Local Residents Fight For Bicycle Lane

Members of the worldwide Critical Mass bicycle gang have joined forces in Las Cruces in an attempt to convert the Lohman/Amador corridor into bicycle-only lanes.

“Yeah, we’re just kinda fucking sick of it, ya know?”, states Trek Cannondale, local Ride Leader. “Every day, I ride along the sides of the streets here. They throw shit at me, half-empty beer cans and hamburgers. And the roadsides are just littered with broken glass and gravel. Enough is enough.”

Cannondale and his team, currently numbering only three, have started a crusade to turn eastbound-Lohman and westbound-Amador into bicycle-only routes. Cannondale asserts that by providing safe, clean cross-city arteries for non-motorized vehicles, more people will be inclined to make the transition from four wheels to two.

“I live downtown, but I work over by The Mall. I have no choice but to follow the Lohman route,” says fellow rider Schwinn Huffy.

We asked Huffy about the option of riding the bus, and he said “No, it sucks. It takes twice as long to get there on the bus, I tried it. Plus, riding my bike is free.”

Cannondale and his gang contacted City Planners and asked them to close off Lohman to vehicle traffic.

“They said no. They asked us how they would divert all the crosstown car traffic from one of the most heavily traveled roads in town and we said we didn’t know.”

“I don’t care where all the cars go,” said Cannondale, “but we deserve a road all to ourselves. Even if there were only three cars in town, they would get their own road. So should we.”

Despite the setbacks, Cannondale’s group continues to meet downtown the last Friday of every month for the obligatory Critical Mass bicycle ride around town.

“Yeah, well, I know three people isn’t that critical and it’s small – but it’s a mass nonetheless.”

The group is also raising public awareness by riding three abreast as slowly as possible along Lohman during the afternoon rushhour.

“We know people are seeing us based on the intense level of honking and shouting. We want to raise bicycle awareness, and it’s working.”