friday fun times: biking for worker's rights

i, unfortunately, was unable to participate in may day festivities/marches/protests this year as i have a new job. ironically. as such, didn't feel comfortable enough to take off. and also had a board meeting that night. one of my infamous 12-hour work days. i hope next year's may day will be different.

anyway, here are some bikey and work type things i saw on may day, which was wednesday.

saw a cyclist on her way back from a civic center demonstration. she gave me permission to take her picture.

over where the work is never done, the new job has quite the bike commuter area.



you could adjust your pedals, or your headset...?

happy friday everyone! we are experiencing some crazy warm weather here in northern california. some people are complaining it might be too hot to bike. NO WAY! hehe.

also... congrats to the golden state warriors for chomping down on some denver nuggets. they advance to the next round in the nba western conference playoffs. we'll have to see how they fare against my san antonio spurs!

Arthursday: dschwen

David Schwen is a Minneapolis based designer/illustrator type of person. I've been following him on instagram when I found out about his food pantone parings. And whaddya know? He has done some bikey designs too.

clitoral mass test ride

last sunday three of us from SF headed over to oakland to do a test ride for the oakland-clitoral mass ride that is coming up may 25th.

i wont spoil the route as of yet, but here are some pics from the test ride.

pretty day.




behind and over the head. trying to get the meta shot.


we are kid and trailer friendly. her trailer says for drivers to give her 3 feet and that sometimes she rides with a kid or a dog or beer, but just to "please don't hit me."



so ready to see what sort of community decides to show up and support women identified folks on may 25th! there are rumors that the ovarian psycos might come down from LA. that would be a dream come true!

friday fun times: be a bike hero

was walking around the neighborhood today on an errand...and saw this cuteness happen. i walked past then decided to go back and take a pic.

there was a bike locked up innocently. a tag was hanging from it saying, "thank you, you are a bike hero"





so even though this tag is totally viral marketing, it's cute, so who cares. :) and no need to click through or even scan a QR code. feel free to look them up on twitter.

take a deep breath, smell the wheel grease, and have a great weekend!

Arthursday: blanco y negro

/Untitled by Thebasstardson, on Flickr
© Eric Albarrán | Photographer based in Mexico City.

KALW: social media helps find stolen bikes

in all the excitement of losing (via theft) and finding joanie, i thought this would be appropriate to share.

KALW is one local SF public radio station. yes, we have more than one. they recently did a story on how social media can help find stolen bikes. listen to the epic (in the true sense of the word, not the recently overused version of the word) story of how one man found his stolen bike SIX YEARS LATER.

take a listen.

finding joanie

well, was pretty devastated to be leaving for work on thursday morning to find my bike wasn't in the apartment entryway as it has been on and off for years. my roommate said he noticed the door was propped open, but no one moving anything in or out. that must have been when it happened.


i wrote this and posted it everywhere i could think of on social media. facebook, twitter, google +, flickr, pinterest, stolen bike registry, craigslist, filed a police report. set up an IFTTT.com account and had 5 recipes "spamming" my inbox and texts. i also went old school and took a picture of her to local bike shops. went to flea markets in sf, friends went to east bay flea markets. i looked around homeless encampments for chop shops and random bikes. and then i got numb and started to plan a life without joanie.

and of course i tagged Jenny Oh, that amazing reuniter of stolen bikes. she's basically the 6 degrees of kevin bacon for bike thievery. we had a few false starts out there, but it was awesome to know that eyes are out there and we're keeping a lookout for bikes to return to their rightful owners.

sure enough...someone saw her post on fb and this is what happened:

Well, basically, I woke up in the morning last Thursday and found a red bike in my front yard with the seat post sawed off and immediately said, "FUCK! Some random bike in my front yard, where the hell is mine?!" And mine was gone. Whoever stole hers, traded it out for mine. I think someone definitely scoped me out and knew that I had a bike. My friend Kelsey Simmen reached out to Jenny Oh to post about my bike and on Jenny's page, I saw a picture of Melyssa's bike and said, holy shit! I have that bike! I hope Karma pays me back.

so in order to pass that karma on forward, i'm posting a pic of Meryl's bike. you can contact us here, leave a comment, and i'll get in touch with her.



joanie did not escape unharmed, but she's back. and i can't believe it. power of social media and taking matters into our own hands is incredible!



it does not fix the inherent real issue of inadequate bike parking in apartment buildings, nor does it solve the issue of bike thieving jackholes, but it's something. it's community. and i'll take it.

thank you so much to everyone who retweeted, reposted, commented or just even thought, "wtf, someone stole joanie?!" a special shout out to those who went flea market and division street hunting with me. also to those two that bought me chocolate, it was much appreciated. as last week in america proved there are bad people in this world doing unheard of things (or just being a bike thief), but there are far more good people to counteract those actions.



also, 1/2 of her namesake is joan jett. don't mess with joanie.