(This article is my first effort  to revive  a monthly series on Critical Mass in the Greater Los Angeles area.  Previously Streetsblog has celebrated an anniversary in the Valley, dodged the police in Santa Monica, cruised with the kids in Pasadena,  toured the downtown in Los Angeles, and kicked around in Venice. Why is a policy blog doing a series on Critical Mass?  Simply, it's an uniquely L.A. experience for so many communities to have their own Critical Mass and each ride tells us as much about the community as it does Bike Culture.)

Bike culture in Los Angeles is so vibrant, that even when a ride has been canceled for months or even years people will still show up for it.

Unbeknownst to me, Northeast LA Critical Mass hasn't happened in months.  But true to the roots of Los Angeles' "group rides" culture, it just takes a couple of people to bring back a group ride.  In this case nine first-time NE Critical Mass riders showed up at the appointed time and place, the Highland Park Gold Line Station, and after waiting around just to be certain the time wasn't wrong on the C.I.C.L.E. Calendar we took to the streets, our own mini-mass of riders.

Six of the massers were friends of a rider named "O.T." and varied in skill and experience from a rider on a road bike for the first time to a fifteen year old who was riding circles around me.  The other rider in addition to myself was an original Midnight Rida who stunned me by introducing himself as "Steve" and not something like "Dj Wheel Roller" or something of the sort.

The nine of us bonded quickly on the hour-long eight mile mini-mass and the eight riders that lived in Highland Park vowed that this would be the first of several rides to bring back Critical Mass to North East L.A.  O.T. picked the route, which took us up Figueroa to Colorado Avenue.  From there we took a left and headed west to Eagle Rock before taking another left south down York Avenue.  At this point we were back at Figueroa Avenue and Steve had peeled off with  shout of "See you next month!"  The group of friends pedaled off to a house party, and I took a right to head back to the Gold Line.

While the ride was short, it had many of the attributes of Critical Mass.  The hooting and hollering, riding in group formation, and even talking to curious drivers who wondered what in the world was going on.  There wasn't an "us versus them vibe" and it more resembled San Fernando Valley's mass than it did L.A.'s or points west.

So, was I witness to the rebirth of Critical Mass for Highland Park, or was last Friday a one-time affair?  If I hear anything about future rides on the East Side, I'll be sure to let you know.  If not, it was a pleasure to take a ride on the east side.

Before heading down to LA, Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson took a ride with what some are calling the largest Critical Mass in history, last Friday's San Francisco Critical Mass.  Dressed as a bee, Clarence manages to find several other bees, people dressed as everything from the police and even random people screaming out their support for Obama and public transportation.

At his Streetfilms' post, Clarence notes how the hands off nature of the police leads to a safe and fun ride as opposed to a confrontational or dangerous one that we have seen elsewhere; despite the literally thousands of cyclists taking part in the ride.  More evidence that the "tactics" of the Santa Monica Police Department are counterproductive at best.

In the past couple of months the Santa Monica Police Department has cracked down on the monthly Critical Mass rides assigning at least a dozen officers every month to follow cyclists and basically harass them with nuisance tickets.  Oftentimes, these tickets are dismissed, and the extra effort costs the SMPD about $3,000 a month.

Well Critical Mass cyclists, you're in good company.  KTLA and The Times reports that the SMPD is now ticketing an equally pernicious group of lawbreakers, fitness buffs who meet in traffic mediums to stretch before runs.  If you're caught excercising in a medium, you can expect to get ticketed for $158.  Just as they do with Critical Mass, the SMPD actually stations officers who watch people work out everynight.  The cleary disbelieving reporter with KTLA ends his report by doing a couple of pushups and mock imploring his viewers not to tell anyone.

The video above catches the story, but if you can't watch video at work and are dieing to read about another way the SMPD wastes money to preserve their streets for cars and to protect the delicate sensibilities of homeowners, you can read the Times article here.

The City Council will take up the issue at their November 11 meeting.

(This article appears as part of a monthly series on Critical Mass in the Greater Los Angeles area.  Previously Streetsblog has dodged the police with Santa Monica Critical Mass, cruised with the kids in Pasadena,  cruised the downtown in Los Angeles, and kicked around in Venice.)

Last night, San Fernando Valley Critical Mass celebrated its 2nd Anniversary with a relaxed and cordial roll through the Valley.  At any given point there was somewhere between sixty and one hundred riders making up a mass that was more about the joy of riding than any political statement.  The mass itself was an eclectic mix of riders of all races and age groups.

Most riders showed up to the start point, the Woodley Avenue Orange Line stop, between 7:30 and 8:00 P.M.  Ride cards were handed out celebrating the anniversary, and some of the riders from the original San Fernando Valley Critical Mass ride took a second to thank everyone for attending and explained that this ride is about cycling and about the riders, not about confrontation and not about breaking the law.

The ride itself was a different experience than other Critical Masses.  It actually felt more like Pasadena Critical Mass than any of the rides done in City limits.  There were no run-ins with the police and drivers and pedestrians were more supportive of the ride than I'd seen anywhere else.  The only people who didn't seem happy to see us was the manager of a small convenience store who refused to let us in and the security at a Ralph's on Ventura Blvd. who had security escort their shoppers to the cars.

Some of the reactions from non-riders people checking us out were weird, like the little girl who kept shouting "Marijuana" at us from a balcony or the two guys in a convertible that followed us around for an hour riding in a parallel lane slowing down traffic.

Months ago, I was told by a couple different people that San Fernando Valley Critical Mass was the most fun of any of the masses.  That's probably true as the diverse age and laid back nature of the ride make it easy to handle and enjoyable.  As one poster on the Midnight Ridazz forums said earlier today:

But last night I was impressed at how easy it is to get around the Valley on a bike. In city traffic a bike keeps up pretty well. Of coarse it helps that we have cool tunes to listen too and we go through red lights.... but still.

Even if you don't live in the Valley, don't mind taking a couple of hours off for a late night ride in the middle of the week, and want to break in to the Critical Mass movement; this is the perfect ride for you.  Even if you're not a believer in Critical Mass, the good nature of the riders and the community make it an easy and fun group ride to be a part of.

There's some pictures of the ride after the jump, and more at Streetsblog Flickr.  Information on the next San Fernando Valley Critical Mass can be found here.

Original SFV Massers Give the Basics Before the Ride

Ridazz Relax at One of the Pit Stops

Lights Show the Way

Photos: Damien Newton

Responding to the over-policing of Critical Mass in Santa Monica, cyclists took to the streets last Friday night to show the SMPD that sometimes following the letter of the law is the worst thing that can be done for traffic.  In what MetBlogs described as an act of "Civil Obedience" 60 cyclists got off their bikes and walked them across an intersection.  And walked them back across the intersection.  And then, they crossed the intersection.  When they were done, they crossed the intersection again.

The result was while cyclists paraded back and forth across an intersection, blocking traffic, handing out fliers, but apparently breaking no laws, traffic backed up for blocks.  Eventually the SMPD arrived at the scene, but by then the cyclists had scattered to another intersection in another part of town.  Watching the video, I did note that the walkazz did let buses go through and eventually cars just drove around the demonstration.

Alex Thompson has a full recap of the event and the history between SMPD and Critical Mass over at Westside BikeSIDE!.

It occasionally got ugly.  One motorist got out of his car, to argue with the Crimanimalz, and ended up in a 7 to 1 shouting match.  All night there were spates of ugliness, shouting matches that likely would have come to blows had the group of cyclists had a numerical advantage.  It wasn’t just motorists doing the yelling - at times there was a healthy dose of angry shouting from cyclists.

What do you expect?  Santa Monica residents have sicked their police force on cyclists like an angry guard dog.  The city has assigned 14 officers, on an overtime basis, to follow the ride each month, for 14 months.  The SMPD made no effort to contact riders at anytime before or during their 14 month campaign to eliminate the ride.  Officers stand apart at the ride, refuse to talk to riders and train spotlights and video cameras on their faces.

Brigitte Lauren and Lauren Larken Brave the Streets at Last Friday's Santa Monica Critical Mass

(Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a monthly series of ride reports on Critical Mass from throughout the region.  In April it was a family ride in Pasadena.  In May, I cruised the downtown with 200 of my closest friends in Los Angeles.  In June, it was soccer time in Venice.  This month, knowing the reputation of Santa Monica Critical Mass, I grabbed my pastor and my wife and headed off to the Santa Monica pier for three hours of well monitored riding.)

Sometime in the fall of last year Santa Monica Critical mass changed.  Gone were the days when it was perceived as a family ride, and the police presence increased dramatically.  Tickets, which were more often than not overturned by the courts, were handed out like candy in an attempt to stop the ride.

Last Friday, a group of well over 100 cyclists gathered at the cannon outside of the Santa Monica pier for August's installment of Santa Monica Critical Mass.  Several of the usual ride leaders were on vacation, so there was an impromptu decision that the ride would be "lady's night" with the female riders leading the pack.  Sara Bond, who I met at last month's ride in Venice, took the microphone and off we went into the streets of Santa Monica.

The Santa Monica Police Department, desperate to preserve the rights of motorists to maximum road capacity, was out in force to police the ride.  I counted four motorcycles, two squad cars, and four officers on non-motorized bikes; but a letter posted on Midnight Ridazz forums from the SMPD said their were 14 officers in total. 

Wow, more than a dozen police officers on the beat to watch hundreds of cyclists obey the law.  Too bad the cops themselves couldn't be bothered to do so.  I had a motorcycle, without flashers or sirens on, pass me withing three inches while I rode legally in the right lane.  If a car did that, it would be at least a shout of warning.  Since it was a municipal vehicle there will be a written complaint.

After the ride cleared Santa Monica and the group met in Venice, there was an informal count of tickets that were handed out.  14 in total were counted, and at least some of them were for infractions that don't exist.  One cyclist was ticketed for passing a car that was turning left in the right lane, which is not only completely legal it would cause a traffic jam if it weren't done on a regular basis.

Of course, showing that equal protection under the law is a nice theory but just real hard to put into practice, cars weren't treated the same as bikes.  There were at least five times I was sitting next to a police officer of some kind at a light when a car ran the red or turned left after a red.  Not once did an officer show a sign that they noticed.

To counter the police actions, riders followed the letter of the law to the point where they actually were more of a nuisance to the driving public than if they were riding as part of the flow of traffic.  At one intersection two police choppers going west blocked the intersection for nearly a minute while a group of cyclists sat at the north facing stop sign waiting.  Eventually, the bike riders moved through the intersection.  There were no cars waiting behind the bike riders.  However, there were at least eight cars backed behind the police motorcycles. 

In short, if you want your Critical Mass to be more than a rolling party this might be the ride for you.  Thanks to Santa Monica's ham handed attempts to stifle the ride, it has become a flashpoint  in the bicycle culture wars.  Pictures and a description of the actual ride will appear after the jump.

The ride itself was pleasant enough.  As we rode through the streets, pedestrians treated us as we were a parade cheering and shouting encouragement demonstrating a clear contrast between the citizens' reactions and those of their civil servants.  The ride went up and down many of Santa Monica's better known streets, but the group still got separated.  Riders would wait at intersections to direct those separated and eventually the group reformed at a traffic circle in one of the residential areas.

Riders from This May's Seattle Critical Mass

Last Friday, during Seattle's Critical Mass ride, a Subaru station wagon ran over some cyclists.  The reasons for the incident are up for debate as cyclists claim the driver acted irrationally and plowed into the cyclists without provocation.  The driver claims that cyclists were attacking his car and while attempting to scare them off accidentally backed over a pair of them. 

While the crash itself is bad enough, the reaction of the police and the media is even worse.  When an officer arrived on the scene, he conducted interviews and immediately accepted the driver's story as fact.  This report has led to an echo chamber effect that has the local media and police united in blaming the Critical Mass riders for the incident.  Consider these two stories in the Seattle Times, which gives the official version of the story, as reported by a police officer who wasn't present when the incident occurred, under the clearly unbiased title of "Critical Mass riders injure driver in Capitol Hill altercation."

According to Jamieson, as the Critical Mass group moved down the street, blocking traffic, some riders got in the way of the Subaru and prevented it from leaving. Some bikers sat on the car and were banging on it, he said.

"The driver was pretty fearful that he was about to be assaulted by the bicyclists," Jamieson said.

The man tried to back up, but bumped into a biker. "This enraged the group," Jamieson said.

Several of the bikers bashed up the Subaru, shattering the windshield and rear window, Jamieson said.

The driver tried to drive away, but hit another bicyclist, Jamieson said. Still, he drove about a block, to the corner of Aloha and 15th Avenue East, before the Critical Mass riders cornered the car again and started spitting on it and banging against it.

One bicyclist punched the driver through his open window, and another used a knife to slash the Subaru's tires, Jamieson said.

Wow, sounds pretty terrifying.  Imagine being trapped in a car when a large group of cyclists attack your car for no apparent reason.  Of course, there is another side of the story.  Unfortunately, the Seattle Times waited for the bottom of their third story on the incident to print a detailed version of the cyclists version of the crash.

But Braun, the injured attorney, said it was Mark whom he saw acting "aggressive and belligerent" when Braun, who had been riding at the back of the Critical Mass pack, crested a hill on Aloha Street.

The Subaru was parked perpendicular to the street, and was backed over a sidewalk and someone's front lawn, said Braun, 36. He stopped and stood straddling his bike to watch as the cyclists tried to calm the driver.

"He was screaming the whole time and yelled something about being late for a [dinner] reservation — and he floors it, he literally floors it into a bunch of people and I took the brunt of it," he said.

A woman was also hit but jumped free, he said, and a man jumped onto the hood of the car to avoid being hit. But Braun — and his bike — got pulled beneath the vehicle.

"I was trying to hold onto the front and the bumper. I was pinned under the car, struggling for my life," he said. When Mark made a sharp left, a tire ran over Braun's right leg, but somehow, he managed to roll free of the car.

He didn't see what happened next.

These stories are representative of the coverage of the incident.  The Stranger, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, KOMO News, and The News Tribune all wrote stories blaming the cyclists for the incident. 

We'll probably never know the entire story, only the Critical Mass cyclists who witnessed the incident and the driver know what really happened.  However, the Seattle PD and press' reaction provides a perfect illustration of the bias that still exists in many media outlets to blame the cyclist first. 

In the Seattle P-I article above, the Seattle PD's spokesperson admits that Critical Mass has gone on for a long time in Seattle with no major incidents, yet the first time there is one the establishment is unanimous in blaming the cyclists based soley on the word of the people who would be charged if the cyclists version were believed.

One wonders what the reaction to the Mandeville Canyon crash would have been if the story had been broken by the mainstream press instead of the bike-friendly LAist. 

Photo: The Corey/Flickr

Words fail when watching this clip of an NYPD officer forcibly knocking a Critical Mass rider to the pavement last Friday. The assault was caught on video by a bystander in Times Square. Compounding the injustice, reports Gothamist, is what happened next:

A representative for TIMES UP! tells us that the cyclist in this video was arrested, held for 26 hours, and charged with attempted assault and resisting arrest.

Mark Taylor, an attorney with the firm representing the cyclist, says he is hopeful the charges will be dropped in light of the video evidence. Asked whether the NYPD plans to go ahead with the charges, a department spokesman said the matter is being investigated. Since the video surfaced, the officer has been put on desk duty.

Some of you may remember our friendly neighborhood Crimanimalz and their freeway bike rides. Now a different group of cyclists has followed their example and made a video of riding the freeway from the 101 to the 110 during a recent Friday evening rush hour.  Meanwhile, the Crimanimalz were busy doing their own ride on the same day, entering the 405 from Wilshire Boulevard.

As these rides become more common, the question begins to loom: are freeway rides the Critical Mass rides of the 21st Century?

(Editor’s note: this is third in a monthly series of ride reports on Critical Mass from throughout the region.  In April it I rode Pasadena.  In May, Los Angeles.  This month was going to be Costa Mesa, but I decided to put it off until the fall so instead it’s the nascent Venice Critical Mass.)

At first, Venice Critical Mass seems like a weird off-shoot of the Critical Mass movement.  Many of the riders are also regulars at Santa Monica Critical Mass, which takes place the following week, there’s no rolling boom box, few people wearing bright colored costumes, and most of the ride didn’t actually take place in Venice.

But, once you do the ride, you realize it has what’s most important.  A sense of community as you roll through the streets, and a goal of reclaiming public spaces for everyone.  True, some of that public real estate was on the makeshift soccer fields and not just streets, but the theory is the same.

It was sometime after 8:00 P.M. when a group of about 75 riders pulled out of Winward Circle and rolled around the streets of Venice.  The group had taken an informal vote of whether or not to try and meet up with the Los Angeles Critical Mass group going downtown, or to stick to Venice, Santa Monica and West LA and have more time to hang out at the pit stops.  The group voted for the pit stops.

The ride itself was very much in the spirit of Critical Mass.  There was no real route planned, it just sort of veered around the streets until we ended up at a park, there were extra-legal efforts to keep the group together (read: corking) and everyone looked out for each other on the ride.

After about a half hour of riding the group pulled into Mar Vista Park.  There, we found a poorly lit field and set up some bags as soccer goal posts.  Incidently, my team won, 6-5.  At the end of the game, the ride split into two groups.  One went to meet up with the downtown riders, the others decided to stay west.

After a quick stop at a 7-11 on National Blvd., those that stayed west headed to Santa Monica City Hall for another soccer game.  Again, my team won but at such a cost, when trying to pivot on the mud I jammed my leg so I decided to call it a night and head home.  The rest of the group headed down to the gymnastics rings for an impromptu demonstration followed by arguments about whether chain friction and air resistance were significant on the rings, the remaining riders split up and went on their ways.

In short, the ride was different than what many would expect, but it was ultimately fun.  There were no run-ins with the police while shooting down the streets, although towards the end of the time at Santa Monica one cop wandered by to try and figure out what in the world we were doing.  While we probably spent as much time playing soccer as we did riding, at least for the first three hours of the ride, even the soccer was in the right spirit...we were using a public space for an unplanned community event.

Most importantly, the ride was safe and accessible to cyclists of all skill levels.  After a week where I logged about double my usual miles on the bike, my legs were tired after the first soccer game and I had no trouble keeping up with the rest of the group.  The ride itself is probably about 15-20 miles total, not a killer even if you’re not a regular cyclist.

Even if you don’t live in the area, Venice Critical Mass may be the right one for you if you’re a beginner or intermediate level cyclist.  There aren’t a lot of hills and the soccer provides break to rest legs, provided of course you skip the game, that may not be used to longer rides.  The riders are friendly, the route is safe and the police don’t see it as their mission in life to hassle riders.

(Editor’s note: This is the second in a series on Los Angeles area Critical Mass rides.  The purpose of the series is to create a first hand ride guide for riders who are looking to join the CM movement to help them select the best rides for their skill and commitment levels.  Because the various rides are as different as the communities in which they take place, I felt the only way to get a feel for the rides was to actually do them.  The first article was on Pasadena Critical Mass.)

When your average person thinks of Critical Mass, they usually picture hundreds of colorfully dressed cyclists swarming the streets of a big city disrupting motor vehicle traffic.  That’s exactly what last Friday’s “Downtown Critical Mass” was...hundreds of cyclists claiming the road as their own, motorists be dammed.

Organizers estimated that nearly 200 riders showed up to Western and Wilshire between 6:30 and 7:30 ready to ride.  The first leg of the route snaked up Western Blvd. to Santa Monica Blvd., then over to Cahuenga and up to Sunset Blvd. before heading to downtown LA.  The ride featured stops at two pharmacies before swinging towards the downtown.  Once downtown, the group took a quick tour of Broadway and Union Station before coming to rest at the Chinatown Gold Line Station.  After a short break, some riders went back to Wilshire and Western while other Ridazz went off to the races.  Since I had to be up for the LACBC event on Saturday, I chose to head back home.

Because the ride was over 20 miles I wouldn’t recommend this ride for either beginners or children.  Ok, there’s plenty of other reasons not to bring along the kids, although I did see at least one group of riders who were clearly high school age.  Actually, the ride featured cyclists of all ages from 15 to their sixties.  Because there are plenty of lengthy stops, the ride probably would be doable for a beginner who is in good shape.

Despite Critical Mass being confrontational by design, most car drivers seemed supportive.  Trust me, when you’re on your bike, you know the difference between supportive and angry honks.  Sure, there were some drivers who weren’t happy to see us and honked, shouted or revved their engines at the corkers; but for the most part motorists didn’t seem to mind.  The ride passed at least a dozen cop cars and only one harassed us.  One of the ride leaders did get a ticket and a rather rude and forceful pat down for corking, but other than that there were no issues with the police.

Unfortunately, I missed the incident with the police, although I’m told it was the same officer who helpfully shouted through his megaphone that “red means stop” at passing riders.  Thus I wasn’t able to get any news on whether the LAPD is going to prosecute the driver that slammed into Randy Cruz and tried to hide in a parking a couple of weeks ago.

(Edit: After re-reading this, I'm worried that the text downplays what an egregious violation the search of this group leader was.  I was trying to show that there was only one incident with the police, not many like there are at these rides in New York.  For a first hand account of the search, visit the Midnight Ridazz forum.)

As for my feelings on the ride, there is something special and unique about riding in a giant group such as we had on Friday.  Several times I found myself caught up in the thrill of the ride, shouting with the rest of the group or whistling my way through an intersection.  With the exception of the one incident with the police, the city actually felt like it was a biker’s paradise as I sped around the city or as watched one of the impromptu discos that popped up in various parking lots during breaks.

Of course, about two blocks after I left Wilshire and Western for my trip home, an SUV came up on me fast enough that I had to veer left into the middle lane while he sped past seemingly unaware that there was anyone ahead of him.  I guess despite my yellow t-shirt and two back flashing lights I was invisible to the hopefully inebriated driver.

Sometimes in LA, it doesn’t take long for Car Culture to strike back, just when you’re feeling your most free.

A reader suggested that I write about the differences in the many different Critical Mass rides that happen around Los Angeles. It seemed like a good idea, and since I could double up on last weekend by doing the ride and visit the Commuter Bike Expo, this weekend I bring you the first in a series of Critical Mass ride reports from around the region.

The group met at 10:30 A.M. in a local park next to a Gold Line station and you could immediately tell it wasn't a normal Critical Mass ride. Critical Mass in Pasadena is more of a family affair than you might expect. A couple of young ladies who couldn't have been older than 8 helped fill out the group of 20 riders and music played while the ride leader whipped us around Pasadena in a six mile loop to Cal Tech and back to the Bike Expo.

Despite the group size and suburban setting, there were some typical Critical Mass experiences, the solidarity of a group of like minded people taking a ride to remind a community of cyclists' rights. While there was some car honking from irritated drivers who wanted to cruise down Colorado Avenue so they could wait longer at the next red light, but overall the ride was incident free and safe for riders of all age.

When the ride ended, we were at the entrance to Pasadena's Bike Commuter Expo. Outside of the usual suspects, Helen's Cycles, C.I.C.L.E, LACBC and the California Bike Coalition, there were boots set up to get what you need for the bikes you have, buy all the latest fashion accessories (made out of recycled bike tires) and check out a bucket bike in person.

 

Our friends at C.I.C.L.E. also sponsored workshops designed to get more people comfortable with urban bike riding.  Regular Streetsblog commenter David P. teaching one on "biking and using transit" when we went past.

Between Critical Mass and the Expo, Pasadena showed that it has a thriving bike culture on it's own. Check back with us next month for our next Critical Mass report.

Photos: Damien Newton 

Streetfilms' Elizabeth Press kicks off a series of videos about livable streets in Paris with this look at the city's two weekly romps on skates -- roller-versions of Critical Mass that attract up to 15,000 participants. Notice that the police are an essential part of the proceedings (and they seem to have fun doing it -- check out the cops on blades at the 1:35 mark).

Says Elizabeth:

Every Friday night and Sunday afternoon Parisians can take the streets and see their city on skates. And they do, by the thousands! Both mass rides, which are sponsored by different associations, started small and now are institutions of public street life in Paris.

In this video you hear from both Tanao Terra, VP of Pari Roller, organizers of the Friday night skate and Philippe Moulié, President of Rollers & Coquillages, sponsors of the Sunday afternoon Skate.

A little history: The Friday night skates were started by a small group of friends. After the transit strikes in 1995, which forced Parisians to find a new way to get around town, thousands of people began to show up on Friday evenings just to practice moving through the city on roller blades. The numbers inspired Pari Roller to form an official association working with Paris’, and the world’s, first roller blade national police unit.