James Daley: The Cycling Column

The boys in blue see red and go critical. Why?

The Critical Mass ride in London at the end of July proved to be slightly different to the others I've been on. For a start, whoever was leading us decided to steer clear of the centre of town, instead taking us on a perimeter tour of Zone 1.

I'm sure the regular Critical Mass riders were grateful to be doing a different route for a change. However, I had an American friend in tow, and was disappointed not to be able to see her face as we took over Parliament Square, or rode down the Mall. But she still had a blast, and the slightly odd route didn't spoil it for me.

What did get me going, however, was the rather inconsistent attitude of the police who accompanied us. The police who keep order on the Critical Mass rides have always been fairly good-natured and friendly to the cyclists – in keeping with the spirit of the ride itself. Even after the Metropolitan Police won a court case in May, which gave them the power to arrest the ride's organiser (if they could find one), the officers who accompanied the ride continued to be supportive.

Yet, last month, I saw two incidents that got me really annoyed. The first involved one of the cyclists getting fined £30 for briefly nipping up on to the pavement.

Obviously, I understand why there is a law against riding on the pavement, and I agree that the police should have powers to fine those who ignore it and put pedestrians in danger. However, in this particular instance, we were on Gray's Inn Road at 7.45pm – and there was barely a pedestrian in site.

The offending rider, who was on a recumbent, had pulled off the front of the pack, jumped up on to the pavement for about five seconds, and then rejoined the ride – no harm done.

The fine achieved absolutely nothing. In fact, I'm sure I detected a glint of excitement in the eyes of the cyclist – who looked like he was going to enjoy dining out on this incident for some time to come.

The second clash came towards the end of the ride, when there were only about 100 of us left, and we'd finally made it back into the heart of the city. Coming down Park Lane, the police suddenly decided to pull over one of the handful of cyclists who were carrying stereos on the back of their bikes. There are always at least three or four riders who make the effort to drag large speakers along with them – and the music is always a real boost for everyone on the ride.

When I asked the officer why he'd stopped him, he told me that he was issuing a caution for playing music with offensive lyrics. "We're supporters of this ride," he told me, "we think it's a good cause you've got here." (So why have the Met just spent several million pounds fighting in court for their right to stop it?) "But there are families on this ride, and it's not acceptable for this gentleman to play music with those sorts of lyrics."

By this time, it was 9.30pm, and any children that were on the ride had already headed home with their parents. You can hear much more offensive things on the TV after 9pm than the words that were coming out of my fellow cyclist's stereo.

All that this episode achieved was to hold up the traffic in Park Lane for 10 minutes more than necessary. No lessons were learnt, no points were proved. It was pathetic.

I can't help feeling that the police have started to act like this because they hate the fact that they are not entirely in control of the Critical Mass rides. They can't control where they go, where they stop, how many people attend – and so they try to assert themselves just to remind us who's boss.

Critical Mass is good-natured and great fun. If the cops lightened up a bit, I'm sure they'd enjoy it. I've always thought that getting paid to take part in it must be one of the best jobs in town!

cycling@independent.co.uk