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Tall bike rider at the MC3 Performance Ride, June 2006. Photo by Clancy Dennehy.

Oh yeah. I’m sure you remember those guys.
   
It was 2006 when most everyone in Winnipeg was introduced Critical Mass, an international bike culture movement that from city to city ranges from organized to essentially anarchic. The last Friday of every month, all are welcome to join a mass ride through the streets at rush hour. This city was no exception.
   
Technically, this is often illegal — which has led to clashes. We see cringe-inducing footage of police beating down participants in New York City. Here in Winnipeg, one particular ride in May 2006 led to multiple arrests and accusations of misconduct on both sides.
   
It’s hard not to conclude the charges were baseless. Yet this critic also expressed disagreement with their tactics, which some bike advocates shared. The focus of the thoughtful documentary You Never Bike Alone is the movement’s Vancouver history; the film provides a well-rounded examination of the issues and challenges involved.
   
In Van City, local authorities are more laissez-faire — although the police developed that through experience, after getting blowback from harassing cyclists. They decided it would be less of a kerfuffle to just stand back. Today, they even cheerfully wave to the cyclists every month. Even the mayors have ridden along.
   
The goal, one participant says, is to communicate how many cyclists there really are, and that leaders should take note. Of course, that’s exactly what happened, and now Vancouver’s a model for other cities where cycling arteries are concerned.
   
Yet the animosity towards Critical Mass has at times been justified — and it’s a point the film doesn’t ignore. It’s one thing to make yourself visible while allowing for traffic flow; it’s another to take over the whole road, let alone hijack the Lion’s Gate Bridge.
   
This amounts to foisting your will upon others, as opposed to being mutually accommodating. Indeed, as another participant explains: you get so many cyclists, they become the dominant mode of transportation, and motorists will have to cater to them.
   
While one can’t defend road rage, it’s hard to feel too much sympathy for cyclists who monopolize the road and then whine about being threatened. In fact, this just makes it easier to smear them as reckless and radical.
   
For that matter, does it work? Urban planning consultant Gordon Price — who comes off as a bike advocate who knows what he’s talking about — declares Critical Mass had little to no influence on Vancouver’s city council.
   
Yet it’s hard to believe that some of the more constructive rides, in which traffic was indeed accommodated, didn’t have some effect. But even setting that aside for a moment, we see that for many the rides are as much about fun and celebration as it is about activism.
   
You Never Bike Alone does go a bit flat in the middle after a thought-provoking first third. Nonetheless, this is an engaging documentary, showcasing a diversity of opinion within bike culture itself — while simultaneously advocating for that same culture.