BTSIC, a blog about “riding bicycles, sampling culinary delights and getting sloshed on the finest of booze,” is a daily read for me. (Obviously, I am the target demographic.) Even for those who don’t live in Chicago, there’s lots of great information.
The press lately has been fascinated with women on bikes. Reading these articles brings us a mixture of pleasure, optimism, frustration and annoyance. While mainstream acknowledgment of transportation bicycling is positive, the coverage regarding women has been shallow. Back in June the New York Times and Treehugger published articles that focus on women’s appearance and risk aversion – flaccid analyses that Trisha took head on in Mind the Gender Gap. Our female readers made their thoughts known loud and clear, which I highlighted in Women’s Voices.
My sister and nephew
Now Scientific American has jumped into the discussion with its article, “How to Get More Bicyclists on the Road: To boost urban bicycling, figure out what women want.” While there is the typical assertion that women are more risk averse than men, based on “studies across disciplines,” there is also an interesting note that even within the same city, women’s cycling rates shoot up when one counts riders on protected paths.
It’s true that bicycles are a thing of beauty and craftsmanship. Just like your choice of car, they have the potential to reflect your personality and make a fashion statement. And of course, bikes made by designers like Cynthia Rowley and Fendi remind people that hey, there are still bikes around, and sometimes people ride them.
But overall, I don’t think that the bicycle as accessory fad will have a long-term effect on cycling culture or make a significant addition to the number of bicycle commuters on the road. And it’s not because I am afraid of “wobbling fashionistas” endangering my safety—I’m happy to encourage anyone who wants to give riding a bike a try.
Here’s my reasoning: By making a bike seem like a luxury item or a fashion accessory, it takes away from the idea of the bicycle as a functional instrument that can be part of anyone’s day-to-day life. Yes, it can and should add beauty to that life as well. Yes, I personally prefer to cycle in everyday clothes, and I try to make those clothes fashionable. But since a bicycle is meant to be a practical, useful tool for getting around, it’s not something you should buy on looks (or designer name) alone. Are the people who buy these bikes really getting something that fits their needs and lifestyle? If not, they’re not going to be riding longterm.
Perhaps this worry is pointless, since it’s likely that these designer models will only appeal to those who were waiting for a bicycle with enough bling to dazzle them into forgetting that riding it entails getting off the couch and turning off “Gossip Girl.” Those people will likely be perfectly content with a Rowley cruiser. But anyone who thinks these bikes are going to lead to a large increase in bicycle commuters and bike advocates is fooling themselves.
This French commercial is more Trisha’s area, but with Sophia Coppola directing, a song by Bridgette Bardot and bicycling chic – je t’aime!
And now I want to buy Miss Dior Cherie. B-a-a-a-a-a-a.
On the same topic of style and cycling, I continue to collect lovely bicycle pictures that I find on my favorite style and design blogs. I get special joy from finding bicycles on non-bicycle-related blogs. We’re going mainstream, baby. My first collection can be seen here. Below is what I’ve gathered since then. Enjoy!
The other day at the bookstore I treated myself to a French magazine. They can be pricey but always provide a different angle on style and fashion as well as a new vocabulary word or two.
My faves are the Elle family, especially Elle à Table, but today’s selection was Marie Claire Ideés. It had a bicycle on the cover — no contest.
This magazine, which has no American equivalent as far as I know (maybe one of Martha Stewart’s line?), is full of beautiful photos of craft projects, theme parties, fashions, etc., and then contains instructions for doing them yourself at the back.
Unfortunately, the only bike project they had instructions for was a saddle cover — but the inside spread provided a lot of inspiration for customizing your bicycle.
Because Alabama has nothing more pressing to worry about than nekkid women. Especially nekkid French women. Won’t someone think of the children (who, I’ll point out, don’t buy wine)?
As NPR points out, “Fat Bastard” on a label is still A-OK.
(thanks to my bro and Dottie for a heads-up on this home state controversy.)
I’ve long been a fan of The Guardian, so when they launched a bike blog over the summer that collates all their cycling coverage, I signed up to receive updates. So far, I’ve not been disappointed. It covers a broad range of cycling culture and news.
There are women contributors who write about everything from harassment to riding in a skirt. The show’s current podcast, second in what’s to be a monthly series, included an interview with cyclist and Olympic medal winner Victoria Pendleton, who said that while she enjoys racing and can’t wait for London 2012, she looks forward “to the day when I don’t have an agenda [while riding]” and can “just toodle” around with her friends. Perhaps she was imagining that while posing for this picture.
Pendelton with a Pashley Poppy, from the Daily Mail via Cyclechic.co.uk
Also featured were reviews of the new Trek Soho (described as “stately” yet “slightly chunky”) and the Sirrus Elite (the “boy racer” of hybrid bikes), and an inside look at Pashley (not only is business up, they’re opening a new distribution center . . . in Taiwan!).
I’m in love with this recent article from The Guardian, “We wouldn’t be seen dead in lycra shorts.” The article profiles real London cyclists from different sub-tribes who all cycle for transportation. Their stories are presented simply, relying largely on the cyclists’ own words. The writer does not wander into cliched presentations of danger or car-bike wars.
Brompton Tribe
“Bromptons have this whole personality,” Andrew Alleyne explains. “I hate to say this, because I don’t like smug Mac users, but people love their Bromptons like people love their Macs. People use generic bike hybrids like they do PCs but a Brompton is not just another bike, it’s like a pet or something.”
Few magazines are both fun and intelligent: Bust, Bitch, Paste and Lula are my favorites. Sure, all magazines are selling something, but at least these are fresh, smart, fashionable and mostly free of body hate. Imagine my pleasure when I saw that the new issue of BUST has a photo spread of “Bike Fashion.” The particular fashions showcased don’t quite ring my bell – a bit too hip(ster) and young for me, but I appreciate anything that presents cycling as a normal activity. Hopefully this spread and others like it will inspire more people to rediscover the fun of riding a bike.
The latest issue of Momentum arrived at my house earlier this week, and I finally had a chance to page through it last night. As one of the few mags out there on utilitarian cycling, there are always interesting things to read, but this issue brought the extra pleasure of features on two of our favorite fellow cycling bloggers! First came the Hanadas in an article on DIY bike crafts that provided a lot of inspiration. We’ll see if it provides anything else—I’m big on finding projects I’d like to do and never finding the time to actually do them!
I hadn’t gotten over the thrill of thinking, I know them! when I turned a page to see Miss Sarah of Girls & Bicycles, looking stylish as always in an article on biking while pregnant. The entire topic was new to me when she first started posting about her experiences on her blog, so it’s wonderful that she and the other women interviewed in the article were able to further spread the news that pregnancy and cycling can mix.
Momentum is available for free in local bike stores in many US and Canadian cities—check out their list to see if yours is included. If not, you might have to spring for a subscription like me, but supporting such a venture is well worth the $20. But if you’re overseas or on a tight budget and don’t mind reading on the computer, a PDF of each issue can be found on their website, too.
Forget women riders: the real method of determining the tipping point of the bicycle as mode of transportation is when it becomes fodder for “true crime” mass market paperbacks. This lovely gem arrived in the mail this week at work.
Needless to say, this one will not join Bicycle Diaries and A Short History of Women on my nightstand–it’s straight to the giveaway shelf!
Check out today’s BBC Woman’s Hour, which posits that women are actually more at risk on a bike than men (six out of seven cyclists killed in London by “heavy goods vehicles” this year were women), though no real reason or further figures on this were given. Training videos for truck drivers, safety devices like proximity sensors, and other ideas for improving cyclists’ safety are discussed. It’s nothing ground-breaking (I was disappointed that the discussion with four female commuters focused on, you guessed it, helmet hair), but at least women are speaking for themselves, even if it’s just for a minute or two. You can download here (right-click and “save target as”) or stream it live here.
In Trisha’s Mind the Gender Gap post (which was featured on StreetsBlog) she discussed the shallow way that the media deals with women and cycling. In response, many real women left fantastic comments. I want to highlight their stories and viewpoints here with no filter. That’s something the media could learn – if you want to know more about women, simply ask them!
Dottie and I make no secret of the fact that the number one mission of our blog is to show that city cycling can be a part of any woman’s everyday life—no special equipment or clothing, or even a special type of bike required (though after a few months of riding, you’ll probably want one — or two!). Over the past six months, we’ve talked about our own obstacles to commuting and given our personal experiences as examples of how women might fit cycling into their lives.
Lately the media has been obsessed with women on bikes—or, more accurately, the women who are NOT on bikes. Apparently, we need more women cyclists to pretty up the place. Why aren’t they riding?!? Is it the helmet head? Are women too scared to share the road with cars? Maybe they are afraid to sweat? The latest to join the discussion is the New York Times’ City Room blog. The article presents research from a professor at Rutgers that says men commute by bike at 3 times the frequency of women, and the percentage is even worse in New York City. Having never cycled in NYC myself, I can’t say whether his description of riding its streets as “like going into battle” is accurate. And I certainly don’t want to discount concerns about safety and fashion, which were issues for me when starting out and two things Dottie and I are trying to help others overcome.
What annoys me is that none of the articles I’ve read on this topic lately go any deeper into why those things present serious obstacles for women but not men, even though men have the same concerns (no one wants to show up for work disheveled and stinky after all). Why bother, when it’s so obvious that men are just much less self-absorbed and a million times braver? It couldn’t be that there are higher expectations for women’s appearances in the workplace, or that the burden of transporting children or household errands like grocery shopping more often falls to them—the first reasons that came to my mind. These are not insurmountable, of course (just ask these cycling superparents, both moms and dads, or the other stylish women bike commuters we know), but they require some thought, negotiation and planning that your average male might not have to overcome in his quest to bicycle commute.
But instead of giving weight to these concerns, or looking into others, these articles stay on the surface. Women are dismissed as frivolous and their absence is mourned not because of the missed opportunity to allow them to discover an activity that can improve their quality of life, but because their presence would improve the scenery. As a girl who likes to look good on her bike, I can’t argue with that statement, but I can argue with it being the number one reason we should get women on bikes—sorry, Treehugger.
Somehow I’d missed seeing this movie until last year—this is one of my favorite scenes. It’s amazing how effortless the puppeteers make this look. If Kermit were a regular bike rider, his legs would have been even more drool-worthy for Charles Durning and his customers. And then there’s the bike’s geometry, which looks a little off. Perhaps Schwinn designed a special “frog” model?
I don’t have cable. My boss teases that I am one of the few people under 70 who will be affected by the digital TV conversion next month (for the record, I’ve been ready since February 2007). This does not affect my life in any major way, but it does explain why, on the few occasions I turn the TV on in the morning, I watch the “news” shows on one of the major networks.
“Today” used to be the default, just because everyone else watches it, but once I found out that Harry Smith rides his bike to work, I decided to switch to CBS’s “Early Show.”
Yesterday morning they had a segment on “choosing the perfect bike.” I think Dottie will be pleased that they chose the Jamis commuter! Since I’m not a road bike aficionado, I was underwhelmed by their other choices, but check it out for yourself. My favorite part was when the lady showing the bikes said that you don’t have to spend thousands, but “the thousands are pretty great, I’m not going to lie.” I’m off to write a letter to the show saying they should have suggested a Batavus.
ETA: I can’t seem to embed the video, but you can watch it here.
Mary Pat Fabeck agonizes over the last minutes her 22-year-old son Tyler spent after being struck by a car while riding his bike in the Logan Square neighborhood a year ago.
“He bled to death and died within a half hour of being hit. That’s what I know of my son,” said Fabeck, through small sobs. “It took him a half an hour to die and that’s as long as it took him to be born.”
I really want this shirt (see at link). Also, this related news clip is definitely worth watching. The best local news story I’ve ever seen on bikes, except a bit spoiled at the end with the whole “dead right” angle. I need one of those camcorders on my bike. Drivers very rarely pass me so closely, though. Is this type of dangerous driving more common outside of cities, where drivers are not used to seeing cyclists?
Yours truly is quoted. Does this mean I’m a stalwart? Who plods on? Cool! If you commute by bicycle, you too could be a plodding stalwart.
The article also quotes the founder of The Chainlink, a fabulous website for Chicago cyclists. Anyone who rides a bike or is thinking of riding a bike in Chicago should check it out.
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As two girls who practice city cycling with style and think you can too, we started this blog to share our stories, learn more about cycling and encourage others to rediscover the fun of riding a bike. All opinions and reviews are our own, and we are not paid to provide them. Check the "About us" page for more details.
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Posted by dottie 
Posted by dottie 
Posted by Trisha 
The other day at the bookstore I treated myself to a French magazine. They can be pricey but always provide a different angle on style and fashion as well as a new vocabulary word or two.
The latest issue of 
Check out today’s BBC Woman’s Hour, which posits that women are actually more at risk on a bike than men (six out of seven cyclists killed in London by “heavy goods vehicles” this year were women), though no real reason or further figures on this were given. Training videos for truck drivers, safety devices like proximity sensors, and other ideas for improving cyclists’ safety are discussed. It’s nothing ground-breaking (I was disappointed that the discussion with four female commuters focused on, you guessed it, helmet hair), but at least women are speaking for themselves, even if it’s just for a minute or two. You can download 
