IT HURTS SO GOOD!
It burns your thighs. The intensity strains your shins. Your quads swell like a balloon on the brink of bursting. Ahhh, the joys of bicycling in LA. The skin-tight, sponsor-clad pair of shorts and matching shirt no longer characterizes the urban cyclist. More familiar are the thrill seeking street cyclists that typically don tight-fitting jeans, flannel shirts, and a bag full of gear.
These fat-burning-engines-that-can glide through city traffic and remind us that there is an alternative to the gas guzzling earth-polluting pieces of idling machinery that congest our streets. These cyclists may not dress like they’re training for an iron man competition, but they shred asphalt just the same. And they've got the waistline to prove it.
CAR CENTRICITY: COMMUNITY AND SPORT IN LA
I admit: I'm glued to my car. Most Angelenos are because our public transit system, though improved, just can’t get us from A to B fast enough. Others live for their cars—they "trick 'em out", "sup dem up", and some even "drop the clutch.”
Maybe LA’s car centric culture began during the fifties when a fascination with gears, speed, and style gave birth to car clubs. Perhaps a magical chemical reaction occurs when the fumes of WD-40 come into contact with human perspiration. One thing’s for sure, the club—like a team—comes together to create and build a product, takes pride in the fruit of their labor during competition, and relishes their improved skills...together. If that isn't sport, I don't know what is.
THE KITCHEN: GREASING THE GEARS FOR CHANGE
I recently pulled my bike out of the garage (how ironic) and began riding again. I want to stay healthy, use less gas, and limit my pollution. But I also want a new ride!
Enter the Bicycle Kitchen, just one of a number of volunteer-driven bicycle repair shops in LA. They don’t sell bikes here. And they won’t fix your bike. Volunteers teach you how to customize your bike and also to use their giant collection of tools for a meager $7/hour donation.
A lot of the mechanics/volunteers are women. No surprise ‘cause the Kitchen remains cognizant of its community's needs. One volunteer, Hazel, admits that she knew practically nothing about tools and fixing a bike when she arrived to the kitchen a few years ago. But then she attended Bicycle Bitchen, a weekly repair workshop for women and transgendered folk. She states, “People are socialized into gender roles … [Bicycle Bitchen] provides a safe space where women learn about tools and how to work on their own bikes.” She added with a smile, “And it’s fun to get dirty and greasy.”
A new culture has been marinating in LA and it's akin to something we’re very familiar with—the joys of cruising our wonderful city and the delight of “pimping our rides” together.
SWEET FACTS: WOMEN, CYCLING, AND SOCIAL CHANGE.
Various social movements, including the women’s right to suffrage, used bike messengers to spread their messages.
Find this post and many others at Youth Noise Play City:
http://www.youthnoise.com/playcity/blog
