oakland was sold out!

oakland was sold out yesterday for the A's game and for bomba estereo, a band from colombia. what do they both have in common? putting a bike on it. of course.

put a bird on it! scraper bike that is!



put a bike on it en oaxaca...



bomba puts on a great show, saw them in ACL awhile back. last night tho, no bikes. we rented a zipcar since we knew these people like to party and put on a great show. i might be paying for it today, but life's short, right?



then just for fun, bomba estereo also brought on stage oakland's own, panama-bred, los rakas. i did a quick search for them on bikes. hmmph. gotta get them to work on that... ;) on a scraper bike perhaps?

friday fun times: planning bike rides

really. after work, this bike advocacy thing takes up most of my time. whether it's here, or being involved neck deep in planning mass bike rides, or valet parking your bike so you can have a good time at an event, i can't help it. i love it.

part of why i do is to meet all different sorts of people who are all into the bike, the rides, the community, or just the solo road thing. but we all share at least one thing in common: the bike. oh, and probably not getting hit while riding one. as long as the last clause is always a danger, those of us who ride will always have a strong bond.

so the latest bike ride planning meeting i went to was amazing. the cusp of something phenominal: clitoral mass in oakland. sounds like the ride is national, and in no small part the idea is owed to those fierce latinas down south, las ovarian psychos.

the real beauty is we're planning this ride BY and FOR a non-male audience, as the name of the ride suggests. females, gender nonconforming, and trans folks all welcome. we have social media savvy, bike ride planning experience, website artists, and more importantly, the desire to put all this fierceness out in the world.

so two of my fellow bike party planners and i have to thank bart for their awesome "trial" where this week, all week, they have been allowing bikes on at all times. phew.



we introduced ourselves and sat back and then we all helped planned. a lot. then we took this picture.

foto credit to kanchan over on fb.

so what's next? ...just wait and see. ride coming up soon! save the date for MAY 25 for oakland's version of clitoral mass.

friday fun times: tijuana bike machine

so earlier this week, the crew and i rolled into oakland, had some muy fufi mexican food (seriously, their queso fundido was insane!), and saw nortec collective's bostich + fussible play the new parish.

aaaaaaaaaah. it was SO.MUCH.FUN. place was jumping up and down swaying to updated traditional mexican beats.

and guess what they had on stage as a video?

tijuana bike machine. bike machine. bike machine.

here's video for reference.

it's raining cats and dogs and bunnies and elephants out here y'all. if you ride this weekend, have fun living in the now!

Bay Area Weekend Calendar: BikeShare & SF Bike Party!!

These are two events I'm excited about in the next couple of days...talking about bike camping and parties?! fun!

Thursday, 3/3/11: BikeShare: Camp - Cyclists sharing Ideas, Skills, and Stories
Homespun Bikes/Leaning Tower of Pizza
494 Wesley Ave, Oakland, CA
7pm-9pm

BikeShare is an event where cyclists share ideas, skills, and stories in 10 minutes or less.

With each event, the theme will change but the format will be the same, good food, good beer, and 8-10 short presentations and possibly one longer presentation related to the joys of biking.

This inaugural event will focus on bikecamping. Come and learn about making delicious camp food, see stunning photography, and hear stories about local trips food and packing skills, homemade pannier and hammock demos.

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Friday, 3/4/11: San Francisco Bike Party
McCovey Point, China Basin Park
7:30 pm meetup, 8pm rollout

This month’s theme? Favorite Female Icons. Get yr Roll Model on guys.

Google map:

View SFBP -- RIDE 3 Route -- March 4th, 2011 in a larger map

Oaklavía!

The closing of streets to car traffic for a few hours from time to time is getting more and more popular all around the world. San Francisco has had the ever more popular Sunday Streets for the last few years, and now Oakland has Oaklavía, which debuted last Sunday.

The event had to compete with the 40th Anniversary of San Francisco's Gay Pride Parade (among a whole bunch of other things like a Giants/Redsocks game, the Mexico/Argentina match...) Despite the absolutely stupid amount of things to do this weekend, there was a good turnout for the lovely, quiet streets of Oakland. It is not terribly surprising, after all, when you get rid of the cars life springs up everywhere!

What was great for me was that it wasn't super packed so I could appreciate all of the people and the thing that makes Oakland a really great place- the diversity and openness of its citizens.

I took a whole bunch of pictures which will take me awhile to edit. Check in to the set in a couple of days to see what comes up!

Red, Bike & Green

We talk about getting more women on bikes all the time, but how often do we talk about getting people of colour out in the bike lane? That's what is going on at Red, Bike and Green in Oakland, CA-

"Red, Bike and Green, a community-building collective of Black urban cyclists, seeks to improve the physical health, individual economy and local environment of African Americans by strengthening the relevance of bike culture within the Black community"

This Saturday in Oakland is going to be great! Click on the flyer to learn more and someone send me some pictures!!!!

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!