Pete Hindle

Last night, I rode through the streets of Newcastle with about fifty other cyclists.

This was part of the Star and Shadow’s Cycling Weekend, where they had organised a Critical Mass. A Critical Mass is part of the Reclaim-the-Streets style of social protest, where activities happen in public places as a reaction against the ‘hemmed-in’ feel of modern public spaces. In the USA, Critical Mass has spread across the major urban centres, and thousands of people take part in regular bicycle events that stop traffic.

In Newcastle, yesterday was either the second or third Critical Mass. It was cold and dark, and I can’t really say that it was a great time for it. Why Friday night? Why not Saturday day? I didn’t really fancy riding around for a while on Friday night, but the German market was on in town and I was starving. Myself and my flatmate Alan rode into town, got some Paella from the market, and met up with the other cyclists.

Me and Alan like to ride fast, and the Critical Mass ride was more of a slow crawl around town. That meant that we quickly found ourselves at the front of a long body of cyclists, taking up a lane of traffic, at the peak time of the day, in a city centre. Of course, there were some aggressive drivers – anybody who cycles sees that every day – and taxi drivers and bus drivers were the worst. But the Critical Mass tactic of taking up the road and riding very slowly doesn’t help to convert other road users.

I suspect that a lot of this is revenge against being treated like a second-class road user. But taking part in the ride made me feel shaken up, as I saw some pretty close shaves, and got pretty close to some cars, not happy and relaxed like riding my bike usually does. And it’s that happy and relaxed vibe that Critical Mass should be trying to share, rather than starting a war against car drivers.