Seems we had a little problem with not one, not two, but THREE parties showing up at Soda Bar and being too mortified to introduce themselves. I didn’t realize we were such an intimidating crowd. Take a look at these photos (thanks, Heather) and maybe next time someone will look familiar.

Flickr Set: Daily Heights Real-Life Happy Hour [Flickr.com]

(PICTURED: Brooklyn Critical Mass April 05, taken by Green Biker [Bike Blog])

MATT RANSFORD reports on Stay Free Daily: “This Month in New York City Critical Mass (Friday, April 29) … This time, I could tell people were uneasy. Things started early, close to 6:30. Someone involved in the NYC bike scene who’d been arrested spoke; he said some 50-odd people this year alone have been hauled in during critical mass.”

“They wrapped up around 7 … At this point, I’d guess there were at least 50 cops in the immediate vicinity … I saw a few different groups congregating on the outskirts.”

“…it was a very small crowd. Maybe 50-75 bikers, which is literally nothing in comparison to the rides of last summer, which were easily in the high hundreds, if not thousands … We were riding to avoid the cops, who were on us after a matter of maybe a dozen blocks. There’s something not a bit creepy about looking back over your shoulder to see 20 visor-shielded police on mopeds right on your tail.”

“We took a circuitous route through the West Village … and made our way back up Hudson, only to have them come shooting out in a kind of Smokey and the Bear roadblock … I made it all the way up 8th Ave into the high teens before I backed off when I saw the vans and cruisers swarming in. I personally saw 4 people arrested and their bikes thrown in the trunks of cars.”

“…I lost track of where the ride had gone when it left Broadway. I assumed it was going east and I only had to follow the police helicopter to figure that out. … they had a helicopter following us the entire time, circling Union Square well before any rides started.”

“More people were arrested; I don’t know how many. A rumor went around that one of them was a writer for the Times. He had some credentials around his neck … I would guess, at ten to 9 o’clock, on the corner of A and 6th, there had to have been 100 cops, if not 150. All for the sake of — at that point — maybe 40 riders.”

“… Everybody dispersed. I went and drank some beer. It was sad … and mind-blowingly frustrating. It’s a time when you could literally be arrested just for riding your bike on the street.”

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