As far as the “self-editing and self-criticism” you’re talking about, a little never hurts. It’s part of learning. As the saying goes, “the unexamined life is not worth living.”

The question remains: Was going on the Gardiner about bicycle advocacy or was it a self-congratulatory two-wheeled cuddle party? My money’s on the latter.

“I certainly will not be joining any other Critical Mass ride in the future.”

“I did foolishly join one in Toronto when I was visiting friends, and I should not have let myself get talked into taking part. ”

You don’t anything to justify or apologize for! You have the right to do the sorts of things human beings do. The world is so saturated with words that they lose meaning. We live in a society where we self-edit and self-criticize way too much.

So, if you have a change of heart, Critical Mass won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

Look man, there is no ‘clique’ of twentysomething ‘hipsters’. There is a community of people who… communicate ideas with each other? Know how to have a good time? Do stupid things now again like every other human being? Not that I consider taking over the gardiner as a stupid action. I’m just saying, humans are multi-faceted, and by trying to sum us up in such a way, you are showing that you think you are above all the ‘twentysomething hipsters’. Besides. The age range was very vast, and there was no age majority there! So I take your insult and say: yuck fou!

Instead of just coming up with some ‘clever’ quips about us and condemning our actions, how about you just mind your own business. We pulled a gutsy stunt. Whose risk was it? Ours. No cars were threatened or hurt in the actions we took, because we conducted our stunt with safe precision. We stayed in one lane until the people in the cars had enough time to stop and wait for us. I’m happy they waited for us. Cars are fast! Everyone who got on the gardiner knew the risks involved with cars, but decided to go anyway. There was a spirit of communication between bodies not unlike the communication between an ensemble of dancers. In cars, such a communication does not exist. It’s every man for himself. I’ve been counting the average number of times I almost get pushed off the road or driven through by negligible drivers each time I cycle. It’s pretty high. During this event, I did not feel my life endangered for a SECOND. I felt I might face consequences, but consequences be damned! I’m gonna remember this until I die.

Further, if drivers feel punished or oppressed by waiting a few minutes for us, that is their own problem. They should see a psychologist. Impatience kills too many people.

It really turned me off CM, and I never took part here again. I did foolishly join one in Toronto when I was visiting friends, and I should not have let myself get talked into taking part. The damn thing went right through the Eaton Centre! What is the point to that? Going the extra mile to show how asinine cyclists can be…

That was definitely it for me, and I’ve loudly commented on the uselessness of CM ever since.

I spend countless hours helping run our local bike co-op (which to me is real cycling activism, not taking part in a misguided rush-hour parade once a month), and whenever someone starts talking up CM in the shop everyone else cringes, because they know what I’m about to say in reply to that person.

The point of the ride is to try and promote awareness of cyclists on city streets where we normally ride alone every day. The Gardiner is not one of those routes and thus cyclists have no place on it.

I’m actually quite surprised at the group-think that occurred on this ride as I’m pretty sure a lot of people who were there knew this was bad idea but went along with it anyway.

I certainly will not be joining any other Critical Mass ride in the future.