Update from the boys on the road.

Our friend Natan and other bikey friends of Change Your Life. Ride a Bike! around the blogesphere, are currently about to end their 200K around the northlands of San Francisco during today's 2 Rock/Valley Ford 200k which is about 13-14 hrs. Wow - super!!

Here are some pictures Natan sent me earlier today from the road, seems like coffee was available, I was started to get concerned ;-)
thx! you guys are awesome

Market Musings

Marketing. Today I am thinking about marketing. There is a lot of marketing going on out there in the bicycling world these days. A great deal of money and time and effort is being put into just how to get all of us to interact, on one level or another, with the bicycle. While I do not have numbers to back up my theory, it is my guess that there is a great deal more time and money put into getting us to buy bicycles than into those things that would get us to actually ride them more.

I do not mean to be cynical in this line of thinking. We need the bicycle companies of the world to be successful so that there are bicycles for all of us to use. A competitive industry means choice in what we ride and how much we pay for it. I am simply wondering aloud if there aren't better ways to do it so that the sales are improved through marketing lifestyle vs gear ratios.

On the Specialized web site, there is a section for women. All of the pictures on it are of women either in the mud, on their way to the mud, resting after being in the mud... Please, don't get me wrong, I love riding in the mud! Off road riding is one of my favorite things and I miss being able to do it greatly. What strikes me is the lack of scope the marketing shows.
Recently, Specialized has tried to branch out with their Globe line. Not only have they branched out with the machines themselves, they have broadened their view of how to market them. As many know, Globe gave many bloggers out there Globe bikes to ride on the condition that the people who received their bikes wrote about the experience and how their bikes fit into their daily lives. They chose a broad cross section of people from different age groups and regions and races.

I think this is brilliant! There is no beating you over the head with "Globe is great!", just a lot of stories about how life is lived on a bicycle. The regular Specialized web site leaves me cold. There is nothing there for me as I know nothing about bike parts, and quite frankly, I am not that interested in them. The people pictured do not represent me, how I live or even how I want to live. The Globe blogs make me want to know more about the company and the bikes they make. The people that ride them look like me and my family and my neighbors.

There are other bits to this thought floating in my head. How women and young people are ignored by the industry as a whole. How a desire to simply live with a bicycle seems to get eclipsed by those who feel that we should all aspire to be fast and muddy. How cyclists are portrayed as incompetent or daredevil (or both) despite the fact that our vehicles do not accelerate out of control or knock down power polls or leak antifreeze that kills animals that drink it.

I guess I'll just keep plugging away with my camera and take pictures of what I think makes cycling attractive to the masses.

It is certainly what attracts me- a 39 year old mother of three with a career and a commute (not so much career / commute these days, but you get my point). My guess is that I was not what came out of the various marketing meetings and focus groups : )

bikey times with siteLA

in 2008 quicksilver, the surf clothing company, sponsored 6 female visionaries in residence for a project called siteLA. i followed them online and saw their videos on youtube.

two of the visionaries stood out to me. one, pilar diaz, is a musician i love & knew of her before this project. the other one, dorothy le, is a bicycle advocate. meet her below.



naturally, i was intrigued. and then when i found out the two went on a crusade to find pilar a bike to start riding around LA, i was sold.

here is part one of how to buy a bike with dorothy le.



so even though their 2008 residency is over, their words and actions live on. yay.

parts 2 and 3 of how to buy a bike with dorothy and pilar coming soon :)

Obssesive? Maybe.

I just posted about my DIY bike fashion tendencies over at my other internet gig, Vélo Vogue. What I left out of that post is that I am somewhat obsessive about how my new cycling skirt moves. I knew when I picked the pattern that it would work well on the bike, but I didn't know I would find it so entertaining. There is obviously something very wrong with me.



Do you have a favorite item of clothing you ride in?

Tuesday injection of fun: The bike force is with you.

I've seen the darth vader, I've seen luke, but this ponytailed one beats them all.

(via hancoma)

Nightlife at the academy.

Let's ride!!! Ade on Divis and Page

Adrienne, Nathan and I had a blast a few days ago at the Academy of Sciences Nightilfe on Thursday nights. This weekly event seems to be pretty popular and we decided to check it out. The theme for this week was coffee, not sure if it is a theme, but well. Very apropos right?! And we all preferred coffee over cocktails.

double troubles.

Yum.

Ritual smiles.

We had some Four Barrel as well as some Ritual goodies. It was my first time in the academy, both Adrienne and Nathan had been to the old original building, which some parts of it remain and it looks as a very nice juxtaposition of the old with the new.
It's super fun and it awakens your inner kid with all the wows-and-aaaahs! Here are some snaps. And if you happen to be in SF, please check it out. It is a very rad place and it has plenty of bike racks all around. Cheers.

ummm roaches...

floating cilantro (jk)




it was raining but it seemed it stopped for a bit :D

Strike a pose baby.

Also caffeinated.

Riding trio strikes a pose. I think we were still counting to 10...

This Just In!

Bikes and tacos!!! Throw in a beer and we have a deal! The Facebook invitation has 259 confirmed guests as of this posting. I say, be patient while waiting for your taco! Maybe try to pop some wheelies while you wait : ) Thanks to our Flickr group friend "Cold Iron" for the heads up!