Unusual Fun for Bike Riders

Have you heard of “Critical Mass”? It's an interesting assemblage of bike-riding enthusiasts who get together once a month and take over the streets of Chicago. I call it an assemblage because it is simply thousands of bikers (and a few joggers, skaters, and skateboarders). With that many people cruising the streets en mass, they can't help but take over the streets. And I'm not talking small, obscure side streets. I have happened upon them on Halsted Street in Greektown, on Monroe Street near the Sears/Willis Tower, and most recently on south Michigan Avenue near Congress Parkway. I'm no bike-rider but I do enjoy watching SOOO many people who are! Most are on regular bicycles but I've seen almost every other kind there is: tricycles, unicycles, and those weird ones that remind me of a chaise lounge/lawn chair with a wheel and pedals in front of it. Many of the riders have “tricked out” their vehicle with some very elaborate decorations. So it's kind of like watching floats in a parade for us bystanders.

Critical Mass is not exactly a sanctioned organization. In fact it is very loosely organized. They meet up at Daley Plaza at 5:30pm on the last Friday of every month – rain or shine. It is then that they decide where they'll be going; there's no predetermined route or map. That sounds like organized chaos to me but somehow it works! For more information about this unique group and their bike-riding adventures, visit their website at http://chicagocriticalmass.org/