what is the Critical Mass like in Chicago? (lawyer, neighborhood)

[EJ3791]

I ran into those guys once, a few years ago, maybe around Wrightwood and Southport. We must of sat there for a good 10 minutes. I don't know what they were hoping to accomplish, but they didn't put bicycling in any sort of positive light.

[UICJohn]

I love riding on my bike. It is basically my lone mode of transportation when the weather starts getting nicer. The only problem is that I hate my bicyclists. The ones weaving in and out of traffic. The ones acting like they own the roads. They are made to be shared and then stupid stuff like this makes it look even worse.

[serpent_of_old]

ok
i am sorry to hear that CM has turned so many people off there
the intention, globally, is to create a demand for more bike infrastructure, yes, and bike awareness
i cannot speak for chicago, but in philly its illegal for one to ride a bike on the sidewalk. within downtown, you may get a ticket from a cop. add this to the streets being super narrow...well, all cyclists are expected to be in the street..you get the picture
when done correctly, its actually safe for all of the riders. in philly it attracts mainly krust punks and indie kids. i have never heard of people getting high and drunk. THATS stupid if thats whats going on in chicago
my droid goes off every month now as a reminder for CM lol...i use to ride CM religiously, and even clean my bike for it, but havent in easily 6 years. it can be fun with of course the right people...feels very liberating and kinda like anarchy lol
a few time manhattan had a 12k person CM...then they had to start passing laws lol
it will at least be interesting to see when i get there, chicago
thanks for the heads up guys

[serpent_of_old]

i have found if the 2-3 people leading the CM of that moment are responsible, then the rest follow suit easily
they do not want to be shut down...its too fun

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by serpent_of_old

ok
i am sorry to hear that CM has turned so many people off there
the intention, globally, is to create a demand for more bike infrastructure, yes, and bike awareness
i cannot speak for chicago, but in philly its illegal for one to ride a bike on the sidewalk. within downtown, you may get a ticket from a cop. add this to the streets being super narrow...well, all cyclists are expected to be in the street..you get the picture
when done correctly, its actually safe for all of the riders. in philly it attracts mainly krust punks and indie kids. i have never heard of people getting high and drunk. THATS stupid if thats whats going on in chicago
my droid goes off every month now as a reminder for CM lol...i use to ride CM religiously, and even clean my bike for it, but havent in easily 6 years. it can be fun with of course the right people...feels very liberating and kinda like anarchy lol
a few time manhattan had a 12k person CM...then they had to start passing laws lol
it will at least be interesting to see when i get there, chicago
thanks for the heads up guys

Chicago has a reputation of being one of the best big cities for cycling in the US. Not only is there an 18.5 mile lakefront bike path, there are also 170 miles of on the road bike lanes. There is a 2020 plan to increase that number to around 650 miles and also some other plans such as the Bloomingdale Trail (re purposing an old railroad line for 3 miles for bicycling, walking, overall nature stuff, etc).

You can learn more about what the city is doing with bicycling. It looks very bright. There is a video on this site

City of Chicago :: Bicycling

[Chicago76]

Originally Posted by serpent_of_old

ok
i am sorry to hear that CM has turned so many people off there
the intention, globally, is to create a demand for more bike infrastructure, yes, and bike awareness
i cannot speak for chicago, but in philly its illegal for one to ride a bike on the sidewalk. within downtown, you may get a ticket from a cop. add this to the streets being super narrow...well, all cyclists are expected to be in the street..you get the picture
when done correctly, its actually safe for all of the riders. in philly it attracts mainly krust punks and indie kids. i have never heard of people getting high and drunk. THATS stupid if thats whats going on in chicago
my droid goes off every month now as a reminder for CM lol...i use to ride CM religiously, and even clean my bike for it, but havent in easily 6 years. it can be fun with of course the right people...feels very liberating and kinda like anarchy lol
a few time manhattan had a 12k person CM...then they had to start passing laws lol
it will at least be interesting to see when i get there, chicago
thanks for the heads up guys

Just a heads up from someone who has done a couple of these in the past:

1) People aren't running around getting high and drunk and jumping on bikes, although the end of the ride does often end up at a bar for a few adult beverages. The Chicago CM crowd does tend to be more indie kids, and someone might assume that indie kids are snorting lines of coke off the sidewalk before jumping on their bikes I guess, but this isn't really the case in my experience. Are there people on drugs there? I'm sure. There are all types though. A lot of professional working stiffs too.

2) I don't see anything in particular wrong with a "reclaiming the streets mentality", but my major criticism of Chicago CM is that it is too heavy handed. You wanna get all 200-1000 of your people through a light? Fine get them through together and run the red as an informal parade of sorts. That doesn't mean screwing around in the intersection or taking your sweet ass time though. It doesn't mean stopping to wave at people or weaving all over the road either.

3) Yes, there are some weirdos and eccentrics in the group. A lot of them were probably made fun of excessively growing up and now they seem to have a, "Hey look at me" attitude masquerading as bicycle militancy.

I'd say two thirds of the people at these events are pretty good people. Unfortunately, the most vocal people in informal leadership roles within Chicago CM seem to dominate the other third. These people are generally asshats.

[serpent_of_old]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Chicago has a reputation of being one of the best big cities for cycling in the US. Not only is there an 18.5 mile lakefront bike path, there are also 170 miles of on the road bike lanes. There is a 2020 plan to increase that number to around 650 miles and also some other plans such as the Bloomingdale Trail (re purposing an old railroad line for 3 miles for bicycling, walking, overall nature stuff, etc).

You can learn more about what the city is doing with bicycling. It looks very bright. There is a video on this site

City of Chicago :: Bicycling

this is very valuable information to me. thanks for posting this

Chicago76,
thanks for the heads up as well
over time i outgrew critical mass, or maybe moreso the overly fashioned and pretentious people it drew in philly. the one that that was outstanding though was...
every friday i did a century ride by myself, at night, 15-20mph
except for CM fridays...riding slow for 2 hours with those guys was more cardiovascular for me that racquetball EVER was...my heart would be slowly pounding in my chest. maybe it was just me, but it was intense and i loved it. made me want to sit down in the park just after and chill and appreciate the trees lol

[Chi-town Native]

I get the concept of CM, but as a life-long biker I think the execution sucks.

The current system of holding it during rush hour and behaving as a "single organism" is just myopic and counter-productive. Not everyone driving home during rush hour (not to mention the CTA buses impacted) is out there driving a Hummer. Many of us are trying to pick up kids from school, go to a night class, etc.

The biggest problem I have with CM is the concept it is like a funeral party that can't be broken up/or that needs to respect traffic lights.

I'm all for the idea, but if you aren't obeying the laws you are just making the situation worse. It's very much like listening to cops rationalize why they should blow red lights even when they aren't actually responding to a call.

As for "the city is so dangerous, we need it to raise awareness" - I say wrong. I've watched cyclist etiquette get worse and worse (especially on Milwaukee) for the better part of 15 years. If me and my friends could bike on major streets when we were 12 then adults can do the same thing, and without riding two or three abreast, blowing lights, ignoring 4-way stop signs, riding the wrong way down skinny one-way streets, etc.

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

As for "the city is so dangerous, we need it to raise awareness" - I say wrong. I've watched cyclist etiquette get worse and worse (especially on Milwaukee) for the better part of 15 years. If me and my friends could bike on major streets when we were 12 then adults can do the same thing, and without riding two or three abreast, blowing lights, ignoring 4-way stop signs, riding the wrong way down skinny one-way streets, etc.

I run into so many people that are pissed off about idiotic cyclists I think a person could run for alderman on an anti cyclist agenda. If I were the mayor I'd crack down hard, in some neighborhoods controlling irresponsible cyclists would be one of the more beneficial thing the cops could do.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by Irishtom29

I run into so many people that are pissed off about idiotic cyclists I think a person could run for alderman on an anti cyclist agenda. If I were the mayor I'd crack down hard, in some neighborhoods controlling irresponsible cyclists would be one of the more beneficial thing the cops could do.

On Milwaukee between Division & Logan, absolutely.

But just to be clear, I have as much of a problem (or more) with jerkoff drivers, taxis, people who stand on the left side of the CTA escalators in rush hour, etc.

The difference is those people are just ignorant by and large, it takes a special sort of human being to actually take pride in making other people's lives more miserable.

My "youngest grumpy old man of Chicago" campaign is well underway. I'd vote for this cat over Rahm:

Grumpy Cat meme | quickmeme