australian tourists diana sotts and ned trippe at ocean beach san francisco, 1982. photo by gary fong, sf chronicle.
via san francisco’s ocean beach history: the 1960s to 1980s. thethirdself, 31.01.2021.
"got snow? noooo problem.”
via twitter/j2onyabike
Source: twitter.com
“these women are changing who gets to ride—one custom bike frame at a time: meet 6 independent bicycle builders who are pushing the industry to reflect everyone who loves to ride.”
read more: bicycling, 10.04.2021
Source: bicycling.com
pabellón de usos múltiples en kaybe en construcción. desarrollado por grupo emérita. by macías peredo arquitectos.
Source: instagram.com
a neighborhood addition to the page street “slow streets” signage, san francisco.
Source: twitter.com
new signage and bicycle pull-out areas on mount diablo decrease collisions.
“Most crashes at Diablo occur at narrow uphill sections where cars pass slower bikes on blind curves by crossing into the oncoming lane and striking cyclists coming downhill from the other direction.”
read more: sfchronicle, 04.03.2021.
“A recent picture of a highway-side bicycle “chop shop” spurred a small group of local residents to reach beyond their keyboards this weekend.
Michael Berger, a Santa Cruz native, was one of those who spent several hours Sunday pulling some 90 bicycle frames, more than 100 rims and 150 tires from two sites, including bushy alcove near Shaffer Road and Mission Street Extension. Berger, whose professional work and personal traveling have brought him to places around the globe, said he rarely jumps in to engage with Nextdoor.com social media posts, but felt compelled last week to offer his help when another suggested that citizens seek to retrieve the bicycles.
“So how do we work for positive change, how do we help house people, how do we try to disrupt criminal activity, the drugs, all of that? It’s going to take everyone working together,” Berger said of his interest in getting involved in Santa Cruz.
Berger said group members contacted Santa Cruz Police Department ahead of their planned cleanup to make sure to do things by-the-book, and that personal possessions not related to the apparent chop shop were left alone. He said he was “flabbergasted by how much stolen goods there were,” observing a hut, workman’s benches, tool benches, generators, propane tanks, “a full-scale operation.” The group pulled the bike parts and more up out of the gulley — maybe five to 10 of the frames with registration information visible — and stacked them near the roadside for city Public Works Department workers to remove, Berger said. Police Chief Andy Mills showed up on his day off to help out at the Westside cleanup as well as a separate Eastside effort, according to police spokeswoman Joyce Blaschke.
“We are focused on restoring the environment and reducing crime through pragmatic, peaceful and legal actions,” Berger summarized.
Berger said he expects the core group—and perhaps others willing to participate—to continue its involvement with similar future goodwill efforts.
“Blaschke said Monday the police department was aware and highly appreciative of the community-led response. The police department responded to multiple citizen complaints about the chop shop last week and sent community service officers to the site ahead of the citizen cleanup to make contact with those living there, Blaschke said. She added that is not against the law in Santa Cruz to have public possession of a large number of bicycles, unlike in San Francisco, where a controversial 2017 defined and outlawed bicycle chop shops.
“Oftentimes (officers) do go out there and if there’s a serial number and they don’t report it stolen or they haven’t had it registered to report it stolen, who’s to say whose bike it is,” Blaschke said. “We could assume it’s unusual. But I’m surprised how many people don’t report their stolen bike. They might talk about it on social media but don’t actually file a police report.””
read more: scs, 22.02.2021. register your bike on bikeindex! (in the sad case that it ever gets stolen)
“The nonprofit Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program (BORP) has received funding this year from Share the Spirit, an annual holiday campaign that serves disadvantaged residents in the East Bay. Donations will help support 41 nonprofit agencies in Contra Costa and Alameda counties. The grant will be used to support adaptive recreation programs, and virtual fitness classes and outings.
BORP grew from a small nonprofit formed by two UC Berkeley students denied participation in an athletic class and became a trailblazer credited with helping start the adaptive sports movement. Entering its 45th year, the organization offers power soccer, wheelchair basketball, flood hockey, power soccer, fitness and dance classes and tai chi to some 800 children, youth and adults with disabilities.
“Five days a week, BORP also offers adaptive cycling programs to people by appointment, free of charge. With 120 adaptive cycles, the inventory has been called the largest in the country. BORP has limited its flow during the COVID-19 shutdown, but “can really accommodate just about anybody with any type of disability,” Executive Director Rick Smith said.
Smith said the group has offered rides for veterans, people with vision impairments on tandem cycles and those with spinal cord injuries. Adaptive bicycles are also taken to Oakland schools.
“It’s a game changer for people,” Smith said. “If you are in a wheelchair or have a serious mobility impairment but you can now go cycling again and make cycling part of your life, it’s huge for people.”
“The cycling program is one of the few activities that are continuing during the pandemic, because it takes place outdoors.
Like the rest of the Bay Area, BORP shut down its indoor activities, suspending wheelchair basketball, hockey and the power soccer youth and adult programs. Smith said the nonprofit did not want to lose touch with its participants, who have come to rely on BORP for exercise and socializing. BORP employees began delivering meals to people who had limited access to get to the grocery store.”
read more: eastbaytimes, 13.12.2020. donate to sharethespirit.
“Every weekend, a fleet of 30 cyclists zipped on their bikes through the streets of Baltimore, their front lights illuminating the pavement as the sun set, with Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album booming out of mobile speakers. Onlookers cheered the party. Children ran up to the curbside, holding their hands out for high fives.
"Every now and then you get someone who wants to know the name of our group, and then we look at each other with a smirk, like to say, ‘Who wants to answer that?’” said Shaka Pitts, the co-founder of the Baltimore club. One of the cyclists would proudly shout out: “Black People!” And then, in a call-and-response that announced their title, the rest would answer: “Ride Bikes!”
When COVID-19 struck, their “SoulFood Saturday” rides came to a halt for a few months. But since May, the group Black People Ride Bikes has been getting people outside and socializing. The year-old team is also working on the bigger picture: encouraging newcomers, inspiring people who haven’t biked in years to climb back on—and sending the message that African Americans embrace recreational biking.
They are one of a few Black biking groups in the city that have been attracting large followings on social media, with African Americans in other cities and states joining in remotely and bonding over riding.
“A 2013 national study by The League of American Bicyclists and the Sierra Club showed that the fastest growth in bicycling is among African Americans and other people of color. But Baltimore bikers and advocates say there have long been barriers to cycling in the Black community. They point to a limited number of resources, such as bike shops in Black neighborhoods, as well as the city’s infrastructure, where protected bike lanes have tended to be in predominantly white neighborhoods. There’s also been a lack of representation. When club members watch the Tour de France, they say they only see a handful of Black cyclists, and an even smaller number of Black women.
“Pitts and his co-founder, Nia Reed-Jones, wanted to change that. After meeting at a bike party in 2019, they decided to launch an advocacy group that would educate beginner and intermediate riders, with mentorship from more seasoned cyclists. They would teach the importance of using the bike as a way to improve physical and mental health.
But first they needed to overcome misconceptions, such as the idea that riding bikes is for children...”
read more: baltimoresun, 05.11.2020.
“After Hamid posted a short video clip on facebook of that first ride with his wife Sahiba and his younger brother Azizullah, requests to join began coming in, mostly from women who were encouraged by Hamid’s wife. “I saw a friend’s Facebook story that she had gone out to cycle,” says 18-year-old student Habiba Halimi, who showed up for her first ride on her 10-year-old sister’s bike.
Hamid’s informal jaunt to the lake had sparked a departure from tradition in Kabul’s male-dominated society, where under the Taliban regime, girls were prohibited from attending school and women could be punished for leaving the house alone. In the last two decades under the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan—backed by the United States and the international community—women have gained more freedom and equality. Millions of girls have gone to school, and a significant number of them are now joining the workforce in both the private and public sectors, with some holding key leadership roles in the government.
the group usually rides early in the morning because there is less traffic on kabul’s often congested roads.
“Before the pandemic, with the exception of a few members of the national cycling team, almost no women could be seen on bikes in Kabul. Hamid’s group is one of the first to organize rides there, drawing dozens of women out on bikes, which makes the group’s presence both an unparalleled opportunity and a challenge.
for safety, some girls are accompanied by one or two male group members until they are united with the group.
“Despite a constitution that grants equals rights for women, Afghanistan’s conservative society has been slow to embrace change. Some traditionalists still consider women’s independence as a moral corruption of the society. Women riding bicycles are sometimes viewed as committing one of the gravest violations of a culture that sees their place only inside the house—a judgment that can significantly affect a young woman’s future prospects, from marriage to work. Perhaps it is the bicycle’s liberating nature that makes it so contested: It is at once a catalyst for change and a threat to society’s long-held patriarchal traditions.
“If sitting in a classroom is a sin for girls, then sitting on a bike is sinning at another level, bringing the idea of women’s independence into the open—and inviting a greater risk of retaliation. But for Hamid and his team, if the moment for change is not now, then when is it? “We have already done what was unimaginable just over three months ago. In the minds of many, we have broken the myth that girls cannot ride,” says Habiba. “We can only grow what we have started.”
“To change this culture, we must show the image of a girl on a bike to as many people as possible,” Farishta Afzaly says. “It’s like driving: A few years ago, [it was frowned upon for] women, but now it’s normal. We can do the same with cycling.””
read more: bicycling, 12.10.2020.
new yorker cover by r. kikuo johnson, 26.10.2020.