An estimated 1,000 bicycle-riding members of Critical Mass again disrupted Friday’s rush hour traffic in Vancouver in the latest of the group’s planned monthly protests to promote urban bike use.

See http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/07/31/bc-critical-mass-bike-ride-vancouver-mayor.html

Instead of sending the CBC a letter to point out the inaccuracy, I thought I’d write it up here.

The unusual, the special nature, what you cannot miss about Critical Mass rides, and what is really quite easy to find out, and what makes it different from many other similar happenings, is that:

• they are not a group with membership
• they are not organized
• they are not a protest (movement)
• they are not demonstrations.

They are just rides that happen in the evening of the last Friday of each month. There is no agreed upon route. There is no leader. There are no “members of Critical Mass”.

And if a journalist writes about Critical Mass and doesn’t find that out then they haven’t done their homework. It’s really not that hard!

Here’s what wikipedia says about Critical Mass Rides.

Here’s an informal wiki about critical mass rides.