30 Days of Biking, Day Eight: Leadership

By Barb Chamberlain | Published April 8, 2014

Day Eight in the 30 Days of Biking, 30 Words, 30 Pictures series

From beginning to end, today’s riding took me to meetings with a leadership element–what’s more, a strong theme of women leaders at every level of leadership in bicycling and transportation from neighborhood to national.

Rosie the Riveter posterFirst up: A discussion of Seattle’s participation in round 2 of the Green Lane Project with Martha Rostkowski, who heads up Green Lane as a VP at People for Bikes, a couple of her colleagues, and some of Seattle’s organizations that have women as executive directors (see below for a list of biking organizations and others we partner with).

A few months ago we partnered with Cascade Bicycle Club (where Elizabeth Kiker serves as executive director) to bring Martha to Seattle before applications were due so we could learn what was needed for a successful application. Women lead staff at SDOT including Sam Woods and Kristen Simpson shepherded the application through and Seattle was selected.

As the state organization we hope to bring lessons learned and next-generation design principles to other communities around the state interested in adding protected bike lanes in the right places in their mix of bike network connections.

Next I spent some time preparing for my trip to Spokane at the end of this week for the Spokane Bike Swap, where we’ll have a table and you can meet our newest member of the staff, Kate Johnston. Sparkplug LeAnn Yamamoto in the Spokane County Commute Trip Reduction Office helped make this event a reality. The event benefits Friends of the Spokane River Centennial Trail, headed by another woman, Loreen McFaul.

While I’m there I’ll talk with other bike leaders. The list of local leaders includes the chairs of Spokane Bikes and the Spokane Bicycle Advisory Board and members of the Pedals2People board–all women. (Yes, the entire board of P2P, which is a community bike shop, consists of women.)

Via email I also had contact with staff in the Washington State Dept. of Transportation concerning the US Bicycle Route System. The WSDOT staff we work with most directly on bicycle/pedestrian issues are women (hi, Charlotte and Paula!) in a department headed by Sec. Lynn Peterson, with Amy Scarton as Assistant Sec. for Community & Economic Development.

Later in the day it was back to Seattle City Hall for a meeting of the advisory committee for the Seattle Dept. of Transportation director search. I sat between Cathy Tuttle, founder/executive director of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, and Marci Carpenter, West Seattle Transportation Coalition, both examples of local grassroots organizing around a desire for safe, connected networks for all forms of transportation.

It was in this meeting that I was struck anew by the number of women leaders I interact with every day and what a pleasure it is not to be the only woman in the room in a meeting on transportation. Just a few years ago no one in my position would have been able to list as many women counterparts and colleagues.

I then had a meeting to prepare for another meeting (welcome to my world)–tomorrow’s first meeting of Gov. Inslee’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Parks and Outdoor Recreation, which I’m honored to co-chair.

Seattle happens to have a lot of women executive directors at many of our partner organizations right now. A list of such organizations headquartered in Seattle (which I’m sure is incomplete) is an impressive one:

… and it keeps going, from Maud Daudon at the Seattle Chamber of Commerce to Joni Earl at Sound Transit and beyond.

It isn’t just Seattle, either. When I meet with local leaders in bicycling I’m meeting with women. Picking just a few examples from my meetings of the last year around the state:

Like many of the words I consider for these posts, this is one that could fit more than one day, but it’s what I found myself thinking about the most. Other nomineees for today’s word that I considered, just for fun:

  • Rain
  • Biscuits
  • Terrain (said with the tone of voice that makes it an epithet)
  • Routes
  • Wool

Related Reading

Your Turn

  • What do you want leaders in bicycling and transportation to work on?
  • Who are the bike leaders in your community who deserve a shout-out? (Not just women)
  • What are some of the ways they’re making a difference? (I’m totally trolling for blog post ideas here)

 

 

Posted in Advocacy, News, Seattle, Spokane County, Women, WSDOT | 3 Comments

Safe Streets Workshop This Thursday in Longview

By Seth Schromen-Wawrin | Published April 8, 2014

Join Washington Bikes, Cowlitz on the Move, Pathways 2020, and Healthy Communities Washington for an informative workshop on Safe Streets this Thursday, April 10, in Longview.

Last year, Washington Bikes helped lead the charge to pass a state law giving neighborhoods more tools to improve street safety, while removing red tape and lowering safety improvement costs.

Join Seth Schromen-Wawrin and Blake Trask from Washington Bikes at the Cowlitz PUD Auditorium for an informative 3-hour workshop to learn about the new law, its application in your neighborhood, and simple tips and techniques to work with your elected officials to improve safety on your street.

To register for this afternoon workshop, email Katie Perrigo at PerrigoK@co.cowlitz.wa.us. If you have additional questions, please contact the Washington Bikes team or contact Katie at 360.414.5599 ext 6434.

Looking forward to seeing you this Thursday!

Details:
Thursday, April 10, 2014
2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Cowlitz PUD Auditorium
961 12th Avenue
Longview, WA 98632

Posted in Accessibility, Complete Streets, Cowlitz County, Education, Events, Funding/Policy, News | Comments Off on Safe Streets Workshop This Thursday in Longview

30 Days of Biking, Day Seven: Left

By Barb Chamberlain | Published April 7, 2014

Day Seven in the 30 Days of Biking, 30 Words, 30 Pictures series

Executing left turns.  Being left behind. Sure, I can write about those with “left” as the word of the day.

Sign on Burke-Gilman Trail bike path, "Use voice or bell when passing"

Good manners. Good sense. For goodness’ sake, say something.

For today’s ride, however, I mean “Left!” as in “On your left” or “Passing on your left” or any of the other trail etiquette warnings. I rode my bicycle for miles without hearing this heading northbound on the Burke Gilman Trail around 6:30pm or so.

Nor did the people passing me ring their bells instead, a perfectly acceptable alternative. That’s my preferred method because I get more response from people wearing earbuds when I use my bell and I think it sounds friendlier, but today my bell was broken so I called out repeatedly.

The idea behind saying “Left” is that you won’t surprise people you’re passing. It’s not only polite, it’s safer; a surprised rider/pedestrian is an unpredictable rider/pedestrian.

If I know you’re coming up behind me faster than I’m riding I can navigate accordingly. You don’t know I’m about to execute some maneuver I wouldn’t if I knew you were there, or that I need to swerve around an obstacle I could warn you about. Wouldn’t you like me to assist in keeping our interaction pleasant and collision-free?

Occasionally I try to keep track of who says it and who doesn’t. So far I haven’t identified any strong or stereotypical patterns. You can be wearing street clothes or Spandex, riding an upright bike or down in the drops, loaded with panniers or wearing a heart monitor, alone or in a group. You say it. Or you don’t. The “you don’t” people far outnumber the “you do” people, in my highly unscientific sample.

If you do say it when you pass me I say “Thank you!”.

I have one grumpy response I use occasionally. If you pass me without calling out or ringing your bell, I may say, “On my left!” as you pass by, particularly if you were extra-fast and extra-close. I figure that way at least one of us has acknowledged the interaction, and perhaps I’ve given you a motherly little reminder that you should be saying it. I can dream.

It’s not a totally crazy dream. I’ve noticed that my saying of it reminds others who weren’t saying it and they sometimes start up, which I get to observe when someone I passed fires up and passes me.

In my really crazy dream, people also say it when passing in a bike lane. Those tend to have less margin for error and more street noise and I appreciate it even more.

Left. It’s oh-so-easy. Just say it.

NOTE: We have trail etiquette rack cards available upon request to anyone who’d like a batch to give out. They’re really popular when we take them to events and we’ve seen them in brochure holders at some trail heads. Contact Louise to request a batch.

Related Reading

Your Turn

  • Do you say it or don’t you? Why/why not?

 

Posted in Attitudes, Legal, Safety, Trails | 6 Comments

Spokane Bike Swap is This Weekend!

By Louise McGrody | Published April 7, 2014

I Bike SpokaneIf you love all things bicycle and you live in Spokane, then you don’t want to miss the Spokane Bike Swap & Expo this weekend, April 12 and 13.

Organized as a benefit for the Friends of Centennial Trail, the Spokane Bike Swap is the place to buy new and used bikes, swap your old ones, connect with bike groups like us, practice using the bike rack on transit buses, and more!

Be sure to drop by the Washington Bikes booth to say hi and meet our Spokane staff member Kate Johnston. You can pick up a copy of our popular Washington Bike Laws pocket reference, refresh your trail etiquette with our Share the Trails rack card, and learn about our new programs serving the Inland Northwest.

We’ll also have our pop-up retail store at your service! You can join or renew your WAbikes membership, and purchase our made-in-Washington bicycle themed merchandise–like our new jersey and the I Bike Spokane and I Bike WA items shown here. You can also buy raffle tickets for our spectacular Walla Walla Bicycle Weekend.

Check the Spokane Bike Swap website for more details about the event and we hope to see you this weekend!

Contact Kate Johnston if you’d like to volunteer at our bike swap booth!

 

Posted in Bike Culture, Events, Spokane County | Comments Off on Spokane Bike Swap is This Weekend!

30 Days of Biking, Day Six: Dates

By Barb Chamberlain | Published April 6, 2014

Day Six in the 30 Days of Biking, 30 Words, 30 Pictures series

What could be better than a bike date? Time with your loved one (or a candidate), no distraction of electronic toys, and, depending on how far you ride, use of enough calories to grant permission for whatever treats you like along the way. (At a minimum it’s a partial caloric offset.)

“Breakfast” was a candidate for today’s word but then I realized the word needed to be “dates” because we were on one. We’ve been married nearly 7 years and firmly believe in going on dates often. Today I’m sharing some of our tips for the perfect bicycle date.

Make Sure This Will Actually Be Fun for Both of You

That means a ride that either of you would do on your own. If you’re at dramatically different levels of bike skill and physical condition, bear in mind that this is not a ride with one of you in the role of coach. That’s not a date, it’s a recipe for disaster.

If one of you goes out in the woods on single-track every weekend and the other has never done that, make sure #2 is truly interested in giving this a try as a date. Some learning experiences are best handled with friends or even strangers, not with a date as observer (or, heaven forbid, Facebook chronicler in real time. See “recipe for disaster” above.)

If one of you is very experienced in riding in a busy urban setting and the other sticks to separated trails or empty country roads, riding through the downtown core in lots of traffic will make for stress. By definition, not fun.

It’s a Date, Not a Race

On a related note, one of the issues some couples face is a differential in how far or fast each wants to ride. Thus bike dates are a good test of the art of compromise.

Since I’m built for comfort and my husband is built for speed, we don’t go for bike dates when he’s in need of a training ride. I joke that he could be in Zone -2 and I’d be in Zone 6 on a standard range of 1-5. No, at our house a date ride is always a recovery ride.

Note to people who train with great dedication and enormous amounts of record-keeping: Do not consider a bike date a training ride. You’re not supposed to drop your date.

Agree on Where You’ll Go

The “somewhere to go” could be “let’s noodle around that neighborhood and stop at all the art galleries” so this doesn’t mean you have to map it all in latitude and longitude. The idea is to put some bookends on it so that if one of you is (ahem) less conditioned than the other you can each prepare mentally and pace yourself according to shared expectations.

Had my husband said “Let’s ride north until we find a breakfast place” I wouldn’t know how far I might have to go before caffeine and calories.

This “until X” means of choosing a destination might be an awesome approach for you, in which case your “somewhere to go” is “until this criterion is satisfied and we agree in advance on how we’ll know.” For some couples this could be a recipe for an argument as Rider 1 looks longingly at the windows of bakeries while Rider 2 thinks better pastries lie far ahead in some other ZIP code.

The point here is to agree in advance on the constraints. Don’t ruin a bike ride with squabbles and whining on the way out–you still have a return ride ahead.

We picked a breakfast place about a 45-minute ride away in Bothell and saddled up.

Choose a Ride that’s Comfortable for Both

We’re both experienced at riding in traffic and controlling the lane as needed for safety so for us this isn’t about staying off busy streets. This might be a concern for you and you’d want to do some route planning.

No, for us it’s more about how many climbs I can do since I’m married to someone who does hill repeats for fun.

The Burke-Gilman Trail provides a smooth, traffic-free connection for us north and south, not too far from where we currently live. Inevitably we climbed up to get to it, and up to get away from it.

On our return we hit only one hill that involved me pushing for a few yards while he did hill repeats to wait for me. This is a sign I’m getting stronger, and the walking was mostly a function of riding a really steep uphill (most of which I did actually ride up) on a full stomach, honest.

Do a Mechanical Check Before You Head Out

This tip comes to you courtesy of my friend Betsy, who discovered after miles of hard pedaling on her first date with her future husband-to-be that her back brake had been rubbing the entire way.

One of you may have to work a lot harder than the other to keep up, but try to avoid adding an actual handicap like a rubbing brake or squishy tires.

What’s your plan if something goes wrong along the way? Whether you pull out toolkit or cell phone this represents a test of the relationship on various fronts, from possible assumptions about gender roles and mechanical aptitude to how someone copes with the stress of the unexpected.

Take Advantage of the Talk Time

We talk about all kinds of topics on bike dates, from childhood memories to whether or not I should bake a pie or some cookies when we get back. (Oh, let’s be honest–it’s not whether, it’s which kind.)

On this particular ride we talked about the book we both just finished reading, The Bar Mitzvah and the Beast, about a cross-country ride by a family of four (funny, thoughtful, and inspiring–we both recommend it), and compared our preferences concerning the various architectural styles along the way. Doing so on a bike ride has a much lower stress threshold than doing so with a Realtor in tow and dueling comfort levels with mortgage size.

The nice part about a bike conversation, unlike a conversation in a car or even one on a walk together, is that if it happens to take a slightly negative turn you can ride behind or in front of the other person for a cooling-off period without being too obvious. (It would look pretty funny to bust a move to walk in front of the person you’re ostensibly walking with.)

This period may extend for some time if it’s a first date and you have the sudden realization that you could never, ever have a second one.

On the other hand, if it’s a first date and you can talk and laugh forever, not even noticing the miles under your wheels, this is a very, very good sign.

For the record my husband and I have very similar taste in houses.

Carry Something to Haul Stuff

What stuff? In our case, half of my breakfast in a takeout box because it was enormous and I couldn’t eat it all. Then later it was my fleece vest as I overheated on that steep hill and stopped to ditch a layer.

If you’re poking around neighborhood bookstores together you’ll buy books. Or the pastries at the bakery are so great that you buy a couple of extras, planning to eat them a few miles down the road when you’ve earned them.

Stay Flexible

Bikes offer their own varieties of flexibility as a means of transportation. I’m talking about each of you staying flexible about what happens along the way.

Steve's Cafe, Bothell, WA

Where we ended up for breakfast this morning. Those of you who know Bothell will also know which cafe was our original destination. We’ll try it on another date.

When we got to Bothell the cafe we’d planned to go to had a 25-minute wait. Another place beckoned from across the street and we headed over to check out Steve’s Cafe. A couple just exiting who had biked up with the same plan said it was fine and we settled in for a very satisfying breakfast.

Because you’re on the bike you may see things that make you want to stop and appreciate: a beautiful view (today’s ride was full of spring green), public art (we went by the young stand of Blue Trees in Kenmore), or a photo opportunity. For that matter, one of you might spot the perfect bench where you plan to drop to one knee and propose.

Keep It Simple

This is a bike date, not the Tour or a championship competition. You may well go on those types of rides together–both of you sprinting to city-limit signs or jumping stumps or whacking around in bike polo. The date portion might take place before and after the riding event, so I’m not saying don’t do those together if that’s what turns your cranks.

I’m just saying that on a really good date–one that makes you smile, one you’ll talk about afterwards saying “Wasn’t that great?”–each of you is there for the purpose of focusing on the other person and enjoying your time together. Few things are better for that than a simple bike ride.

Related Reading

Your Turn

  • What’s your best bike date memory?

 

Posted in Adventure, Attitudes, Family biking, Humor, News | 1 Comment

30 Days of Biking, Day Five: Weather

By Barb Chamberlain | Published April 5, 2014

“Run between the raindrops!” That’s how I used to rally my daughters when they were small and gullible and would giggle at this little game instead of being unhappy about getting soaked dashing from car to house.

Symbols of today's weather-full ride: Outlier daily riding pant with water beading up on the special Swiss fabric; rain jacket serving as lap cover; bright rain cover conveniently provided with my Detours bag.

Symbols of today’s weather-full ride: Outlier daily riding pant with water beading up on the special Swiss fabric; rain jacket serving as lap cover; bright rain cover conveniently provided with my Detours bag.

One of the gifts biking has given me is a twofold shift regarding weather: I’m somewhat better able to make my own assessment of conditions thanks to the need to pay a lot more attention (although I still check my weather.com app to plan my clothing), and I’m comfortable with a far wider range of temperatures and precipitation levels than when I was a more sheltered little flower.

Today’s forecast called for showers followed by light rain. To me this represents possible riding weather. I don’t ride to be miserable so I’m unlikely to get on my bike in a pounding storm, but after much testing in both Spokane and Seattle I can confirm that I’m not the Wicked Witch of the West because I don’t melt when I get wet.

With any luck the showers would fall somewhere other than my route and the rain would hold off until after my one-hour ride to the office. It appeared to be merely overcast so I set off, rain jacket tucked away in a bag.

Within a block I felt the first sprinkle. So much for this “assess conditions” skill–I’ve been fooled before as I adapt to the Seattle climate. For a while I rode in that special Seattle air: the kind that suggests you’re moving through the vegetable mister in the produce aisle. From there the ride looked like this:

2 miles: It’s no longer misting. It’s raining. Time to remember that stopping a bike takes longer when the rims are wet.

3 miles: My top is fine (thank you, merino wool) but my lap is starting to get wet. I love my Outlier daily riding pants but they’re water-resistant fabric, not waterproof. Tie rain jacket around waist–not as good as the beautiful bike-specific women’s raincoat designed by Juliette Delfs of Hub and Bespoke that’s on my must-have-someday list but it helps.

~4.5 miles: I’m wondering where metereologists draw the line between “light rain” and plain old “rain” sans adjective. Riding keeps me warm and I’ve definitively chosen “weather” as today’s word.

6 miles: Persistence rewarded–back to the vegetable mister.

7.6 miles: Mister turns off, headwind turns on. Not a really stiff blow but enough to notice the drag. (Back when I drove everywhere I didn’t notice wind direction unless it actually threw things at me or bent the trees over.)

8.5 miles: Now it’s a crosswind. Still no mist or rain though.

9.2 miles: Back into the headwind but it’s all downhill from here. I mourn the loss of the velocity the wind steals from me because downhills are fun, but at least it’s not blowing straight at me on an uphill, which is, as every bicyclist knows, Just. Not. Fair.

10.2 miles: Inside the office where body heat will finish drying my clothes within about 15 minutes.

My comfort level with a wider range of weather conditions doesn’t just extend to vegetable misters and rain clouds. When I rode in Spokane, where winter temperatures drop much lower, I only switched to the bus when the snow or ice was severe enough to keep drivers from being able to stop in time.

For biking in the cold I wore layers, a ski mask on my face for that stylish bank-robber look, a ski coat if necessary, lobster-claw gloves (think Vulcan greeting sign if you’ve never seen these), and ear-warmer straps knitted for me by friend Wilma Flanagan of the Spokane Bicycle Advisory Board.

Weather? What weather? “There’s no such thing as bad weather–only bad gear.”

Related Reading

Your Turn

  • What weather conditions keep you from getting on the bike? (No apology needed for any answer–this isn’t a contest.)
  • How has riding a bicycle changed your awareness and attitudes concerning weather?

 

Posted in Attitudes, Bike Style, Gear/Maintenance, News | 1 Comment

30 Days of Biking, Day Four: Racing

By Barb Chamberlain | Published April 4, 2014

“One Bus Away says the 522 will be at the stop in 5 minutes!” I hastily saved two files to Dropbox so I could continue working on them after I got home, threw my electronic miscellany into my bag, and buckled on my helmet.

Pulling my gloves on with my teeth in an effort to save every possible millisecond between our office and the transit stop at 4th and Jackson, I rolled out the door. As soon as the light changed I sprinted up Jackson, hoping the drivers ahead of me wouldn’t be texting and not notice when the lights turned green. Every second counted. (And of course, the texting would be illegal. But this was about catching the bus because there wouldn’t be another one for at least half an hour.)

When I got to the intersection at 4th I could see the big blue and white Sound Transit vehicle pulling away from the stop, then stopping at the light as I crossed through the green light in front of it.

“Nooooo! That’s my bus!” I put on my best pleading expression to look through the door at the driver, who smiled apologetically and mouthed, “I can’t.”

I know that. It’s against the rules for them to pick me up at a stoplight that could change at any second. Hope springs eternal.

But then I realized, “Hey! This bus has more stops and I can catch him!”

The light changed. The 522 pulled out. A big double-decker Community Transit bus pulled out. I dropped into the lane and hit the hammer, such as it is when we’re talking about me since I’m not much of a sprinter.

It’s all uphill on 4th from that intersection. I climbed in the bus lane–no point in trying to weave through 4 lanes of traffic to the bike lane on the far left side when the bus stops were all on the right side. And Seattle has a nice multimodal set-up: Bus lanes are also for bikes. It’s no fun for bicyclist or bus driver if you’re leap-frogging but at a time like this it was perfect–no single-occupancy vehicles could cut me off or slow me down.

For a couple of blocks I had no idea how I was doing. I was keeping up with the double-decker, but what about the 522?

The double-decker moved one lane over and I spotted the 522, stopped ahead of me. Victory! I leaped onto the sidewalk (it’s times like this that make me wish I knew how to do a bunny-hop with my bike) and ran as two people got on the bus.

The bus driver smiled at me. “I was watching for you but I couldn’t see you back there,” he said. “I couldn’t let you on at the light because it’s against the rules.”

“I know. I was behind the double-decker. Thanks for looking out for me.”

I wish I could have taken a picture of my bike on the bus rack as a symbol of how I won the race, but that would have slowed us down and they’ve got a schedule to keep.

I’ve practiced other forms of bike racing:

This race number is not on my bike. If you see it out on the road, say hi to my bike-racing husband.

This race number is not on my bike. If you see it out on the road, say hi to my bike-racing husband.

What I haven’t done yet and may never do: Get out on a race course and compete against other riders.

My husband races and I’ve volunteered in various ways to support Washington’s great bike-racing scene. I ran track in high school (not very fast), and years later paddled with a dragon boat team in Spokane, which rekindled my competitive spirit for a while.

But I don’t have the drive or the time required to train extensively, exhaustively, painfully, to become a strong racer. I’ll just keep racing the bus and hoping I win every time.

 

Related Reading

Your Turn

  • Do you find yourself racing as part of everyday bicycling?
  • If you race competitively, what do you enjoy most about it?

 

Posted in Attitudes, Commuting, Transit | 1 Comment

Our Social Media Is Buzzing About 30 Days of Biking

By Louise McGrody | Published April 4, 2014

It’s Day 3 of 30 Days of Biking and our social media channels indicate that many of you are with us for the ride! You’re communicating with us through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to tell us about your rides, experiences and inspirations.

It’s a chatty group of joyful cyclists sharing experiences and photos, and encouraging each other along on our 30 Days of Biking event page on Facebook. Join our conversation! Here’s a sampling of comments:

1st day of it, I am enjoying an urban ride between my bus stop and work! – Machkio

One down, 29 to go. Good excuse for an afternoon beer! – Allyson

Rode to work, back home for lunch with my wife and six month old, back to work, across town for a meeting then home for a family ride before dinner. – Luke

Test rode a new bike. Hangman Valley just outside Spokane. – Bradley

Just 4.5 miles around the neighborhood, but some hills *just for fun*! We are out of shape. – Shirley

Day 3. Forgot a jacket on my ride to work and it looks like rain. It’s going to be a wet ride home. – Jessica

On the way home from work I am acutely aware of what’s for dinner all along the route! – Kevin

Is Twitter your style? We’re tweeting and retweeting about 30 Days of Biking as well. You can find a collection of tweets here, but here’s an example:

If you’re an IGer, you can share with us on Instagram. Tag your images with #wabikes and #30daysofbiking so we can find them, and we may feature you in our gallery.

 

 

 

Posted in Bike Culture, Encouragement, Events | 3 Comments

30 Days of Biking, Day Three: Color

By Barb Chamberlain | Published April 3, 2014

Turquoise blue bike against electric blue bike rack shaped like a bicycleDay Three in the 30 Days of Biking, 30 Words, 30 Pictures series

Last night I started a list of words I thought might come up in the course of my 30 days/30 words/30 pictures adventure. The list quickly grew to 33 but it didn’t have the word that emerged in today’s biking: color. Wait–make that C–O–L–O–R.

First, the picture. This vivid shot of a blue bike at a blue bike rack shared on our Instagram account made me choose the word for today. I realized how much more colorful my relationship with my bike is than any relationship with motor vehicles I’ve owned. (I’m not one of those people who names her cars and they’ve all been very ordinary colors–white, green, blue).

My blue road bike’s lime green handlebar tape reflects my fondness for various shades of that color. They’re newly wrapped and the color is so intense it glows a bit, especially on an overcast day like today that provides a contrast. The bike itself isn’t a special color; it’s a middle-of-the-road blue with white accents that my sweetheart picked out for me.

Bikes offer color possibilities in accessories as well as handlebar tape. When I ordered custom bike bags from Swift Industries (handmade in Seattle), I thought about the color combination in terms of a future touring bike I might own, which would have to be a color that goes with the bags. If I already owned said bike it would be the other way around; I like things to match.


When I bought a more upright “Mary Poppins” bike I chose the silver one because silver’s a neutral and goes with everything in my collection of Po Campo bags (which I started buying specifically because they’re not black bags with a black interior in which everything gets lost).

El in our office has a bike that’s deep eggplant with orange accents and is building a bike for Mom with a bit of a steampunk motif that’s painted a lovely faded bronze-y gold. Our board member Angela Jones of Spokane has a black and hot pink road bike and absolutely everything matches, down to her shoes. Belles and Baskets co-founder Betsy Lawrence gets purple accessories to go with her purple bike, which she purchased because purple is one of her favorite colors. Even before my husband was on a race team, he chose a yellow helmet that went with the black and yellow of the road bike had then, and of course every team kit has a lot of thought put into the color and design. Color is such an expression of individualism via the bicycle.

Not that bike manufacturers give us all that many choices, mind you. There’s the sadly mistaken notion that simply painting a bike pink makes it appeal to women, for starters. Then you have the fairly limited range of color options in bike gear.

If I walk into Nordstrom’s to get a sweater–or into the men’s section to buy a tie–I have many color choices and they’re keeping up with fashion trends. An entire industry exists to forecast our colors and create those trends (explaining the tragic avocado green kitchen appliance era). So why is it that if I walk into most bike shops I’ll be able to choose from somewhere around 4-5 helmet colors (two of which will be black and white) and about the same number of bike frame colors (ditto)?

Companies like Nutcase and Bern are tapping into the desire for more individual expression through helmet color and design; I predict (hope for) many more color options in the future for every part of my bike. The handlebar tape makers have it figured out–I could get tiger stripes or hot pink/light pink leopard spots if I liked that sort of thing.

(As an aside, I joke that bicycling is the only endeavor in which men have long had more color options in clothing than women. That was before Nuu-Muu, a Bellingham company, started making great active-wear dresses designed for biking and running.)

I notice color more while riding since I have time to observe. The pale green of spring leaves now will deepen over the summer until it shades into the fall palette of yellow, orange, bronze, red, and brown. The spots of color that were emerging buds a couple of weeks ago are flowers now. The color of the sky varies with season as well as with time of day. A flash of color catches my eye and I notice the vivid coat on someone waiting at the crosswalk (and because I’m on my bike I can call out “Beautiful coat!” and be rewarded with a smile, because who doesn’t love an unexpected compliment on his/her color sense?).

 I suppose a bike post on color wouldn’t be complete without a mention of high-visibility (hi-viz) clothing and accessories. Here it is: They’re ugly. No one looks good in that lemony yellow-green. I’ve seen the studies that demonstrate hi-viz effectiveness in catching the eye so I’m not arguing against their use, but I ride in street clothes. It’s sheer coincidence that my beloved lime green is a hi-viz color.

Related Reading

Your Turn

  • Did you have much choice of colors when you got your bike? Did it matter to you?
  • Now that you have this particular bike do you pay attention to the color of your accessories?

 

Posted in Attitudes, Bike Style, Gear/Maintenance, News | 3 Comments

30 Days of Biking, Day Two: Flexibility

By Barb Chamberlain | Published April 2, 2014

Day Two in the 30 Days of Biking, 30 Words, 30 Pictures series

I didn’t choose “flexibility” as my word for today just because I didn’t make it to the noon yoga class at Salt Room Yoga a block away from our Seattle office, although it’s a factor.* Today made me think about the flexibility bicycling provides in my transportation needs. But let me start with yoga.

Peaceful sunset and bike with person sitting in lotus pose

This picture does not illustrate incredible yogic flexibility, but I don’t have that. As my dear friend and yoga teacher Betsy says, “You don’t get flexible to do yoga. You do yoga to get flexible.”

Yoga provides a great balance (yoga pun!) to bicycling since it provides weight-bearing exercise and helps build upper-body strength along with flexibility work that helps offset the repetitive motions of cycling.

The book Pedal, Stretch, Breathe by Seattle yoga teacher, author, and bicyclist Kelli Refer (@yogaforbikers on Twitter) nicely highlights the benefits of yoga and the postures that address the effects of bicycling on the body. You can pick up an autographed copy of her book in our Pioneer Square store or order from Kelli on her blog.

The mindset yoga helps you cultivate applies to bicycling too. You can stress out or you can rest in the moment and accept it for what it is, cultivating mental flexibility.

And now for the transportation flexibility bicycling provides that I appreciated yet again today–

If you drive in a city with one-way streets you know this moment. You’re at an intersection and the address you want is only about a block away. Except it’s at least three blocks away because you’re on a one-way street and you’ll have to execute two right turns or two left turns to get anywhere near your destination.

This morning at that kind of intersection my bike gave me all the flexibility I needed. I walked my bike up one block, crossed the street, and there I was–parked and inside in half the time it would have taken me to drive (not counting the hunt for parking that I get to skip.)

Now sure, I can park a car, get out and walk, and get where I’m going. But I will no longer have with me the vehicle that helps me get places faster and carries my stuff far more easily than I can with just my body to bear the weight. I’ll have to backtrack to where I parked, which introduces a hassle factor that constrains my choices about the next stop, and the next.

I’m also pretty well assured that my car parking spot will not be directly in front of the building I’m going to, whereas I can park my bike at a rack if one’s available, hitch it to a tall sign post, railing, or other fixed item, or in some instances bring it inside with me. Voila–parking flexibility! The combination of bike/walk and route flexibility with parking flexibility enables me to string together a series of brief stops very efficiently.

Bicycling has increased the flexibility of my thinking and assumptions about how I get from Point A to Point B in other ways. Because the pace of bicycling enables me to experience my surroundings much more deeply I’m more apt to explore. I try different routes, take a jaunt down a side street because I see an interesting sign, and experiment with options that I hope (usually in vain) will allow me to sneak around some of the hill climbs I face commuting in Seattle.

This afternoon in an attempt to inject flexibility into my homeward commute route since I’d already landed on my word of the day, I tried going an extra block up Pike before turning to get to Pine, where I climb in the bike lane to Melrose. Lo and behold, when I got to that next block (9th, for you Seattle dwellers) I realized I couldn’t turn left because–yep–it was another one-way street.

If I’d been in my car I would have gnashed my teeth. I also would have had to do quite a bit of fiddling around, going blocks out of my way in heavy downtown traffic, because this is at a spot with major buildings and a freeway that introduce black holes into the street grid. (Side note: I would have been adding all the while to downtown traffic congestion and air pollution while going exactly nowhere.)

Since I was on my bike I again exercised the flexibility of the pedestrian option that someone on a bike always has. My bike and I were only one block away from Pine, after all, and roughly 2 minutes later I was back in the bike lane and climbing.

It’s good to be flexible.

Related Reading

 Your Turn

  • How often do you find yourself taking advantage of the bike/walk option?
  • Do you experiment with different routes on your bike or have you fallen into a routine?

*Possible additional factor: Our whole family loves the movie The Incredibles, which we’ve watched countless times. Elastigirl’s powers are pretty cool.

Posted in Accessibility, Attitudes, Bike Parking, Seattle, Transportation | 3 Comments