Critical Mass 18th anniversary & The London Big Ride

The last weekend in April has been a busy one for bike demonstrations. On Friday 27th I attended the Critical Mass, which happened to be celebrating its 18th anniversary. And the following Saturday 28th, the London Cycling Campaign had organised what it was set out to be the biggest protest ride ever in London (thus its name, The Big Ride!).

Critical Mass was surprisingly nice this time. Very peaceful and not too busy. It was dry and relatively mild, but still, not many people attended, perhaps because of the following's day event? Londoners on Bikes made a presence handing out free high-vis vests.

The London Big Ride was also quite nice. Despite the miserable rain, cold, and wind, apparently about 10,000 of us turned up to cycle the few miles from the Marble Arch to Embankment. The main purpose of the ride was to show the mayoral candidates that cycling in London has to be an important point in their agenda. The best thing of all is that cyclists of all backgrounds gave up their Saturday morning to attend this event: full lycras/carbon framed machacas, little kids, parents, grandparents, tourers, fancy bicycles, trikes, tandems etc. For a good write up, best to read this.

Below are the pictures of both events, including one from the London Cycling Campaign in which we are both featured!

View of critical mass from Waterloo bridge

Pink was the theme

Exciting going down the tunnel

Exiting the tunnel

On the Euston Road, near University College Hospital

Oxford Circus

Old faces from the Dunwich Dynamo: guy and his dogs

Fancy new Routemasters in Picadilly Circus

Trafalgar Square and countdown for the Olympics

And now, the photos from The Big Ride:

Park Lane, waiting for the go

Cyclists of all ages

5 min prior to the start and still people joining

Still smiling despite the rain

Deep messages here! "Burn fat, not oil"

And the odd beautiful Moulton, of course. 

She's been featured everywhere!

Cycling instructor from Camden and his musical instrument

What a nice view

Recumbent tandem

Stunning tall bike

Lucy in commuting mode, along the Thames

That's me, heading for the finish line

London Critical Mass is losing its appeal

It's been a while since I last joined the London Critical Mass. I reckon it was back in November. I rode my first one 3.5 years ago, and I am afraid things seem to have changed...

Let's start with the upsides:

• It was a relaxed (maybe too relaxed) ride in central London, nearly traffic free
• Met interesting people with interesting bikes. Good reassurance, once again, that I am not the only obsessed cyclist in London
• Saw cool bikes, including at least three Long Haul Truckers (more on this soon!) that had probably been used quite extensively
• Weather was great for February

Now, things that truly annoy me and may prevent me from joining this ride in the future:

• Folk drink way too much, and smoke way too many joints on this ride. What's the point? 
• Very young skate-boarders seem to be tagging along recently. Not that I mind them that much, but they seemed to cause a few small incidents with other cyclists, one of who was a very old man. 
• It used to be a very mixed crowd, with plenty of families, young kids, teens, grown-ups etc. Nowadays it's way too many drunk youngsters and hipsters doing tricks on the pavement. This annoys everyone, but mostly pedestrians
• The mass seems to be going through impossible places that you're not even allowed to ride on. Also, they block streets and roundabouts. Again, what's the point? To annoy other users and create more anger? Or to share the roads?
• Drivers get annoyed and saw plenty of angry and aggressive ones, getting out of their cars and threatening cyclists. When those cyclists are drunk/high, the situation is far from pleasant.

I gathered a few shots of the event, before I got into chatting with other cyclists.

Before the start

View from Waterloo Bridge

Nice sound system!

Using pedestrianised roads?! At least it was a nice shot!

Riding in London can be fun

It was just a random Friday, although packed in with a bit more riding than any other regular weekday. We are still enjoying amazing weather in late October. This made for a trully enjoyable commute in the morning as well as a relatively traffic-free pottle in the evening, when I joined the Critical Mass. A good way to finishing off a busy week...

BT tower in the background, the highest freestanding building in London

View from Waterloo bridge, St Paul's Cathedrals shines in the background

7:05 pm setting off Critical Mass

Downhill to St. Paul's Cathedral

Heading towards the city, Critical Mass

Fancy a traffic-free ride in London?

Back in November 2008 I joined my first Critical Mass (CM) cycle ride in London. In simple terms, CM provides cyclists from as many as 300 worldwide cities

with traffic-free cycle rides on the last Friday of the month. In political terms, it is a monthly reclaim of the streets for cyclists. According to Wikipedia, it was born in San Francisco in 1992 and has spread out to many other places in the past 20 years. What is amazing about it is its non-existing organisers, no membership, nothing. No leaders on the day other than the people that go in the front of the group, which can potentially be you! Only a location (South Bank under Waterloo bridge in London UK) and a time (6 pm). You just turn up and wait until everyone gets excited, bells start ringing, and audio-systems-on-a-bike playing. The route changes every time, and it usually passes through politically hot places such as the Spanish Embassy on the last May ride (to show support to the Spanish ex-pats demonstrating in London) in Belgravia. Of course it always includes visits to Trafalgar, Big Ben, Buckinham Palace, and other emblematic places.

The pictures on this post were taken last summer in one of our CMs in central London. It is quite common to do a "bike lift" at some point during the ride, as well as corking (blocking cars to allow the mass to cycle safely as a group) along the whole way. Not everything is perfect though: some dudes take it as a drink-as-much-as-you-can event on a bike, while others jump all red lights not letting pedestrians cross when they have a green light. It gets especially bad in the good weather, but on the other hand the turnout for these months is massive!

The variety of people (from bmx kids, to fixed E1, Bromptonians, mums and dads with the whole family on Christiania/Dutch bikes, oldies with amazing steel old-fashion touring bikes and to bike freaks like us), atmosphere, and interesting routes make for a nice alternative (or pre-warm up) Friday in the pub. Some cars get annoyed when being held up, just put a smile on your face, thank them for their patience and keep riding. If you happened to be in London (or in Madrid, Philly, Chicago, or even randoms such as Leicester!), do join and you will certainly have a great time.

Happy Critical Massing!