Mothers' Day Critical Lass

Now that the snow has finally melted and the street cleaners are making the rounds, we can announce our first Critical Lass ride of 2011! We'll be riding on the afternoon of Sunday May 8th.

(Now, we realize that a lot of you might have other plans on Mothers' Day. However, it was the only date when all our organizers could make it that didn't coincide with EBC's women-and-transgendered-only days for May. So we are choosing a route that will allow people to easily meet up with us late or leave us early, so they can hopefully work around their brunch or dinner plans for the day. We also encourage you to bring your mom along. If you want.)

So here is the route:

1ish - Angel and I will be possibly meeting for lunch at a nearby restaurant beforehand, then starting off from Century Park LRT Station. That's right, this is going to be a bicycles-on-transit adventure for us! We figure the new-ish South Light Rail Transit extension hasn't been seen much on the local bike blogs (which are mostly written by core-dwellers), so we should show it some love. LRT is an easy way to extend your bicycle explorations, and the rules & usage hours are all commonsense.

1:15 to 1:30pm - We will be hanging out on the platform at McKernan / Belgravia Station, where we expect those who live in the neighborhoods around the U of A to meet up with us.

1:45 to 2:15pm - Having taken the LRT to Churchill Station, we will meet on the steps of City Hall where we'll catch up with our north-side friends, have a nice chat and use some of the brilliant architecture (Art Gallery of Alberta, anyone?) surrounding Churchill Square as the backdrop for some sweet photos.

2:15 to 3:15pm - We'll ride via 102nd Ave to the 4th Street Promenade, where we'll grab coffee at Credo or wine at deVine, browse the gorgeous green goods at Carbon Environmental Boutique, swoon over the fabulous furnishings at 29 Armstrong and fresh frocks at Coup, and/or partake of the pastries at Queen of Tarts. Yeah baby! The Promenade is also notable for its architecture, as per the website of the City Market:

In addition to the variety of shops and restaurants, make sure to check out the architecture of the many buildings that line 104th Street. There are currently nine “A” level heritage buildings on the 104th Street promenade, including the prestigious Birks Building on the east corner of 104th Street and Jasper Avenue (built 1929) and the Phillips Building (10169-104 Street), which was built in 1912 as one of the first completely fireproof buildings in Edmonton. 

Anyone who needs to leave at this point can catch the LRT at nearby Bay Station.

3:15 to 4:30pm - We'll head for the Ledge grounds then over the High Level Bridge, some of us will no doubt split off to head home via Saskatchewan Drive, and the rest of us will head through the University grounds to Health Sciences / Jubilee Station, from whence we'll all set off for home.

We'd also like to extend an invitation to our male friends, since some of you have said you'd like to bring certain gorgeous, droolworthy vintage bicycles and join us on our Loopy Ride... Please do! Just expect to be outnumbered, for a change, and wear something you'd like to be photographed in. ;-)

Oh, and preview: for Bike Month we're thinking that We Believe In 118...