Unfortunately I wasn't able to ride in the March ride. I was in Oregon visiting friends and riding on a much more police friendly critical mass ride. The police in Portland showed up, said hi and sat quietly by.

Oh and they showed up on BICYLES! Yes bikes.. not scooters, motorcycles or even in cars but Bicycles. They were friendly and supportive the complete opposite of the NYPD.

Before I get into this month's ride I wanted to point out a comment a received about last month's ride (January). I wasn't able to stay for the ride but I did show up to meet with people and to grab video. The ride happened on the day the NYPD announced that the new parade rules were being placed on the books. Thus giving them 30 days to take effect.

I spoke with a few guys from Chicago that had rented bikes just to ride in Critical Mass. There were only made aware of the looniness of the NYPD at Critical Mass when the Bicycle rent shop warned them.

There are two things that you (yes you the one reading this) need to do.

The first is to read this blog entry on I-witness news
The second is to

Now that the NYPD has put the new Rules into the book the clock has started ticking. In 30 days from 26th the new rules will go into effect.

50 Cyclists, Pedestrians, Vehicles in a distinguishable group is considered a parade and thus requires a permit.
Read more Here

On February 25th the rules will go into effect 2 days after Critical Mass! This means that February's Critical mass could potentially be the last legal ride in New York City.

Lets make the February ride as big as possible. We know these rules are a wrong, illegal, and will, eventually, be pulled off the books. Hopefully this happens before the ride. If it doesn't lets show them how strong the cycling community in New York City is.

OnNyTurf posted a good article on this story, here.

Take Action at Assemble For Rights NYC

I found it quite coincidental that after almost a year of fighting the public the NYPD quietly published the new parade Rules. It has been one year (almost exactly) since the NYPD lost a pivotal case that would have justified their mass arrests during the 2004 RNC (Republican National Convention).

The NYPD labeled the Critical Mass ride a "Parade" which would thus require a special permit from the city. Without a permit, according to NYC rules, participants could be subjected to arrest and they were arrested. Unfortunately the NYPD underestimated the legal savvy of those they arrested and the arrestees filed suit against the NYPD. They won and the NYPD was found to be in violation.

The August 2006 ride started off very well. The cops weren't being too much of a hassle and things were going surprisingly good. Within 30 minutes of the ride, however, things took a dramatic turn for the worse.

After riding for a few blocks the mass took a left turn down a side road. Unfortunately an officer on a scooter was blocking the crosswalk and causing an inconvenience to the riders and to the pedestrians. I very politely asked the officer to move aside. He moved aside and I thanked him for doing so.