Venice Critical Mass
From ibikeu Wiki
Venice Critical Mass, aka VCM, Vee See Emm, is a monthly bicycle ride in Venicecelebrating the joy and virtues of bicycling. The ride started in November 2007. In the tradition of Critical Mass it meets on the last Friday of the month at the Venice Circle in Windward and Main, at 7:30pm, and leaves at 8:00pm. The ride has drawn a little media attention, notably The Los Angeles Times, and has gotten between 9 and 90 participants. Typically the crowd is approximately 30 or 40 cyclists.
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History
Venice Critical Mass is a young ride. It was founded by KNITTENS in November 2007 in order to have another big social ride on the Westside.
Origin
The notion of a 2nd Critical Mass was discussed in the Council of N as a possible indirect response to the Santa Monica Police Department's (SMPD) harassment of Santa Monica Critical Mass. Activists felt that it would build the bike culture up near the coast, and pick up many of the riders who were scared of by SMPD. Eventually the Midnight Ridazz personality KNITTENS took the initiative and posted Venice Critical Mass to the event calendar. It is the only known instance of lolcat founding a bike ride.
Development
VCM's first ride had a huge turnout for a first time ride - 90 riders. Unfortunately, it could have been much larger, but it rained the night before, and all day until a few hours before the ride. After that ride, rains, inconsistent promotion, and a resurgence of Los Angeles Critical Mass lead to often abysmal turnouts of 30 or less riders. However, Mihai Peteu took charge and promoted the April and May rides, and as a result the rides went well. Both rides had turnouts of about 40 riders, but they were energetic and fun rides.
Customs
Soccer
For the April 2008 ride Mihai Peteu organized a soccer theme, encouraging riders to wear soccer jerseys and be prepared to play soccer. That ride steathily entered Santa Monica through the secret entrance, Main St, and played pickup soccer for half an hour on the City Hall's lawn. During the May 2008 ride, the ride stopped at the park on Rose Ave. and played soccer for 45 minutes. Unfortunately, when the teams were vying for the winning goal a collision between two players left one woman concussed.
