Critical Mass

The city made some improvements and changes after they beat back critical mass cyclists last August. The one held last Friday was an overall positive affair. The cyclists made their way through downtown traffic without causing a riot. Sgt. Jeff Garcia from the Minneapolis Police Department complemented the effort. "It went pretty well," says Garcia. "Both sides are doing a good job."

Not so in the bike friendly world of Seattle. The emerald city saw a brutal confrontation between a motorist and several cyclists. A man was behind the wheel of his Subaru station wagon when the critical mass of cyclists moved in to block him from pulling out of a parking lot. Words went back and forth, then the man backed up his car, hitting a cyclist behind him. The rest of the cyclists didn’t think it was cool. He then ran his car through the mass, hitting several cyclists along the way. Eventually, anther group of cyclists forced him to stop his car a block later.

Not a good idea. Other cyclists moved in and beat his windshields in with their (u-locks?), knifed his tires and then punched the driver though the window. All full account can be found on the Seattle P.I.

And a better account can be found on their blog, written by a cyclist at the scene.

Jesus, a guy driving a Subaru gets beat down by cyclists… in Seattle? WTF? Next thing you know John Edwards will get caught for banging a chick behind the back of his of cancer stricken wife. (Say it ain’t so, John. Say it ain’t so.)

All this comes back to Minneapolis. The city has seen an increase in the amount of cyclists on the streets. And this could lead to an increase in the amount of possible fights between motorists and cyclists, especially during critical mass, where the greeting of "happy Friday" isn’t always met with a smile.

The next critical mass ride will be the one-year anniversary of the beat down. Hopefully, the ride will be like the one last Friday, which showed the twin cities at their best…

Everyone remained chill.