Filmmaker focuses in on power of pedalling in numbers

By Barry Link

"I'd like to join a Critical Mass ride. Except I can't stand the people involved."

It's a comment I've heard more than once from people in past years, including from my own mouth. Critical Mass is the monthly bike ride that's part joy ride, part political rally. Starting at the Vancouver Art Gallery and then proceeding several hours through the heart of the city, it can now pull in a thousand or more riders who through their numbers take over any roadway they choose.

And as portrayed in filmmaker Robert Alstead's documentary You Never Bike Alone, the sight of those hundreds of bikes gliding in an unending column across the Burrard Bridge is a beautiful sight to see.

I'm a vanilla bicyclist. I meekly stick to the bike routes. I seldom ride at night. I wear a helmet and bike clothes from MEC and I always make sure I go forth with a pump and at least a bottle of water mounted on the frame. And on a Saturday night, when faced with a trip through the fog and cold from my home near the Fraser River to Tinseltown in the Downtown Eastside, I naturally drove my 18-year-old Isuzu putt-putt to the theatre to see the latest showing of Alstead's film. Many people, including writer Matt Burrows from the Georgia Straight, rode their bikes to the theatre, and you could see dozens of their bikes chained up to the railings outside the International Village Starbucks after the movie. It made me feel like I'd personally slurped down a tank of gas and farted it out as carbon into the atmosphere.

But their commitment, and Alstead's film, also made me like these people. Alstead, a frequent feature contributor to the Courier, has put together a compelling and intelligent film. Deftly edited and covering a lot of ground in 80 minutes, it maintains an entertaining pace while examining and celebrating Vancouver's bicycle activists, with the Critical Mass movement at the centre of it.

To his credit, he recognizes the controversy involved with Critical Mass and other bicycle radicals. At first, the police didn't know what to do with them and made the odd arrest. Car drivers were befuddled and angered when they blocked major thoroughfares. According to former councillor Gordon Price, providing some of the most fluid commentary in the film, Critical Mass has had no effect on civic politics or planning. Most councillors and city staff have never even heard of it, he says. The notable exception would be the NPA's Peter Ladner, who's seen participating in a ride in the film.

Even their natural constituents are uncertain. UBC's Bill Rees, a committed bicycle commuter who developed the ecological footprint idea, has never participated in the rides because he thinks they are politically counterproductive. In the film he recalls how he was stopped dead in his car by a Critical Mass rally as he was frantically trying to cross the Lions Gate Bridge to the North Shore to reach his ailing mother. No doubt, he says, other car drivers facing similar emergencies have also been frustrated if not exasperated by a road blocked by cyclists displaying a strong sense of entitlement.

They also have a strong sense of having their freak on, with colourful bikes and dress. Some are drawn to the rides because they'll support any cause going. Others see cars as the epitome of an industrial capitalism run amok. But most, it turns out, want to have fun and to enjoy biking in this city without fear of being run over by an SUV.

They're more goofy than freaky, and more charming than goofy. And what bad things can you say about that group of cyclists who occasionally ride naked through city streets in the name of making those streets safer and pollution free?

Critical Mass rides in some cities have fallen apart thanks to the tactics of deliberate confrontation with drivers and cars. According to Alstead, the Vancouver activists have practised peaceful responses to angry and potentially dangerous vehicle drivers and past harassment from police.

What's the secret to their strength? They've discovered the beauty of human-powered momentum on wheels. On an a sunny spring day, or almost any day, even in the rain, there's nothing quite like hitting the road with your bike. We could all do with more of it.

As the increasing network of bike routes in Vancouver demonstrates cycling has come a long way in Vancouver, even if it has a long way to go. Critical Mass, and the movements like it, might not be so much a cause but an example of that progress.

The next screening of Alstead's film is 2 p.m., Feb. 11 at Pacific Cinematheque. See www.youneverbikealone.com for more information.

published on 01/31/2007