I just particpated in my first Critical Mass Bike Ride. Here in Frankfurt, since last year, every first Sunday, more and more bikers meet at in front of the old opera house to reclaim their portion of the streets. The ride ended up at the Honsel Brücke where the Wheelzup Bike Film Festival was happening.

The Critical Mass movement, which started in 1992 in San Fracisco (1) is a way of protesting against the ever growing dominance of cars inside of big cities and celebrate the joy of riding. Today, the Critical Mass movement exists worldwide (2) and can attract as much as 5 thousand people like the one in August 2004 in New York (3).

In frankfurt, the critical mass movement has a website, but like in other cities, doesn’t represent any formal kind of organization. For example, during last weekend’s ride, I could see at the beginning of the ride, that there were a couple of guys blocking the traffic while the Mass pedaled the first street blocks. Suddenly I realized newcomers such as myself were already helping to set the new rules of the streets. Self organization?? yeah!!

The ride covered much of the downtown area of frankfurt and lasted some 2 and a half hours. Since the gathering in front of the Opera house until the end of the ride there was a clear feeling of joy and freedom. Well… the car drivers weren’t very happy….but who cares. Lets Ride!.

Best Photos of the ride….

Sources:

(1) http://critical-mass.info/

(2)http://www.critical-mass.org/

(3)http://www.stillweride.org/