Allow me to complain for a sentence about running red lights, intersection plugging, etc. I saw two people almost get nailed during the ride simply because we went through lights. If you want to hear me complain at length (because it really is stupid), tune into cyclosty FM on wjhu on tuesday 8-9pm.

Despite the sudden drop in temperature this week (fuck you, cold fronts) I think a little more than thirty people rode in this month’s critical mass. The route was pretty unusual as far as these go.

Up Charles from the get-go, left on University Parkway, into Hampden, down Roland, through Druid Hill Park where everyone stopped for a photo. A few people started to leave around this point but the ride over the 28th Street bridge was a lot of fun (not something I thought I’d ever say). That bridge, and it’s sister span (29th street bridge) are both very unfriendly for riding, so it was nice to conquer it with lots of other riders.

Brief apology to the dozens of drivers held up at that point, but hey, we were going at a decent clip. Wait, I’m not sorry, fuck you! Little tension for most of the ride, probably going up Charles was the ‘worst’ but really not so bad compared to other CM’s last year.

I left the ride when they got to Maryland Avenue, but the ride report I got from Arne was that everyone headed downtown and things pretty much broke apart at Fells Point. I remember a very small, very short Critical Mass that ended there last year.

Also one of the quietest masses I’ve ever ridden in, almost eerily so going up Charles. Nobody was talking..

That wraps up this way too drawn out ride report for the March 2010 Baltimore Critical Mass. Tune in soon for an announcement of a Critical Manners ride for April.

[Photos on my flickr from the ride, plus a really quick video as shown above - link]
[Jon Baler (sorry I had the wrong person before) has put up some cool photos - link]
[No other recaps or photos that I can find. If you have some, please post them in the comments so I can link them here]

A few weeks ago a freshman who has been on a few of our MICA Cycling rides approached me about using some of my photos from the past few Baltimore Critical Mass-s. I’m really excited about the video he used them for so here’s some background on it :

Since Halloween 2008, there have been a handful of the rides here. There was March 09, unconfirmed reports of a tiny one in May, and not again until September. Last month for the Halloween Critical Mass, we had a huge turnout, and that’s where a lot of the footage for Clayton’s video came from. The ride was big enough that it lasted for 90+ minutes, and covered a lot of ground.

Critical Mass Short Document from Clayton Lee on Vimeo.

There are spots in the video that drag on for me, but the message is what’s important and I think Clayton really got it across. There’s also a black friday critical mass here this week. I won’t be around for it but word on the street says : relaxed and friendly. Less macho-shit than at the Halloween ride. Anyway, nice work sir! I especially like this shot from Downtown :

(I don’t think HD embedding works for the vid so click to watch it in HD on Vimeo)

A photo of mine from the Halloween Critical Mass in Baltimore last year is up in the MICA online Wilgus gallery. Check it out for some great new&old work by some really talented people. The show has been up since October 15th and ‘ends’ on November 15th.

   TOMORROW NIGHT AT 7pm, Go to the Washington Monument. 

As you prepare for what is going to be a TOTALLY AWESOME Critical Mass Halloween ride this Friday, remember these points -WEAR A COSTUME. I hate wearing costumes, but I am going to be a superhero for this occasion. You’ll also need one if you plan to do the Alleycat the following night.

Speaking of that event, here iz sum details on the race – It will be SHORT, and it will have checkpoints focusing on local shops. (Maybe the new Joes Bikes downtown at Fells Point?)

Expect it to be free! I don’t expect much more than that. (Facebook RSVP for the Critical Mass here)

Update [May 7th, 2009]

If you have been tracking Pogan’s case using the ecourts NY system thing, you can see that Pogan’s next court date is on MAY 20th. Will update after that…

Update [February 20th, 2009]

Pogan has been terminated by the NYPD – from Gothamist. (it actually looks like he quit)

The NYPD officer caught on tape bodyslamming a cyclist to the curb during a group Critical Mass ride through Times Square last July has been fired. Though charges of assault, harassment and filing a bogus police report are still pending against rookie cop Patrick Pogan, a spokesman for the NYPD confirmed that he was dismissed ten days ago and that the termination was directly related to the Critical Mass incident.

UPDATE [December 17th, 2008]

Officer Pogan pleads not guilty – reported by the AP, bikeblognyc, NY Times, etc.

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City police officer seen in a YouTube video knocking a bicyclist to the pavement during a protest in Times Square pleaded not guilty Tuesday to related charges… He also faces misdemeanor charges of third-degree assault, second-degree harassment and making a punishable false written statement.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see how they try to get Pogan out of this. Should be funny.

UPDATE [December 16th, 2008]

Patrick Pogan indicted – Cityroom & Gothamist report (among others) of Patrick Pogan being indicted. More links and follow up later. Time to testify!

UPDATE [December 11th, 2008]

Since a google reader alert popped up for Pogan’s name in this article, I emailed it’s writer to see if Pogan’s case is still “under investigation”. Still waiting on a response but there still haven’t been any updates on Pogan’s situation. Original post continues below…

Officer Pogan, as you may remember, is the NYPD cop who tackled an army vet. off his bike during the July 2008 critical mass. The attack was caught on video and the youtube posting made the incident famous – read more about it here, here, here, here, and also here. (Assualt charges were first filed against the cyclist but later dropped).

In this article, published on July 29th, the last we hear about Pogan’s situation is that an investigation has been started or is about to start. Besides the fact that theres not much to investigate, why hasn’t there been a single update about his situation to date? Even if the investigation is ongoing, what’s Pogan’s situation within the NYPD right now?

“placed the officer on desk duty pending the outcome of a department investigation.”

“The police said the officer had been assigned to desk duty pending a Police Department investigation”

Sites like Gothamist and Major web/print news outlets that are usually more proactive about issues like this have not done enough to keep us informed. A story like this should not be let go.