In an impressive bit of protest, members of Critical Mass have been meeting at Daley Plaza on the last Friday of the month at 5:30 p.m., riding their bicycles to Michigan Avenue and then heading north, effectively causing traffic jams of frustrating proportion. 

Upon seeing this pack of pedal-pushers one Friday I asked, "What's going on?" 

"Nothing," said one bike rider, though that was obviously not the case, since when was the last time you saw--short of a triathlon or something--dozens of bicyclists riding en masse on a city street? 

The cyclists, some waving to people milling about bus stops, were a pleasant bunch, faces filled with smiles and hands carrying small green fliers that explained what they were doing: "We are a group of people from all walks of life who prefer to bike in the city rather than drive a car. We are riding together today to call attention to the problems we 
face as bikers, such as a lack of safe routes and facilities, and the indifference we encounter among some motorists." 

Indifference? 

"What the x/!*%$X!?*! is going on?" one cab driver shouted at the bicyclists, half his body leaning out the window of his taxi.  "Get outta the ?"%! @* street, you bunch of $@!%s." 

The bike riders near the cab ignored the driver's "indifference," and that of other drivers trapped in the jam and expressing similarly charged if not quite as colorfully worded sentiments. 

Those further back in the car pack, unaware of the reason for the worse-than-usual traffic jam, merely shrugged their shoulders and settled back in their car seats. Most seemed to share the resignation expressed by 43-year-old attorney Bradley James, who said, "Always bad on Fridays. What's to do?" 

As the weather warms and the streets fill with bicyclists (not to mention in-line skaters), the battle between those in cars and those on bikes is bound to get increasingly heated and potentially dangerous. 

One Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago a man on a bike got into a serious fistfight with a man driving a car after the bike was bumped by the car at the corner of Division Street and Western Avenue. 

The Critical Mass crowd is not after confrontation but is rather asking "Wouldn't it be nice if there were car-free zones of the city, or at least streets where self-propelled transportation had priority?" 

It is a question that deserves some serious discussion. 

(Rprinted from The Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine, May 10, 1998)