Tag Archive | Twin Cities
Presto-Chango Bike Outfits
Dressing for bike commuting is a spectrum. On one side, the commuter wears full race-ready apparel on the ride with a full change upon arrival at work. On the other, the dogmatically street-clothes-wearing cyclist wears full jewelry and any shoes that fit her sense of fashion. Every commute distance/weather/work dress-code is different, so go with […]
Bikes and Hip-Hop: Two Reasons to Love Minneapolis
Bicycles and hip-hop. Sometimes two things you love about a place come together and create a smile as big as the Hennepin Avenue Bridge. I’ve been mentally composing a post about the confluence of the two in the Minneapolis for a while, but since Y.N.RichKids just released their newest video and it’s called “My Bike,” […]
30 Days of Biking – another year!
Like the image says, Monday, April 1st is the beginning of 30 Days of Biking. The name is pretty self-explanatory: bike somewhere – anywhere – every day for one month. This annual tradition started in Minneapolis, and has spread throughout the world. I participated last year and thought it was pretty sweet. After a long, […]
Why I Bike in the Winter
It snowed last week in Minneapolis – big, wet, not-quite-frozen flakes. It’s warmed up a bit since, but this is a good sign that the 70 degree days we experienced a week ago have headed south until April. Now I’m thinking about winter biking in more than just hypothetical terms – like actually switching out […]
Babes in Bikeland 6
When the buzz in the local bike community started building around Babes in Bikeland VI, an annual all-female/trans alleycat race, my ears perked. I’d never raced anything before, but it sounded like fun. Still, racing an alleycat, which simulates bike messenger riding, seemed a bit intimidating – finding addresses, and racing much more experienced riders […]
Grease Rag: My Favorite Open Shop Night
Grease Rag is a group of WTF cyclists (that’s Women, Trans and Femme for the uninitiated) who get together to ride and work on bikes in Minneapolis. I talk about it a lot because Grease Rag has been the single most influential factor in my bicycle obsession. Today we’re celebrating the group’s third birthday, and […]
Northern Spark 2012: Awesome Urban Bike Adventure
Biking to work is awesome for my mind, body, and bank account, and biking to fun events with friends is even better. Northern Spark 2011 was my favorite urban bike adventure of last summer. If you live in the Twin Cities and aren’t already planning your night at http://www.northernspark.org, grab some friends and some bikes […]
Pedal Power in the MayDay Parade!
The MayDay Parade put on by In the Heart of the Beast Theater in Minneapolis epitomizes my favorite aspects of the Twin Cities – the sense of community, creativity and artistry, progressive politics, and people-powered movement. Everything in the parade is handmade and foot driven – whether by walking, stilting, or pedaling. Roughly 2,000 community […]
It’s Bike to Work Week – find a great route!
Not only is May Bike Month, but this week is also Bike to Work Week. Finding a route I’m comfortable riding has been the most important aspect of making my bike commute enjoyable. It’s also something that I am continually tweaking. Often a busy street will have a calmer, parallel street just a few blocks […]
Sexism in the Bike Lanes
I approach the sexist aspects of bike culture the same way I address the presence of black bears while backpacking: I deliberately avoid contact. My friends are a pretty progressive bunch, and I only patronize bike shops with a reputation of being welcoming to ALL their customers. So while I heard horror stories from other […]
Girls Biking to Work 