New Delhi's first ever Critical Mass was AWEsome!

More bicycles and cycling fanatics in one place than I've ever seen in real life. The turnout was massive, much more than I expected. About 300 cyclists showed up, along with the media.

For the first time traffic was stopping and paying attention to Delhi's fearless cyclists. The experience of riding in a truly massive swarm of fellow cyclists filling the entire street is amazing in ways I can't explain, you have to do it yourself to know.

Tragically getting pics was difficult to impossible, being that I was too busy negotiating with traffic and chatting with other cyclists to stop and take shots. These are what I got.

I'd say half the group were hippies / environmentalists / anti-car movement / anti-war folk, and the other half were just athletic / fitness freaks. A lot of riders rode with signs taped to their backs reading stuff ranging from "build bikes not bombs" to "we ARE traffic" and "share the road, treat us with respect" and so on.

For the first time in my life, I saw traffic paying attention to cyclists and giving us room, since there were so many of us at once. It wasn't as disruptive as I thought it would be, though at times we had to agressively block merging traffic to let the group safely pass.

The camraderie was great: 300 strangers who are instantly friends because we're all fellow cyclists battling traffic, congestion and abuse in a world filled with cars.

I realize Critical Mass is doing more harm than good in some parts of the world, where cyclists turn into giant pricks on the road, but here in Delhi it's the start of something awesome. This is a city choked with horribly congested, psychotic traffic, where I can bike to work at a slow pace and still get there faster than if I took an autorickshaw or car to work. To add to that, the assumption people have about bicycles is that it's what you own if you're too poor or low class to afford a motorbike or car, nothing else. Delhi's obesity rates are hitting American levels, and cases of diabetes and asthma are rising sharply every year thanks to pollution and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle.

So last night was awesome beyond words for me. I never thought I'd see a Critical Mass in Delhi.

Can't wait for the last Friday of next month :D

From 2008-09-26-Delhi's first Critical Mass

From 2008-09-26-Delhi's first Critical Mass

From 2008-09-26-Delhi's first Critical Mass

From 2008-09-26-Delhi's first Critical Mass

From 2008-09-26-Delhi's first Critical Mass

From 2008-09-26-Delhi's first Critical Mass

TOMORROW IS DELHI'S FIRST EVER CRITICAL MASS RIDE!!

I am so freakin excited. I took a day off and was wondering if I did the right thing (it's leave without pay and I need the cash too) but by now I don't regret it at all. History in the making, etc. etc.

Expect pics. Although since it'll be at 6 pm, and I'll be on a bicycle, there may not be many pics.

More later.

cross posted to bikes and delhi.


New Delhi's gonna have its very first Critical Mass ride on Friday night!

:D

Yes, the site looks like ass. But it's being worked on. Cycling fanatics are running around putting up posters and working on T shirts and whatnot.

Delhi got its very first bicycle lanes as part of an overhaul on its hellish traffic and congestion, coincing with the launch of its new modern mass transit rail. Unfortunately Indian traffic being the psychotic anarchy on wheels that it is, motorcyclists and autorickshaws run on the new cycling lanes too and as usual no one's doing anything about it. This is just one of the many issues the Critical Mass ride hopes to address.

It won't be your typical Critical Mass ride, more of a friendly, organized initiation to point out to Delhi that bicycles are a form of transport, are healthy, and are a fantastic and practical solution to the horrible congestion and traffic we see here everyday; and combating a very Indian stereotype that bicycles are a form of transport only for the poor and desperate who cannot afford a motorcycle or car.

This may not be relevant to like 99.9% of you guys reading this but I thought it was so awesome I had to post and share.

Looks like New Delhi will soon have its first very own Critial Mass, if the Delhi Cycling Club pulls it off.

In case you don't know what the hell I'm talking about:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Mass

Enter the Tata Nano, the world's cheapest production car.

Powered by a 624 cc, 2 cylinder aluminium engine, this thing weighs in at a tiny 1 lakh (one hundred thousand) rupees, or about US $2,500.00, but you have to pay more if you want one with air conditioning. It's fuel economy (combined city + highway) is 20 kilometers to the litre, or roughly 47 US mpg or 59 UK mpg.

I'm all for the whole "power to the people" thing, but one must question if New Delhi really needs any more cars on the road than it already has.

I predict what will happen is that we'll pass the already close critical mass point, where it no longer becomes feasable to travel by car despite newer and newer freeways, overpasses and slick intersections being endlessly constructed all over Delhi... and then the government will do this whole act where they'll declare war on traffic jams and cars in general and tax the living crap out of them. As though they had no idea this was going to happen.