After the downer of the pigs crapping on a peaceful Critical Mass ride last night, I'm not sure I'll go to the protest march in Manhattan tomorrow. Not because of that, mind you. It's an amalgam of things that are pissing me off about New York, including new signs on the George Washington Bridge prohibiting cameras, and closure of the catwalk from 9:30 P.M. to 6:30 A.M. Yes, indeedy, we are the land of the free and the home of the brave. Go U.S.A.

I went to most of the protest marches in San Francisco, marches to which I didn't have ride 15 miles, and I always went alone since I didn't have any friends. I always went under the "every body counts" idea. But now I'm thinking, "no, it doesn't". My body not riding the 15 miles to participate in the march really will not mean anything. Even with the noble idea of standing up for what you believe in, you really need to be getting something out of it, and riding 15 miles, walking alone along the march route with hundreds of thousands of people, then riding back 15 miles just to add a single body to the march really presses its worth. I would really be doing it solely for the ride, and I've already ridden close to a hundred miles this past week.

I'll wake up early tomorrow and see how I feel. If I feel like a ride, I'll go to the march. If not, I'll get a haircut. Either way I'll have put over a hundred miles on my bike for the week.