Radoslaw Orszewski

Wrocław Halloween Critical Mass 1 Nov 2008

The last Friday of October. Good weather for this time of year. At about noon I’ve come to Wroclaw. Hey, wait.. isn’t it the day of the Critical Mass? Yup, it is! The Mass starts at 6 PM! I mailed my friends but they won’t be able to join this time. Tomorrow (Nov, the 1st) is the All Saints Day, a bank holiday, so a lot of people leaves the city. That’s actually what I was afraid – intensive traffic and only numerous bikers? How was I surprised when it appeared to be a contrary! The road traffic was at best moderate and I’d say they were more than 60 bikers!

The fun begins! This particular mass was different because we rode to the hospital. A few days ago one of Wroclaw’ bike community activists has been hit by a car. We were going to visit him. Ring, ring! Here we go! Different people, different bikes, all cruising slowly along the streets. The Reagan’ Rondo – cars hoot as we are doing our second round. The Grunwaldzki’ Bridge – I think this was the only place where we really ‘did’ the traffic. Finally we were close by the hospital. Cezary waved from a window then called one of organizers so we could hear greetings from him. Parking lot guards were totally frightened, maybe because one of bikers had a Halloween pumpkin, with a real candle inside(!), on his bike. It looked really cool! At the end we drove to the Main Square to make a round and a small happening.

The Mass’ GPS track and some photos can be found in here.