Miami Critical Mass is Getting Huge!

I have experienced a few great Critical Mass rides. My personal top 3 would be Paris France, San Francisco, and New York City, but if Miami keeps it, they may be taking 3rd.

This past Friday when cities all over the world had their monthly Critical Mass ride, and Miami was sporting over 800 riders. As you can see in the videos below, the riders are full of energy and celebrating the bicycle, and they take over 6 minutes to go by! The Bike Miami Scene has done a great job of promoting Critical Mass and has listed out their purpose, rules of the ride, and have used media to get the word out. Good on you.

Malicious Crash at Brazilian Critical Mass

Cyclists around the world have been gathering on the last Friday night of the month for years, in an event that is called Critical Mass. On Friday night an angry motorist mowed down a group of about 150 people on bicycles riding for Critical Mass in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The motorist accelerated his vehicle directly through the group of riders, injuring about 20 riders and sending 8 victims to the hospital ER with at least one victim still remaining hospitalized in serious condition.

This callous cold blooded attempted murder hasn’t seemed to make the news outside of Brazil, so here are some quotes translated from Brazil news agencies:
From the YouTube video:

"I am here at the Critical Mass ride. A car just ran over with the entire critical mass ride. At full speed! A black VW Golf. He hit everybody!! Are you seeing this?!
What a horrible thing... oh my GOD. Someone call the police, call the ambulance
Police! Call the Police!! The Ambulance!
Everyone is scared, son.
A car hit the whole, entire Critical Mass ride!! At full speed.
Voice: What's going on?
This is the most horrible thing I've ever seen! I cannot believe"

Here is a first-hand video showing the Volkswagen Golf ploughing through the group of bicyclists (scroll to 0:52). WARNING: This is an extremely graphic and up-close video of this terrible incident:

According to the latest reports, they are still looking for the driver of the Volkswagen who went into hiding after abandoning his car shortly after the incident.

“The Civil Police expect the driver who ran over at least 20 riders in the Lower City district late on Friday to submit voluntarily next week. The owner of the vehicle involved has been identified.”

Here is a photo of the Volkswagen that was found after the incident:

Upon reaching the corner of Rua Luiz Afonso, the driver of a black Golf, who was driving behind the group since the beginning of the track, would have accelerated, hitting cyclists.

“The car passed by my side, it was a horrible scene.There were people being thrown all sides” - tells the rider.

Here are some videos of the deliberate callous murder attempt by the driver of the Volkswagen (thanks to Tino from Bike Lane Diary):

Here are some other news articles about the incident translated to English:
Sul21 – Group of cyclists is hit in the central region of Porto Alegre
Radio Guaiba – Driver flees after running over cyclists in the Lower City
Verbicide Magazine blog – Tragedy at Critical Mass Bike Ride in Porto Alegre, Brazil

Halloween Weekend

Halloween is a very busy weekend in Orlando and this year was no exception.

The Halloween Critical Mass ride on Friday night was a good showing and had several riders that dressed in costumes. The ride was without any altercations with police, even though they were parked at several locations along the route to make sure that everything was orderly. The ride was large enough that we took up all three lanes on Orange Avenue. It always feels good to take back the streets and draw attention to cyclists and alert automobiles about bikes being on the road.

Saturday was a typical Lakemont group ride. We got an update on Marty Katz, the Lakemont rider who was struck by a car a little before dawn on Tuesday, October 12, while stopped at a light on Horatio Avenue in Maitland. You can keep tabs on his progress - go here ->  http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/martykatzrecovery and register - you’ll then get daily reports from Team Marty.  Marty is still in very serious condition but some good things have been happening this week. He is OFF THE VENT and breathing on his own and speaking through the trach.  He wants a beer, he wants his coffee, he wants to get up and walk, he wants out of there!  And, as soon as a bed is available, he will be moved out of ICU.  These are positive steps, but no one should be fooled: Marty’s got a long road ahead of him with several surgeries to go.Show your support, register at the caringbridge.com site and let the family know you’re a cyclist and you’re following Marty’s recovery.
 
Saturday night was downtown Orlando's Halloween celebration, and this year I went as a doping cyclist, but I abandoned my blood transfusion gear to be more comfortable amongst the mass of people. Many people just assumed that I was Lance Armstrong, since I had a Radio Shack jersey on. Either way, it was pretty fun just walking around in a full kit and having people know who/what I was.

Critical Mass-New York Style

When I saw the last Friday of the month get closer and closer, I had visions of the 1000+ rider Critical Mass rides that I had seen on the internet. New York's Critical Mass was known for its size and its voice. The videos of the rider being struck by the police officer in Times Square were a hit on YouTube and in the advocate community for years. As I reached Union Square last night, I was surprised to see a dozen or so bikers standing around. Could this be right? Did I have my time right? Something was up, but I soon found out the whole story.

The rides of the past were gone. The city had heard the cyclist message and reacted by introducing bike facilities and legislation that gave the Critical Mass riders very little to complain about. The rides of over 1000 were now simply 75-100, and several of them were tourists and were riding for a once in a lifetime experience of riding through the city at night

There were a few things about this ride that is totally different from Orlando's. The police department gathers at the same square with about 12 scooters, 2 electric carts, 3 squad cars, a paddy wagon van, and a few unmarked cars that contained police higher ups and city commissioner types. These cops are not there to lead the group through the city and give them a safe escort. They are instead there to ticket any cyclists that break any traffic violations. New York laws require lights on their bikes once it gets dark and if there is a bike lane present, the group has to maintain itself in it. Of course they have to stop at all lights and there are no corking of intersections. It basically makes the ride a very uneasy tour through the city.

Either way it is cool to see that the message was sent loud and clear and was heard by the city officials. The new bike culture and facilities in New York have some thanks to give to the Critical Mass movement.

NYC Critical Mass Confrontation Officer Found Guilty

Here is some good news on Critical Mass Friday.

A former police officer was convicted on Thursday of lying about a collision with a bicyclist who was taking part in a Critical Mass ride in Times Square in 2008 — shown in the video below.

The jury found the officer, Patrick Pogan, 24, guilty of filing a criminal complaint that contained false statements concerning the cyclist, Christopher Long, including an assertion that Mr. Long knocked Mr. Pogan down by intentionally steering his bicycle into him. (The video showed that Mr. Pogan remained on his feet, while Mr. Long flew to the pavement.)

Mr. Pogan’s conviction carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

Mr. Pogan, who resigned from the Police Department after the episode, was also convicted of a misdemeanor for attesting to the complaint’s truthfulness, even though it contained a warning against making false statements.

But Mr. Pogan, who was in his 11th day on the force when the collision happened, was acquitted of a misdemeanor charge of reckless assault.

March Critical Mass

Last night's Critical Mass was another great success. There were over 250-300 cyclists participating, and with the time change a few weeks ago, we didn't have to worry about riders being in the dark without proper lights. We tried to not "cork" intersections as much, but with that many riders, it is very difficult to get everyone through the city without running a few lights and holding up traffic. I personally don't mind blocking traffic, since the purpose behind Critical Mass is to create a "bunch up" of traffic at the intersections and by the time the bikes all go through, the car traffic would have reached "critical mass". I treat it as my monthly protest to take back the the streets for bicycles.

Ciclovia

Last night I attended the Daily City Panel Series and last night's topic was biking in Orlando. The speakers were Mighk Wilson from Metroplan Orlando, Keri Caffrey from CommuteOrlando, and Angie Ross from 4onaquarter.com. One of the interesting topics that I had only heard of, but never researched was Ciclovia.




Ciclovia is government run closure of the streets in Bogata Columbia, every Sunday from 7am to 2pm, for 70 miles of roadway. In Bogata, over 2 million (30% of its citizens) enjoy Ciclovia each week. Participants include runners, skaters and bicyclists, and at the same time, stages are set up in city parks with aerobic instructors, yoga teachers, and musicians to lead people through various performances. Unlike Critical Mass which is more grass roots, Ciclovia is government sanctioned, and focuses on promoting physical fitness and health, social and cultural benefits, clean air, and safety.

Ciclovia has spread since its inception in 1976 to several other countries and even cities here in the United States. None of the other events are as large or occur as frequently as the one in Bogata, but are still very important to exhibit "car free" urban cycling.

Other cities should try this type of event to promote cycling and other types of active transportation. It only takes a governing body that is willing to share the road with all types of users. The only expense is in managing the closure of the routes and much of it can be done through volunteer staff. All events like Ciclovia will start out small, but there are plenty of case studies from other cities that show it can be a great success and is destined to be a positive influence on the community.

No Excuse Zone-Orlando

After flying back from Texas, last night's Critical Mass ride was an awesome way to get back in the saddle and to be back amongst bicycle friendly people. Critical Mass in Orlando has finally gotten so large that I am not even sure what the exact number of cyclists participating was, easily over 250-300!

As Orlando increases its cycling ridership, I am starting a small project with some of my cycling friends that may help other commuters and cyclists feel more comfortable in using their bicycle in the urban Orlando environment. We are calling it the No Excuse Zone, based on a project that our company did for Sydney Australia with the same premise. Their project incorporated case studies from multiple cities in Australia and Europe, where they performed this same process.

Our experiment is to start at Lake Eola in the heart of the city and ride out in all directions and document different routes that get us 30 minutes down the road. We think that this will create a map graphic that shows zones around the city that show people how far they can go in 5 minute increments. These routes will be based on the current conditions, but my hope is that through some deeper analysis, we can prescribe some facility solutions that could improve the cycling efficiency and safety.

Stay tuned as our experiment gets started and I get some results. The goal is to show Orlando that they have no excuse to not get on their bikes and ride! Ride on!

Hipsters to Spandex

There is a wide range of different types of cyclists and many times these typologies overlap one another. Many names have been coined for different types of riders; hipster, commuter, spandex, parents and kids, etc. Within the past 24 hours I have gotten to ride with several of these..

Last night was the monthly Critical Mass ride in Orlando, and in over 300 cities around the world. Critical Mass is a group ride, which was over 200 riders last night, that rides at a slow to moderate pace through the main arterial streets of the city.  The ride is intended to show bicycle awareness and to protest that bicycles are just as important as any other vehicle on the road.

It was pretty cool that I had a woman come up to me and ask me if I ride on Livingston every morning. I said yes, but that I hadn't remembered seeing her out there commuting in. She said that she was driving to work each day and that she drove a big van with dog paw prints painted on it. I actually recall that vehicle, since at 15mph you actually take in most of your surroundings and the dog paw prints are a pretty rare detail.

This morning I did my typical Saturday "Lakemont" ride. I cut through neighborhoods and ride 5 miles to get to the group start location, and the rising sun is the last peaceful moments for the next 2 hours. We had a good group of about 100 riders, ready to scorch the pavement.

The ride itself is 40 miles in 1.5 hours and there is no stopping or waiting for people to catch up. As we rode this morning I heard rumblings in the pack that a group of 6 or 7 were going to break off and attack at mile 30, and that is never good. When a breakaway occurs, the riders go off the front in a line and the pack responds and tries to catch them and pull them back in. It takes a ride that is a fast 25mph into a wild sprint that surpasses 30mph and splinters the pack.

Well the attackers kept their word at mile 30 and we finally caught them after riding at 32mph for about 2 miles. We finished the ride and ended with only about 30 riders (people get dropped and finish the ride alone or in small groups, or they end and head home early).

I love it because it sets up a great Saturday when you are home by 10am and feel like you already accomplished something and don't have to worry about doing anything but relaxing the rest of the day.