-=-= www.critical-mass.org =-=-
The Babylon By Byke Critical Mass Web Page!

I've gone bicoastal, so prepare yourself for two realities ...

Greetings from San Francisco, a city sometimes known as "Babylon By The Bay," though to me it's more of a "Babylon By Byke." It's also where Critical Mass was born:

  • The classic last-Friday-of-the-month rides (gather at Justin "Pee-Wee" Herman Plaza at 5:30PM, between the Embarcadero BART Station and the Ferry Building).
  • Berkeley, across the Bay, rides on the second Friday of the month (gather at the Berkeley BART station on Shattuck at 5:30PM)

Greetings from Brooklyn, New York City's bikingest borough. (Well, Manhattan probably has more bikers per square inch, though many are from Brooklyn.) The greater metropolitan Brooklyn area has two rides:

  • Manhattan Critical Mass gathers on the last Friday of the month at Union Square (and other locations) at 7:00PM.
  • Brooklyn Critical Mass gathers on the second Friday of the month at Prospect Park North (and another Williamsburg location) at 7:00PM.

The environmental group TIME'S UP! has a number of group rides that resemble Critical Mass rides in some ways.

My Critical Mass Photos on flickr:
Alas, flickr implements things with JavaScript, so if you're smart and turned it off, you can't see my photo thumbnails here. But you can still click below.
More >>

Things I've Written
  • Laborious Ride before Labor Day, San Francisco August 2007
  • Beeline to the Beach, San Francisco April 2006
  • Nifty Hallowe'en Ride in New York City October 2003
  • 10th Anniversary Ride in San Francisco September 2002
  • Flocculating in the Streets of Berkeley, a magazine article about the early days of Critical Mass. July 1993
  • Two Thumbs Good, my very first Critical Mass ride in Berkeley. May 1993

    • ... and more web pages about Bicycles


    Some Photos I've Taken
    Frenzied or Mellow?
  • June 1998 at the Wave Organ, on Dildo Man's "Mass Backwards" ride.
  • April 1999 at "Pee-Wee" Plaza, where the media showed up because of some durnfool "GAS OUT" boycott. Sure enough, we rode right up to a gas station and didn't buy any gas.
  • June 1999 at the Wave Organ, on the Lombard Ride. .
  • July 1999, on Lombard Street again (and loving it!).
  • September 1999, at "Pee-Wee" Plaza, helping people decided on a frenzied ride or a mellow ride. Note the motorcycle officer blocking the route of the frenzied ride. Everyone opted for the mellow ride.
  • A Pedersen appears at the weekly mini-mass.
  • Mini-massers in the monthly ride (notice the "Mass Backwards" T-shirt?).

    Hallowe'en 1999:
  • A narcotics officer grills a baker, probably because he's "half-baked" (it said so, right on his hat!).
  • An exorcism gone awry, it seems.
  • Move over Florence Nightingale!
  • A woman being eaten by rats, a bloodthirsty pirate, and a cook with a banana seat. (What's with all the bakers and cooks? Won't too many cooks spoil the broth?)
  • Mona's costume was for the birds.
  • The guy in this photo (another "half-baked" cook) advised me to use some sort of fancy-schmancy 64-gazillion ASA film to take these photos. Which is why this picture of him is so blurry.
  • On the other hand, the 64-gazillion ASA film got me this wonderful photo of bikers at City Hall, and also this "Bike the Bridge" pumpkin.
  • Another baker/biker actualy got off of his bike (gasp!) when distracted by a wood nymph.
  • She can swim upstream in traffic, but she couldn't get the mass to ride out onto the wharf.

    • Selected San Francisco Bay Area Links

    San Francisco:   Email Lists: sfbike and sf-critical-mass ·· History Site ·· Media Guy Goes Biking ·· Photo Album ·· Self-Propelled City ·· Summer 1997 (In The News and Not In The News)
    Bay Area:   In a Nutshell ·· Berkeley/East Bay ·· Marin ·· Peninsula ·· Walnut Creek

    Selected Brooklyn Area Links

    Email Lists: brooklynmass and ebikes ·· BikeBlog ·· Brooklyn Critical Mass ·· NYC Critical Mass (TIME'S UP!)


    Other Favorite Critical Mass Web Sites

    I maintain the imaginatively-named www.critical-mass.org web site, which is just a simple catalog listing a bunch of worldwide Critical Mass websites. I also host a variety of sites at scorcher. Here's a smattering of more sites that I'm especially fond of:

    Brochure

    Here's a brochure that's a collection of snippets from other brochures. A good starting point for making your own brochures!

    Peace In The Streets

    Tips for a peaceful ride despite police harassment.

    Screed!

    "From Zero to Xerocrat:" A fantastic site filled with flyers and graphics. A most valuable resource for rides everywehre.

    Superhero

    San Francisco's Critical Mass has everything, including our very own superhero: "a pillar of safety and enjoyment."

    The Times

    The Critical Mass Times is our very own online newspaper.


    "A lot of them were from places like Belgium."
        -- San Francisco City Supervisor Michael Yaki

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