You might be right – I wondered about that at the time because I felt out of place wearing a helmet. That and I was one of the only dorks in spandex… :-/

Audio slideshow here »
Full poem here »

In my humble opinion, there are two ways to conduct this worthy ride that would make it an acceptable, respected event.
#1 – Treat it as an awareness campaign. (Don’t treat it as a protest) Get a proper parade permit from the City of Edmonton and use the entire street if you like.
#2 – Again, treat it as an awareness campaign and not a protest. Do not bother with a proper parade permit. Invite cyclists to participate, however, be what cyclists are expected to be, obey the traffic laws but do it in large numbers.
My message to CM. I am with you. I encourage you to convince city governments to widen streets to accomodate cyclists and make cities friendly to motorists and safe for cyclists. I know from experience that Edmontons roadways are not safe for cyclists but city council is working on it. If you become confrontational, not only will I no longer wish to participate in your ride, you will also lose my support.

With that said, I definitely think @g is hitting the heart of the matter by touching on a drivers preoccupation with speed and ‘getting through traffic’, but I’m unsure how a Critical Mass does anything to help this situation – Again, many times all it does is aggravate already hurried drivers.

I think the problem lies in the fact that to anybody outside of a CM there is absolutely no context (to my knowledge)… To a driver, it’s probably something to the effect of “Oh… There must be some sort of cycling event… Cool… I gotta to get home, hope it wraps up soon and they get the heck out of my way.”

I’m unsure as to how to get the context of a CM out there, perhaps banners, badges, or jerseys that the cyclists wear, pointing to a website for drivers to find out more information, but to @cardrivers point, taking up both lanes does less to prove a point, and more to piss drivers off. Shouldn’t the riders in a CM exemplify commuters best practices?

The sad thing is that when it come to the road, cars own it, whether cyclists like it or not. 19lbs of aluminum vs. 1000lbs of warm Detroit steel? We both know who’s winning that battle.

I understand the need to get out there and ruffle some drivers feathers, and I also understand the need to make it happen during times that maximize exposure and impact (ie. high traffic times), but I think it needs to be done in the most courteous manner possible to help raise awareness, while keeping a drivers impression of cyclists untainted and potentially even improving it.

Am I just being naive?

People don`t `make` eachother hate, dislike, or even like them. You don`t dislike trains because of THEM, you dislike trains because of YOU. That feeling is in you and no one is out there `making people hate them`….if you have hate it`s yours so take responsibility instead of blame others.

I don`t consider CM as cyclists `trying to make people like them`…yes it`s good publicity for bikes but it`s also to say `this is how we like to travel, please accept it`….there`s a lot of different rhythms to flow by. Just go with the flow. Maybe you would like CM so try it.
Speed kills.

I am very thankful I was able to turn onto 109th St. right before the mass of bicycles. It scares me that apparently traffic lights don’t apply to you. But what really annoys me is that you are taking up both lanes of traffic. Now, everyone in traffic has the right to be rude and make people hate them, but if your point is to make people like bicycles, shouldn’t you follow the “Slow traffic keep right” policy? You are acting just like a train that stops at a railway crossing for a long period. I don’t like them either.

I am all for better support for bicycles, and I would like it if Edmonton was a more bicycle friendly city; it certainly needs bike lanes and more trails. Driver education would also help. But whenever a protester is inconveniencing me for the sake of a protest, it just makes me want to do the opposite.

I probably sound like a troll, but that is not my intent. This is just the opinion of someone who drives a car.