The pedal pushers gather en masse on the last Friday of every month at Daley Plaza, defiantly converging to reclaim the streets and to show that a bicycle is a viable and sometimes superior means of transportation. Taking their place between the bumpers of cars in traffic, cyclists ride as a Critical Mass, or a group large enough to powerfully push through intersections. First held in San Francisco in 1992, Critical Mass rides have spread to more than 50 cities worldwide, including Chicago, which started one in 1997.
The bicycle activists, whose numbers range from a few dozen in winter to a few hundred in summer, are partly protesting what they see as society’s overdependence on the automobile and partly celebrating the joy of biking as they move through the streets during rush hour at about 5 miles per hour. There is no leader and no planned route.
