I have to say at the start of the day my thoughts were "never again" with all the hard work and long hours that went into this. I spent many hours trying to help our artist, maker and blacksmith Julian Taylor in his efforts to build our big bike and puppet rider.
However, as soon as we turned the corner into Deansgate I changed my mind. Our group of 30 people on bikes, trikes and a quad with two linked sound systems and Julian's wonderful giant bike just seemed to take over the space.
The other problem is that when you are taking part it is very hard to take many decent photographs. So this post is what I have taken - I will post more when Jasmine and Julian's photos are available...
The chaos before the start - Anna and friends didn't join until we had moved off.
After the main part, a pause whilst we waited for the parade to clear Deansgate - a military band were refusing to follow directions from Walk The Plank and spoilt the parade for the people at the back.
Finally we returned to Deansgate and let (what's left of our) hair down...
Pete Abel had contributed a lot of effort despite also sorting out a lot of the Bike Month Manchester stuff.
Julian Taylor our artist looking very pleased with the result.
And Peta, who also helped with the building of the puppet, soaking up the atmosphere.
We are already thinking about next year. It doesn't have to be under the GMCC banner net time, we could call it Manchester Critical Mass or Mad Cycle Lanes of Manchester. We will have to see what next year's theme is...
Update:
You can see all of Julian's photographs here.
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