MASSA CRÍTICA
On Friday I participated in the MASSA CRITICA (critical mass) bike ride. I learned it began in San Francisco and now there are cities all over the world who do this monthly bike ride. The large group takes to the streets to protest/bring awareness and help promote bike safety. It's typically about a 2 hour ride around the city. The streets are blocked off and cars are not able to pass as the group rides through the streets. Porto Alegre is not a bicycle friendly city. There are few bike lanes and the cars are very aggressive and tend to "push the limit" by getting as close as they can.
Although I had not been on a bike in 2 years, I was excited to participate and get to see the city. As we began to ride someone would shout "Bicicleta" and the group would shout back "um carro a menos" (one car less). There were people cheering us on in in streets. I was loving it!
After about an hour I thought, wow I am getting tired. I really should have eaten more before! I no longer recognized where we were and soon learned neither did anyone else from my group. After almost 2 hours of riding we finally stopped and realized why we had come so far. A fellow biker was struck and killed by a car a few weeks ago and we were going back to the scene of the accident to hang a "ghost bike" in honor of him.
I was completely exhausted and realized that we now had to turn around and ride all the way home. It turned into a 22 mile bike ride that took 4 hours. What a way to transition back into riding a bike after two year! ha! Although I'm still incredibly sore, I feel proud that I was able to complete the ride. There were so many times that I wanted to just get into a taxi!
Here is a video from the night:
Although I had not been on a bike in 2 years, I was excited to participate and get to see the city. As we began to ride someone would shout "Bicicleta" and the group would shout back "um carro a menos" (one car less). There were people cheering us on in in streets. I was loving it!
After about an hour I thought, wow I am getting tired. I really should have eaten more before! I no longer recognized where we were and soon learned neither did anyone else from my group. After almost 2 hours of riding we finally stopped and realized why we had come so far. A fellow biker was struck and killed by a car a few weeks ago and we were going back to the scene of the accident to hang a "ghost bike" in honor of him.
I was completely exhausted and realized that we now had to turn around and ride all the way home. It turned into a 22 mile bike ride that took 4 hours. What a way to transition back into riding a bike after two year! ha! Although I'm still incredibly sore, I feel proud that I was able to complete the ride. There were so many times that I wanted to just get into a taxi!
Here is a video from the night:
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