Small-Town Hosts Big City Event

Bemidji Bicyclists Participate in Critical Mass

By: Amy Borgman

 “No Comply,” the solo skateboard shop in town, promoted the event.

Critical Mass originated in San Francisco in 1992, but has found its way to smaller communities since. The event is often portrayed by news media as a radical protest, but participants generally view it as a celebration. It was created to remind drivers to share the road with cyclists by forcing them to yield to a giant mass of bicyclists commuting through the city at once. The event has become popularized all over the world. For instance, Budapest hosts two Masses a year and in one 2008 ride participation reached an estimated 80,000 cyclists.

        Bikes available to rent for students in the Sustainability Center of the lower Union.

Although the media covered the event as a protest, riders generally share the feeling that they are participating in a socially unorganized celebration - a party, if you will. It’s an opportunity to exercise the rights granted to all cyclists and to obtain the power inherent in numbers. 

            Bemidji, Minnesota, is a small city on a global scale, yet its appreciation for riding and cultural phenomena is large. Bemidji bicyclists took notice of the event about fifteen years ago, according to past participants, and have been organizing Critical Masses on the last Friday of each month since. This year, R. Graham Beyer, a Michigan native and avid cyclist, posted fliers around town and the Bemidji State University campus promoting a ride on Friday, August 27.

            The ride started at 5 p.m. The meeting spot was obvious as R. sat five feet above everything on his "tall bike" in front of Paul and Babe.  A tall bike is one bike frame welded on top of another frame. The single-speed chain is rotated down in order to reach the rear hub of the wheel. R. worked at the German camp at the Concordia Language Villages all summer and saw the bike frames hanging out of a dumpster at the end of the season. He explained, “I’m a crafty person, so I figured I should do something with them.” Thus, his Beetle Juice-inspired tall bike was born. The bike definitely turns heads, but R. still rides around town with pride and with a helmet.

        R. is no stranger to posing for pictures with his bike, as many bar-goers become intrigued. 

At the stroke of 5, ten people gathered at the triumphant statues of Paul and Babe and R. communicated with everyone about how the ride should be done. He explained how the rides he had participated in were usually approached with a “go with the flow” attitude but needed to be safety-conscious as well. The group decided to ride two abreast, and would not pull any tricky maneuvers like “corking,” when the bikers stop in the middle of an intersection, halting traffic.

The crew included a preschooler, a comic book storeowner, and a man from Minneapolis who moved to Bemidji recently to seek out his small-town soul. All the other riders had participated in Critical Mass events in the past in Bemidji and were anxious to hit the road again on that hot and windy day. The commute went from Paul Bunyan Dr. to Anne St. then rounded back to Paul and Babe. The venture was approximately 5 miles long and was replete with honks from angry and intrigued drivers. More inspiringly, at least five bicyclists joined the Mass throughout the voyage.

             Bemidji encourages people to ride with the addition of a bike lane.

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