April 2020 - Bicycles Create Change

30/04/202008/07/2020

COVID-19 sparks South American cycling

This blog prides itself on bringing news, ideas and projects from all over the world. Previously we have posted a range of South American stories including several from Peru, Brazil and Colombia. Surprisingly, this post is about South America, but comes via a longer report from the Hindustan Times no less! At a time when we are feeling very insular and localised, it is a good reminder that others internationally are experiencing similar conditions, but perhaps meeting it differently. Pedal on, South America! Enjoy! NG.

COVID-19 sparks South America cycling. Bicycles Create Change.com 25th April 2020. — A woman rides a bicycle next to Barra da Tijuca beach, amid the coronavirus disease outbreak in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Image: REUTERS via Hindustan Times.

Capital cities in South America such as Bogota, Lima, Quito, Santiago and Buenos Aires have expanded bike lanes, closing off miles of roads to cars, in an effort to ease crowding on public transport to maintain safe distancing.

From Bogota to Buenos Aires, rising numbers of residents in some of South America’s major capitals are getting on their bikes as the coronavirus pandemic drives city officials to expand bike lanes and promote cycling as a safe way to travel.

Capital cities such as Bogota, Lima, Quito, Santiago and Buenos Aires have expanded bike lanes, closing off miles of roads to cars, in an effort to ease crowding on public transport to curb the spread of Covid-19 and maintain safe distancing.

South America is now battling the global pandemic with many cities still under strict or partial lockdown, and Brazil ranked second globally in total cases of the virus, behind the United States.

COVID-19 sparks South America cycling. Bicycles Create Change.com 30th April 2020. — People go for a walk and ride bikes as the country has managed to get the coronavirus disease under control, in Montevideo, Uruguay. Image: REUTERS via Hindustan Times.

“COVID has been a fundamental factor in achieving what nothing else could have – expanding bike lanes and network length by orders of magnitude instead of slowly and timidly as before,” said Carlos Pardo, senior manager at the Washington- based New Urban Mobility Alliance, a group of cities, non-profits, companies and operators of mobility services.

“COVID made governments aware that it wasn’t a big risk to implement a system of bike lanes,” Pardo told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

‘In the drawers’

Plans to expand bike networks in cities, such as Lima, have been in place for decades but officials hadn’t pushed cycling as a sustainable means of transport until the pandemic hit.

“Many cities had the stuff in the drawers. The plans are ready .. the bike lanes have been identified for years but hadn’t been built,” Pardo said.

In Lima, where about 7 in every 10 people use public transport, promoting alternatives to ease overcrowding on buses and the subway is a priority as the city tries to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

“In Peru, there’s been a huge change. The minister of transport has made cycling a key policy,” Pardo said.

The government has announced plans to create 300 kilometres (185 miles) of temporary bike lanes in the coming months across Lima.

“I suspect that many of the temporary bike lanes are going to become permanent. There is momentum,” Pardo said.

Bogota already had a 550-kilometre (340-mile) network of bicycle lanes criss-crossing the capital before the coronavirus outbreak.

Since Bogota’s lockdown started in late March, 80 kilometres of temporary bike lanes have been added, which are now set to become permanent.

Under the lockdown, about 300,000 trips a day are being made by bicycle, mostly by essential workers, and nearly 70% of people riding bikes today used other forms of transport before the pandemic started, according to Bogota’s secretary of mobility.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed with modifications to the original text.

25/04/202003/07/2020

To Zen on a bicycle

I came across this Zen proverb while looking for bicycle-related folklore and fairy tales.

A lovely reminder to enjoy being fully in the present moment when riding a bike.

To Zen on a bicycle and back. Bicycles Create Change.com 25th April 2020. — Image: Yakima Herald

A Zen teacher saw five of his students returning from the market, riding their bicycles.

When they arrived at the monastery and had dismounted, the teacher asked the students, “Why are you riding your bicycles?”

The first student replied, “The bicycle is carrying this sack of potatoes. I am glad that I do not have to carry them on my back!” The teacher praised the first student. “You are a smart boy! When you grow old, you will not walk hunched over like I do.”

The second student replied, “I love to watch the trees and fields pass by as I roll down the path!” The teacher commended the second student, “Your eyes are open, and you see the world.”

The third student replied, “When I ride my bicycle, I am content to chant nam myoho renge kyo.” The teacher gave his praise to the third student, “Your mind will roll with the ease of a newly trued wheel.”

The fourth student replied, “Riding my bicycle, I live in harmony with all sentient beings.” The teacher was pleased and said to the fourth student, “You are riding on the golden path of non-harming.”

The fifth student replied, “I ride my bicycle to ride my bicycle.”

The teacher sat at the feet of the fifth student and said, “I am your student.”’

Zen proverb

20/04/202003/07/2020

Australian riders – give your ideas to a COVID-19 end of (bicycle) trip survey

Bicycle Network is Australia’s biggest bike riding organization that has nearly 50, 000 members nationwide. One of the things I really appreciate about Bicycle Network is that they often undertake surveys in order to see how members and local riders feel about certain key issues. Previously this blog has shared Bicycle Network’s survey on how people feel about Australian helmet laws as well as the results of that survey and some of the flow on critiques and counterarguments the survey results stimulated. Their latest survey gauging how bike riders how they use end of trip facilities at work and if that might change because of COVID-19.

This post is an invitation for Aussie riders to contribute their ideas to help Bicycle Network create a set of guidelines for workplaces so end of trip facilities remain open and people can ride their bike to work- if you are interested – read on!

Does your workplace have somewhere to store your bike and wash up after your commute? Do you wish it did? Let us know what you do when you get to work and how that might change when lockdown eases.

End of trip facilities—areas with bike parking, showers, change rooms and lockers—are a vital part of workplaces that enable people to ride a bike instead of driving or taking the train.

And it is likely end of trip facilities will become more important. New bike lanes are being installed in Australian cities and public transport is running at reduced capacity, encouraging more people ride to work.

Click here for the survey

However, end of trip facilities will need to run a little differently to before COVID-19.

Some facilities might need caps on the number of people who can use the facility at the same time and cleaning will need to be done more regularly.

Bicycle Network is producing a guide with advice for workplaces on how to manage their end of trip facilities so people can keep riding to work.

To help us make the guide we’d like people to complete a survey, tell us how their end of trip facility works and if it will affect the way they travel to work after COVID-19.

Survey, images and content in this post courtesy of Bicycle Network.

15/04/202013/07/2020

Reflexively crafting bikespiration herstory – Moments of rupture

As regular readers of this blog know, I am a community bike researcher and gender is central to my current bicycle research project.

This post is a follow on from the last one post about 5 historical female non-riding ‘influencers’ who appreciate bicycles. I have been unsettled with how ‘vanilla’ that post was and wanted to explore that a little further while looking at what it took to make that post.

As often happens when looking in the past, while I was researching that post, it quickly became apparent that women have been overlooked, omitted or erased from such accounts, in particular those who are non-Western/American.

It was disturbing how much I had to shift my online search to try and find a personality that fit my criteria (see below) – to the point that I had to constantly reframe my search and my criteria to finally come up with very short (and still not fully satisfying) final list of five.

I thought this was going to be a quick, easy and enjoyable post to do.

The aim of this post was ‘bikespiration’, but the more time and effort it took to find what I was looking for online, the increasingly disillusioned I become.

I finally came up with 5 personalities that broadly fit the final criteria for the post.

Even so, while I was preparing, posting and still now, after it has been uploaded, I am not happy with it. This is by no means a reflection on the amazing five women included in the post – my irritation was twofold: 1) that the list is not longer (i.e. more women) and 2) that most (4 out of 5) were American (one Irish/Brit) = no ethnicity or race diversity.

I couldn’t even find any historical Australian or New Zealand woman to quote. I searched for a historical woman of colour, South American or any one that was not a white European woman – still nothing!

I realise this is because of the spectre of colonial history, but it is very frustrating that more women of diversity (i.e. not American or British) are not represented on this list.

So, to honour this frustration, below are some of the ‘moments of rupture’ I encountered when trying to move outside the deluge of dominant traditional dead, white, European, male voices.

Each rupture moment indicates a representational concern/shift required just to find 5 quotes that fit my (newly disrupted) criteria – and this list I am not happy with as they are still US/Western-centric.

Here are some of the lists online where you can see what I was up against:

Rupture Moment 1

Start point: look up positive quotes about bike riding for a mid-week boost.
Outcome: too many memes, redesigns/repost of ‘general’ quotes about biking.
Solution: go to ‘human’ source – has to be attributed to an actual person

Non(re)presentational layers: look up positive quotes about bike riding for a mid-week boost + has to be attributed to an actual person

Rupture Moment 2

Start point: go to human source – has to be attributed to an actual person
Outcome: to be ‘quoted’ and attributed, meant that it was said by a famous person – many of these are famous male cyclists
Solution: find quotes by famous people who are women

Non(re)presentational layers: look up positive quotes about bike riding for a mid-week boost + has to be attributed to an actual person + famous women

Rupture Moment 3

Start point: famous women
Outcome: to be ‘quoted’ about bicycles and famous, but not male, left female cyclists or women known for being associated with cycling
Solution: find quotes by famous women who are NOT cyclists (or not known for being directly associated within the biking industry)

Non(re)presentational layers: look up positive quotes about bike riding for a mid-week boost + has to be attributed to an actual person + famous people + not a cyclist + not a female cyclist

Rupture Moment 3

Start point: famous women and who are NOT cyclists (or not known for bike riding)
Outcome: the vast majority of quotes left by now were by men still alive
Solution: look for quotes by women who had died (almost like restart)

Non(re)presentational layers: look up positive quotes about bike riding for a mid-week boost + has to be attributed to an actual person + quotes by famous people who are NOT cyclists (or not known for bike riding) + look for quotes by women who had died

Rupture Moment 4

Start point: famous women and who are NOT cyclists and who have died.
Outcome: this cut the list down significantly – the same quotes kept popping up and they were to do with the suffragette movement
Solution: look for quotes by women who are not suffragettes

Non(re)presentational layers: look up positive quotes about bike riding for a mid-week boost + has to be attributed to an actual person + famous people who are NOT cyclists (or not known for bike riding) + quotes by women + not part of the suffragette movement

Rupture Moment 5

Start point: famous women not part of the suffragette movement
Outcome: Most of the women’s right’s information comes from the American suffragette movement
Solution: look for quotes by non-American suffragettes

Rupture Moment 6

Start point: non-American suffragette female
Outcome: This left very few quotes- most of them British
Solution: look for quotes other than non-white US, UK or white European/Western

Nothing.

By this stage I was very frustrated.

As a final ditch effort, I specifically looked for ANY Indigenous Australian, South American, African American, Asian, Indian or any other non-Western quote by a female – still nothing.

Not surprisingly, this whole exercised proved to me that not only women, but especially women of diversity, have been (and continue to be) unacknowledged and effectively written out of history.

Keeping in mind that written history is a product of the culture it grew from, meaning that in those times women were not recognised in society and that bicycling is a very specific sub-set of that context.

But even so, this small activity drove home for me just how elite, privilege and Western-centric our framing of history and the world is.

I would love to see history revised to better include diverse perspectives so there is a more balanced, accurate and fuller count of the past.

I hope that in moving forward, we pay more attention to documenting and sharing greater herstory representations so that next time someone tries to research a post like the one I did, there is a much wider and richer databank of voices, perspectives and lives to draw on.

10/04/202025/06/2020

Bikespiration – 5 historical female non-riding influencers who appreciate bicycles

It has been a busy week and I needed a bit of a boost. As a bike rider and two-wheeled enthusiast, it’s easy for me to love bikes and share that love with others. But not everyone loves bikes as much as bike enthusiasts do. But, there are many well-known people who are not famous for their ‘bike love’, yet still appreciate the capacity and opportunities bicycles enable. So today, I wanted to do a bikespiration post that shows the significant impact bikes have for people who aren’t usually known or associated with riding bikes.

1. Helen Keller – American Author & Activist

“Next to a leisurely walk I enjoy a spin on my tandem bicycle. It is splendid to feel the wind blowing in my face and the springy motion of my iron steed. The rapid rush through the air gives me a delicious sense of strength and buoyancy, and the exercise makes my pulse dance and my heart sing.”

The top of this list for me is Helen Keller (1880-1968) because she is a person very few would associate with bike riding – hence the above comments being all the more impactful! Helen Keller was a prolific author, political activist, and speaker/lecturer. She was born deaf and blind and with the support of her teacher Anne Sullivan, Helen learnt to not only communicate but was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Keller went on to (literally) be a world-famous voice for women’s rights, labour rights, people with diff-abilities. She was a staunch socialist and actively supported the anti-war movement. Keller’s somments are a great reminder of the embodied joys of riding a (tandem) bike with a friend!

2. Iris Murdoch – Irish Novelist & Philosopher

“The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart.”

Iris Murdoch (1919–1999) is a famous ‘realist’ novelist and Booker prize winner. Many of her books have been adapted for the screen and stage. Her writing exposed our moral and ethical secret lives full of ‘love, sadness, fear, lust, power … Murdoch’s strange, radical novels seethe with emotion’. She wrote 26 novels in 40 years, the last written while she was suffering from Alzheimer’s. Murdoch was also a university lecturer, Socialist and philosopher. Murdoch lived in the era when automobiles became increasingly popular and cities were being oriented to accommodate them.

3. Francis Willard – American Author & Suffragette

“Tens of thousands who could never afford to own, feed and stable a horse, had by this bright invention enjoyed the swiftness of motion which is perhaps the most fascinating feature of material life.”
“I began to feel that myself plus the bicycle equaled myself plus the world, upon whose spinning wheel we must all learn to ride, or fall into the sluiceways of oblivion and despair. That which made me succeed with the bicycle was precisely what had gained me a measure of success in life — it was the hardihood of spirit that led me to begin, the persistence of will that held me to my task, and the patience that was willing to begin again when the last stroke had failed. And so I found high moral uses in the bicycle and can commend it as a teacher without pulpit or creed. She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life.”

Frances Willard (1839–1898), author of “A Wheel Within a Wheel: How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle,” (1865) was a contemporary and friend to Susan B. Anthony (two below). She learned to ride a bicycle late in life and noted how dress reform was needed to do it well. Bloomers were a controversial new fashion that were better adapted for cycling than full skirts. During this momentous time, bicycles gave women freedom of movement, enabling them to leave the confides of the home.

4. Ann Strong – American Journalist & Activist

“The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community.”

Ann Strong was a journalist and suffragette activist. There is not much history to be found on her except this quote which first published in the Minneapolis Tribune in 1895. This was during an era when bicycling first became widely popular and gave women increased freedom. The suffrage movement was steering a new course for women, away from traditional marriage, and the bicycle was one tool in creating this freedom. This quote has been (re) used by Frances E. Willard and many others since given its historical suffragette cheekiness.

5. Susan B. Anthony – American Abolitionist and Suffragette

“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled.”

Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) was a leader of the American women’s suffrage movement. Bicycles became wildly popular in the 1890s and ushered in a new era where women were not tied to the home. During Susan’s era, the ‘New Woman’ started wearing ‘new clothes’ (like custom made skirt/pants for riding bikes instead of heavily layered skirts), going to college, engaging in sports, and entering the workforce.

The personalities and some content here are sourced from a longer list by David Fiedler.

05/04/202015/06/2020

London’s Bicycle Library

This post is a great story of how a renovated double-decker bus is getting more Londoners on bicycles. This story comes courtesy of Inhabitat where it first appeared as a story on Architecture and was published under the title: The Bicycle Library Invites Londoners to “Borrow” Bikes Inside a Converted Double Decker Bus. What I find really exciting about this project is the array of thoughtful and useful services the London Bike Library offers. Read more about these services and more in the accompanying interview by Yuka Yoneda who interviews Karta Healy, the man who made it all happen. Such an inspirational story! Enjoy! NG.

London’s Bicycle Library

Most of us are no strangers to libraries where you can borrow books but what about libraries where you can borrow bikes? Well, that’s exactly what The Bicycle Library is (yeah, they didn’t get too creative with the name). Not only does this London-based business promote green transportation, it’s also situated in a converted double-decker bus.

Talk about giving re”cycling” a whole new meaning!

Inside the adapted bus, there is a “library“/gallery on the top floor with a showroom on the first level.

Londoners who need expert advice on which bike they should rent or buy can speak to an in-house “librarian” specializing in all things two-wheeled.

There’s even an array of actual books pertaining to – what else? – bicycles, on hand for reference. The first floor also boasts a shop with clothing and biking accessories.

Just as you would in a regular library, you can browse thorough different bikes, take them out and even test them out on the track outside.

There are seven types of bicycles to choose from: folding, MiniVelo, FGSS (Fix Gear Single Speed), Ladies Coaster, Mens Coaster, cargo and electric, so you’re sure to find one that’s right for you.

And if you find, after renting it for a while, that you’ve met your perfect bike match, the Bike Library even has a borrow to buy program so that you can make it your own.

Karta Healy Interview

Last week, we showcased the Bicycle Library, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, and it was so unusual that we had to get in touch with its founder and pick his brain. We needed to know what makes a person wake up one morning and want to start a library where people take out bikes instead of books – and in a revamped double-decker bus, no less?! So we caught up with Karta Healy, the driving (or should we say cycling?) force behind this mobile resource, and found out the answers to those questions and more – read on to see what he said..

How did the Bicycle Library get its start?

Karta: It all started last September, when I did a cycle fashion show extravaganza during London Fashion Week. We rented two buses to showcase all my TWOnFRO designs and my friends’ brands such as Rapha, swrve, Cyclechic, Dashing Tweed, 4TN and Brooks.

The buses were a key part of our layout of a London city street within the hallowed halls of Smithfield Market. I set up a test Bicycle Library for our guests and everyone loved it as much as me. That got me thinking…

People love the fact that the Bicycle Library makes its home inside a converted double decker bus – can you tell us about where it came from and why you decided to revamp an old vehicle instead of opening up a more traditional storefront?

Karta: I fell in love with the size and space inside these buses – they carry a certain nostalgia for all of us. From there I searched for our bus -a Leyland Olympian. I found it after 3 months in Milton Keynes. Maggie she is called, because all of her identifying marks start with M, and also because we have a great poster of Margaret Thatcher on a bicycle!

Can you tell us a little about your in-house “librarians” and your borrow to buy program?

Karta: Librarians are there to assist you with any questions, which are answered via their expertise, as well as the books and magazines in the reference library, which is a complete selection of all the best books on bicycle design, culture and history.

There is also a set of iPads to browse all of our bookmarked cycling websites, which are organized according to the 7 sub categories of bikes we advocate for the city.

The Borrow to Buy program is a rent-to-own system with an emphasis on trying many types of bikes in a week, or every week. The total days of bike borrowing is subtracted from the price of the final decision – hopefully a bike for life!

What is your most popular bike right now? What is your own personal favorite bike to ride?

Karta: Our most popular bike category is the electric bike by far, and we have some very special models that really give a snap of the neck with a twist of the wrist. Also, the cargo bikes are very popular, especially the Bernds model with its super-sized wicker basket. My personal favorite is my bamboo bike I built for myself – it flexes enough to soak up the shite London streets’ surfaces, and is unique enough not to be stolen… yet.

What do you think is the biggest obstacle keeping people from riding bikes and how do you think we can change that?

Karta: Each city has a different set of challenges, and London, my city, is a battlefield. Cars are keeping cyclists from multiplying, and the HGV’s are subtracting us even. Best we ban smoking tailpipes in cities, just as we have rid bars of their cigarette fumes already. There are many reasons, safety being the obvious one, due to said motorists.

Another one is image – whether tribal, lycra, or hipster, none say: “I have a real job”. The stigma of sweaty dishevelled students with a hangover on creaking bicycles, although we were all happy with that at one time, has to be outgrown. The sense of aspiration and achievement are typically forsaken for the bicycle in image only. Nowadays there are so many premium, stylish options, even e-bikes that keep you from sweating.

The other obstacle is bike theft, which must be supervised by NATO or somebody with the balls to tackle it. Studies show that when someone has their expensive shiny bike stolen, they will go out and buy one half the price, when that gets stolen, they will find the cheapest possible bike which they will hardly use, and if that gets stolen, they are back on the underground, or even worse, behind the wheel of a car. Cities need to introduce valet parking for bicycles, supervised parking areas, and even automated underground systems like the ones in place across Japan.

We couldn’t agree more! Karta makes it sound easy but we’re sure it was tough work setting up this impressive roving cycle library so congratulations to him and his crew.

Kind of makes you want to set up your own Bicycle Library in your own city, doesn’t it?

All images from Inhabitat.

01/04/202023/12/2021

New Materialism SIG: My bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork presentation

Note: the first 2020 NM SIG gathering was held before COVID-19 social distancing and workplace lockdown came into effect – hence us meeting in person.

As many of you know, I am the co-convenor of a New Materialism Special Interest Group (SIG) at Griffith’s Institute for Educational Research (GIER). Each month a group of HDR candidates, Early Career Researchers and Academics meet to explore, discuss, experiment and share complex and emerging post-qualitative ideas, methods and approaches.

New Materialism is the framing I am using for my African girls’ bicycles-for-education PhD Project. To kick off the first SIG for 2020, I presented my African fieldwork.

I’ve had a few people contact me asking how the trip went. Below is a snapshot of my bicycle PhD project, the context and what I did during my PhD fieldwork in Lunsar, Sierra Leone.

Here’s some highlights of my fieldwork presentation (more details in slides below).

Opening: An Acknowledgement of Country, Diversity and Inclusion and that Matter Matters and thanks to the local Lunsar chiefs and the amazing people who have been instrumental in helping make this project happen.
Researcher positionality: Who am I and how did I come to this project
Research context background : 5 intersections of Girls unfreedoms
Girls Ed Lit Review: Current directions in NGO Literature on the topic
Establish Space: Key Project that opens up my research space – completed in 2010
Confirm & Extend: Follow up – a specific project on girls bicycle projects in Lunsar – completed 2016
Established gap leads into my research questions (no slide for this = top secret!)
My Study Design: Aims, Methodology and theoretical framing (NM)
Fieldwork details: Tech Matters and other research developments/considerations
Country context: Background to Sierra Leone (very general history & context)
Site Location: Background and context about Lunsar (my fieldwork location)
Research partnership case study: Intro to Village Bicycle Project (organization) Stylish (host/research participant/all-round incredible man!)
Fieldwork ‘Data’: list of all the research data/activities achieved (so busy!) and other events, opportunities and visits – so busy!
Present some ‘Data‘: I showed some fieldwork bike ride footage for discussion (no slide – top secret)
The return: Now I have returned, I outlined my next steps and questioned how/what to do to start ‘data analysis’
Q&A: Open discussion and suggestions on entry points for data analysis using NM approaches.

Aside from being able to share my fieldwork experiences with others, it was also great to get stuck into some rigorous academic discussions and come away with a number of productive and tangible ideas to apply for data analysis.

Most satisfying of all though, was seeing how interested people are in Sierra Leone and having the opportunity to promote and celebrate the beautiful people, places and experiences I had there.