So many critics - sow few participants. Many seem to condemn CM because they once had a cyclist stop in front of them at a red light they wanted to drive through, and it might have been on a friday, so CM sucks. CM in Boston is small. They/we never hold a light more than one cycle to keep the mass together. There is one intersection they always seem to want to "cork" for a few minutes - I don't like that so I vote with my wheels and leave. Yes it's immature - but to say "I wish the bus driver ran these fucks over"? Wow, Jason C, rage much? I sure hope you don't own a gun or live near a school. CM is a great place to ride free, meet people, enjoy fresh air all at about 10mph, a speed nearly anyone can sustain on a bike. People in cages need to learn that 99% of the time they "suffer a huge delay when going to pick up sick kids" it's a bunch of motorists that delay them. Not motorists commuting or working, but motorists joy riding, driving an errand that does not need to be run at 6pm Friday, or cruising for parking. Yes it's a fact, some studies show that 40% of traffic in a city is from people cruising around looking for a free place to store their car. So really - if you hate CM, it's probably because you hate traffic. If you hate traffic, the best thing you can do is demand market-rate prices for curb side parking, so people (including yourself) can find a spot easily & quickly, and let all vehicles flow freely. And to my fellow CM riders who might read this... Let's stop corking, OK? It's dumb. read more

Critical Mass is great in theory, but not so much in practice. It is fun, and I can't negate that. I show up pretty regularly actually because I can't resist an excuse to take a slow ride through the city and ring my bell with a bunch of other bike lovers... BUT the anarchist element, combined with an angsty attitude toward cars, causes things to go terribly wrong more often than not. With no one in charge to keep people in line, things deteriorate rapidly almost every time. Now I will do some preaching about my theory on bicycles: Bikes are a wonderful, sustainable, affordable, and fun way to get around town. Cars use gas and destroy the environment. Okay, we're all clear on this. But let's face it, for the rest of our time on this planet, people will be driving cars of some kind on the roads AND people (hopefully in growing numbers) will be riding bikes on those same roads. Cyclists and drivers need to learn to get along. A lot of drivers get pissed at cyclists because they swerve in and out of cars, don't stop at lights and stop signs, and don't wear visible attire. All of these things are legitimate complaints. And cyclists get pissed at drivers because well, first of all, they are in cars. Plus, they open their car doors on us, turn into us, and general fail to notice our existence and respect our right to share the road. Also reasonable. But people! The solution is not cursing each other out! We've got to share the road, like it or not!!! I joined Critical Mass many years ago out in Eugene, Oregon, and then rejoined again in Boston last year, because I wanted to be part of a movement to raise bicycle awareness. Unfortunately, Critical Mass, in my humble opinion, fails to accomplish this goal, and instead tends to turn into a crew of cyclists riding on the wrong side of the road, stopping traffic, banging on the hoods of cars, and generally pissing people off. There's a lot of anger and downright resentment involved, and it just ain't right. So-- I'm working on starting some kind of casual bike crew this spring, based out of my 'hood in Somerville. The goal is going to be to get out riding with other bike lovers, ride at a social speed, and follow the rules of the road, all while having some spontaneous dance parties, dressing up in weird costumes, and just showing everyone how awesome, responsible, and respectful we can be all at the same time. What a novel idea! ;-) read more

Critical Mass sucks. It cheapens me as a cyclist, as a bike commuter, as a bike punk and as a citizen to take part in it. CM had a point, once. In San Francisco, the first Critical Mass ride was a legitimate act of civil disobedience; a group of bicyclists banded together and rode across the Bay Bridge in protest of the city's refusal to open the bridge to bikes. Now, it's an excuse for a few hundred boneheads to ride aimlessly through a city at minimum speed, disrupt traffic, and sneer at motorists who just want to go home on a Friday evening but instead have been waiting at the same stop light for ten minutes. Occasionally, someone will stop and pick their bike up over their head and scream slogans in order to demonstrate the awesome power of empty bike advocacy. I rode it three times. I wanted to give it a try. Now I feel that I can safely conclude that Mass and the people who ride it are worth less than zero to the bicycle movement. read more

Critical Mass is great if you want to ride at two miles per hour and be an asshole. There is no message, other than, yes, if you get 50 people together on bikes, you can't get a car by. Not to say that it can't be wrong, but honestly, I think critical mass is a joke, and I really don't like getting associated with people who think that CARS ARE THE DEVIL etc. Yeah, great, we get it. And before I get ripped to shreds, I ride a ton, I race, and I support bikes. But this is not the way. --- Edit: I have actually done critical mass. Twice. I'd rather do training rides with roadies than roll around hooting around. read more

Yeah, sorry. This gives me a bad name as a cyclist, and I resent that. When I'm on foot, crossing the street, and forty people swarm through the crosswalk on all sides of me like I'm not even there, then tell me to relax when I say "watch out," I lose pretty much all interest in whatever your message is or whether it matters. Being a prick is the same no matter what side you're on. If you're in our federal Executive Branch these days, you probably believe that the way to get through to your adversaries is to piss them off and show them what's what. Or if you're behind Critical Mass. The rest of us understand that this is not how you make people start being amenable to what you have to say. Carrying a gun's pretty empowering, too, but I wouldn't recommend it. read more

Whenever I see a friend cruise by on a Critical Mass ride I'm the only one waving to them. Everyone else on the sidewalk is boooing and throwing rotten veggies. Well, not quite. I feel kinda bad criticizing, with all the bad events the CM riders in NYC have suffered in the last 2 years. But in Boston, Critical Mass kinda sorta totally blows. The two rides I went on were frustrating. The whole point was to create gridlock, and to yell at people in SUV's. People yelled violent things from their vehicles, drivers were reckless around us and it could have been physically violent. Also, I was bothered that when bystanders asked who we were, why we were riding, some riders would yell inappropriate things at them like "For Anarchy!", "Against the Pigs", "F*** you, you SUV driver!" instead of yelling "We're Critical Mass" or handing out one of the informational pamphlets that Critical Mass produces. read more

Loads of fun! As of this writing, and probably for a long time to come: meets 3rd Friday of each month in Copley Sq. Check out the website for up to date info. I would give it 5 stars if it succeeded in showing folks my bike and I belong on the road. As it is functions now, it more pisses others off and probably more leaves the impression we are a bunch of arseh*les. Course, I'll be there as many Fridays as I can make it! read more

I very much do not like the Critical Mass rides that go on in Boston. I'm an experienced cyclist and I've been on these rides occasionally over the past few years. It rapid devolves into a few people corralling cars for no reason. Often half of the crowd is on the wrong side of the road -- traveling against traffic. The way things usually go in Boston, these rides do little to promote the awareness and rights of cyclists. The net effect is likely negative. The most notable behavior on Boston Critical Mass rides is that of a minority of immature and inexperienced riders. read more

I know that car commuters may be pissed (though how hard is it to evade a slow-moving, block-long mass of bikes, really?), but from the perspective of a participant, this is so much fun. The participants are very talkative and will just randomly chat you up. You will see some cool bikes. You will get some exercise. I'm not really going to go into the ethics of this ride, since I really don't care. It's once a month, deal with it but its quasi-anarchist leaderless nature would probably not be so condusive for that... I've been to Critical Mass in NYC, was followed by cops for a while, and was eventually aggressively forced off my bike and got a ticket. No corking intersections, nothing fun happens there. Critical Mass in Boston, however, is allowed to do whatever the hell they want. This ride is pretty big, too, around 500 people in the April ride that I went to. I highly recommend you forgo Critical Mass in NYC until police-cyclist relations improve, if you do not want to get a bullshit ticket (which you can most likely just fight), and instead come to Boston and tear shit up. As a side-note, the whole "protest" part of it is kind of whack. It's just people randomly chanting random things once in a while. It would be cool if someone actually organized it into a legitimate protest about something. read more

I love critical mass and will always love it. It is a lot of fun and is rarely ever confrontational (despite what people might believe). To all the people who disapprove they need to realized the aggressive actions of certain individuals do not represent the whole. They are idiot INDIVIDUALS, NOT the CRITICAL MASS. Don't use CM as a scapegoat. I am saddened when I read or hear about police/biker beatdowns and brawls. But for each of the dickhead wannabe anarchists (who have no clue what that means) who like to start trouble and egg-on hot tempered motorists there are 50 perfectly peaceful people who are simply enjoying a Friday afternoon bikeride. To the nay sayers - Don't let the dicks turn you sour. To the dicks - Don't spoil Critical Mass for the rest of us. If "The Man" (who is a human being just like you) wants to see your ID just show them. Don't try and be a martyr, you may be within your Rights, but you should understand the contextual rules of the situation and act appropriately. Don't talk shit back to the motorists. Just ignore it. Provoking and pissing off the cops & motorists by being a douchebag only hurts the cause. Harmony without Aggression. Another World is Possible. read more

one spring day i was having a shitty day - all i wanted to do was go home and pout, but i promised my friend i'd check out critical mass... not backing down we headed over to copley. within 15 minutes i was in a way better mood. i definitely see how its seen as a negative (as a biker and someone who's definitely pro environment... i got stuck at the bay bridge for 2 hours for some bikers oil protest - definitely pissed me off). however no traffic in boston is stopped for this long - mostly 10 minutes max of added commute time but if you put the anarchy and the car hating aside, when else do you get to ride the streets of boston almost care free? actually enjoying the scenery and not worrying if the 1 bus is going to run you over? i'll probably do it again... mostly because i enjoyed just getting to ride outside without the fear of a car door taking me down. read more

I am a fairly seriously cyclist and have ridden over 3000 miles this year so far, regularily commute 30 miles to work by bike....just so you know where I am coming from....and I think this is stinks. I was late for a train and no one would let me cross the street...finally I just went for it and can't repeat the lanhguage I heard here. Also-whats up with people reading texts and on cell phones---while riding? what an awful example. This shuold be outlawed as it promotes even more animosity towards cyclists read more

get over it, babies! it's only once a month, it's not like it's going to impair your life (i'm sure you're never even around the city when it does happen) and i'm sure that if you took part of it, you would be sucking it like a baby. read more

for those negative reviewers of critical mass: just take a look at the responses of people on the street and in their cars: people love us. for every one person who gets pissy when they have to wait at an intersection there are 20 others who love it, who honk their support and smile from ear to ear. riding in a critical mass ride is kind of like being on a parade (without having to do anything). people light up when they see us, and that's what its all about. riders typically call out "thank you" to cars who wait, and shout invitations to people on the street. why the need to be cynical in these reviews? why the insistence that anything festive, affirmative and free, that reminds people that cities are not just machines but are communities, is so offensive? the tiny inconveniences (having to wait as much as 3-5 minutes) are, in my opinion, just an excuse to the fun-haters to vent. the vast majority of people who see a critical mass ride would disagree. read more