Critical Mass Newbie

I've had heard of Critical Mass for many years but it wasn't until I got my new bike that I was willing to participate. In it's simplest form Critical Mass is a bike ride, there's no one who actually leads it. It's the most organic organization I've ever heard. People can make it more as a protest against cars or anything else really.

So I get to Daley Plaza around 5:00 pm, there's already a least a hundred or more cyclists there. Despite the fact the meeting is at 5:30 we don't get started till 6:15. I count at least twenty police on bikes and countless other cyclists. I don't know if there's any stats on how many actually attended but it took three rounds around the streets of the Daley Plaza to get everyone onto the street and off the Plaza.

In the downtown area the police block off the traffic to allow the mass through. Outside this area cyclists "cork" the traffic which isn't actually legal but does allow the mass to continue. We head east on Washington and then north on Michigan avenue to Wacker we then go east on Wacker. I'm not sure if they were trying to go to LSD or not which the police wouldn't allow anyway. Then we turned around at Columbus and head back to Michigan Avenue. We go very slow through this area and it's hard to control the bike since were almost walking the bike. Below is a picture waiting to get back to Michigan Avenue.

We then headed north down Michigan to Walton street and then over to Dearborn, and up through Oldtown, Crossing Clybourn then Larrabee and then North Avenue back to Wells and then up Clark Street. We headed down Clark into the Lincoln Park and LakeView neighboorhoods, through boystown to Addison and then headed west on Addison.

Riding down Addison past Wrigley field was fun because the street was cut up for resurfacing. We went maybe two-thirds of a mile down Addison to Lakewood and then south to Belmont and then Southeast on Lincoln. Not to sure what neighboorhood this might be. We headed south on Southport to Fullerton and then West to Ashland. We go through Wicker Park from Ashland west to Damen and then Damen south to Chicago and back east to Ashland. We then rode Ashland all the way to Harrison (The map had Van Buren but Van Buren goes west) Then Harrison to Loomis where we are at the historical Tri-Taylor area. Finally Loomis to Taylor and Taylor to Halsted.

The ride continued north on Halsted to a party at around Kinzie street. Myself and several others turned South on Halsted and I headed home. My total ride milage including leaving my home was 25 and a third miles. I had a great time and look forward of doing it again! Below are a few more pictures from the mass