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October 09, 2007
Last week's Meet-Up Mass- (Pig Out!)
Friday night was our Wicker Park/Oak Park/Evanston/Pilsen/Hyde Park Meet-up Mass (hope I'm not leaving anyone out!). We've broken down Critical Mass to smaller, friendlier mini-Masses- in many ways though not necessarily as exciting (read- stressful! But fun!) but still every bit as exhilarating in its own way, as it is always fun to ride in a large, happy, group of cyclists and friends.
El Oso and I met up with the group at the Polish Triangle- by Nelson Algren Fountain in Wicker-land, lots of familiar characters were there and it was good to see so many bikes, and so many friendly faces!
We ate tacos- then the ride took off- tailed closely, as usual, by our friends from the CPD.
We numbered somewhere in the range of 150 riders- we were followed by between 4-5 bike cops, at one point I counted 5 squad cars, barking orders, threatening citations/arrests,- writing some citations for the Pythonesque sounding infraction of "reckless bicycling"- and generally making nuisances of themselves, probably out of frustration due to the previous week's CCM 10th anniversary- which was so huge, some at the butt end of the ride never did see the beginning!
In any event, the ride could have been a lot nicer, as the neighbors are generally receptive, our group was small, we provided entertainment to folks in the numerous outdoor cafes with windows open, waving, smiling, calling out "Happy Friday!" And often, in my case, blowing kisses- my new thing. We stayed mostly to side streets and it was way past rush hour.
The police, as is their custom, saw things differently.
At one point they herded our Wicker Park group into a kind of pen- ordering us up onto the sidewalk and surrounding us with squad cars and bikes- I was afraid of being arrested- bicycling lawfully on the right side of the road wearing pigtails is a very serious matter- you know- but my blood sugar was crashing and so El Oso and I moved calmly and slowly out of the "pen" and across the street. There we met a very sweet family- a very precocious young man of about 12-13, his mom, her daughter who was about 5, and granddaughter/aunt of the daughter, about 6 years old! We had a really nice conversation with them- the one smaller girl informed us she had read 25 -25!!- books over the summer and we congratulated her on a job well done!! She was also pleased to point out that she and I had the same shoes on- pink crocs! Yes! Shoe sisters! We high-fived.
The real beauty part of the whole encounter was that the young man informed us- between playing on his Game Boy- that if there were any black or Hispanic young people in our group the police would have had their guns out, assuming gang activity, because that was just how police acted. A very precocious child! He also informed us that police liked to show their power- in particular over black and Hispanic young people (he was Hispanic). It was kind of mind-blowing. A young Revolutionary in our midst. I for one was very proud of him!
Eventually, we made it to the final destination/meet-up place of the ride- and had our post-ride party- pictures available here! Can you spot the red pigtails in some of the party pictures?? Who can it be?? (I think some of these photos are also from The Daley Plaza ride the week before.)
Oh, and after the party, we emerged to find someone had installed a shiny new honky-horn- you know, the ones with the bulb at the end and the longish trumpet-looking part where the sound comes out? The kind that make the pleasing honky sound, especially on "Two-Honk Tuesday" - the day when bicyclists greet one another on the street with 2 toots of the horn in solidarity- on the handlebars of El Oso's bike. Such a funny and unexpected gift! It made us laugh and laugh. All the way home we played on the honky-horn and the Lucky Cat Squeaker for sheer joy. Big thanks (again) to the mystery Honky-horn source. You know who you are!
Posted by at October 9, 2007 09:51 AM