You are cherry-picking regulations. Bikes are bound to the same rules of the road as cars and motorcycles, but most people who aren't on a bicycle tend to think the roads are for them, and bicyclists are interlopers. I have yet to read a post on this site by someone outraged that cars routinely split lanes with cyclists, forcing them to the curb and often off the roadway entirely. When driving my car, I regularly encounter cars that are progressing at a speed clearly impeding the flow of traffic and I don't run them off the road. Hypocrite much?

It's hard to argue that thousands of cyclists have no right to gather and ride in such numbers that they impede the traffic of cars and trucks, given that many, if not most of the Critical Mass participants also own cars and regularly deal with cars and trucks impeding their ability to get around on their bike on roads they have every right to use regardless of their choice of transportation at that moment. Are you seriously suggesting that the mass voice of thousands of people is somehow invalid because you are alone in a car? Aa a car owner and driver, I have EVERY RIGHT to use the roads, even riding with thousands of my fellow car owners on our bikes.

Are you really suggesting that the constitutional right to assemble and exercise the right of free speech by action is somehow not welcome in a country that exists solely to provide a place where the population is guaranteed those rights?

It is as I said - a group ride where everyone on a bike is welcome. The only negative side of the rides comes from people who have opinions counter to the stated intentions of our Constitution and the peaceful riders.

Face facts - there are enough cyclists that participate in Critical Mass rides that you cannot ignore their numbers. But you choose a position that dehumanizes those riders, characterizing them as "terrorists" and law-breakers, despite the fact that you yourself ignore the relevant laws for your own personal convenience whenever it comes up. We all do, so don't claim innocence. As a biker, I do my best to use the shoulder, and let cars by as best I can when the shoulder is insufficient. And almost without exception other drivers behave sensibly and safely. But the fact remains that I am relegated to the gutter in many cases, regardless of the traffic level. As a biker and a driver, I am sensitive to both sides of the issue, but I have little patience for fatheads who think bikes ought to "obey the law and stay on the sidewalk."

And if you choose to drive everywhere, you should cheer the bikers, who every other day of the month reduce traffic and make driving a car in a large city, already an onerous chore, far better than it could be. The bigger the crowd of bikers the more you should cheer. They are working to make your life better every other day of the month. All anyone is asking for is some awareness. If sheer numbers aren't doing it for you, what do you suggest?

I am amused when people show their true colors, describing people asserting their rights as "miscreants out to cause trouble," when the opposite is the case. If you don't like Critical Mass rides, get on your bike and show them how to behave. That's what it's about, not some juvenile "us vs. them" face-off that seems to be the only way some of you can perceive the world.

The idea that private citizens can act as a group is central to our democracy so if that behavior rubs you the wrong way perhaps you belong in a society that doesn't respect the opinions and voice of the population. I'm sure a travel agent can help you choose a country that would crack down on such behavior in the interests of protecting your convenience. You'd have to give up many other rights I'm sure, but you'd be happier in perhaps Syria?

And as has been said, the rides are hardly a secret so if you are inconvenienced one Friday a month, maybe try planning ahead for once. Not that hard, given the rides focus on main thoroughfares for visibility rather than blocking access to freeways or clogging residential lanes just to be PITA's.

 

Learn to read libbie. I clearly wrote ECO terrorists. Their ONLY goal is to bring cities to a screeching halt in order to "pursuade" people to cycle instead of driving into major cities.

 

Not really Einstein. Is that why police forces specifically lock up hundreds of them? Yea, just a bike event...through major city streets....at rushhour...without the streets being closed for cycling. OP, just google Critical mass, or type it into youtube and see what you get. Or be like Sherlock over here and get your ass beat.

 

Which would be a statement that is also pretty inaccurate since the whole point is "to create a "critical mass" of riders dense enough to occupy a piece of road to the exclusion of drivers of motorized vehicles."

There really has been quite a bit of controversy associated with it. I think Wiki has a pretty good and relatively unbiased article on it.
My link
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According to the laws in the USA, all it takes to occupy a piece of road to the exclusion of motorized traffic is one bicycle. But unless you have never ridden a bike or driven a car in this country, you know that no motorist will ever give a bicycle his own lane. So I find it a bit difficult to find sympathy for people who think bikers are somehow not obeying the rules.

Keep your f@#king car out of my lane or shut the hell up.
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Wow, you have reached new levels of jackassery. Laws of the USA? Are you new in town? In the USA, we have these weirdly shaped things called states. Pronounced like steaks, only states. Inside these weird shapes, there are State laws (not steak laws mmmkay?) And in those state laws, every weird shape differs. In NYC for instance bikes are NOT allowed to be on certain roads, and in major metropolitan areas, bikes actually have their own lanes, and their own traffic lights.

Since you might not read so "good," here is a picture for you...I can mail you crayons if you like so you can color it in later...





So please, find your way to the nearest sterilization clinic, and do us all a favor.

 

Wow, you are clearly smoking the crack pipe. The funny thing is, you are clueless about the constitution as you are clueless about everything else you've posted so far. Do you know what the constitution is for, and who it protects you from?

 

And regardless of the prefix, you still called them terrorists, douchie-mc-douche-douche.

Eco-terrorists persuade by bombing animal laboratories. These guys are eco-assholes, unless you're that much of a pussy that sweaty hippies on bikes terrorizes the shit out of you.

 

Don't feed the trolls!

 

Jebus.

Quick! Someone compare someone else to Hitler!

 

I live in San Diego and love critical mass, I do it as often as I can.
I have seen a lot of fights though. And people have been ran over by angry drivers
As far as it being a huge inconvenience to motorists, usually cars are only blocked for at most a couple of minutes as everyone rides by.

 

Lib lib lib. It's all Al Gore's fault...