On the May 29th Critical Mass

20090529 22:57 Friday
Thoughts on the Critical mass bike ride I went on:

I went to the 20090529 Friday Critical Mass Bike ride. I’m usually at work at that time, but I had that Friday night off early. All sorts of people, dressed in all sorts of ways,, and all sorts of bikes,modded in all sorts of ways, which I liked. I only had from 18:30 till 19:15 as I had to be back home to meet Devon at home as we were going to dinner at Thai Garden that night. I visited with James, the repairman at Outdoor Omnibus, and with Duane, who even though he bicycles is still smoking. I find that the oddest combination.
I also discovered that the reason I’d had such a hard time pedalling up hills the past few weeks was because I’d been riding against my brake. I couldn’t figure out how to fix it because I kept trying to fix the brake and the wheel, but the problem was the brake cable on my handlebar!
At 19:00 I started circling the courthouse square. Not because I wanted to lead, but only because I only had 15 minutes of driving my bike before I had to get home. I stopped at each stoplight, as one of them said no left turn on red, using the hand signal of let arm elbow out, forearm down to show that I was stopping or stopped. When other joined me in the circle around the courthouse, they would go through the red lights on the let turns. Granted, there was little traffic, but their going through the red lights bothered me. That seems more hurtful rather than helpful to bike commuting. Down Washington and they all got in the left lane while I was in the right lane. I had not good way of working in without catching a tire, so leaned into a driveway to let a car pass. After that I caught up. I went one more round, but turned back by the courthouse as they went on past the municipal garage
I met Devon at home and she drove us down Pratt Ave. to Thai Garden. I was really, really glad to see that half of the critical mass bicyclers were driving their bikes on, while the other half had all stopped properly at the red light at Pratt and Meridian
Later, I got my bicycle worked on at Outdoor Omnibus as the brake cable problem had caused the brake to rub hard enough against the rear tire to cause a dangerous tear. Bicycle Repairman! James had a very good idea of having Bike Patrol police block intersections for cyclist who haven’t made the light. James said that some people said, “Aw, man. I wouldn’t come if cops showed up.” He also told me about cops at panoply enforcing the law when bikes went through red lights. I have no problem with that, as long as they hadn’t been waiting there 2 minutes or longer and there’s been no traffic. Then it’s just silly to have be stopped because the sensors aren’t working right at he light. That’s not the bicyclists fault.