VSC: Critical Mass!

I had never rode my bike around downtown Vancouver before, but participating in my first ever Critical Mass changed that this evening.

I got together with the VSC and hundreds of other cyclists in front of the VAG just after 1800. People of all ages came to form a peaceful protest against automobiles by banding together and taking over the streets of Vancouver en masse. This was Critical Mass, and it takes place on the last Friday of every month!

Our bike ride around town commenced on West Georgia and Howe heading southbound. It took us over to the Granville Street bridge over to Kits, then back around onto Granville Street bridge, this time heading north towards the VAG. The feeling I felt while cycling at a leisurely pace in the middle of the road with hundreds of other cyclists was that of bliss, enjoyment, and satisfaction. Leaving cars and its drivers in the dust brought a great sense of power to the cyclists!

Kyle and his "little" brother, James, joined us from the point when we returned to the VAG and continued our way down Robson Street towards the West End. You really get to see and hear a lot more of the city on bikes, when things aren't zooming past you. Our harmonious sound of our bike horns, bells, and whistles, were joined by car horns in support of our demonstration as we rode along Beach Avenue, Davie Street, and back onto West Georgia.

From recumbent bikes to mountain bikes, granny bikes to race bikes, 2-man bikes to custom made chopper bikes, there were just as many kinds of rides as there were diverse groups of people! Our path continued over to the Cambie Street bridge, then we made a left onto the busy West Broadway towards Commercial Drive. We dismounted off our bikes just several blocks past Cambie and congratulated ourselves and each other for coming out to Critical Mass.

Kyle, James, Sharron, Alice, Jay, and I split off from the pack and peddled our way back to Yaletown to meet up with Amy, James, and Jamie for dinner at Brown's Restaurant & Bar.

I look forward to the day when downtown Vancouver will only be accessible by foot pedestrians, cyclists, public transit, and authorised commercial vehicles. We have a real chance to be a model city for the rest of the world for how green and ecological metropolitan cities can be. We've already got the "West Coast Lifestyle", Vancouverites being the fittest in the nation, and the nature that surrounds us like no other place in the world, so in many ways, we're ahead of the game!