COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT RIDES
Join Critical Mass Nola and local partners for a community bike ride in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Together, we’ll call for peace, justice, and the right of all people to live freely and safely.
Wear your keffiyeh, attach a flag to your bicycle, and ride with us as we stand against genocide and uplift the voices of those striving for dignity and freedom.
Along the route, we’ll pause at key spots to share ways you can get involved in local efforts for peace, equity, and community care.
Let’s ride together for a future rooted in justice and compassion.
*Critical Mass Nola is a volunteer-led, informal community ride. All participants ride at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety
No Kings—Ride Against The Oligarchy!
Meet with us on Saturday, October 18th at 2pm on the Barracks St. side of the French Market as we ride against the oligarchy! We say no to kings, no to billionaires, and no to their agenda!
For too long, our economy has been planned in the interests of a privileged few. It is time to demand an economy organized by and for the people — one that serves humanity and the planet, not profit and power.
Let us ride together tomorrow in declaration of a people’s budget, and against the machinery of exploitation that robs our labor, pollutes our region, and prices us out of our own city.
In solidarity, we ride — for justice, for dignity, for the future that belongs to us all.
*Critical Mass Nola is a volunteer-led, informal community ride. All participants ride at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety.
Fête Ghisallo
Celebrate the Feast Day of Madonna del Ghisallo with Critical Mass NOLA!
On Monday, October 13th, 2025, we’re riding together in honor of the Patron Saint of Cyclists and in memory of our fallen riders. Join us for a powerful day of community, remembrance, and advocacy. The Fête will consist of a:
🌹 Community Bike Ride & Madonna Procession
🙏 Blessing of the Bicycles
🎉 After Party
We’re building a grotto for the Madonna made of ghost bikes—a sacred tribute to those we’ve lost on the streets of New Orleans. Together, we’ll honor their memory while pushing for a safer future with Plan Vieux Carré and a fully connected grid of protected bike lanes across New Orleans.
How to Get Involved:
* Register to Ride → Only $5 (every dollar supports bike advocacy and growing our movement!)
* Seek Sponsors → Ask friends & family to donate in your name on Venmo. Don’t forget to tell them to write your name in the note!
* Win the Grand Prize! The rider with the most sponsors will receive a bundle of cycling treasures: so far we’ve got a bike lock, a classic ding-dong bell, and glowing wheel lights—with more prizes being added along the way!
This is more than a ride—it’s a movement. Your registration and sponsorships fuel the fight for safer streets, stronger community, and a city where every rider belongs.
Register today, start seeking sponsors, and be part of history on October 13th. Together, let’s ride for those we’ve lost and for the future we’re building.
*Critical Mass Nola is a volunteer-led, informal community ride. All participants ride at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety.
On Tuesday, September 9th, Critical Mass NOLA will convene a Community Engagement Ride to confront one of the gravest injustices of our time: Mass Incarceration in Louisiana. We will meet at 5:30 PM at 500 Poydras Street. Critical Mass NOLA will stand with the N.O. Alliance in declaring that we do not want the National Guard in our city — and that we demand community control of the police.
We have an incredible ride and program planned for Tuesday, where we will confront several issues tied to mass incarceration in Louisiana: live surveillance technology, the Fair Chance Amendment, nitrogen gas executions, non-unanimous juries, and more.
No society in human history has incarcerated so many of its own people as the United States. And among all fifty states, Louisiana holds the shameful title of the highest incarceration rate in the nation—an open-air prisonhouse where punishment substitutes for justice, and profit outweighs humanity.
This raises urgent questions—Why is our incarceration rate so obscenely high? Who benefits from this punitive system? And what are the people of New Orleans doing to resist and transform it?
As we ride together, we will stop and be engaged by organizations working on the frontlines of this struggle— @eos_nola, @freedomtogrownola, and the @justicespromise —each offering visions of resistance, abolition, and transformation.
This is more than a bike ride. It is a mobile classroom, a moving assembly, and a collective act of refusal against a system that cages Black and working-class communities at staggering rates. It is also an invitation to learn, to organize, and to become an agent of change in a city whose history has always been defined by struggle and resilience.
📍 Meet us at 500 Poydras St. at 5:30pm.
🚲 We roll out at 6:30pm sharp.
Ride with us as we pedal through the streets, visit sites tied to this crisis, and ask together: What is the route to justice?
*Critical Mass Nola is a volunteer-led, informal community ride. All participants ride at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety.
What Are Cooperative Economics?
Coming off the heels of Black Men Build-Bvlbancha’s Maroon Camp gathering, Critical Mass Nola is partnering with BMB to host a community engagement bike ride exploring the meaning of cooperative economics.
In the Greater New Orleans area, Maroons—escaped slaves—found refuge among the Native people of the region. Maroons would dress like Natives and “mask” to blend in with Indigenous communities. The earliest recorded uprising by Natives against French colonists was the Natchez Revolt of 1729. Among the Native rebels, escaped slaves were counted among their ranks.
Our narrative during the ride will shed light on New Orleans Maroon leader Juan San Malo and illuminate the alternative economy he and his band of Maroons organized.
Join us on Monday, August 11th at 6:00 PM at the entrance of Congo Square on N Rampart Street—the same place where Juan San Malo would come to sell vats and troughs he carved from cypress trees in the 1780’s.
We’ll depart at 6:30 PM and visit three community gardens owned by local Black and Indigenous leaders. This will be a typical Critical Mass ride asserting our right to the road, but with intentional stops along the way:
* Ms. Gloria will give us a presentation of her work at Ms. Gloria’s Garden in the 6th Ward.
* Chef Jas will share about her work at Earth Seed Food and Earthseed Gardens in the 7th Ward.
* Lastly we will visit Land Back, where Jenna Mae from Bvlbancha Collective will speak about cooperative economics in the 9th Ward.
Grease your chains, check your tire pressure, charge your lights, and join us as we take the streets and learn from our local community leaders!
⏰ Meet at 6pm | Roll at 6:30pm
📍Entrance to Armstrong Park
📆 Monday, August 11th
* Critical Mass Nola is a volunteer-led, informal community ride. All participants ride at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety.
Join Critical Mass NOLA for a powerful ride rooted in the spirit of revolution and transformation.
The storming of the Bastille was more than a historic moment-it was a grassroots uprising that sparked global change, including the Haitian Revolution, which in turn reshaped the destiny of Louisiana.
As we reflect on these revolutions, we recognize that the same spirit of collective action and justice still lives on in our streets today.
On this ride, we will learn about pressing local issues:
Mass incarceration in the most imprisoned state in the U.S.
Immigration and detention injustices in Louisiana
The fight for safe, accessible bicycle infrastructure
And the urgency of environmental justice in frontline communities
Let's honor the legacy of rebellion not just with memory—but with motion. Together, we ride to raise awareness, build solidarity, and create a more just New Orleans.
Meet at 6:00 PM | Ride at 6:30 PM
Barracks St. side of the French Market
Bring a white flower for a special moment of remembrance (if you can't find white any color will do)
Change begins when people move together. Let's ride in solidarity.
*Critical Mass Nola is a volunteer-led, informal community ride. All participants ride at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety.