Dublin cycling needs C.R.A.N.K.

In a recent post I talked about how cycling is becoming ever-cool. Exceeding the lycra-clad fitness freaks and Dutch-style heavy roaming commuters, cycling has reached a young(ish) audience with low-maintenance, fast, light and affordable bikes, spurred on in part by the urban culture trend towards fixed gear bikes. The movement, if it is that, isn’t like skateboarding or roller blading because, unlike BMXing, this is about day-to-day stuff, and is being adopted by the 21+ crowd, rather then the 14-17 year olds.

In Europe cycling is helped along quite nicely thanks to the fact that cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagan basically live and breathe cycling… to a degree I don’t think even Dublin can reach. But we can certainly aspire. Of course, Dublin has had a huge boost in cycling even in the last year, with the essentially-free “Dublin bikes” scheme which plans on expanding, and the proliferation of millions of new bike lanes all over the place… and again, plans to expand those, too.

In America, cycling is still niche in most places. It’s definitely gaining steam in places like Los Angeles and San Francisco, where attitudes are a little more free and open to the idea. While New York City is trying to implement cycling, it’s a slow and tedious process as politics keep getting in the way of progress. Having said that, one movement which is now deceased because of the sheer size and popularity garnishing negative attention has caught my eye. C.R.A.N.K. mob was a gathering in L.A. where once a month (or thereabouts), cyclists would gather and “ride out” together during the night. This lead to a lot of fun. People putting neon flashing lights on their bikes and dressing up in various costumes to celebrate the ability to ride freely in their city. A party atmosphere was certainly in the air. On the last ride out, Crankmas, last year, they counted around 700 cyclists riding through the streets.

In my post that I linked above, I mentioned “critical mass” a lot. Dublin is nowhere near hitting critical mass because cyclists have a terrible image. Jumping red lights, skipping and hopping between cars on the streets and not being cautious enough to be safe. Riding in and out of the city myself you certainly see that, but it’s nowhere near as bad as people want you to think. Cyclists may skip red lights on occasion, but most of the time cyclists jump the lights early to get a head start on the green, because we have to pedal our weight forward while cars have much better acceleration (most of the time). The tendency is for cars to pull as close to the edge of the road as possible, regardless of lanes. Unless a bike is directly in front of a car, it’s almost invisible to most drivers. I’m not blaming drivers, most aren’t used to sharing the road. But that has to change. And it will, especially with the 30KPH speed limits in place within the city center.

But a critical mass cycle, meet up and community needs to build. For a while I’ve been contemplating building a blog style site that would accomodate such a thing, but I’m yet to be convinced that it’s a worthwhile effort. I just don’t know if Irish people, and specifically Dubliners, have the willpower to get involved with a community on such a scale. The numbers of cyclists exist. I’ve no doubt we could gather a huge number of cyclists together to take over a route from O’Connell St. down to Dame St. and even on to the quays. I can see it now. Imagine the news the next day saying every single Dublin Bike was in use because of a huge ride out at midnight sometime in a balmy Spring weekend! However, I don’t think the “community” exists yet. Even within fixie groups, they stick to themselves for the most part. At the same time, no one has encouraged this kind of activity. Sure, a Christmas party held by the Dublin Cycling Campaign was successful (as far as I know)… but a real message to politicians and the like would be to have a critical mass ride out emphasising that there’s strength in numbers, but even more strength in community.

Check some of the C.R.A.N.K. mob and other such group activity videos below…

C.R.A.N.K. Mob

Vancouver Critical Mass

“Critical Mask”, Halloween in San Francisco

Dublin, in 2006 on car free day. Might be an idea to revive this idea?