Today is the last Friday in July, which means one of two things: You're a committed Masshole prepping for tonight's meandering ride through town, or you're dreading getting stuck for a half-hour on the Venetian Causeway because a parade of hooting Critical Mass bicyclists is streaming across the road.
Traffic-wise, tonight's route is a doozy: As always, the ride begins at Government Center at 7:15 p.m. and consists of a 20-mile loop — north through Wynwood and Little Haiti, east onto the JFK Causeway, and then south on Collins Avenue before looping back toward the Venetian Causeway. These are, of course, some of the most congested areas in the county on a good day:
Unlike some other Critical Mass rides, tonight's route won't have a police escort, so if you do take part in the action, use extra caution. That's not a suggestion to be taken lightly: Florida has been the most dangerous state in America for cyclists for many years and, in 2018, per the Orlando Sentinel, led the nation in bike deaths once again. In 2016, New Times published a long-form feature about the abysmal state of bike-safety regulations in Florida. In the years since, very little has changed.
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