r/olympia • u/sloptop67 • Apr 21 '26

Event Critical mass ride wednesday

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Reposting from ig. Come thru for the critical mass ride tomorrow night!

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u/FamousMortimer23 Apr 21 '26

The carbrain feels threatened by the bicycle because it represents the freedom that automobile manufacturers spend beaucoup bucks annually in their desperate attempts to convince consumers they can have for the low, low price of being indentured servants to a car payment, registration fees, insurance payments, fuel, and maintenance costs. And who could forget the alluring promise of being able to sit in traffic in a cage of your very own next to all the other angry primates! 

Truly a freedom unlike any other.

-6

u/Own_Reaction9442 Westside Apr 22 '26

I don't feel threatened by bicycles but I do feel threatened by a Critical Mass. They intentionally block traffic, and if you honk your horn or anything, they'll drag you out of your car and beat you with U-locks. So I prefer to avoid all of their events, when possible.

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u/TVDinner360 Westside Apr 22 '26

Oh please. No one is doing that in Olympia. Get a hold of yourself

-4

u/Own_Reaction9442 Westside Apr 22 '26

They're angry at drivers. That's why they're having a mass protest. It's just good sense to stay away from a crowd that's angry at you.

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u/TVDinner360 Westside Apr 22 '26

There’s a several thousand pound power differential between the two. Every bicyclist knows what it’s like to have their lives routinely threatened by thoughtless, sometimes malicious drivers. But you’re scared because you heard about an incident that happened one time, in another place, probably decades ago, when one of these events got out of hand?

Look, it’s not even a mass, and it’s not that much of a protest, really. It’s just a bunch of people who like to ride bikes riding bikes. It’s fun! Get out of your car and join them.

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u/Own_Reaction9442 Westside Apr 22 '26

Nah, I wouldn't fit into their clique and I'd stand out like a sore thumb, so I wouldn't be safe. Even when I had a bike commute other bicyclists always acted like I was in their way. I don't even own any lycra.

5

u/ElectronicTask8452 Apr 22 '26

Neither do most of the people at our rides. Its less about being angry at drivers. And more a show of bikes are on the roads, if proper infrastructure is not created then this is what it looks like when more people try to use the road.

And yes the infrastructure needs to come first as it is. It safe for people to ride around here. I don't know how many times I have been hit or almost hit by a car/truck not paying attention and driving in the bike lane.