they can and will ticket you if you don't have lights.
(Which they should!... you can't see a cyclist with no lights, and they're cheap enough, (dollar store, Wal*Mart, etc. --go see Chris at Tower Velo or Stephens or the Schwinn shop down on Belmont... --Just get lights, it will cost you (maybe,) as much as a sixpack --and a lot of you seem to be able to scratch together that much (at least.)

A helmet? (since you're out there among cars and such?) also a great idea.

...Ride Safe.

I'm hearing that Critical Mass is, (these days,) more riding around 'having fun as a group,'
-and maybe no longer looking to just piss off cars and trucks (to prove a point that bikes exist and be some sort of rolling aggrivated political statement.)

-If such is the case?

Excellent.

(Personally,) I stopped riding in the mass' about a year ago because the goal for to many was all about screwing around with traffic and picking fights with cars and trucks that outweighed a cyclist by several thousand pounds... (really stupid, jeopardized the whole crew.)

I heard from some who are now riding that things have changed, and it's more about bicycle care, bicycle awareness, enjoying each others company, and and 'co-existing,' with the rest of the world on the road (?!)

Excellent... Good work.

I think handling such a thing positively, and presenting bicycles as a fun, healthy, and community-happy mode of transportation is the way to go, and hope this new trend continues.
-You WILL have more of a positive impact on society by being something positive in it
-and providing a better (positive,) alternative,
(not)
-by being just another angry fever-blister over a cause.

So, yah.
Lights.
Helmets.
-Stay to one lane, Stay to the Right, and have fun.

-happy holidays.

-Eric

you'll need lights.