February Ride Report and Upcomming Events

Great to see so many new faces at the February Mass. As soon as the weather gets better, numbers will be huge. We had to take a different route from the Chinese arch, due to the roadworks, but this opened up a view of the cobbled back streets, before we got onto our usual jaunts.
Numbers were good this month, and the mass had real presence. The pub was also great as well. Next month I think we're going to try the Cain's Brewery Tap. It's got ample bike parking, lots of outdoor seating and of course, we'll be supporting our local brewery.


Film Night - Friday 13th March
After March Critical Mass there's a film showing of the Flying Scotsman. A great film following the career of Scottish Amateur Track cyclist Graeme Obree, from being broke and losing his bike shop, to building a bike of his own design, using low-tech materials to break cycling's greatest record. Obree's DIY methods make him unfavourable with cycling's governing body and he has to fight the officials on and off the track, whilst dealing with his own personal problems and coping with his incredible rise in popularity.




It will be on at the Liverpool Social Centre, 96 Bold Street (underneath News from Nowhere book shop) from 7:30pm. Hot Food and Drinks will be available as well, perhaps some popcorn if we're lucky.

December Ride Report

Setting off on time with the Soundsystem, we arrived late due to a mechanical on the towing arm of the trailer. A quick run back for a clamp and a 10 minute wait on Princes Av dressed as Santa had us sorted to go agin.

There was a good turnout, with some great tinsel, stars, decorated bikes and mulled wine........mmmm.

We hit the roads at 6:30 with around 20 riders. A wrong turn (is it possible on the mass?) at Lewis's saw us pass through the Bus and Taxi canyon of St Johns. The mass tried weaving through, but was held up by the congestion and sat there stuck. Guns & Roses welcome to the jungle was bouncing around all the walls and made sure we didn't pass unnoticed.

Up past St Georges ad over the flyover to Dale street saw us cruising along. It's so nice to be able to take a deep breath, ralax and looka round you at the lights of the city, safe in the mass and not having to worry about any traffic.

We turned left and right, again and again, round the dock areas back up into town. When getting back to the arch we we almost stopped by a police car. He got out and ordered us to ride two abreast, even through it is not illegal in any way to ride as we had been. Obviously a motorist had complained, so we rode 2 abreast but continued to take up one lane as we had before.

At the chinese arch the Policeman pulled in and chatted with us. He was friendly and understood what we were up to and why (Bonus). With the law lords recent ruling that critical mass is not illegal, it would be hard for the police to take any firmer response.

Comming up soon we will be having a film night, so keep your ears to the ground and see you soon!

Critical Mass: officially legal!

Three years back, at a London Critical Mass which I attended, the Met gave out some nasty little leaflets informing us that what we were doing was illegal. Apparently, Critical Mass constituted a procession, and since the organisers didn't inform the police of the approximate number of attendees and the route the procession was going to take, we were doing something illegal. Now, this was pretty flawed logic in the first place. In point of fact, if they were right, only the organisers were doing something illegal. The fact that CM has no organisers and no route had apparently also passed the author of the leaflet by.

Still, it made us nervous. There have been too many cases of conflicts between the police and the Mass. New York has a particularly nasty record, including a couple of cases of mass arrests. We didn't want to see our fun and positive ride turned into a tense standoff with police. I'd have been tempted to leave their claims unanswered to underline their stupidity, but somebody stepped up to the mark and a friendly action commenced.

Friendly actions are meant to prove a point of law one way or another amicably and without damages. The judgement is by long custom considered final. The judgement came down in our favour - it was a procession, but it had been running so long that it was now customary. The Met threw their toys out of the pram, hired the best silk money can buy, and appealed. This was, to say the least, rather unsporting.

Now, years later, we have an even better judgement in our favour. The House of Lords have handed down a judgement that not only is the London mass customary, but anybody starting a similar event around the country is acting within the law. The Met were slapped for trying to force a 'draconian' reading onto an old law.

I'll be raising a glass on Friday evening :D

BBC Article
Full judgement

November Ride Report

November was the first ride to start fully in the dark and numbers looked good.

The soundsystem was already there. A kids trailer packed with speakers. Then the second soundsystem turned up. It was party time......

We headed out and over the flyover to Duke Street. People really noticed us, as the music filled the streets. We successfully created a small, momentary space on a Liverpool road, which was sociable, safe for cyclists and carfree.



On duke street a CCTV van stopped for a gander as we went past, bemused as to whether we were doing anything wrong. Shortly after, the lead sounsystem suffered a Justin Timberlake moment, but the mass pulled together and saw it through. It did however get a passing bus driver dancing in his cab, opening his doors to join in.

Also there was a guy on a wobble bike. This bike hinges in the normal way with the forks, but has a 2nd hinge underthe seat. This leads to some amazing manouvres.



After the mass we stood around and chatted, tried to ride the wobble bike (with varied success), and compared soudsystem specs. Many headed of to the Punk fundraiser at the social centre.

Next Mass is on Friday December 12th, usual place and time. It's the critmass edition, everyone must bring some tinsle and I'm sure there'll be many flasks of mulled wine around.

Critical Mass Tomorrow!

Well, after a lot of time and effort, the new sound system is built. She's a beauty: the trailer base is built entirely out of reclaimed materials and using only human-powered tools. The sound system itself is made from Doug's cabs and the battery and amp from Matt's hifi trailer. We got her working for the first time in the Next to Nowhere social centre a couple of weeks ago, and after a couple of teething problems with the towing arm she's all sorted. We took her for a ride round the park the other evening, to the bemusement of the taxi drivers and joggers, but we haven't tested her in earnest in the city centre.

Bring lights and wrap up warm, and we'll have a party on wheels!

Make some NOISE!

Last months Mass was great fun in Liverpool. We had numbers, flashy lights, a good vibe, corking, apres-event and a few pissed off drivers (not intentional, just incidental). But we did lack some noise. I for one need to get a bell for my bike. It was actually supplied with one, but I took it off, thinking that bells weren't cool. How wrong could I be..............

So next month, lets make some noise!! Bring whistles, bells, hooters and horns, tambourines and sitars. Also remember your hi-vis and flashy lights, lets make this a real carnival on wheels, which can't be ignored or pushed into the gutter and lets inspire people to join the Light Side of the force.


LCM SOUNDSYSTEM

To help us on our way next month the LCM Soundsystem MkII will be unvieled, to inject some carnival beats. The only problem is that it ain't ready yet! We plan to be transpanting the Batteries and 12V Amp from the original LCM Soundsystem, wired up to new, more powerful speakers. The main challenge will be making this into a stable towable system.

If you can help out please email disrail@gmail.com for more info.

We will be holding two work days on Saturday 25th Oct and Sat 1st of November.....

October Ride Report

Octobers mass was great fun. There was a good turnout, with many new faces and old. The numbers really helped this month. The response from drivers was much more respectful and the Mass had a real presence on the road.


At one point, there was one hire cab driver that allowed the whole mass to manouvre in front of him as we changed lane to turn right, the massers waved and thanked him, and there was no bad feeling. Some other people were doing an excellent job corking aswell, allowing the mass to pass through junctions safely. See Liverpool Indymedia for more photos.

After , the film "We are Traffic" was shown in the Liverpool Social Centre, after much tea and delicious vegan soup.

Numbers have been looking good recently. Please make an effort to get out to the next one 14th November, and tell your friends.

Also, join the facebook group by searching for "Critical Mass Liverpool".