17 miles of awesomeness!!
17 miles from South Bank to Tower Bridge at 11pm

Great Critical Mass last Friday 27th, and a moving tribute to Alan Cartwright, on Caledonian Road where he was stabbed and killed while riding his bike.

The mass went: left out of south bank, head up to london bridge for occupy, cross the river and head up through the City to Kings X, and Caledonian Rd to pay respects to Alan Cartright then over to Regent St for Michael Mason.

Response from family friend: “I was there last night with Michelle and they all stopped and paid tribute to Alan it was really special. Lifting there bikes up in the air and chanting for al we know there cause ain’t for Alan it’s for bikers that lost there life but the fact that they stopped there and talked to Michelle was really nice”

Alan’s dad was standing watching as the mass passed. He was overwhelmed and said thanks and respect to everyone.

Alan’s family were very touched and moved. They were when they came home and found the Mass by Alan’s shrine. They are very grateful to you all.

The pack partly split for moment, as when crossing passed Tottenham Court Road tube station, police stopped the back end of the pack frm crossing thru on a red

videos:

We always used to have these ‘count’ videos. Good for seeing popularity each month. Nearly 500 while still on dark nights is great turnout.

900 on this summer one

comments:

Another proud masser here. It was so right to get a bunch of cyclists to pay their respects to a young cyclist., it was a moving moment of reflection or a young man. Throughout last night I found the behaviour of CM to be fantastic, the most upbeat and positive corking I’ve seen. A wonderful route accompanied by some good tunes and every mass I meet such a broad spectrum of good people. Thank you CM.

Was incredible mass this time, really, so calm and nice flow. Blessings to one and all! Be safe on a road!

I’ve loved Mass with all my heart ever since I started riding it (not as long ago as you might think), but tonight I felt genuinely, and immensely, proud to be part of a large body of people – all with their own minds and ideas
Respecting and remembering people who have been victims of fatal incidents because they were on a bike has gained quite some importance for me, and yes, I do get a bit emotional sometimes. Including when I got off my bike and paused by the shrine, bursting with flowers and trinkets and offerings and prayers and poems and photographs. Alan Cartwright wasn’t killed by a left hook from a bus or HGV, he wasn’t clipped by an inattentive or vindictive driver and his death wasn’t the result of poor urban planning. But he still died because he was riding a bike.
He apparently loved riding – there are two ghost bikes at his shrine, along with a helmet and some bike lights.
He may have spent those last moments just wanting someone there with him, he may not have – maybe there was someone there, but in spirit, and reaching back to that moment, we were with him. Every person who gets on a bike to ride to school, to work, for fun…
There is a bond.
No one rides alone.

Thank you Mass. So much love for what we can be together.
Rest in peace Alan.
Deepest respect to his family for being there tonight.

Really proud that we paid tribute to Alan. Its also good that his family were there. I hope our gesture was of comfort to them in their grief.

When two ambulances passed through Mass, it was like the parting of the red sea.

There was a Red Sea parting moment on my first Mass back in the ’90s. I was towards the front – someone cried ‘ambulance!’ and a way through magically appeared. The blissful smile on the astonished face of the driver is etched in my memory, as are the cheers his mate gave us – and we returned!

Those motorbikers at Buck palace though… Awesome.
That noise was something else. What a moment.
I was right in front of them when they started. Such a beautiful sound!
They were kind of celebrating us with making the engines turn up…
Motorbikers are great. They see all the same dangers cyclists do. If a texting driver doesn’t drift left towards a cyclist then he will drift right towards a motorbiker. Cardoors and people pulling out across you are exactly the same. Looked like they had been having a fun ride and meeting the mass just made it more interesting and fun for them too.
I’ve never been up close to so many superbikes banging off the rev limiter, it made me giggle with glee! the vibrations went straight through me for extra-sensory experience too. It was another fun moment among many on CM.

Excellent Mass, great route, lovely to pass by Cally Road to pay our respect to Alan. But did anyone see the madness towards the back of the pack on North Rd, near Camden Rd?, with the guy in the silver Mini driving at speed towards the pack, then trying to purposely run them over. Had the skaters and longboarders not leaped out the way, they’d be brown bread. the car sent boards flying up into the air. By far the craziest thing I’ve seen at Mass for a long time.

A glimpse of it on video, can’t make out the plate though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUpJpBcMNnk

Well, i would say it was an awesome one!!! I loved the route, the vibe was fantastic. Loved, that we didn´t stop for a long time and even the stop was quite short , we stayed together WE WERE ONE BIG CRITICAL MASS!!!
And not at least to pay our respect to the victims of (any kind of) violence!!!
Big thumb up for the leaders! Big thumb up for the people with those heavy, bulky soundsystems, they made the evening awesome! Big thumb up for the corkers (which was this time very calm and friendly)! and Big thumb up for everyone, who turned up!!!! Thank you guys!