.

It was funny watching a very irate motorist go nuts when she couldn't get stuck in the traffic 100m down the roads with the other cars because she was blocked by some trustafarians.
Swampy Vs The Swamp Thing springs to mind.

The Rookie

Having watched the self 'publicising' on youtube I'll avoid them, if CM aren't really like that, they are broadcasting the wrong material!

Simon

bdave262000

The last thing I want to be doing on a Friday evening is cycling around in the middle of a busy city holding people up and ignoring pedestrian crossings which is what I generally witness from CM in London. I want to get from the office to home in the quickest and safest time possible. It just irritates people and does not help any cause in any way, much like the motorcyclists who ride round and round Trafalgar Sq every Wednesday evening.

mybreakfastconsisted

London CM is great, a chance to meet other riders and a good way of highlighting the issues London cyclists face. There's rarely conflict, we stop at pedestrian crossings of course, it's good natured and good fun.

EKE_38BPM

mybreakfastconsisted wrote:

London CM is great, a chance to meet other riders and a good way of highlighting the issues London cyclists face. There's rarely conflict, we stop at pedestrian crossings of course, it's good natured and good fun.

There must be two different Londons. The one where I live and a strange, polite one, where dogs crap in doggy toilets, there are no muggers (and if there were, they would use water pistols as guns and sticks of celery as knives) and CM doesn't result in any conflict.

Sewinman

I wonder if we are actually approaching critical mass in London??? Presumably, like charities, CMs ultimate aim is to dissolve itself as it has become obselete. Are we there yet? Do they define the point we reach CM?

docdelete

I've never been to a CM, but from what I hear the Birmingham bunch keep to the rules, and to the spirit of shared road use.

OK naysayers, tell you what, I'll cut you a deal. As a complete CM novice, I'll try my level best to get along to the July mass, with my critical eyes attached, then I'll report on my impressions.

For the record, I'm mainly a utility cyclist, rarely using the car these days. I abhor loutish behaviour from any road user. And rules? Well, a friend of mine put it well when he said "rules are there to make life easier for everyone".

Today was enlivened for me today by debating with a police cyclist about why she shouldn't be on the pavement - so you get my angle.

More soon then.

thelawnet

Sewinman wrote:

I wonder if we are actually approaching critical mass in London???

Cycling is not the dominant form of road transport in London is it?

Presumably, like charities, CMs ultimate aim is to dissolve itself as it has become obselete. Are we there yet? Do they define the point we reach CM?

I don't think there is a 'they'. If people, as individuals, don't want to do it any more, they, individually, stop.

EKE_38BPM

docdelete wrote:

I've never been to a CM, but from what I hear the Birmingham bunch keep to the rules, and to the spirit of shared road use.

OK naysayers, tell you what, I'll cut you a deal. As a complete CM novice, I'll try my level best to get along to the July mass, with my critical eyes attached, then I'll report on my impressions.

For the record, I'm mainly a utility cyclist, rarely using the car these days. I abhor loutish behaviour from any road user. And rules? Well, a friend of mine put it well when he said "rules are there to make life easier for everyone".

Today was enlivened for me today by debating with a police cyclist about why she shouldn't be on the pavement - so you get my angle.

More soon then.

What CM will you be going to? London, Brum, some other little provincial city?
I look forward to your report.
I sort of disagree with your friend though. Some rules are there to make life easier for those with power.

Sewinman

thelawnet wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

I wonder if we are actually approaching critical mass in London???

Cycling is not the dominant form of road transport in London is it?

Presumably, like charities, CMs ultimate aim is to dissolve itself as it has become obselete. Are we there yet? Do they define the point we reach CM?

I don't think there is a 'they'. If people, as individuals, don't want to do it any more, they, individually, stop.

Is that their goal? For cycling to be dominant? I had a look at the London CM site and they say they have no goal. If that is the case then it seems a completely pointless exercise...literally!

notsoblue

thelawnet wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

I wonder if we are actually approaching critical mass in London???

Cycling is not the dominant form of road transport in London is it?

Thats not really what "critical mass" means in this context though is it? To me it means the number of cyclists required on the road for cycling to not be seen as merely an "out group" activity.

docdelete

...gang aft agley.

Can't do Brum CM despite my promise to report. Going to be stuck at PC-face doing work.

It's a long time to the next one, will pencil it in though.

bails87

I think I saw the CM lot going past the ICC on Broad Street on Friday (5th of August) evening.

If it was a critical mass then it was very hard to be angry with them. Moving at about 15mph, with a total of one (yes, a whole one!) car behind them. An hour earlier it would have been solid with traffic that was moving at about 2mph, and a couple of hours later it will have been filled with chavs showing off their parents cars, 'cruising' along past the bars and clubs at about 2mph again.

There was no anarchy, just a bunch of people out on their bikes, enjoying a pleasant summer evening. I was a pedestrian and wasn't attacked for not being on a bike.

Seriously, what's the problem?

Yours sincerely

Underwhelmed of Birmingham.

gadgets

I saw them too over at Hurst Street turning right to Smallbrook Queensway, they actually waited behind a red light and almost all were on the bike lane

quite civilized actually