Last month, while driving home on a Friday night, I was stuck at the intersection of Kirby and Westpark for 20 minutes while a thousand bicyclists passed by, slowly, not stopping for red lights, some giving the finger to honking cars trying to edge their way through the two-wheel parade.

Drivers were screaming and pounding 911 on their cellphones. Bikers were yelling back.

This wasn't a charity event with riders dressed in colorful tight shirts and Spandex shorts, pedaling $4,000 bicycles with tires skinnier than Kelly Ripa.

It was a turf war on asphalt. Who owns the street - cars or bikes?

I didn't mind the wait as much as other drivers. I'm a bicyclist. I was checking out the people and their bikes. This definitely wasn't the MS150 crowd, showoffs who can pedal a bike from Houston to Austin without braking or breaking a sweat.

Most of this Friday night crowd seemed to be people like me, who simply enjoy riding a bicycle. Then there were freaks, plenty of them. And rockers and punks and reggae fans. Straggly hair and shaved heads. Very little Spandex and hardly any helmets. Some people were on the city's rent-a-bikes. It was a total Houston crowd.

Bikes filled the street curb to curb, none of that staying-to-the-right rule.

I don't know … it looked like fun.

Performance art

I learned the ride is called Critical Mass, and it winds through 300 cities around the world the last Friday night of each month. It started in 1992 in San Francisco as a rolling protest against U.S. dependence on fossil fuels and a rally for bicycle rights. But now it's just a loosely organized, unstoppable, 20-mile street performance.

I dropped a note in my column about what I saw. I certainly didn't expect the reaction from readers.

They HATE it. They can't believe the city allows these bicycle bullies to tie up traffic like that. It's illegal for bicyclists to run red lights, so why is nothing done about it?

Many devoted bike riders hate Critical Mass because it presents a negative portrait of bicycling. Critical Mass riders don't obey traffic laws. Most aren't wearing helmets.

I understand their point, but lighten up, Francis.

This past Friday night, I hopped on my bike and went to Market Square Park to check out Critical Mass.

The first thing I saw was police handing out cards with the State of Texas bicycle laws. Yeah, that'll happen. An officer told me this was the first time that Houston police had shown up at the start line.

Cashing in

I also saw a table selling Critical Mass T-shirts and neon necklaces.

Critical Mass started as a protest. Now they're selling souvenirs. Somebody's making a buck off the revolution.

I talked with one guy who said he's been on several Critical Mass rides here. The subject turned to the complaints I've heard. I asked him, "Why don't you just stop at red lights? That would take away 99 percent of the criticism."

He said, "Trains don't stop at red lights, why should we?"

Are you serious?

He also said the police should act as escorts for the Critical Mass ride. In other cities, police do coordinate traffic at main intersections. So far, it hasn't happened in Houston. I agree that the city could do more to promote and protect bicycle riding.

But I ain't playing chicken with a train.

The ride started at 7:30 p.m. We pedaled south on Fannin - not stopping for red lights and screaming whenever we went under a bridge. We turned right on Binz. I noticed diners in restaurants leaving their tables and stepping outside to watch the show.

At intersections, a few leaders would turn their bikes sideways to block cars, allowing riders to pass safely through red lights. I heard yelling and cursing, from both directions.

A friend called me. "You just passed me on Bissonnet between Montrose and Greenbriar. Luckily I was going the other way. It's cool, but some of the riders are jerks."

He was right. It's only some.

Most were out for a good time, a two-hour ride through downtown, across Bissonnet, up to Westpark, through the Galleria (lots of fury there), two rest stops and eventually back to downtown.

I liked the chaotic, leisurely pace of Critical Mass. We were riding 8 mph most of the way. I go between 12 mph and 15 mph on the MS150. I got behind a guy hauling a speaker blasting a classic rock station. I used him like a pace car.

Being yelled at by drivers letting off steam and carbon emissions got old pretty quick. I just kept moving and pretended I didn't hear them. I use this technique on most things.

There are ways organizers could route the Critical Mass ride where there'd be fewer intersection confrontations. A police officer estimated September's mass at 2,500 riders. The ride is catching on and will grow bigger. I'm for that.

I'm also for doing it smarter.

During autumn and winter, perhaps the ride could be scheduled on a weekend day. Riding at night is dangerous. Period. You can't see obstacles in the road. I was one of several riders who hit a pothole, took a spill and was put out of commission.

The city also could get involved to increase rider safety. But that would require taxpayer money, which would start a whole other argument.

Get some entertainment lined up at the finish line. Get the food trucks out there. Just as Houston has the largest MS150 bike ride in the world, we could have the largest Critical Mass, too.

Smarter is more fun.