IT'S been a long time since I have been to Critical Mass but tempted by the promise of good company of fellow cyclist friends I participated in one last Friday.

It was organised by the Broken Spoke Co-op, a great DIY workshop for cyclists in Pembroke Street. Starting at 5.30pm from Broad Street it is always a rush to get there on time straight from work. For those of you who don’t know what Critical Mass is, it’s a name that has been adopted by groups of cyclists all over the world who come together to ride in protest.

Despite its difficult starting time it seemed quite a few like-minded cycle fanatics had made it. With music blaring the procession of around 30 cyclists streamed along Broad Street towards the Jericho area and then made its way up towards the Plain roundabout.

Now last time I attended Critical Mass an enraged taxi driver decided enough was enough. He was fed up with being slowed by a group of cyclists and he would attempt to overtake the procession with speed and frankly disregard for the cyclist’s safety. He actually pranged a fellow demonstrator who fell off his bike to our horror. Luckily he came away unscathed, just a little shaken.

That little incident really shocked me, it could have been any one of us that got squished. It could have been a lot more serious but frankly I understood the risks we were all taking for the sake of raising awareness for cycling.

But last week I felt different, the group were moving a lot slower, I felt the motorised traffic had more of a sinister feel about them and truthfully I was questioning my motives behind being there. But I’m not alone, there are others on the Internet that question whether this is the right way to demonstrate. It also seems the reasons for people’s attendance to Critical Mass can vary.

Even the website for perhaps the largest Critical Mass gathering in the UK, londoncriticalmass.org, cannot decide on their aims but they state that’s part of the raison d’etre behind Critical Mass, the sum of all those opinions makes up the mass.

Personally it may be quite some time until I attend another Oxford-based Critical Mass. I feel strongly about raising the profile of city cycling and pumping more money into the infrastructure to make it safe, but I don’t feel a slow ride across town is getting anyone’s attention apart from the poor commuters that get held up in its wake.

Frankly with the state of road repairs at the moment, Oxford has enough gridlocks already. Conversely though I would like to see larger groups attend Critical Mass, perhaps on a different route or at a more sociable time but by “dropping out” I am hardly helping the cause there.

Either way I take my hat off to the regular Critical Mass protesters. Anyone who feels strongly about an issue and decides to do something about it is alright in my book.

I just hope that Oxford has the patience and understanding to allow these rides to continue safely.

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