[dc-critmass-list] Last Friday's Critical Mass

[michael turner]

A laminated map of central dc was produced before the ride as riders collected in Dupont Circle. Several riders marked areas to visit with a dry-erase marker. A route was drawn, connect-the-dots style, with many turns to discourage keeping the relatively low-turnout DC Critical Mass on a busy street for too long. The route was written in summary on paper and handed to a route leader. The route was proposed to every rider around and approved. This took about 15-20 minutes.

To keep the front of the mass from riding too far from the rear of the mass, the issue was brought up to all present before the ride. A rider to stay in the rear and alert the front was chosen. A noisemaker was the tool used to notify the front. It wasn't heard by the route leader during the ride. Instead, with everyone having known that the idea is to not lose the rear because of the pre-ride address, a call to slow down flowed from the rear to the front when the noisemaker did make noise. 

I hope a pre-ride address becomes a tradition, to emphasize sticking together and to bring participation into how routes are chosen...but more -to choose random riders to fill roles. 

To not allow a regime of the same riders to rise into the roles, we should find a way to choose/elect any rider to lead the route, or alert the front from the rear randomly. I suggest a goofy but true game of spin the bottle to select who will lead the route and who will keep watch from the rear. Regime-less random selection of roles means the ride can remain full of potential leaders instead of followers of the same few riders. This way roles are learned and truly shared by any open to filling them, which is empowering. This way, should the police choose to follow and interrupt the ride like was done in the past and is done in other cities presently, there won't be the easy target of a regime of riders that do the work of organizing.

I'm hoping to pass on the laminated map to whoever says they'll show up with it to next month's ride, so that kind of facilitation will also be in the hands of more riders.

What's your feedback on creating roles (a route leader in the front and an alerter in the back) for the last mass, and drawing a route before the ride? Spin the bottle random selection?
-Mike

 
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