FEB '06 RIDE: Strength In Numbers

You get a spike of courage when you're riding in Critical Mass. People tend to shout out, "Get a bike!" or "Your car is too big!" (to an SUV cruising Gaslamp Qtr). I found myself yelling out a few times, "Critical Mass!" At one point I heard a rider say to another rider, "There's strength in numbers." But I have to ask: what is the strength for?

I got to the fountain at 7pm on the dot. There were about 20 people. The astronomy club was out there, and I got a chance to see the rings of Saturn through their telescope. By 7:30 the number swelled to 40, and I tried to get a few people to whip the group into action by circling the fountain. It seemed to work, then another small group shouted, "Down to 4th Ave and go right!" and we were in motion.

We cut W across the park, crossed the Laurel St Bridge and went N on 4th to University. Took University E to 30th and went down the E side of Balboa Park. Then snaked around gaslamp.

We were relatively cohesive, though the tail end of the group had to run a few red lights to stay together. Several times we occupied the intersection and rode in circles. One guy had brought sparkling fireworks and occasionally set it off and snaked through the mass.