As regular readers of this blog know, I am undertaking my bicycle PhD with Griffith University, School of Professional Studies. I am using Feminist New Materialisms (FNM) to explore how bicycles enable or constrain rural African girls’ access to education. I need to better understand FNM (which is essentially Quantum Physics applied to Social Science/Education). To do this, I want to read, talk, process and write about FNM with others who know what the heck I’m on about as a way to bounce ideas around and learn more.
We
meet once a month and the time came around pretty quick for our September
meeting.
I
was delighted!
2nd Feminist New Materialisms Special interest Group (FNM SIG) Meeting
In keeping with the ethical intent of fNM, Sherilyn and I intend using our forum as a way of flattening power hierarchies within and across the Academy. (We are currently co-authoring a publication on this exact topic).
This means that, as our meetings progress, we will be showcasing research from experienced (academics) and emerging researchers (candidates). So we invite all the participants to let us know if they would like to present their research ideas/dilemmas to the group for some open and honest feedback, or as a way to process and work through areas of research ‘stickiness’.
At
this FNM SIG meeting, we have a guest presentation by Prof Simone Fullagar and
Dr Wendy O’Brien (and Dr Adele Pavlidis who unfortunately could not make it) whose
book, Feminism
and a Vital Politics of Depression and Recovery, has just been published.
See more about the book at the end of the post.
Congratulations!
Image: Palgrave
After their presentation, we had open question/discussion time before moving into a group activity in order to collate some key terms that have emerged thus far.
The stimulus materials (see 2 attachments) for this meeting were provided by Prof Fullagar. The materials are an extract from their new book (Introduction) and an article that is structured around an interview with Karen Barad – a much quicker way of accessing her ideas than reading Meeting the Universe Halfway.
In their informal presentation, Prof. Fullagar and Dr O’Brien shared insights about what it was like to conduct the research, how the process impacted them and some ‘moments of rupture’ they experienced.
The discussion was super interesting as different people were triggered by different aspects of what was shared. I am very keen to hear more about how people are actually applying FNM approaches in practice. This is one of the first opportunities I have had to read FNM work (readings) and then directly question the researchers who have undertaken a full-scale FNM framing. Insightful and inspiring!
We
all felt the time went too quickly – we could have talked another 2 hours at
least!
It
is an aim of mine as co-convenor of the SIG to have an activity that collaborately
produces some sort of output for each meeting. For this session it was a Wordle – Word Cloud.
We
wanted to capture some of the key terms or concepts that the participants are
aware of – or that came out of the readings. Here is what we created:
GU GIER: FNM SIG 2nd Meeting. Wordle
It was a very moving, inspirational and generative session.
Like many other who attended, I went back to my desk and made
copious notes about what had bubbled up for me and what aspects has resonance with
my own bicycle PhD research project.
Here is more info about their book: Drawing upon insights from feminist new materialism the book traces the complex material-discursive processes through which women’s recovery from depression is enacted within a gendered biopolitics. Within the biomedical assemblage that connects mental health policy, service provision, research and everyday life, the gendered context of recovery remains little understood despite the recurrence and pervasiveness of depression.
Rather than reducing experience to discrete biological, psychological or sociological categories, feminist thinking moves with the biopsychosocialities implicated in both distress and lively modes of becoming well. Using a post-qualitative approach, the book creatively re-presents how women ‘do’ recovery within and beyond the normalising imperatives of biomedical and psychotherapeutic practices.
By pursuing the affective movement of self through depression this inquiry goes beyond individualised models to explore the enactment of multiple self-world relations. Reconfiguring depression and recovery as bodymind matters opens up a relational ontology concerned with the entanglement of gender inequities and mental (ill) health.
This guest blog post comes courtesy of the invincible Jen Sheean. Husband and I first met Jen out on some local mountain bike trails. Not only is Jen relaxed, smart and fun – but she also rides a singlespeed. KUDOS! We took an instant liking to her and have kept in touch, both on and off the bikes, ever since. You might remember Jen’s previous guest blog post on the Brisbane Bicycle Short Film Festival 2019. I recently asked Jen if she would be up for riding with me as a team in the Chicks in the Sticks 2019 3hr Enduro MTB event. And to my delight, she said YES! In this post, Jen gives us an overview of what happened on the day. A massive thank you to Jen – not only for doing this blog post, for being a wonderful mate, for being killer on a singlespeed, but also for her unwavering positivity and for being up for doing something different. I always have a great time with her. Thanks so much Jen! Ride on! NG.
Image: Jen & Nina dressed as boogie boarders at CITS 2019
Chicks in the Sticks 2019 Event Report
Sunday, 25 August 2019 should have been a day like any other Sunday. Being late August, the weather had started to warm up. The winds that generally accompany the Ekka had died down. There was nothing to indicate that this particular Sunday would be anything other than an ordinary Sunday with an early morning mountain bike ride followed by breakfast at the nearest café and then the usual housework. Nothing, except that it was the day that the Chicks in the Sticks mountain bike race was scheduled to run.
This race, hosted by RATS MTB club, has been a much anticipated event for a few years now. This inclusive event provides a rare opportunity for women and girls and other gendered people to ride together or race if they are so inclined. There is no pressure to perform at any particular level. The emphasis is on participation and fun. And there was plenty of both to go around!
The indefatigable Nina and I entered as a two-person team. We were the only people riding singlespeeds (which won us a prize!) and we had decided to just ride, meet people and have fun. Nina is a dab hand at meeting people. No sooner had we selected a place to set up than she had a couple of nearby ladies rubbing sunscreen on her back.
The race was held at
Scribbly Gums and the course was a lot of fun (although it was very dry
which made for some interesting riding as the day wore on). People
dressed in fabulous costumes with Edwina Scissorhands taking out the
prize for the best costume. Some participants were serious racers and
they did a great job. Others were happy to just complete whatever
number of laps they had set themselves. They also did a great job!
I am not a person who participates in races and the only reason I entered this was that Nina assured me we would not be racing. And I am so glad I did! The atmosphere was friendly. The event was well organised – running almost completely on time. It was a wonderful day out and I have no regrets about participating – even if that housework did chide me for its neglect until the following weekend.
The remarkable story of cyclist Adrien Niyonshuti is one of resilience, opportunity and hard work.
Adrien Niyonshuti is arguably the most famous African mountain biker to date.
As covered in may news reports, Niyonshuti was seven when the militia men came to his village in Rwanda. Somehow, he escaped the April 1994 genocide – but six of his brothers did not. In the years since, cycling has been his therapy, his companion, his hope.
In 2006, he entered Rwanda’s first annual cycling festival, created by Jonathan “Jock” Boyer (the first American to finish the Tour de France), and mountain-bike pioneer Tom Ritchey. He recalls in the documentary: “It was difficult because it was my first time to ride a mountain bike. I was so scared to race with them … I crossed the line, I win. I surprised myself.”
Mountain biking has typically been a white man’s sport. “If we had more opportunities to compete with those white folks, I think it would bring hopes to our lives and our country,” Niyonshuti told an interviewer at the time. “We might develop as cyclists.”
Five months later, Boyer returned to set up and coach Team Rwanda, unmissable in their bright blue and yellow shirts with the image of a sun rising above hills.
Adrien was the star rider of Team Rwanda for the London Olympics 2012.
I was looking through the internet recently and found there was The Adrien Niyonshuti Cycling Academy website.
At first glance, I was thrilled. I was excited at the prospect of a growing mountain biking scene in Rwanda. The website has some good detail and lofty content, but has not been updated since 2014.
I wonder if it is still running, or if it is on hold while Niyonshuti is on the Pro circuit.
Adrien is still riding at the elite level, and as of 2018, he was looking for a pro contract. He has kept very busy during 2018 as his result stats indicate. This is not surprising considering he is the twice flag bearer for Rwanda’s summer Olympics team and has just ended a two-year World Tour run with South Africa’s Team Dimension Data-Qhubeka. Niyonshuti, now 302 has raced for the South African team for nine seasons as it progressed from the UCI Continental to Pro Continental and finally World Tour status.
The Academy is a great idea to support local up and coming riders. I hope it is still operating.
After the 2012 London Olympic Games Adrien immediately felt he wanted to offer the chance for young people in his country to experience the power of cycling, to install hope and to pass on its positive values to future generations.
The Academy idea was born and the first location chosen was Adrien’s home town of Rwamagana. Along with support from the Rwandan Cycling Federation, Team Rwanda and the Rising from Ashes Foundation the Academy was officially launched in the August 2013.
The initial 2014 program will focus on building the Academy in Rwamagana with a view to opening up two new Rwandan centers in 2015. The presence of a professional team documenting and continuously assessing performance via tangible results the Academy will have gained the tools and experience to expand outside the borders of Rwanda.
Cycling 2012 Adrien Niyonshuti was the first Rwandan Cyclist to compete for his country in the Olympic Games. Adrien’s story captured the hearts of Rwandans at home and abroad as a symbol of pride and hope for a new Rwanda.
His personal story was magnified by the fact that he had lost 60 of his family members including six of his brothers in the 1994 genocide. His journey, along with his team mates from Team Rwanda, into the world of professional cycling was documented in the award-winning documentary Rising From Ashes.
Soon after the 2012 London Olympic Games Adrien immediately felt he wanted to offer the chance for young people in his country to experience the power of cycling install hope and values to the next generations.
The Academy idea was born and the first location chosen was Adrien’s home town of Rwamagana. Along with support from the Rwandan Cycling Federation, Team Rwanda and the Rising from Ashes Foundation the Academy was officially launched in the August 2013.
First of all, it was Father’s Day in Australia and the weather in Brisbane this time of year is absolutely stunning.
This meant everyone was out and about.
There were two annual kick-ass Brisbane bike events to get this month off to a brilliant start: The Big Push and The Kurilpa Derby.
So much fun to be had on two wheels!
Image: Brisbane Bicycle Explorers
The Big Push
The Big Push is an annual slow roll around Brisbane CBD. It is hosted by Space4Cycling Brisbane and is held during QLD’s Road Safety Week. The aim was to bring the cycling community together and to call on the Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Government to improve riding conditions. At the top of community riding needs are three things: build more protected bike lanes, connect networks, and slower speeds in suburban streets. This is so riding in Brisbane will be safer, more comfortable and more convenient for people of all ages and abilities.
On the day, Leki and I headed down to Kurilpa Park to join a whole lot of other riders. It was an excellent turnout. I’d love to know how many people actually attended – it felt like a lot.
We did a slow roll around Brisbane on a designated route. Leki was in fine form and everyone was in a good mood. After a safety talk and a few speeches, we were off. As we rode, we chatted amongst ourselves, made new friends and waved to passer-bys.
I was very impressed with how many under 10-year olds rode the whole way with their parents. I also loved the dogs in trailers and baskets – nothing says bike safety like two pugs in a tandem bike trailer!
There were quite a few people around the city and the mass of red shirts on bikes drew a lot of attention. We also had a police escort and were waved through some traffic lights, but had to stop at others.
At specific points along the route, we all stopped so the whole group could re-form. I really liked these stops. It was great fun getting to a point and riding into the ever expanding swirling circle. It was cool watching the vortex grow in mass as more riders filtered into the loop.
Bells were ringing, speakers played happy tunes, people were laughing – a joyous mass of people on bikes!
At Parliament House we all stopped for a group photo.
Another great Big Push!
Then it was time to head over to Kurilpa Derby for the afternoon.
Image: Space4Cycling (BNE)
Image: @Spaces4Cycling BNE
The Kurilpa Derby
The Kurilpa Derby is an annual community celebration of life on wheels and happens once a year in West End (Brisbane, Australia).
The Kurilpa Derby began as an expression of community celebration and inclusivity.
Each year there is a parade (bicycles are central to this) and novelty races run at the heart of Boundary St, West End (Brisbane, Queensland). The whole street is closed off and the locals take over. This event was first run in 2007. So this year is the Derby’s 12th anniversary.
The Derby is a community event owned and organised by the @WestEndCommunityAssociation. WECA is the residents not-for-profit community based, member-led association.
The Kurilpa Derby officially started at 2pm, but locals and visitors were already out in force well before that.
There is so much to do at the Derby. The locals block off the main street and take it over. One of the main events is a massive street parade.
The Kurilpa Derby parade goes down Boundary Street (from the Dornoch Terrace Bridge to the intersection of Boundary Street and Jane Street. The street is lined with hundreds of appreciative visitors cheering the parade on.
It is an incredible showcase of the range of skills, creativity, spirit and dreams of those who enter – it truly is a spectacle to behold!
Image: @West End Community
There were parade bicycles representing lots of different perspectives such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, community and music groups, environmental issues like the ocean, plastic, global warming, representations of animals, birds, reptiles and insects, school groups, and heaps of others!
And the bikes! Tall bikes, penny-farthings, home-made bikes, tandems, trailers, trikes and more!
Bikes are a central feature of the street parade – and the colour, thought and effort put into the floats is phenomenal.
After the main street parade, there are heaps of sports and skill demonstrations, fun games and races – some novelty (like the go-cart and kids running races), some more serious (like the scooter races).
Local shops, bars and cafes are packed to capacity and there is music, dancing, eating and laughing emanating from everywhere.
I love the energy and community of The Kuripla Derby – so many kids, families, friends, locals and visitors coming together to celebrate the diversity and vibrancy of this beautiful local community. What an event!
It was a busy, fun-filled, community-centred, bicycle-related day – Phew!
Reference: Kirkpatrick, S. J. B. (2018). Pedaling disaster: Citizen bicyclists in disaster response—Innovative solution or unnecessary effort? Natural Hazards, 90(1), 365-389. doi:10.1007/s11069-017-3048-3
Image: CBC.com
Citizen bicyclists in disaster response
This post looks at the 2018 academic publication by Sarah Kirkpatrick from North Dakota State University. In this article, Kirkpatrick explores how citizen bicyclists might be used in times of disasters. A very interesting topic!
In this article, natural events where bicycles could be used is focused on the US context, so includes tornadoes, hurricanes, and severe storms. However, bicycle response to events like travel hazards, flooding, blizzards, and wildfire events was almost universally rejected.
The post-impact disaster actions Kirkpatrick says local bicyclists can do include: conducting search and rescue, evacuating survivors, giving medical care, consoling survivors, providing needed supplies, directing traffic, extinguishing fires, and removing debris.
This paper suggests that the involvement of citizen bicyclists in disaster response, the outcome could be very beneficial for both bicycling and emergency management communities.
The idea of citizen bicycle response stems from the growing popularity in the USA of Disaster Relief Trials (DRTs). DRTs are community events organised by local bicycling enthusiasts that demonstrate how bicycles can be used in disaster situations. Community emergency response team (CERT) programs were also highlighted as possible sources of training for bicyclists, as well as a means for bicyclists to be integrated into disaster response operations.
The article discusses current DRTs and how bicycles have been used in relief efforts, including:
USA During the response to the September 11th attacks in 2001, bicycle couriers could be found riding along the secured perimeter and delivering food (Kendra & Wachtendorf, 2003).
Japan In the immediate aftermath of the 2011 To ̄hoku earthquake, the combination of traffic gridlock and the shutdown of train services in the Tokyo metropolitan area compelled stranded commuters to mount bicycles—included ones purchased in the immediate aftermath of the event—to make the commute home (Takahara, 2011).
USA In the days following Superstorm Sandy in 2012, a group of bicyclists strapped a variety of donated goods ranging from diapers to blankets to their backs and bikes before pedaling the 15 or so miles through debris-laden streets from Brooklyn to the Rockaways to deposit their commodities (Goodyear, 2012).
Sri Lanka During disaster recovery, the period when activities are being undertaken to restore all stakeholders to self-sufficiency (Alesch et al. 2009), bicycles gifted to survivors of the 2005 tsunami in Sri Lanka proved a key element in assisting people with recovering their economic livelihood and social connections, as well as increasing their accessibility to service providers (World Bicycle Relief 2007).
Kirkpatrick argues that implementing citizen bicycle responders would be best suited to communities that already have an established bicycle-friendly locale. In these places, bicycle response take-up, use and engagement would be less resistant.
The discussion of citizen bicyclist disaster responders is also valuable in exploring alternatives to current approaches and in shifting attitudes of policy, organisational and emergency managers towards the use and engagement of citizen responders more broadly.
Citizen bicycle responders are identified as being particularly useful in specific tasks such as messaging/communication, commodities distribution, messaging, and casualty evacuation—as a ‘‘last mile’’ solution. The idea is that bicyclists can make short runs to create the final link between information hubs, centralised distribution points, or evacuation locations
I loved this quote from the article:
For bicycles to reach closer to their potential as a cure for urban maladies, they must advance beyond the dominions of mall-bound middle schoolers and lycra-clad weekend warriors to a broader ridership.
Gold!
Certain bicycle types or accessories are highlighted as serving as a sort of force multiplier for task execution, particularly related to commodities distribution or casualty evacuation. Specifically, the use of cargo bicycles, bicycles with attached trailers, and electric bicycles were mentioned as ways to enhance the ability of citizen bicyclists to move goods or other people through a disaster area.
The article also points out that there are some concerns about citizen bicyclists in disaster response. A principle example of this is that responses rely heavily on the actual person who is riding the bicycle—and the knowledge and skills that person brings—that matters to the response and dictates the bicyclists’ ultimate response value. Additionally, responders will need some sort of training (or have a base understanding) of bicycle maintenance, safe riding, how to communicate/coordinate/operate within the response network, general safety and first aid/CPR.
Some research participants further suggested that citizen bicyclists receive the full gamut of CERT training, with modules on disaster preparedness, disaster fire suppression, disaster medical, light search and rescue, disaster psychology, and disaster simulation exercise. The type of training frequency, responsibility, and depth would need to be formalised.
There have been several papers that have considered the safety aspect, weighing the costs of increased injury risk and exposure to pollution against the health and communal benefits of regular bicycling. The table below shows some examples of studiescoering a few of these factors.
Image: Kirkpatrick (2018).
Some essential tasks citizen bicycle responders can undertake are:
movement of needed commodities like food, water, medication, other supplies
delivery of messages within the impacted area
bicycles and their riders providing power generation
casualty evacuation
first aid
safety and wellness checks
search and rescue
damage assessment
Overall, this article opens up a meaningful conversation about considering bicycles use in disaster relief.
The most appealing aspect of this article is the focus on the citizen bicyclist – a largely untapped and little-discussed potential asset.
I love the idea of local riders and their bikes being integral to disaster responses efforts.
Just another way bicycles could create change!
Abstract
Citizens have historically become involved in response to disasters by helping both themselves and others. Recently, the idea has emerged of individuals providing this assistance in the response period using bicycles. Community events have been organised by bicycling enthusiasts in US cities to demonstrate how bicycles could potentially be of use in disaster situations. Yet, there has been no empirical research around the idea of citizen bicyclists in disaster response.
This study explored the potential use of bicycles and their citizen riders in disaster events in the USA—specifically considering what role, if any, citizen bicyclists could play in such scenarios. Data were initially collected through 21 in-depth, telephone interviews with emergency management officials and bicycling advocates from bicycle-friendly cities in ten different states. Grounded theory was used to conceptualise the overall research design and analyse the data.
Based on theoretical and snowball sampling, an additional six interviews were completed with individuals who had requisite knowledge and experiences applicable to the research question. Participants indicated that there are a variety of tasks and activities citizen bicyclists could undertake in disaster response; however, it would have to be an event of significant scope and magnitude for bicycle usage to be widespread—an unlikely occurrence for many jurisdictions.
Concerns about training and integration with the formal emergency management structure were also identified. Implications for potential citizen bicyclists—and citizen responders more broadly—are discussed.
Image: Little Rock Air Force Base News
Some content of this post is adapted from Kirkpatrick (2018).
Nina, Leki and ‘a sustainable friend’. Climate Change Rally. Brisbane 2015.
Bicycles play a central role in ensuring better health, social, transport, economic and environmental outcomes. By default, bicycles are a fundamental go-to green transportation mode par excellence.
So it is no surprise to see bicycles at climate change protests.
And this month’s biggest student Climate Change Strike will be no exception!
Image: School Strike Brisbane 15 March, 2019.
Brisbane Global #ClimateStrike
This Friday (September 20th Sept) thousands of school students across Australia (and many more around the world) will again walk out of their classrooms to protest government inaction on climate change as part of the Global Climate Strike.
These protests follow an earlier round in March, in which 150,000 people in
Australia and 1.5 million people worldwide marched in protest. This time almost
100 protests will be staged across Australia.
The young Australian protesters are demanding no new coal, oil and gas
projects (including the Adani mine); 100 per cent renewable energy generation
and exports by 2030; and funds to help workers from fossil fuel industries
transition to new jobs.
Image: Bicycle Swarm Action
Brisbane’s protest will begin at 1pm at Queens Gardens. The march will begin at 1.30pm, heading north up George Street past Reddacliff Place, west on Adelaide Street, south onto N Quay, south-west over Victoria Bridge, south onto Grey Street and west onto Glenelg Street. It will continue along Glenelg Street to its finishing point at Musgrave Park.
As the Brisbane Rally organisers highlight, Australia is already on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Prolonged drought. Flash flooding. Catastrophic bushfires, severe cyclones and heatwaves. But just at the time when we need to ramp up climate solutions, we have elected a Government that wants to open the floodgates to new coal, oil and gas projects that put all of us at risk.
So, on September 20, three days before the UN Emergency Climate Summit, school students are inviting everyone to join us for our biggest ever global #ClimateStrike.
By taking time off school and work together around the world, we’ll show our politicians that people everywhere want climate justice and we’re not going away until we get it. We’ll strike in solidarity for everyone who’s already being hurt by the climate crisis and everyone who will be impacted if we don’t act now: workers, first nations people, young people, mining communities and more.
On March 15, 1.6 million of us went on strike around the
world. On September 20, we’re going to take our movement to the next level.
If you’re an adult, please take the day off and invite your
friends, workmates and families to join us.
To everyone who cares about a safe climate future, this is your invitation to join the #GlobalClimateStrike on September 20 – people around the world standing up to confront the climate crisis when our politicians won’t.
What is happening on the day? From 12.30 we will assemble in Queens Gardens (Cnr George and Elizabeth Streets, Brisbane) 1.00 Welcome to Country + speakers 1.30 March to Musgrave Park over Victoria Bridge. 2.15-2.30 Arrive in Musgrave Park 2.30-3.30 A performance from Pacific Climate Warriors, information stalls + more inspiring speakers 3.30 Music from “Crown”, local band from Kenmore State High School 4.00 – CLOSE
Songlines Choir will be singing near the corner of Elizabeth Street and William Street from 12.30-1.00pm before the formal program starts. More info here.
Speakers include Aunty Deb Sandy – to give the Welcome to Country School Striker Parker R – 10 year old from Annerley with his poem “Save our World’ – School Striker Sunny from West End State School – Stuart Traill – State Assistant Secretary of the Electrical Trades Union. Stuart will be speaking the need for a fair transition for workers and to build publicly owned renewable energy – Sid Plant – A fifth generation cattleman, member of the Oakey Coal Action Alliance who have been fighting to protect prime farmland from the expansion of the Acland coal mine expansion.
For Site Map, March Route & other important info click here.
Image: Euroactiv
What to bring Your friends and family! We need everyone. Placards Banners / Flags representing the group / union / organisation you are part of! Hat and Sunscreen Water bottle — It’s likely to be hot! Snacks Cash for Merch stalls in Musgrave Park
Image: School Strike Melbourne 15 March, 2019.
Other rallies
Australia-wide
There will be a other rally Australia-wide. Organisers predict the largest
crowds in the country will be at the Melbourne rally, which will begin at Treasury
Gardens at 2pm. The rally will leave the gardens at 3pm and travel along
Spring Street towards Collins Street. It will then turn south along Exhibition
Street, then east along Flinders Street, before returning to Treasury Gardens.
Trams on routes 48, 11, 12 and 109 will be diverted during the march.
In Sydney,
the protest will begin at the Domain at 12pm. Students will march down
Macquarie Street and Elizabeth Street before finishing at Hyde Park.
Students in Adelaide will begin their protest at 12pm at Victoria
Square. At 1pm they will march north along King William Street to Parliament
House. Rolling road closures will be in effect on the western side of the
street.
In Perth, protesters will first gather at 11am at Forrest
Place before marching along William Street, St Georges Terrace, Mill Street and
Mounts Bay Road before arriving at Elizabeth Quay.
Who
doesn’t love a good urban legend – especially one about a bicycle?!
The
best example of this is the Vashon Island Bike Tree.
The
Vashon Island Bike Tree is an old rusted children’s bicycle that has been ‘eaten’
by a tree in Washington. How it actually got there is a mystery and subject to much
speculation.
The Vashon Island Bike Tree is still a major tourist attraction and has been immortalised in the children’s bookRed Ranger Came Calling by Berkley Breathed.
Red Ranger Came Calling. Image: Flamingos and Butterflies
Recently, Sam Dickson (Vintage News) set out to find as much as he could about this urban legend and to see how much of the story is actually true. Although I appreciate Sam’s dedication, I still really like the community-developed story. It has been embellished and retold so many times you are not sure what is true and what is not – which is part of the mystique.
The Bike Tree is a local myth and adds a little charm, mystery and history to the area. For those who love the original urban legend stop reading now! For those who want a bit more factual input read on. Either way – spoiler alert ahead! Here is what Sam found:
Image: Tarik Saleh
We
have all seen this picture on the internet a thousand times. A tale of a lad
that went off to war and left his bike against a tree.
He
never returned from the war so his parents left it there as a memorial. We know
this story, right? You have to love the internet for its eccentricities and
this story is another example (remember the catfish that swallowed a Nazi?).
The
headline itself is the biggest clue – the USA did not enter WWI in 1914. It
entered in 1917. They also never sent boys off to war – looks like a 10
years-old bike.
Furthermore
– this isn’t a bike from the early part of the 20th century. So lets have a
look at the real story behind this picture.
Vashon
Island Bike Tree. We don’t have to go back to 1914 for the beginning of this
story – in fact we just have to go back to the 1950s. You see, this is a bike
from the 1950s and it belong to an 8 years-old boy called Don Puz. According to
The Seattle Times.
The
story of how the bike came to be in the tree is told by a retired King County
deputy sheriff, Don Puz, who now lives in Kennewick. The only bike he rides now
is a stationary one. He grew up on the island and lived here until 1992. Puz
tells how, in 1954, his dad died in a house fire, leaving his mom with five children.
The
island came together and donated various items to get the family going again.
Among those items was a bicycle for young Don. “I never liked the bike. It was like a tricycle, but with two wheels. It had hard rubber tires and skinny little handlebars,” he says. Puz says eventually the family moved to a home near what became Sound Food, but which then was a swampy area. “We liked playing there, catching polliwogs. We’d get into ponds and mud. It was a good place,” he says. Sometime in the mid-1950s, says Puz, he forgot the bike in that swampy acreage and never bothered to get it back. Good riddance.
Then,
in 1995, when visiting a sister still living on the island, she took Puz to see
the local landmark. “The first words out of my mouth were, ‘That’s my
bike!’ ” he says. “There was no doubt in my mind.” He still holds no love
for the bike or its current decrepit state. Says Puz, “A bike itself
doesn’t have any feelings.”
“I don’t think I own it anymore,” Don Puz says a little wistfully, a little bit in awe, perhaps, of how time makes up its own stories. “I threw it away a long time ago. I think the tree owns it now”.
It has now become a major tourist attraction and also a target for souvenir hunters and very little remains of the bike. Locals are trying to keep it alive by replacing the stolen parts but it is getting harder and harder to find replacement parts for a bike this old.
How the bike ended up in the tree probably wasn’t a case of a young fir sapling growing under the bike and swallowing it, says professor Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh, of the University of Washington’s Department of Biology. “That bicycle would have been too heavy for a young tree,” she says. More likely, says Van Volkenburgh, when the tree was older, “somebody hung that bicycle on the tree”.
The bike as it is today. Image: Tarik Saleh
The
BBC reported:
A
spokeswoman from Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park said: “The mature
sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) has significant cultural and historic heritage
which is recognised locally, regionally and nationally.
“The
tree has been recorded on a number of veteran tree surveys such as Loch Lomond
and the Trossachs Countryside Trust 2013 and Woodland Trust ‘Ancient Tree Hunt’
2009.”
The Park Authority says a tree preservation order would protect the tree in the event of any future change in land use in the area.
In July, I attended ResBaz Brisbane and went to a session by Griffith Uni’s amazing Amanda Miotto. Amanda is a Senior eResearch Analyst and is central to the hugely popular Hacky Hour. I was super impressed with her knowledge and excellent advice for researchers on how to use technology more effectively.
In a recent consultation with Amanda, I mentioned my bike ride fieldwork in Africa and how I was thinking of some way to represent my bio and located data.
She said I should pitch my idea to Health Hack to see what a team could achieve. So here are my initial ideas for my Problem Owner submission.
We are pitching our ideas in the next couple of weeks, but the actual Health Hack will be on 20-22nd September 2019.
I’ll let you know how it all goes!
Image: Health Hack
Health
Hack
Based on a Hackthon model, Health Hack
is a product-building event that runs from a Friday evening through to Sunday.
Teams work on problems that have
been submitted by Problem Owners – typically medical researchers, medical
organisations, hospitals or government— but they could come from anyone who has
a health-related problem they want to solve.
The first step is to submit a problem definition. Here is what I submitted.
Problem title: BioMap
What
is the problem you want to solve?
Currently, there are many personalized tech devices (such as Fitbits) being used to monitor and track health. These devices can be beneficial in motivating, documenting and sharing aspects of health, but their functionality suggests that health, exercise and the environment are individual and separate components of heath and daily life activities. Although useful to a point, these products undermine a greater understanding of health as holistic, intra-related and complex.
The main drawbacks of current devices is that the scope and functionality is usually limited to one aspect of health (i.e. steps per day/cardio), data is not easily integrated with other data (personalized apps), and very few devices take into account the impact of wider environmental determinates (i.e. beyond GPS, altitude).
What is needed is a solution that seamlessly integrates already available personal health metrics (HR, exercise output, GPS, sleep) with other environmental determinates, like seasonal weather patterns, wind, temperature, terrain, light, humidity and other corporeal/embodied sensations to caputre a more comprehensive experince of daily health and mobility.
My PhD research explores how bicycles feature in rural African girls’ access to education. I am most interested in the embodied, geographical and environmental conditions that girls experience every day when riding a bike to get to school and home. Previous educational research focuses heavily on cultural, economic and structural interrogations of girls’ education, but few take into account what it is like to actually get to and from school.
To achieve this, I would like to collaborate with others to build a dashboard called BioMap. I see BioMap as a way to combine a range of biometric, sensory, health, geographic and environmental overlays into one single, easy-to-use, interactive data visualization. The display includes a map of Africa that can be zoomed in and out of and different overlays can be turned on and off.
BioMap is needed to show the complex, interrelated and unique environmental and bodily forces that local girls contend with as they make their school journeys on bikes. This solution will be an invaluable and original contribution to expanding current understandings of the local conditions these girls travel through.
I feel this would be reusable for other researchers and other people interested in emplaced embodied biometrics.
Why
do you want to solve this problem?
Contextualizing and situating the
conditions of riding a bicycle through a particular environment will better
enable researchers and individuals to understand a fuller picture of the
emplaced body. This will enable quick
identification of factors that far exceed the standard health assessment. The
BioMap will help situate users to better appreciate the ‘broader picture’ and
consider more widely the elements that support or deter a person as they move
through a specific environment.
One of my motivations to
participate in Health Hack is to collaboratively build and share a solution
that will encourage researchers, developers and educators to think more
divergently, holistically and critically about the materiality of the contexts
in which they are working.
That is why I think an Open Source dashboard would be the most generative, useful and realistic output for this Health Hack. I am interested to see how Health Hack programmers might go about doing this, for example, is it best to get APIs that can read from devices such as FitBits, Garmin, weather and other sources and them plug it into something like R and Python that will give us the ability to make our own output, or can the team suggest an alternative?
Or if the team want to make it themselves
or use something that plugs into an Open Source Dashboard software (if it is)
already out there. An added bonus for an Open Source output is that it would be
a unique and generative contribution to publish and the team creators could
provide examples on GitHub, add labels to it, put their names on it and get
licenses. Kudos!
Conversely, there might be a different
configuration the team might like to try depending on time, interest, skills or
if there is other software, suggestions or ideas people have in mind that would
fit.
What
do you envision as the ideal solution for this problem?
I would like a platform created that shows
a range of blah de blah, so that I can show the conditions that these girls (or
others) experience as they travel. I envisage BioMap as being a dashboard that
combines a range of biometric, sensory, health, geographic and environmental
overlays into one single, easy-to-use, interactive data visualization.
BioMap is a dashboard platform that
combines a range of biological, sensory and environmental data so that users
can not only explore each dataset individually, but can also shift between, and
overlay different indicators to see how each influences the health of the
person as a whole.
What
sort of Open Source solution do you think can be created in 48 hours, by a
small team of developers, designers and data analysts?
I am keen work with others on establishing a prototype interface that integrates a range of health, biometric, geographical, environmental and embodied sensory data. Principally, I would like a way to get the data from the sensors I am going to use (GoPro, Conos, Fitbit, Google Maps, etc) into a data table (excel or .csv) and see if there is some way to synthesis this information.
Any extra work that could be done to
achieved this would be an added and welcome bonus. For example, given the time
(and if we have a crack team), it would be awesome to get a dashboard that
includes a map of Africa that can be zoomed in and out of where I could turn
different overlays on and off.
My initial conceptualisation is to use a map (i.e. of Africa via Google Maps) which can be zoomed into and out of, with a box on the side panel that has the other trip indicators/overlays. When you click on each one, you can select whether you wish to view it by itself, of you can overlay (or layer up) on the map so you can trace indices of for example; place (GPS, altitude, distance), space (video footage, pace, timing), environment (weather, air, and terrain) and body (HR, exercise, etc) changes while the body is undertaking daily routines and activities – such as travelling to and from school.
Keeping in mind Health Hack has a
set amount of time, the output I am most keen to achieve is a dashboard (map)
that overlays APIs datasets from the biometric devices/sources. Depending on
time, skill and interest, I would be very happy to explore any other add-ons,
extensions or ideas the team might have.
Are
there datasets or people with domain knowledge that you will be bringing to
work with? What/who are they?
Yes. I will be bringing all of my own biometric datasets to populate BioMap including data from these sensor/devices: Conos, My Hormone Calendar, Garmin, Cronometer and Fitbit, This will provide datasets on my sleep, activity output, heart rate, duration, nutrition, menes, altitude, distance, speed, time/date, barometer, temperature, calories, recovery rate and other general personalized biometrics.
I will also be using a Go Pro for A/V footage. I am keen to also see how we can integrate/overlap other open access data such as BOM weather reports (wind, UV) and Google Maps and any other data elements that are easily accessible like local event calendars, sun rise/set, smog reports or other suggestions from the team.
Please note, only my own biometric data will be collected and
published at any time.
I have licensed my biometric data.
What
are the current solutions for handling this problem?
There are a range of devices (Garmin, Go Pro, Fitbit, and health apps) that cover certain aspects of health (some more comprehensively than others), however few devices integrate a range of situated and environmental data from a range of sources/sensors.
