Wheeling women: Female-friendly bike resources (Pedaling Periodical)

There has always been plenty of information out there for male-identifying bicyclists, and fortunately, there continues to be more and more resources designed for all different kinds of women bicyclists, too! As women, we want to share the resources we've found helpful in the bicycling world.

"Helmet Hair Do’s (and a Don’t)" by Janet Lafleur
One of the excuses I often hear from women is that they don't want to bike to work because their hair will get messed up. Well, that excuse is no longer valid thanks to Janet Lafleur of One Woman. Many bicycles., who writes about how to bike to work and still look professional, feminine, and composed. (Okay, I realize that she is one woman with a particular hair type that may not apply to all women, so some of you may not believe it's possible to bike without helmet hair... the biggest takeaway is to bike slower and take sweat out of the helmet hair equation entirely.) She's my go-to writer for stylish bike riding. Her blog has great fashion and practical advice, and she's tweets on Twitter a lot, too. She lives in Mountain View, so if  you're ever over the hill on Caltrain, you might just see her... (I have!). If you're looking specifically for tips on helmet hair, click here.

Photo credit: Janet Lafleur (One Woman. Many bicycles.)

Wheelwomen Switchboard
Do you ever wish there was a place to connect with other women bicyclists and ask questions or find opportunities for better bicycling? The new Wheelwomen Switchboard is that place. After creating an account, you can post offers or requests or reply to others' posts. Topics include job hunting, bike ride meetups, tips for better bicycling, and more! A Bike Portland post from March 18 quotes the creator of the site, Elly Blue: "'We weren't sure it would take off, but it was huge,' writes Blue, a 2002 Reed graduate whose most recent book is Bikeonomics. 'What it tells me is that the women's biking movement is something a lot of people are eager to identify themselves as being part of, that these same people are hungry to connect with each other, and that a lot of the stuff they want to talk about is practical tips for everything from gear to routes to organizing movements and creating equitable spaces.'" Female-identifying bicyclists, join today!

The Best Bike Stickers Ever
I recently perused the shop at Taking the Lane: Publishing the feminist bicycle revolution (another Elly Blue creation), and I found some pretty awesome, mostly feminist bike stickers. I ordered some, and I've since put one on my bike rack (see below). If you like stickers and bikes and beer and/or feminism, I highly recommend ordering some. Might as well search the rest of the shop, too, because the zines and books available are really cool. Anything related to Elly Blue tends to be cool, actually.

Pedal Love's next blog columnist: You!

A couple months ago, I came across Pedal Love, an online storytelling site for women who love to bike. I submitted some photos for their Valentine's Day post, and I was asked by Melissa Balmer, Women on Bikes California Director and Editor for Pedal Love, if I wanted to become a blogger for their site. Of course I said yes, and the first blog I submitted was a Bike Love piece. I've since written another piece featuring Santa Cruz women bicycling advocates, and I'm waiting for it to be published on the site now. The good news is that anyone who loves their bike can submit content to the site after connecting with Melissa Balmer, and there's a lot of other exciting stuff happening through the Women on Bikes and Pedal Love platforms. Learn more on the site here, and contact Melissa Balmer for details about writing for them.

Women's Bike Blogs

The largest list of women bike blogs the world has ever seen (or that I've ever seen at least) is available online here. Some are recreational blogs, some are environmental, others are hardcore cargo bikers with kids, and many are from other countries. If you're looking for more resources on bicycling from a woman's perspective, this list is a great place to begin searching!

Have more resources to share? Post in the comments, or email Melissa so we can include them next time.

Trail blazing: Santa Cruz mountain biking news (Pedaling Periodical)

Wondering what's going on in the exciting mountain biking world of Santa Cruz? From trail building to discussions about the new CEMEX property to some major festivals coming up, we've put together some news for you!

"Karen Kefauver, Spin City: Mountain bike team launches as part of Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Search and Rescue team"
"What happened to him could happen to any cyclist or hiker: He had taken a wrong turn, backtracked, crossed a creek, got disoriented and ended up spending one of the coldest nights of the year in the woods. 'He thought he was going to die,' said Morse." Read the full article on the Santa Cruz Sentinel here.

"Hundreds turn out for meeting on Cemex planning"
Santa Cruz Sentinel reports: "Hundreds of county residents filed into the Hotel Paradox Wednesday night to offer their views on the opening of the Cemex Redwoods, a massive expanse of wilderness that cascades from the peaks of the Santa Cruz Mountains nearly to the sea." Read the full article here.

Flow Trail at Soquel Demonstration Forest 3/30 & 4/8 Dig Days
Want to help build the flow trail at Demo? Join Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz for two upcoming dig days!

Volunteers digging at the new Flow Trail in the Soquel Demonstration Forest.
Photo credit: Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz

Vote for the Flow Trail at Demo: April 7-20
Bell Helmets and IMBA are hosting a contest for $100,000 for three trail building projects through the Bell Built contest! The currently-being-built Flow Trail at the Soquel Demonstration Forest has made the finalists list for the west coast. You can vote for it online here April 7-20! Learn more about the Flow Trail on the Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz website here.

Trail work opportunities at four different trails in the area
Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz has trail work opportunities quite often. Visit their website for a calendar listing of trail work days at places like the Flow Trail, Emma McCrary, and Wilder Ranch. Find out more here.

Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival: April 5-6
"The Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival was created by Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz to celebrate the world class mountain bike facilities, riders, and cycling industry of Santa Cruz county, and to raise funds to support local bike projects. This family-friendly eco-conscious event continues to grow year after year with the generous support of our sponsors, volunteers, and community—and our success testifies to the depth of the mountain bike culture in Santa Cruz county." It takes place in Aptos Village. Learn more on the website here.

Sea Otter Classic: April 10-13
"Mountain bikers, cyclocrossers, road racers and air junkies all converge on Laguna Seca and Fort Ord in Monterey for the biggest bike festival in central California. Four days of races, demos, slalom contests, fun events like the first-ever Night Ride sponsored by Magicshine and a ton of kids' activities make for serious fun. This is a qualifying event for the National Mountain Biking Championships, so big players will be here, and national gear companies will be strutting their best stuff." Learn more on the Hilltromper website.

Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz is a more comprehensive resource than this blog post, so we encourage you to visit their website and like them on Facebook for the latest scoop.

Being the bicycling change we wish to see (IDEASS BTPT 2013-14)

This is the first of many blog posts about the Bicycle Transit Planning Team's IDEASS project for 2013-14. 

"When our principles inform our method, our project goals can be attained more effectively, with insight along the way." This thought came to me last Tuesday while bicycling along the westside of Santa Cruz, counting cars in parking lots for my bicycle transit internship with the Impact Designs: Engineering & Sustainability through Student Service program at UC Santa Cruz. The sky had let up on the rain, the air was warm, and sun peeked out from behind clouds. Needless to say, the bike ride was a treat.

But why count cars? My team project partner Alyssa Tyree and I are working on a number of different bicycle transit-related mini-projects, housed under the umbrella of our IDEASS project, which is a year-long commitment. We are working with two awesome women in the community, Tiffany Wise-West from the City's Climate Action Program and Amelia Conlen, the Director of People Power of Santa Cruz County. They are both supporting us in different ways for our project, which you will hear more about in future posts. The counting cars aspect is a small slice of our overall project scope, and it's a way for us to support the rail trail project (part of the Monterey Bay Scenic Sanctuary Trail master plan) by collecting data on how many spaces are filled in parking lots along the rail trail on different days and times each week. The goal is to identify if there are empty lots at certain times of the day or week that the City could incentivize lot owners to allow rail trail users to park in for access to the multi-use trail that will eventually be built along the rail line. Counting cars sounds boring, I know, but the bike ride to do so was a delightful way to end my afternoon, and it led to this philosophical reflection about principles, methods, and goals... But how did I get from counting cars to philosophy? Let me explain.

The thought I began the post with came to me right after I biked around the circular road of Errett Circle, which introduced me to the Circle Market and the Circle Church, adorable and unique attributes of the neighborhood that I hadn't ever come across before. I had just biked to this area of town from the Safeway area near Mission Street, and as I passed by Garfield Park, I was struck by how different the neighborhood felt and looked in that area. It felt closer, more quaint. I hadn't ever really explored near there before, and it was fun to be in a new part of town. When I drove through this area last time I conducted the car counting survey (it was pouring rain that day, and I rented a Zipcar), I did not notice the neighborhood around me or associate any feeling with it whatsoever. Cars are like that--you're in them to get from point A to point B, not to enjoy the scenery through glass and metal. The rain may have played a part in this, too, but certainly cars require more focused attention on operating heavy machinery, not gazing around.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about community places and how to live presently in our communities rather than just travel from home to school to work. I think this is why I was so interested in and excited to see the Circle Market and Circle Church. The circular nature of the community space has lent its name to these establishments, which seem to support community in their own ways. The market has a colorful storefront that is inviting, and the church looks welcoming and it's at the center of the neighborhood. It reminds me of the commons area in old European establishments, central and a place for gathering. There is a different feeling in that part of town, as I said, and it's even more tangible the closer to the circle you get. Especially on a bike. On a map it looks like a destination, a place all roads lead to. When you're there, it can feel like something special is happening or about to happen.

As I rode away from the circle and down California Street, I couldn't help smiling at a man walking by and being simply drawn into the present moment and aware of community in a profound way. And then I had this philosophical realization about principles. By "principle" I mean the values and expectations of conduct that we hold ourselves to as we work on a project. In this IDEASS project, we value clear communication, clear deadlines balanced with self-sustainability and awareness of the incredible amount of work on each of our plates. We also value bikes and sustainable transportation, community and relationship-building. These are all the ways we approach the different tasks and goals of our project--these are our guiding principles. So when I say "principles inform our method," I mean in this particular case that our principle of seeing and believing in the bike as a form of sustainable and viable transportation directly translates into our method of conducting our counts by bicycle. In turn, this brings us into the realm of our goal for our project overall--increased bicycle ridership, safer bicycle ridership, and engaged community ridership. Riding my bike last Tuesday for the count put me into the position of evaluating the effectiveness of the bike in these ways. I chose to bike instead of rent a Zipcar again. I put into place the safety tips that I and Aly and Amelia will be sharing at our upcoming bicycle commuting workshops (more on this here, and in future posts). Most profoundly for my experience last week, I was aware of the way the bike can engage you with your community--in this case, a silent and contemplative engagement with a community space that I hadn't come across before.

"When our principles inform our method, our project goals can be attained more effectively, with insight along the way." When we know our audience and can experience what our goal might be like for other people--in this case, biking in any situation--and when we can reflect on how our work can be real in the world or how we can approach our work differently based on experiencing it, we are closer to our goals than if we sit removed from them. Bicycle advocacy is fun, not only because you get to bike while you're doing it a lot of the time, but because the bicycle is so much more than just a mode of transportation in the way a car often feels. It is a tool for accessing reflective thoughts and engaging by being in the spaces we travel in (rather than simply through). By being the change we wish to see in the world and living our principles each day in our work, we can see the possibility and vision of our goals, and that in itself is incredibly inspiring.

Project Challenges/Advocacy

My project thus far has been smooth going! I’ve been getting some great footage from Tawn and have started putting it together—it’s coming together nicely. Going on the ride that Tawn put together in Aptos produced some great footage as well. We took high school kids up into Nisene Marks and rode some really fun trails. It was most of the kids’ first time mountain biking which was a blast to see and I got some really fun footage all over the trails.

Putting together the video for Green Ways to School hasn’t evoked any problems and has been a lot of fun so far. The only thing I have some concern over is how far the video will reach via the internet. We’ve talked a lot in class about the audience that our advocacy actually reaches which is often those already involved in the bike community.  The video that I’m making for Green Ways to School will go up on their website, which means that the only people who will see it are those actively searching for Green Ways (meaning that they have a prior interest in the organization and thus, in bicycling). I want the video to reach kids and parents who are interested in contributing to an eco-friendly community or who want to engage in sustainable forms of transportation but might not have the resources or might not be comfortable sending their kid off to school on a bike or on foot. I would really love to find the resources to reach this audience. I’ve reached out to the public access station here in Santa Cruz but haven’t heard back (perhaps because they’re under renovation right now?). I know that Tawn has worked with them before so that’s a great connection to have, and I’ll contact them again soon or talk to Tawn about ways of getting the video on air. Of course, posting the video to blogs and internet communities (like this one!) always helps, but again, probably won’t reach the local demographic that I’m interested in reaching. I’d be interested to hear suggestions as to how to reach this audience! Included is a sneak peek photo of the Nisene Marks ride last President’s Day weekend.