Atlanta version of Courteous Mass

I understand Atlanta's Courteous Mass has felt like the baby sister to the older and more established Critical Mass, but when we joined the ride this evening at Woodruff Park, it appeared this sister was growing up. The ride was well-represented by the usual variety of bikes and ages of riders. Although my photos disproportionately represent the families, this does make a good family ride and it does nothing to undermine the respect of motorists.

As with most rides around town, it was a pleasure to run into both familiar faces and new faces. These rides are always a good chance to meet new people and to catch up with those you've ridden with on other rides.

Now that I've ridden both Critical Mass and Courteous Mass, I can make a fair comparison. Both are nice in that you're surrounded by cyclists and riding along with traffic. Both feel very safe and I would argue both are safe. It's a great way to introduce new cyclists to group riding in an urban setting, although Courteous Mass sets a much better example.

Both feel like a rolling celebration, but certainly more so for Critical Mass. Yes, there's the whooping and hollering, bell-ringing and horn-tooting, but Critical Mass does have more energy and a lot more "Happy Fridays!" being shouted out, perhaps because of its size. Both masses get attention, but taking over an intersection does get more attention. It's just not quite the attention we should be getting ;-).

The trend might be away from Critical Mass and more toward the alternative rides. That is probably a good thing if we can increase and multiply the energy of Critical Mass.