Saturday 1 March 2014

February Critical Mass

The recent death of student Jonathan Jarvis was in many people's minds as the ride formed up with flyers being handed round about the family's request for donation to road safety charities.

However, there were also people handing round biscuits and flapjack, a lovely touch.

The ride moved off into Mount Street,



and round Albert Square past the town hall.



The ride self-organised really well, with lots of people corking junctions.



An unusual route into Fountain Street, then into Church Street,



and right again down Oldham Street,



Giving a view of the big wheel.



The mood of the ride was really cool, if somewhat downbeat.



We then left the Northern Quarter via Stevenson Square,



and down past Picadilly Station and onto Upper Brook Street, heading for Platt Fields Park where I turned back as I was getting very cold.



The ride was very coherent and communicative, at one point pulling aside as a group to enable an ambulance to get through. It felt very much as if everyone was looking out for each other as often seems to happen on the smaller rides. I think there were around 70 people on this one.

I had a number of people ask about the music I was playing so here is the playlist for you trainspotters out there, as far as I can remember it....

Pink Floyd "The Hard Way" (Household Object Project)

Pink Floyd "The Great Gig in the Sky"

x1 project "Omanian Silk"

x1 project "Lunar Beach"

Manchester Town Hall Clock...

Pete Namlook "Go No Go" (mixed with the Apollo XI landing sequence)

and finally

Peter Howell & The Radiophonic Workshop 'The Astronauts'



6 comments:

  1. Hi, thank you for the playlist and for the pictures. I was there yesterday for the first time and it was very exciting. I was wondering can I use one or two of the pictures for my final project at University? I am writing about cycling and if you don't mind I can make use of your pictures?

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Depends...

    What sort of cycling are you writing about, what's the aim of the project?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well, I am writing about cycling in Manchester - what kind of events and groups there are and how the city can become safer for cyclists. And I was planning just to add a few words about initiatives such as Critical Mass - this is why I asked if I can use one or two pictures.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, and if you want higher quality versions, without the text over them then give me an email address I can contact you with.

      Delete
  5. I wouldn't call Critical Mass an "initiative", it's just something people do... lots more photos here http://madcyclelanesofmanchester.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/critical%20mass

    If you are writing about CM then take a look at http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/10058/1/Z.Furness2005.pdf

    ReplyDelete