Around 20 bicyclists loiter around the fountain in the center of John Fremont Park at 16th and P Streets, resting on park benches or milling about to chat with other riders.  A small group huddles around one park bench, where rider Danny Gutierrez is passing out t-shirts printed with an arresting graphic: a car, surrounded by a circle of bicycles, framed by the slogan, "¡La revolución no será motorizado!" -- "The revolution will not be motorized!"  Another rider is passing out fliers with links to the Sacramento Critical Mass Google Group: groups.google.com/group/sacramentocriticalmass.  It seems every time an anxious rider checks his watch, a couple more riders ride in from the Starbucks or Naked Lounge, on either end of the park.

The t-shirts excluded, this is how Sacramento's low-key version of the wild and eponymous San Francisco institution always seems to start.  At 6:00 PM on the last Friday of every month, anywhere from a dozen to over one hundred riders converge on Fremont Park.  This time, Barry, a grizzled Critical Mass veteran, gives a short speech about having fun and riding safely, and the riders start filing out of the park, towards 15th and P.  Once on the road, they take off on an aimless and ambling tour of midtown.  There is no set route; the group moves organically, turning as a flock, stretching across all three traffic lanes on 8th Street for a while, squeezing down to single-file to navigate past gridlocked cars on J, and lingering through intersections as "cover" for slower riders.  Some riders peel away from the group, others spontaneously join the mass.  All the while, riders are introducing themselves to each other, cracking jokes, shouting joyfully, ringing bicycle bells, blowing horns, and maintaining a party-on-wheels atmosphere.  As the group makes its way through town, a few motorists honk angrily, but most seem to laugh, yell appreciatively, or, conditions permitting, even extend high-fives to riders. 

Critical Mass in Sacramento has a rocky history.  The first rides started in 2001, but petered out in 2003 under police pressure and after a couple of incidents involving vigilante motorists.  The current incarnation started in April, 2007 and has convened monthly, rain or shine.  Though the Sacramento Police Department, citing safety concerns, accompanied the rides in late 2007 and early 2008 (including one ironic incident where a police vehicle rear-ended, then arrested, bicyclist Eric Riggs), they have since decided to leave Critical Mass alone.  The police scrutiny and a cold winter depressed ridership, but it is steadily rebounding.

Some riders ride to exert their right to the road as members of traffic, others to flaunt the benefits bicycles give over cars, and still others just to have fun.  Though there's no dominant political message, just an appreciation of two wheeled transit, Critical Mass is a testament to the vibrancy of bike culture in Sacramento and the appeal of a casual ride through midtown with a few dozen fellow cyclists.

Images above are from the Febuary, 2009 ride.  Pictures of past rides are available at www.nothingsharper.com/gallery2/main.php, with video clips at www.youtube.com/0geek0.