Critical Mass Atlanta

The last Friday of every month around the entire world (in major cities anyway) cyclists unite for a few hours, they call it Critical Mass. It is a Massive Group Ride that basically is just FUN and gathers all bikes together to show the city that there is ALOT of us SO PLEASE WATCH OUT FOR US!!! There is no leadership, anyone can lead and all are invited. There is no planned route, anyone can lead. I rode from the office in Buckhead towards downtown and stopped to see my friend Caitlin on my way. Because for the first time ever I had about 95% of the lights in my favor I made record time, which means I was like the 4th person there at Woodruff Park.

I rode over to Five Points which is kind of the center of the tourist-y area for Atlanta. The first time my family and I came to Atlanta 13 years ago this was my first impression of Atlanta. Five Points is very, um, "urban" with street vendors and loud rap music and the like. I hadn't been back there other than for special events like New Years since that first trip. It was different this time now that I live here and I was on my bike. I rode around and remembered how the city seemed so big, alive, stifling hot outside then cold inside, it was confusing with the tall buildings and scary to me then. I remembered my mom and I being scared getting on MARTA like it was the belly of the New York City Subway System that we saw in horror movies and heard terrible violent stories about. It was our first BIG city trip for my brother and I, and I think my mom. I remember thinking I could NEVER live in a big city, I craved the forest back home. My brother was about 11 years old and would lean into me or mom when someone would walk close or stand near us. We were so sheltered back then.

On this day, the weather was perfect, I had no fear of the urbanites or the public transportation system in fact I was one of them now. Atlanta seemed small and accessible as I had just rode from one end to the other in just an hour. Another first time Masser found me, his name was Andrew. We hung out in the park until they started showing up in handfuls, and then in droves. Bikes, bikes, more bikes and then even more! I get excited when I see ONE other commuter in the morning, this was crazy! By 6:20 there were hundreds! Every kind of bike and person you can imagine. Gray hair, no hair, long hair, pink hair. Big, fat, tall, small. Fast, slow, heavy, light, no brakes, disc brakes, pull brakes, fat tires, mud tires, balloon tires, every one that rode a bike in Atlanta (it seemed) was there!

At about 6:35 or so no one was really riding, they were just hangin out together. I saw a few guys get on their bikes and head into the street so I quickly joined them. People started yelling LETS GO! MASS UP! I was in the leaders group laughing with a few others about 'How did we end up leading this thing? Where are we going to go?" I just hung out, I didn't have much to offer in terms of how this thing even worked. Slowly after lapping around the park, everyone joined in and we had a GIGANTIC group moving down Peachtree- the most famous and crowded street in Atlanta. After having to wait at a few lights for everyone to MASS UP we were moving through Atlanta. It was fun we yelled "Happy Friday!" "Ride a Bike" and "thank you!" to all the pedestrians and cars that had to wait for us all to get through intersections.
Hundreds, is all I can guesstimate- maybe 400 or 500 people on bikes?! It was quite a sight to see people on bikes in front of me as far as I could see and the same behind me as we went down Ponce. I was in bike heaven! Everyone was so nice, even the fixster single speeders talked to us lowly derailleur riders. It was like everyone just came together. I really enjoyed it. The police waved at us and smiled, people came out of their homes and businesses to see the spectacle. We rode for about 2 hours at a nice easy pace and just overtook the streets, GOOD times on a bike!

Here's a video I found about CM in Atlanta. I was calling the guy in the green dress our border collie for keeping us rounded up. I'm not sure where they got the shot of gas at 3.89 it is 4.09 up the street from my house....


Heres a You Tube Clip....I don't know where the AP video went....
I will be back next month. Highly enjoyable.



TOTAL FRIDAY BIKE MILES: 31.4

Now that I have made it a goal to go 30 consecutive days of being car free I feel it is appropriate to show these types of pictures. This is my grocery haul today. People say to me all the time that they can't be car free because of this or that, it's just too hard people tell me. I think it's a really fun challenge and well .... just fun to use my bikes to do stuff like grocery shop! It's fun to USE my bikes instead of just ride them.



Please do note the REUSABLE bags that I take. The biggest problem with using these is that the bagger person NEVER packs them right. They just pile everything in. I brought the small one for the can goods, and the big one for boxed stuff and soft stuff. I've just grown accustom to re-packing everything as soon as I get outside the store.

I didn't weigh it, but I guesstimate about 45# of goods here including the dog food. Not bad for a girl without a car and a ten year old bike!

Even the bananas made it home safe!