The event, organized by City Hall, invites kids to bike in packs across the city while obeying all of the vehicular laws.
The 2.5-mile ride starts and ends at Memorial Park with stops along the way to plant some milkweed at a community garden and visit a bike shop. Pizza and a raffle will follow the ride.
City Hall hosted a Kidical Mass around Earth Day last year and were surprised that more than 100 people showed up, said the event's organizer Peter Dzewaltowski.
They expect about the same number on Saturday and are already planning more Kidical Mass events for later in year.
While Kidical Mass is a play on Critical Mass, the worldwide, monthly, massive bike rides sometimes interpreted as a protest for cyclists' rights, Dzewaltowski said they won't be closing any streets. There won't be a police escort.
"One of the reasons we don't make any special provisions with the operations on the street is because we want to demonstrate that bicycling can be a safe activity and it's one that we want to encourage," he said. "We want people to see it for what it is, not provide any special accommodations that suggest that somehow those things are needed in your day-to-day activities."
In many group bike rides the participants are experts but at Kidical Mass some of the riders will be on training wheels and others will be popping wheelies.
"That's one of the challenges with organizing and implementing," Dzewaltowski said. "We're very inclusive — parents and guardians take responsibility for their own children so we don't turn people away. So typically we'll see it fall into two groups of people: Those that kind of ride in the front as one larger group and then there's a group that kind of tails behind, so we plan accordingly."
Saturday's ride concludes with an Earth Day-themed costume contest so hopefully most of the riders will be dressed up like vegetables and trees.
The ride starts at 9 a.m. at Memorial Park and ends there at 12:30 p.m.
RSVP by Thursday to Peter.Dzewaltowski@smgov.net
dave@www.smdp.com
