Cycle Savvy

On the 25th of November, bikers took to the street from all areas of Glasgow for a fun, peaceful and entertaining ride. The ride managed to be more conscious of staying together through traffic lights and keeping a regular pace which really made a difference when car drivers started to get a bit nervous. Around 35 people showed up despite the freezing whether and about 25 of them stayed until the mass arrived at the Soarsa Social center on the south side for some delicious food and films (also delicious).

A few stops were necessary along the way, including the Shell petrol station to fill up our bikes, and the Mc Donalds drive through to encourage people to at least make the effort to get out of their cars to get their food (lazy gits). As for the films, we watched some short videos from the London and Budapest Critical mass as well as the Still We Ride.

Still We Ride is a documentary about how the police are attempting to stop critical mass bike rides from happening. This is a similar case from what is being pushed in London so I would recommend checking it out. It seems that anything involving enough folk to change public perception about our destructive addictions (the car and oil in this case) is being violently repressed by our governments. This is not because such acts present any actual threat to anyone's safety, it's simply because for a few moment, governments loose control.

A spontaneous group of individual on wheels that choose to go where and when they move for no other reason than to enjoy the ride is far from easily repressed. Everyone knows that bikes are the best means of urban transportation, it's just a matter of showing that doing it is even better. The more bikes we get on the streets the safer and healthier the urban environment will be ... That¹s it.

. A small group of critical massers, flew to the rescue of the Radiance lighting Festival for the 186 Human Generator which desperately needed bikers on bikes to generate some of the energy that would power the performance (check out the performance at http://www.radianceglasgow.com/generator.html). So we arrived at Merchant Square 5 minutes before the beginning of the show, explained that we were critical mass, that we like to pedal our bikes, can we help? We were then brought into a small white hallway with a bunch of teenage dancers looking us up and down, handed bright yellow jackets and told the following instructions: "first you go up the stage, at the whistle you bow, come down, half go the right, half to the left and start pedaling until the lights go out" ... Confused? So were we as we legged it up this momentous stage surrounded by a by transparent screen with the crowd cheering us on. We bowed (for what, I'm not entirely sure), came down, and went to our well dodgy bikes. The show was composed of numerous interesting bits that were loaded with potential but were ruined by the sterile environment of Merchant Square. Imagine what you could do with projections, bikes, break dancers and musicians out on the street ... Possibilities are endless.

Anyway, it was a very interesting event, but the best part was by far to go to an event as a group, as critical massers. I was no longer just the odd biker that liked the idea of ridding on a bike for a laugh. I was part of a group that strongly believes bikes are a better, healthier and more entertaining way to go.

An interesting point was that we should be more visible as critical mass in order to push this idea because once we were on those bikes at that performance in Merchant Square, we could have been anyone to the eye of the public ... Is anyone up for making critical mass T-Shirts??

On another note, Saturday November 26 was Buy Nothing Day when the Rebel Clown army took to Buchanan Street for some retail therapy. "Buy Nothing, Get one Free" became the slogan of the day thanks to General Panic who hammered these words of wisdom into shoppers heads. Boxes filled with little nothings were passed across intersections and given away to people for free. Although shoppers seemed bemused and confused the action became more focused as Glasgow Kiss arrived at the SWAP SHOP at St Enoch Swaure. G42 and Glasgow Reshape came together to hold a Swap Shop which was brilliant and should be repeated. Flyers and information was handed, jokes were swapped for fruit and other goodness, and clowns creating general chaos attracted the attention of mindless shoppers. A great exercise of cross group co-ordination/collaboration and a great alternative to shopping. Overall, a grand success. Congratulations to all those involved.

Take it easy T
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Bicycology Roadshow 2006

Coming out of the spectacular success of the G8 Bikeride 2005 ("pedalling from London to Scotland") is a bigger, shinier, more ambitious project. We loved working, cycling and demonstrating together so much that we have decided to try to reach more people in a similar way.

This time the format is a bike roadshow involving workshops, outreach, climate change awareness, bike maintenance, bike-art, sustainable living, cinema, cafe and street performance. We will cycle to towns around the country linking up with local projects and campaigns to spread the word about all things bike-related. We are looking for people to join us who feel they have these skills or more. These could be mechanical, artistic, musical, theatrical, educational, environmental, or even bike tricks.

Help us push the boundaries of what can be done with using pedal power! We are also keen to hook up with relevant local projects, so if you have something to offer then get in touch. We are still open to ideas of places to visit, its gonna be happening for about month around august...it could be your town! To get involved contact info@bicycology.co.uk or come to the next meeting in Sheffield in late January/early February.
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This is a one-day seminar to help campaigners (particularly those involved in cycling and walking campaigns) to get to grips with the new National Transport Strategy and the revised Regional Transport Strategies. It is an opportunity for any transport activists to come together to learn to work together. See link
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Britain, UK news from The Times and The Sunday Times - Times Online
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The 25th of this month being buy nothing day'n all, a small group of people were thinking we should celebrate. That same day is going to be critical mass just to keep dem oil sucking machines nice'n slow. Perhaps a big skipped meal and a screening somewhere might be a good idea. There's possibility to get a space at Glasgow Uni for Screening and food if that's a idea. Aparently they've got projector there and films could be 'Still we ride" and a few others. So keep dem minds thinking ... It should be a grand day I reckon ... Oh and if anyone's interested in meeting up to sort out some subvertizing get in touch by Wednesday at the latest so that I don't have to reply to the whole list when we got a place and a time to meet. Take it easy T
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