I had pretty mixed reactions when I heard about the Critical Mass ride that “erupted in violence” on Friday; bike messengers by default hate Seattle Critical Mass rides these days, but it wasn’t always that way. 
There was a time when messengers actually had a presence in the rides, but that was back when we had a monopoly on the urban bike-maverick image. Then the hipsters stole our bags, the single-shoulder-strap Timbuk. Notice how you never see a messenger wearing one of those anymore. Then, the track bike craze exploded, and pretty soon every kid wearing girls’ jeans and a neckerchief had a fucking San Rensho with pink wheels. Seattle Critical Mass rides went from being 20-40 messengers and brazen commuters to these huge parades, rolling 300 tough. I participated in one recently (never again), and I did notice the almost mobbish euphoria of the riders, many of whom were not what I would call “cycling advocates.”
The media and public’s reaction to dude getting his car smashed up on Friday is symptomatic of something way worse than nerds getting rowdy on bikes, though (I’m talking about you, pathetic Stranger coverage.)
The consensus is pretty much that even though the driver gassed his car into a group of cyclists, he’s still a nice guy (the Stranger points out that “he’s gay”, and “a liberal hippie,” while the cyclists are obviously sociopathic and not playing by the rules, “eco-terrorists.”)
Thankfully, the one decent newspaper in Seattle, Real Change, has the integrity to point out that we’re talking about vehicular assault here, and the driver isn’t getting charged, while two hoodlum cyclists have been arrested and charged for the property damage to the car. A dude’s leg got run over for fuck’s sake, and the driver isn’t getting charged. Anyway, you be the judge.
I agree with you about the news coverage, and that’s the reason I only interviewed with Real Change, although there are couple of points you are missing; I am very close to the guy who got arrested for slashing the drivers tires and I know for a fact that he is not a “hoodlum” and his only intention was to stop the driver (because he was driving towards the end of Critical Mass and was trying to flee from the scene) None of the people who got arrested actually assaulted the driver or damaged his car (other than the tires)
I have been riding Critical Mass for couple of years now, and I have never owned a track bike. I do have a commute at least 15 miles a day just to get to work, and additional miles depending on what I do that day… I grew up in Istanbul where there are over 13 million people and where biking is almost a suicide, and seeing 300 bikers going through as a huge parade makes me happy.
Thanks Esra! I tend to get a little cynical and I appreciate your comment, because a 300-bike parade really should make anybody happy.