Critical Mass Bike Party

Last Friday of every month

New "Official" Website

Next Ride is Friday August 25

Next Next Ride is Friday September 29

Phillips Square - Ste Catherines x. Union

Meet at 5:30pm - Ride at 6pm

Velorution / Fete des velos

le dernier vendredi de chaque mois

la prochaine: vendredi le 25 aout

la prochaine prochaine: le 29 septembre

Carre Phillips - Ste Catherine x. Union

rassemblement à 17h30, tour à 18h

(en francais dessous)

Critical Mass is a bicycle ride that takes place every last Friday of the
month in the streets of Montreal. (There are all kinds of reasons for
participating. Feel free to add your own if you're passing this on to
friends...) It's a celebration of the alternatives to cars, pollution,
accidents and the loss of public spaces and freedoms. A group of cyclists
started this in San Francisco in 1992 and the movement quickly spread all
over the world.

Join the Montreal Critical Mass on FRIDAY MAY 26th!

Why?
To assert our right to the road
To make noise about the lack of respect cyclists get from drivers
To promote biking as a sustainable and practical mode of transportation
To protest against oil dependency and car culture
To have fun and celebrate cycling
To rock out to groovin' tunes
To show off stylish, crazy, custom bikes
To make friendly connections with complete strangers

Critical Mass Bike Party
Last Friday of every month
Next Ride is Friday May 26
Next next ride is Friday June 30
Phillips Square - Ste Catherines x. Union
Meet at 5:30pm - Ride at 6pm

Masse Critique est une balade à vélo qui se déroule chaque dernier
vendredi du mois dans les rues du centre-ville de Montréal. Cest une
célébration des solutions alternatives aux voitures, à la pollution,
aux accidents et à la perte de nos espaces publics. Le mouvement a
été parti par un groupe de cyclistes à San Francisco en 1992, et
set rapidement développé dans plusieurs villes du monde.

Joignez-vous à la Masse Critique de Montréal le VENDREDI 26 MAI!

Pourquoi?
Pour affirmer nos droits de se déplacer en sécurité
Pour revendiquer plus d'aménagements cyclables
Pour faire la promotion du vélo comme mode de transport pratique et
écologique
Pour protester contre la dépendance de notre société au pétrole
Pour samuser et célébrer le vélo

Velorution / Fete des velos
le dernier vendredi de chaque mois
la prochaine: vendredi le 26 mai
la prochaine prochaine: vendredi le 30 juin
Carre Phillips - Ste Catherine x. Union
rassemblement à 17h30, tour à 18h

May 26 2006

Great ride...

About fifty riders were gathered at Phillips Square for the departure at 6pm. People brought flyers and flowers to give to drivers and there was a quick talk with riders who had never participated in a Critical Mass before. This gave them a good idea of what to expect. Some of the first-timers got right into it, taking a lead role in corking drivers and adding their voices to cheers. Highlights of the ride included a prolonged Bike Stand in the middle of St. Laurent and Rachel, and another one at Sherbrooke and McGill. These were great for morale; drivers and peds seemed impressed too...

Lots of turns kept drivers from getting too pissed off. There was only one really scary interaction when a mini-SUV tried to run over a few of our friends on his way to the next red light. Seven riders were quick to block him and cool him down. Making lots of turns also helped us avoid the police for an hour and a half(!). As always, the presence of cops put an immediate damper on the high spirits of the ride. There were less cheers, indecisiveness about retreating to Parc LaFontaine vs. taking over Sherbrooke...(We took Sherbrooke)...After cruising west from Amherst, we turned north on St. Denis, rode in to the little parc across from the Metro, and scattered in small groups. I haven't heard of any tickets or arrests. Good stuff!

Professor Potter

May 28th 2004

Today's critical mass was busted once again. However it happened towards the end of the mass as we were riding to the Foufounes Electriques. Several people (including me) received a $37 ticket for not riding single file. I think we've generally agreed to fight the tickets as a group.

Besides the ticketing, things went well. About 50 people showed up for the ride. We biked east on Ste-Catherine west on Ontario, west on Rene-Levesque and then back east on Ste-Catherine.

April 30th 2004

Sadly today's critical mass was ride was busted by the police. It seems that at least one person was arrested. Hopefully we can figure out a solution for next time. It seems that police in other cities have done worse: Politically motivated police violence in the San Francisco Bay Area and Gainesville, Florida Critical Mass, and yes the cops even bust people in New York City (scroll down to the part called Arrested). I'd like to set up a web discussion forum type thing so that we can discuss possible solutions. I've heard that in some cities the police help with corking. Even if we're not that lucky we may be able to lay some ground rules so we can smooth things out. I'll add more information as the situation unfolds. Please get in touch with me if you have any other information.

November 28th 2003 I didn't go to today's critical mass ride. It was raining and my bike is in no condition to handle biking in the rain. No fenders or mud guards... I got soaked just biking home from school. Given the way it was raining I doubt if anyone else showed up, but you never know. If you were there, send me an email.

October 31st 2003 I went on my first critical mass ride today. I volunteered to make a website for the event in Montreal. Here it is, or at least will be in a little while. I'm going to get a nice new domain name: like www.montrealcm.com and then set up a mailing list so that people in montreal can keep up with biking info. I'll also set up a wiki so that anyone can add stuff. If you have any cool ideas, pictures, or just about anything please feel free to email me at the following addresses: bijan@psq.com or trustno1@crasseux.com.

This site best viewed with Lynx or Mozilla or Konqueror or any standards compliant browser!