Critical Mass in Reno: First Friday of every month.

What is Critical Mass? It’s basically a big bicycle ride. Big as in with lots of people, not going far.

Originally started to demonstrate about how cities are unfriendly to cyclists, Critical Mass is now about celebration and encouragement. The mantra “Take back the streets” has been replaced with “Ride daily, celebrate monthly”.

I started participating in Critical Mass about two years ago. Pete (aka the StickerGuy) was the unofficial leader of the Mass, and it went a lot like what you see in this video. I’ve been in Masses with over 50 people, and I have been in some with only 3 of us.
At the beginning of the year, I met Tommy in one of the Masses, and he asked me to write a bit for the Passport, so here I am.

Nowadays, the rides have changed in a couple of ways:
1) StickerGuy and his Septocycle are sorely missed. Last I heard, he’s usually traveling the world.
2) We try not to take up both lanes of traffic, if there are 2 or more lanes going in the same direction. After all, we are trying to put the whole “Share the road” idea into people’s heads.
3) The emphasis of the Mass ride is to show Reno that riding our bikes is a viable and enjoyable means of transportation. Not to flip the bird at motorists, or inconvenience traffic.

Do you have a bike? Can you ride it? Then come join. You’ll find the events listed in the Passport’s calendar of events. The rides are a social event, so you don’t need to worry about having the nicest bike, or being able to ride at 20 mph. As a Mass, we ride together, and an effort is made to do it at the speed of the slowest rider.

Where? Downtown Reno, at Wingfield Park Plaza. That’s the big circle plaza, next to Java Jungle, by the Truckee River.
When? The first Friday of every month. So, next one will be this coming Friday, October 3rd.
We meet before 5:30pm, and ride out at 5:30.
How? On our bikes! Although there have been times where people have ridden skateboards, too!

If you’d like to get more involved, join the Tribe.net or Facebook groups. Or, you know, show up to one of the Masses.