You never bike alone...

Taken from www.youneverbikealone.com, a dedicated Critical Mass in Vancouver, Canada. They finally came up with a cool documentary about masses there. Professionally done, it features great concept rides with freaky themes and eventually, shots of protests and advocacies. Read on.

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You Never Bike Alone is an 80 minute documentary, now available on DVD, looking at how cyclists are building critical mass in Vancouver, Canada, and changing the face of the city. It is the story of how a social movement grows and the people behind it.The cycling phenomenon known as Critical Mass is a reclamation of public space that started in San Francisco in the early 1990s and spread by the internet throughout the world. On a set day, at the end of every month, cyclists and other self-propelled people ride en masse through city streets.

Vancouver has become renowned for its big Critical Mass bike rides, and particularly the party spirit that attracts all types of cyclists.

You Never Bike Alone charts the development of these mass rides in Vancouver over the last decade, from the (pre-Critical Mass) protest rides across the historic Lions Gate Bridge in the early to mid-Nineties, through the "No Fun City" years of the late 1990s and early 2000s, where cyclists were routinely arrested for riding together, up to giant Critical Mass rides of more recent years.

Along the way, You Never Bike Alone strips down for the Wholesome Undie (an underwear ride protesting the Molson Indy race) and throws caution to the wind for the World Naked Bike Ride, a ride founded in Vancouver by a Critical Mass regular.

YNBA catches up with the local "freak" bike collective (who make art bikes from recycled machines) and looks at how cyclists are sharing the "velo love" through buildathons, street theatre, and rides.

Drawing on footage shot over the last decade, it asks whether cycle activists are succeeding in their goals. Through interviews with motorists "stuck in traffic," cyclists of all backgrounds, and local politicians, some of whom ride on the Mass themselves, it asks whether Critical Mass and similarly styled rides are winning hearts and minds.

With its goal of having 10% of journeys by bike by 2010, the year Vancouver hosts the Winter Olympics, the city seems to be heading toward a more sustainable future. However, plans are afoot to embark on a massive road infrastructure expansion program in the Greater Vancouver Region called The Gateway Project, that will flood Vancouver with commuting cars and encourage further sprawl of the city's ever-expanding commuter belt.

The lines are drawn, but which vision will prevail?

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I hope Putrajaya Critical Mass will be as big as the ones in San Francisco, New York, Budapest and Vancouver. At the same time, I would love to see the harmony and respect both from motorists and cyclists.