I am really bummed that Critical Mass uses bicycles in their angry, aggressive and unruly demonstrations, for excellent causes, because it causes non-riders to hate bikes.

Not only does a Critical Mass event prevent people from riding bikes, but it also creates within them negative emotional reactions when they see people like me commuting to work downtown.

Non-riders driving to pick their kids up from school who get caught in a demonstration are not going to say, “Gee, I really should get out on my bike more,” or, “Hey, these are really great people. I want to support their cause.”

What they will say the next time they see a bike is, “I’m going to run that *&#! bike off of the road right now because those bicyclists cause me a lot of trouble and anxiety.” The thing is, most people already feel that way about bikes.

You know how I knew there was going to be a Critical Mass demonstration in Asheville last month? I saw a lot of people on bikes disobeying traffic rules, not wearing helmets, and disregarding pedestrians and motor vehicles. That was not the demonstration itself, but the behavior of these “riders” on the way to where they gathered for their ride.

A group of three riders rode along the street upstream, against the flow of traffic. Another pair of bikes cut across Haywood Road in front of oncoming traffic. Several single riders cruised the sidewalks. A few blocks away riders blew red lights as the intersection began filling with traffic from the changed light. Again, this was on the way to the demonstration. At the actual ride, less than one-tenth of riders were wearing helmets.

The demonstration, led by City Councilman Bryan Freeborn, was to bring attention to the destruction of New Orleans, excessive use of gas, and other national transportation issues. One rider was arrested for aggressive behavior as the group rode en mass on the interstate. Are bikes allowed on the interstate? No. What really got me fired up me was that some people thought it a great idea to have their babies with them to ride on the interstate with aggressive riders who don’t obey traffic rules.

I asked Freeborn how he thought things went that day.

“I think they went, overall, really well,” Freeborn said. “I was surprised that the police got involved.”

Freeborn, who has commuted via bicycle since grade school, even while living in Atlanta, said that he started doing Critical Mass rides because it was an important way to highlight adults on bikes as a viable means of transportation.

“If you’re a non-rider and see Critical Mass, you can see there are people to support you to ride bikes.”

As far as the traffic moving at 15 miles an hour on the interstate, Freeborn says that the amount of time it took the riders to get from Haywood Road to 240 was the exact amount of time it would take in a car due to lights and traffic. “In cars, we speed up and stop, pushing the limit and creating traffic,” he said. “Slow and steady would be faster.

“Drivers get irritated if you’re in the roads, on the sidewalks, or disobeying traffic rules, but they don’t want to give you the same priority as another car, either,” Freeborn said.

He’s right. But I just don’t think that flagrantly disobeying rules and purposefully making people angry during a very busy time of day is going to convince anyone to respect bikes.