NEXT RIDE - Friday, August 29, 2008 - 6:30PM - Starts at Lawton Park

Councilman Mitch Harper (R, 4th) preparing to ride during the July Critical mass

Riding in pack appeals to Mass
Link (JG)

“In many cities, especially on the West Coast, bikes are everywhere. Bicycle lanes are clearly marked, and some cities even have street maps showing all the bike lanes. In the countryside, states do their best to accommodate cyclists, letting them stay overnight in state parks for as little as $3 and even offering riders free showers.

Bicycles are more accepted in some cities because they’re all over the place.

Fort Wayne’s problem is that there aren’t enough bicycles on the road. “The whole image of a cyclist is, people think if they see a person on a bike, he’s lost his license, gotten a DWI, or he’s too poor to have a car,” Helmkamp says.

To an extent, that image is fairly accurate. It causes some people who would like to ride a bike to think twice about it, and it probably makes some motorists a little impatient.

If Fort Wayne wants to become a more bicycle-friendly city, Helmkamp says, more people need to be on bikes.”

“The first Critical Mass took place in San Francisco 16 years ago, and now bicycle rides like this are happening in cities all over the world.

Fort Wayne had its first such event in May, a spontaneous event, says Holm, the maker of the giant bikes. About 36 riders showed up. In June about 55 riders showed, and in July about 100 joined in. They rode around town and even went down Jefferson Boulevard to Jefferson Pointe. While that sounds a little risky, the guys at Cardinal Tattoo say that when you ride in a big pack, cyclists become like a tractor-trailer rig - people see them and give them a wide berth.”

[...]

“Undoubtedly, as Critical Mass grows, some people won’t like it. Some drivers might become incensed that they might miss a light once a month because a pack of weirdos on bikes got in the way.

Well, that happens, with funerals, with parades, with construction crews, with people who sit through green lights while they are cleaning the floor of their car.

People will just have to get accustomed to the cyclists.”

The Critical Route (7-26-2008)
Critical Mass Gets Paper Press (6-29-2008)