Posters and Flyers!

So a big part of Critical Mass is getting the word out beforehand. Please take a minute to download and print out a poster or flyer page, make photocopies, and put them up somewhere visible or hand them out to cyclists (or aspiring cyclists!) you know.

Click on an image to download that PDF! Files are all less than 500K.


"SurreySign" flyer & poster


"Surrey Coat-of-bikes" poster & flyers (double-sided)

Please email us at surreycriticalmass@gmail.com if you have difficulty downloading any of the above files and we'll email them to you directly.

Remember: Critical Mass is a xerocracy, and you are highly encouraged to promote it in your own way. If you want to design your own poster, get to it!

Map!

Here's a map of the bike routes in Surrey. Keep in mind though, that just because something is labelled as a bike route, does not necessarily make it one.

Riding out to Guildford on 100th Ave. the other day, some of us noticed that "bike route" was the narrow strip of shoulder, covered in so much dirt and glass that the painted bicycle icon on the pavement was barely visible. The "bike route" abruptly led into a curb at 148th Street, and turned into a regular lane with solid curb afterwards. Not exactly safe, unless you're riding two abreast and making cars pass you properly!

Also, I remember riding back from Fort Langley and being led by a bike route map down perhaps 100th Avenue again (near 160th Street?), where the narrow busy truck-traffic single-lane had nothing but a gravel shoulder leading into a steep ditch embankment. Fun!

You can download hi-res PDF images of the Surrey bike route maps from the City here. It's interesting that they state the following on the link page: "The Engineering Department is committed that 'all new (transportation) infrastructure shall be constructed bicycle-friendly.'" Let's hold them to that statement!

First ever Critical Mass ride in Surrey, BC !

The first ever Critical Mass Ride in Surrey (specifically North Surrey) is happening this month: March 24th, 2007. Riders will meet in the public plaza near the Surrey Central Skytrain Station at 3:30pm, and then take off together for a leisurely ride around North Surrey, keeping in mind one of the popular Critical Mass mottoes: We're not blocking traffic, we are traffic!


So just what is Critical Mass anyways?

The term was taken years ago from an observation about cyclist behaviour in some busy parts of urban China. At uncontrolled intersections, cyclists would wait and gather into a group, and that tight group would "push" its way through the cross traffic: Once the cyclists had reached "critical mass" they could safetly and firmly assert their legal right to be on the roadway.

In 1992 in San Francisco, cyclists started doing group-rides home across the city at the end of the workday. They'd take up entire lanes partly as a safe way to not get squished by traffic, and partly to protest the lack of suitable infrastructure (bicycle lanes, push-button crossings) to ensure their safety at other times.

Wikipedia has some more info on the ride here, and you can check out other cities' Critical Mass rides through this link.