Critical Mass comes to Durango
Organizer hopes to spread a love for and awareness of bicycling

Commuter bikes and townies share the bike rack at the a Building on Monday afternoon. Friday will mark the first-ever Critical Mass bike ride in Durango, which will start at 5:30 p.m. at Main Avenue and Fifth Street. The rides, which will be held on the last Friday of the month, are meant to be a fun way to raise awareness of cycling as an alternative to driving and to remind motorists to share the road./Photo by Todd Newcomer.

by Will Sands

Bicycles are planning a friendly takeover of Durango's Main Avenue this Friday. Critical Mass, a bicycle-based movement that mixes celebration and advocacy, is making its first stop in Durango, and the event's organizer hopes the group ride will spread a love for cycling that will grow into a monthly fixture.

Simply put, Critical Mass rides are bicyclists forming a group and doing easy rides on city streets. The rides began in San Francisco in 1992 and currently take place worldwide on the last Friday of each month. At the root of the movement is a love for all forms of bicycling. In many cities, Critical Mass has grown into bicycle advocacy and political protest.

The movement came into the media spotlight late last August, when more than 5,000 bikes descended on the Republican National Convention in New York City. In one of the largest Critical Mass rides in history, cyclists, skaters and pedestrians filled 45 city blocks and over the course of two hours rolled past the convention at Madison Square Garden. The celebratory mood ended when police moved in and started arresting participants. At the end of the day, more than 250 cyclists and pedestrians had been incarcerated.

Local resident Thomas Schiefer has no interest in seeing this kind of Critical Mass ride in Durango. Instead, he is putting together this Friday's ride as a celebration of the bicycle, a sensation he hopes will be contagious.

"Critical Mass rides started pretty much as celebrations," Schiefer said. "What I want to do here is make it a ride with friends and a celebration about bikes. I want to create a situation where, when people see us on bikes, they want to be with us, not just get angry."

Schiefer first started participating in Critical Mass while growing up in Austin, Texas. During his five years in Durango, he's grown to miss the camaraderie and festive nature of the experience. And while Schiefer is orchestrating this first of what he hopes will be many rides, he stressed that he is not the leader. Critical Mass is about a shared experience.

"There are no leaders," he said. "It's about total freedom on a bike. I love that aspect of it."

While Durango is already relatively conscious about bicycles, Schiefer said that a little extra consciousness won't hurt. Several years ago, Schiefer was hit by a car while riding in Durango and broke his hip as a result. With this in mind, he said Critical Mass is also about asserting bicyclists' rights to be on the road.

"Sometimes, you feel like you're not supposed to be out there," Schiefer said. "If you ride a bike, you often feel alien. You can't ride on the sidewalks. You can't really ride on the streets. I'm hoping this event will get people talking, and we'll have fun while we're at it."

Just as Critical Mass rides have no leaders, they also have no set routes. Without giving it completely away, Schiefer said this first one will be high profile and might travel north along Main Avenue. Wherever the ride goes, Schiefer hopes it will not only appeal to noncyclists but help unite the many segments of the local cycling community.

Just as Critical Mass rides have no leaders, they also have no set routes. Without giving it completely away, Schiefer said this first one will be high profile and might travel north along Main Avenue. Wherever the ride goes, Schiefer hopes it will not only appeal to noncyclists but help unite the many segments of the local cycling community.

"I hope it brings together people on road bikes, people on mountain bikes and people who just have a good time on their bikes," he said. "If you ride a bike, you ride it because you love it. Anyway, we all started out on 20-inch bikes jumping off curbs."

Michael Carroll, president of the Durango Wheel Club, said he agrees with raising awareness about local cycling. However, he argued that a great deal of local progress has already been made to bridge the gap between cyclists and motorists.

"The Wheel Club has been negotiating with the county and the city to deal with sharing the road and share the road issues before we get to the point where we have the types of protests we've seen with Critical Mass," he said.

Carroll said that he hopes the theme of celebration rather than protest will dominate this Friday's and future Critical Mass rides.

"For the most part, we have very little conflict locally," he said. "We've got the attention of local leaders, and they're working to help share the road and continue to improve the local situation. Hopefully, this event can raise awareness about the situation without creating antagonism."

Schiefer shares this hope, noting that he is promoting Critical Mass as "a bike ride with friends." He also plans on releasing the reins and letting the event run itself after this Friday's first ride.

"With this first one, I want to show people how much fun it can be, and then just let it happen from here on out," Schiefer said.

For his part, John Shaw, organizer of Durango's first Bike to Work Day, said he's excited to see the start of a Critical Mass movement in Durango. On the one hand, he sees it as a valuable message that will hopefully get more people out of their cars and on bikes. However, he's showing up with one of his bikes this Friday for another reason.

"It's going to help get more bikes on the streets and more people leaving their cars at home," Shaw said. "But I'm going because it's going to be fun. That's more important than that other stuff."