Editor's Statement

The notion of “critical mass” has changed, and we may have entered the post-Critical Mass era without fully realizing it. Hindsight is like that, the past only becomes clear as time marches on. Well-attended group rides are no longer revolutionary, roving bands of riders on a Thursday night are as newsworthy as church on Sunday. The end result is as the old slogan declared—we are traffic.

Critical Mass functioned as protest and social gathering, a show of solidarity between largely solo commuters, and an incubator for the current bicycle culture and advocacy groups. I can trace back a few of my dearest friends and my involvement in the past decade of bicycle advocacy to a tattered flyer posted on a telephone pole: “Last Friday of Every Month.”

The new crop of Group Fun Rides are different than the Critical Mass of old, but perhaps more effective in the long haul. It’s a ball rolling downhill, without the specter of arrest that protest rides can bring about. People are coming together in the name of fun and being energized around the bicycle in numbers Critical Mass could have only dreamed of, and in turn demanding infrastructure and respect more effectively than ever before. I have no doubt that the next generation of bicycle advocates will cite a ride like those we profile on page 56 as their jumping off point.

Things are not how they used to be, the cycling landscape has dramatically changed. It’s exciting to see where this will all go next if we have in fact reached critical mass.

Hiplok