Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Traffic Advisory

There is a commonly held notion that Critical Mass doesn't happen in Victoria. It started and stopped a few times, and though rides have been happening again for over a year, the word is slow to spread.

Help spread the news that Critical Mass is alive in Victoria!

This month some people are distributing fliers around town, postering at uvic, and calling local radio stations (on the day of) with a traffic advisory.

What else can be done to get the word out?

Monday, February 8, 2010

2009 Events

05/29
A new group is born?
Garrett flies handless down a hill in the Uplands, smokes Fraser, splats on pavement. In his split-second thinking, Garrett threw his camera safely onto the grass and somehow managed to walk away with only a scraped elbow and hip.

06/26
Twice as many people made it out this month! No crashes, but Neal's bike took a decent bite out of his leg. The ride got critical-er at the Last Asquith Party. (sadface)

07/31
Great turnout... about 40+ of us at the start of the ride. The ride ended at the Bung BBQ, which was most civilized and quaint. Theme: the obliteration of memory.

08/28
Twenty strong. Despite no planned after-party, many massers ended up at the same shaker in Oak Bay. Divine intervention?? Probably.

09/25
There were many new faces this month — we totaled about 35 in all. While we started off with several cheers from onlookers, the ire of motorists was at a high. We were honked and screamed at many times, and after several calls were apparently made to police, a cruiser stopped to check on the situation. Thankfully the cop was a cyclist. He said he supports our efforts!

10/30
Critical Mass was small on account of rain, but we got out and contributed to chaos of olympic torches, protestors, and the legion of police forces. Later, we found a nice pagoda out of the wet.

11/27
Criticaler Mass? Seven cyclists, three lanes of traffic. No problem.

12/25
Okay fine, we'll sit this one out.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Birthing the Victoria CM Blog

Prior to 2008, Critical Mass in Victoria was mostly nonexistent. A few people had tried to get it going, but other than an out-of-date website and a Facebook group with only 2 members, nothing was happening.

In January 2008, a group of Moonlight Midnight Mystery Ride enthusiasts stumbled upon the Facebook group and tried to jump-start participation. But rain and wind are a big deterrent, and the first few ride were very small. By mid-summer the momentum had been lost.

In the spring of 2009, a new group sprang up at UVic, and the rides centered around environmental and STV protests. There were posters around campus that generated a lot of interest. Both rides had around 100 in attendance. However, with the end of the semester came the end of the resurgence.

In May 2009, a new Facebook group called "Critical-er Mass etc Victoria" was created. The group eventually changed its name to "Victoria Cycling Events" to accommodate a variety of other group rides and happenings. Because many people aren't able to make it to a 5:00 pm ride, the start-time changed to 6:30 (rides leave Centennial Square at 7:00), and there have been Critical Mass rides ever since.

Come out and join us!