Critical Mass began on September 25, 1992 in San Francisco and has since spread to a large portion of the rest of the world.
While the reasons for the 'Mass vary, the general idea is that the bicyclists "take over" the roads from the automobiles for a few hours, creating corks in traffic and forcing those in running vehicles to allow the pollution-free commuters to control the roads. Critical Mass participants bike together through red lights and block off major lanes of traffic. Critical Mass has no planners and is entirely spontaneous.
Critical Mass meets on 6pm last Friday of every month at Justin "Pee Wee" Herman Plaza (Market @ Embarcadero). The ride doesn't usually get started until around 6:20'ish, so if you're running late it's usually easy to slide into the mass.
Ted White's ![[WWW]](http://wikispot.org/wiki/eggheadbeta/img/sycamore-www.png){kind=small}
We Are Traffic is a great documentary on the beginnings of Critical Mass in San Francisco.
June 27, 2008
Cindy Sheehan campaigns at Justin Herman before mass takes off. Photo Arlen Abraham. February 29, 2008
June 29, 2007
Videos:
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"Evidently, there is almost nothing that cannot be done with a scraper bike."
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"I got stuck in Critical Mass on Friday on my way to my dinner party"
