PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Critical Masquerade Ride
by Joel Young Saturday, Oct. 26, 2002 at 9:32 AM
joel@inreverie.org 412 521 5441 Squirrel Hill

October's Critical Mass was incredible! Great turnout, art bikes, costumes, and a police escort! Those of you who took pictures, please post them!

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Last night's Critical Mass was *incredible*! Since it was the Friday before Halloween, it was promoted as "Critical Masquerade", and probably half the people there were dressed up (I took the distinction of having the brightest costume, as a clown). In addition, there were several art bikes -- two or three double-decker bikes (I got to try one of them out, and it made my week); a very strange bike that was powered by two levers that always pointed forward; and a house bike, which was a covered wagon, powered by two people and made up of approximately 3 bike frames. We had a great turnout considering it started raining shortly before the ride started--about 50 people, 2/3 of which stayed until the very end (normally most people drop out along the ride)! We went down Fifth and up Forbes through Oakland, turned onto Morewood and then onto Fifth again toward Shadyside, which we wound around until turning up Liberty toward East Liberty, finally ending at the Quiet Storm Coffeehouse for some bike-related videos. The group was so large and exuberant that we took up anywhere from 3 lanes and half a city block to a single lane stretched out along a couple city blocks, depending on how much space we had.

A couple highlights:

- As we were heading toward Shadyside, a cop in the opposing traffic was yelling at us to get over to the right lane, which we weren't required to do legally, since we were turning left soon and bikes only have to stay to the right lane "unless it's dangerous to do otherwise" (which certainly applied in this case). A block or two later, as we were making said left turn, someone noticed that a cop car was tailing us (probably the same one). He turned on his lights, at which point I rushed to the front of the group and informed them that we had a police escort! No one pulled over and the cop disappeared after a couple blocks, but we were a bit nervous for a while, wondering if they would try to set up a barricade for us.

- There was a lot of cheering during this ride, but none as much as at the very end. As we approached Quiet Storm, the group stopped and slowly filtered onto the sidewalks (there were still a few dozen of us at that point, so it took some time). One guy at the back walked the last city block, holding his bike above his head, lit up by the headlights of the car behind him. The driver of the car decided to lay on his horn for the whole block, which produced a very extended cheer from the group.

What a great evening.

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Approaching Morewood
by Joel Young Saturday, Oct. 26, 2002 at 9:32 AM
joel@inreverie.org 412 521 5441 Squirrel Hill

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Joan Jett, a clown, and 50 other bikers.

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