San Francisco’s monthly semi-unauthorized bicycle parade was well-attended and exceptionally ugly last night. Did your bike suffer any property damage (“let’s fucking beat up his car!”)? For whatever reason, Halloween Critical Mass 2009 had lots of gaps so that led to confrontations at every intersection – confused car drivers were tempted to just push through to end their lengthy waits. And the SFPD seemed less pro-bike than I’m used to seeing. Oh well.
Now, grab your parasol, pack your marshmallows, count the choppers, put on your PJs, and raise your fixie. Let’s take a gander.
Just look at the stalled MUNI buses and trolleys (trollies?) stretching from Mid-Market all the way back to the Ferry Building last night:
Click to expand
The riders could only just sit and stare:
Stare at this, a car-free Market Street:
Now let’s take it to the streets. Ichiro was there. He started going on about how there’s “sexiness in the infield.” OK fine:
About an hour or so after the six-ish P.M. starting time, the stalled buses started to pile up:
A happy corker vs. an unhappy corkee at the intersection of 8th and Market Streets.
After a while, car drivers start getting into this rolling Rorschach test. Some sit on their cars…
…while others, like this SUV driver, get out to fruitlessly confront the madding crowd:
IMO, parolees display the least tolerance for CM. Oh well. They just can’t handle it.
A stalled driver gets freaked out by Pumpkinhead:
Thank Gaia the cops were there:
Oops, here there are, pushing along the stragglers on Market:
And then an error – the main body of riders hung a right and headed up Van Ness. That’s not the way to cork MUNI, which got back to normal on Market Street round about 7:30 PM. Oh well. Van Ness from Hayes looking north up to California – the whole thing was entirely filled with bikes:
So there’s your Halloween Critical Mass 2009. See you next year.
Tags: 2009, 30, 30th, biclcye, bike, bus, confrontation, cops, cork, corked, costumed, costumes, critical, critical mass, cyclists, delay, department, dept., friday, fridays, halloween, intersection, last, market, mass, month, monthly, parade, police, San Francisco, sexy, SFPD, stalled, tacoed, transit, trolley, Wheel
It was fun, but very agro.
You people are idiots. Inconsiderate twats. “Bike nazis”, indeed.
I was watching from my apt., great view of 7th and market. I have to say though, the bikers were being real assholes. They would STOP in the intersection so close to cars that the cars couldn’t even inch forward. One thing to cross the street on the red, another to stop in the intersection. Good thing the cops were less pro-bike.
They are reaching sufficient mass to catalyze a backlash, thereby proving that even on a bicycle, you can shoot yourself in the foot.