Monday, May 4, 2009

Stay Tuned

This blog will be up and running in the very near future. "Change Your Life. Ride A Bike!" will be a place for people to share how the simple act of riding a bike has helped to change their lives. Changes can be small- I noticed my neighbor's new jasmine bush is in bloom. The smell reminds me of my Grandmother's garden. Changes can be big- My wife was stranded on the side of the road by her broken chain when we first met.

This blog has a Flickr group of the same name. Submit pictures that represent the changes your bike has brought to you with a few lines explaining the change. It just may get blogged here!

Change your life. Ride a bike!

4 comments:

  1. i'm so happy you guys are doing this blog! so positive and inspirational. i can't wait to share mine and hear other people's stories.

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  2. And we can't wait to hear and see the calitexican story! I bet it is spicy!

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  3. PART 1of2
    Wow! I can't believe I've made it to the very first post. Between teaching myself to lace a wheel and drinking coffee (ahem!) I spent the last two weeks reading this blog from the most recent post up to this very first outing. (Okay, I admit I skipped some stuffs, i.e. some of the videos because my RAM is not Flash-friendly; and,the captions for photos plastered with the flickr logo that basically says that they are "missing"). But here's the stuff I remember (in no particular order):
    1. the girl who traveled from Finland to Germany
    2.the guy who's color-coordinated outfit/bar tape/phone that reminds me so much of Santa Claus. :)
    3. Ms. Cali's lip wounds
    4. Ms. Meli's purple tutu
    5. Ms. Caryl's photos of bikes and beach (a formula of happiness)
    6. Ms. Ade and Mr. James and the kids, because they always look like they're having the best time and the best thing about it is that the fun is not exclusive to one particular place; they take the fun with them on their bikes.
    7. I have to give special mention to Declan blazing in front of a peloton
    8. That yellow bike-shaped parking/landmark to get a wacky photo op
    9. That video of a fake Tour de France
    10. Also the video of that Japanese guy ringing his bell
    11. Those many photos of parents riding a bike with their kids
    12. "Are We Cultured?"
    13. The simple bike shop on Treat St.
    14. The guy who dresses like a monk :)
    15. The video of BMX stunt riders
    16. The guy from Missoula who worked in construction then became a photographer and decided to go car-free
    17. Mr. Thom's picture coz while I have been reading his blog, he never posted a photo that clearly showed his face
    18. Pandas (I actually have no idea what "panda" refers to until I reached the article that explains it. lol)
    19. How I'm reminded of the love song "Nine Million Bicycles" by Katie Melua because of item #6. (I thought the song's intro was weird until I discovered that Beijing houses the most no. of bicyclists. The city just doesn't get mentioned a lot like Copenhagen or Amsterdam has).

    Okay, I could go on and on. The thing is, most of those are the stuffs I could never see in person. So thanks for the experience, even if I'm just a passive onloooker.

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  4. PART 2of2
    Oh, and most importantly (to me at least), I love that this blog is simply about commuting in a city, and the appreciation of the authors to anything that's related BICYCLISTS (emphasis intended. Not cyclists, but bicyclists). Perhaps "cyclist" is dramatized too much in sports that it puts too much emphasis on bikes. "Bicyclist", however, focus on the actual people. And this blog's perspective celebrates them, whether they be (insert label here) or a kid who wishes to ride his bike to school. No product reviews. No technical stuffs. Just anything of interest about people who happen to be happy bicycling. :) At first I didn't know what to expect whether this will be about advocacy or lady cyclists in pretty dresses (which are not bad things to discuss about, but from what I observed those are polarizing issues and I'm just glad that this is a happy place where everyone gathers).

    And ofcourse, ahhhh, yes, San Francisco. Up until this point, I've only known three things about the city: 1) it's named after a saint; 2) Golden Gate Bridge; 3) it's hilly. And through this blog, I've grown to love it. The changes, parades, the colorful people, Wiggle. California Dreamin'. :)

    I will find time to write and share my bicycle story with this blog soon. (insert blushing smiley here). But to put it simply, I belong to the DIY+Hack order. I'm not a mechanic, just a happy tinkerer (I grinned like crazy when I re-assembled my non-sealed bottom bracket, followed by a curious "ooohh" and inspired-by-grime "eeew"). So it's probably no surprise that I discovered this blog via Thom (the guy with the killer sideburns who loves vintages bicycles, who I learned a lot from).

    PS: Here's CYLRAB! in Tagalog: Baguhin mo ang buhay mo. Sumakay ka sa bisikleta!
    (And yes, I typed this comment up in Notepad before posting it. I'm a nerd. lol)

    Greetings from the Philippines!
    AJ

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