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!!!!
Christmas is here! Bring on the cheer! And if Christmas ain't your thing then Happy Chriskwanzikkah!! Either way, our friend Richard over at Suburban Assault who is a great friend to this blog and an all around fantastic guy sent these shots into the Flickr group and I just have to share some of them! We are like that around here- we loooooove to share!!!
Santa's Helper (he needed a jump start and her vision of va-va-voom was just the trick)
Random Guy- I hear Santa is hiring. What's the health care like?
Elf- Not too bad. Better than Congress and we get all the candy canes and neon pants we want!
What do you mean, "Where's my gift?" I am your gift, baby : )
Hee Hee Hee!
Those are "Santa Hangers" to you. Unless you want coal in your stocking!
The man himself, leading what will become known as the "Charge of the Santa Brigade!" Suburbia will never be the same again!
this past weekend, LA had it's first tweed ride and here are some photos from the ride..
Union Station hmm.. what's today's date again? the year please? good times! -much love to CICLE.org for bringing the tweed ride here in Los Angeles. (if you're wanting to see more tweedy action/ elegance.. there are tons of great pictures up on flickr :) I'll be uploading more on my photostream too! yayy pictures)
Invite from Cosmo of lacyclechic.blogspot.com Come join LA Cycle Chic for a really relaxed ride to shopping on Melrose. We'll meet at Scoops and people can get ice cream while they are getting ready to ride or if people prefer they can get ice cream after or not at all. Scoops is vegan friendly. Also Pure Luck vegan restaurant is right across the street in case people want to get dinner after. There are also plenty of places along the route if we need refreshment. The Metro Redline stops as Vermont & Santa Monica and it is a short ride from there to where we are meeting. Parking can be tricky in the area so plan to arrive early if you are driving. As a group we'll decide how much shopping we do. Dress should be chic. I hope you can make it. (this is Cosmo. she's awesome) Edit: If you are planning on attending please sign up to follow us on Twitter that way we can tweet where we are and you can tweet us and everyone can K.I.T.
I am a city cyclist. I ride an upright, city bike. I wear city clothes.
Me in my normal habitat.
City streets are my paths and I share them with city drivers. Recreational riding is not a part of my regular life and until this week, I have not, since college, owned a bike you could easily put on a car rack. My usual ride? Café to grocery shopping to preschool to dry cleaner.... So when my husband told me about the San Francisco Randonneurs' Fall Populaire ride, I was initially disinterested. Riding all day just to see how far I can go does not appeal to my taste, nor does riding for 24 hours in a row! When he said it was a shorter ride than they usually do, just 71 miles, and not going over Mt. Tam, I found myself listening. There were enough parts and a great Raleigh frame in the garage to make me a sturdy touring bike for the ride and James and I are always looking for things to do together.
In three days, Hubbie the Bike Man put together a touring bike for me with an early 80's Raleigh Pursuit steel frame as its base (and may I say, it ROCKS!).
The Hasselhoff knows where to wait.
The fact that I was going to be riding on drops was a bit frightening for me. I have many physical injuries that make riding problematic- Spinal injuries (at C3 & 7, T4, L4-5), partial paralysis in both my arms, damaged sternocostal joints, recent wrist surgery and 4 surgeries on my right knee that have left my right quads visibly smaller and weaker than my left. It has taken years to regain the strength and co-ordination necessary to ride on the level that I do everyday, and the key has been riding upright, not on drops. Amazingly, by the end of the ride, my only pain was in my neck and I know that at least half of that was caused by my helmet. I was so surprised.
The day of the ride came (the key to getting me to do it? Don't give me time to think about it too much) and James and I met up with Meli and our friends Eric and Sean at the Golden Gate Bridge with the rest of the brevet riders (it was the last time we saw them : )
Instructions. Way too early for instructions.
Our first challenge was getting to the top of the hill just north of Fairfax. When I drive up that mountain, I always look at the cyclists puffing up to the top and find myself greatfull that I am not one of them. Not today! The guys all scooted up to the top. Meli and me? We were less speedy, and I know for certain that I was less graceful! There were several stops made on the way up, but we didn't have to push (a claim I can not make on other hills) and Eric had grapes waiting for us at the top.
Top o' the hill (#1)
We took the Cross Marin Trail through Samuel P. Taylor park. 3 road touring bikes and a 40 year old mixte on gravel- no wipeouts, no flats!
Cross Marin conversations.
We glided into Point Reyes around 1:30 PM and fell to finding lunch immediately. I'll let Meli tell you where she headed first (although you can probably guess : ). A little food and a few minutes out of the saddle and we were all good to go (after a bathroom stop).
We are a happy crew!
From Point Reyes we headed toward Nicasio to ride around the reservoir (there is still water in it!). Yet another climb, but this was right after lunch so we were good. I was talking to Eric as we rode along, and didn't notice we had lost Meli. I decided to stop and wait for her because I did not see her behind us, which meant she was pretty far back. When she caught up a few minutes later it turned out she had been stung by a bee!
Meli gets stung and I take pictures!
The bike gods must love us because this was our only disaster of the day. No flats, no injuries, no bad moods- just a great ride! The ride back toward San Francisco was challenging because we were getting tired and we were way behind the rest of the riders. By the time we hit the Golden Gate Bridge, the wind was literally howling through the girders and all of us got thrown off our bikes or completely stopped in our tracks by the wind coming around the towers!!
OMG! Windy!
We did not make a single check point on time and arrived back in San Francisco 3 hours after everyone else! We were the definition of DFL!! We could not have been more pleased!
Team DFL? Team Caboose? We need a name!
We may be slow, we may come in last, we may be the "lanterne rouge" but we ROCK! I have always thought that a ride that long was beyond me, that I could never make the hills. Bicycling has shown me two things- I am way stronger, physically, than I knew and that the best people out there are on bicycles! Because of this, I was smiling at the beginning,
8:30 AM & I am wearing a helmet!
and I was still smiling 74 miles and 10 hours later!
6:30 PM Still smiling, still wearing the damn helmet : )
Don't think you could do this? Try! You have nothing to lose! Meli's version of the ride coming soon!
From the third member of the "Mixte Girl Posse" (or something like that), Melyssa. *All pictures by either Adrienne or meligrosa. Each links, so help yourself -
"i am a creature of habit. i have a schedule that leaves room for improvisation, but in a structured (to me at least) way. i tend to go to the same places, see the same people, do the same things.
but, i am also rather curious about trying out new things. i just need a nudge now and then to remind myself that, for example, sf has places i've never been to...exotic places like north beach.
kidding, i've been to north beach before, but it was usually for a school networking function, to take people from out of town or just passing through during critical mass. i hadn't spent too much time in north beach because before i became a bikey person, i took MUNI, and it was a pain in the you-know-what to get there from where i lived. as a result i never really got acquainted with this neighborhood. recently i joined the lovely creators of this blog for a mixte lady's night out, and north beach was the chosen destination.
having never been to north beach on my own by bike, i was excited to go and grab a few drinks at a nice fun spot that i haven't been to before. and yeah, since this part of the city is not really mapped out in my head (and i forgot my trusty bike map), i had to think of a way to get there. i took a very roundabout route, and finally managed to meet up with meli and a few minutes later AJ came strolling by.
we were quite the sight as we made our way around the neighborhood. we all had our older mixte bikes, which in turn all have baskets. it was a night of babes, bikes, brewskies, bags and baskets. so much fun, and definitely worth a repeat trip. we parked in motorcycle spaces, rode through the stockton tunnel, took pics outside a visually stunning window display, and rode three apiece on market street before i rolled over some glass, made a joke about it, then BOOM--got a flat tire.
that is the sort of night that i could add to my list of habitual things that this mely likes to do. minus the flat tire, of course.
until next time my fellow-ray-ban-wearing, mixte-loving-partners in bike riding...have a great weekend everybody!"
