Public Board meetings commence Monday April 16th
Velomuse Board meetings will now meet on the 3rd Monday of each month at Big Idea Bookstore from 6-8pm. The meetings are open to the public for discussion and information, while only Board members will vote on action items. General members from the public are encouraged to attend and participate. We will share agenda and minutes on the Velomuse website: http://www.velomuse.org/
Click the flyer to RSVP on our facebook event.
Free Webinar: Women Can Change the World through Cycling
Free Webinar: Women Can Change the World through Cycling
Wednesday, March 30, 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. EDT
Register here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/852395306
Attend this free webinar if you want to learn how to increase the number of women cycling for transportation in your community.
This webinar builds on last year’s session, “Writing Women Back into Bicycling.”* Five speakers offer compelling insights about cycling projects run by inspiring women, illuminate what women told APBP they want in a cycling environment, and suggest best practices to help you make a difference in your community. Don’t miss the stories of some of the wonderful women leading the cycling movement, and results of APBP’s 2010 survey on Women Cycling.
APBP encourages individuals to gather colleagues and friends together to watch the webinar and discuss and plan afterwards. Build your team. Check out the Women Cycling Project here:https://apbp.site-ym.com/members/group.asp?id=63197
Presenters:
Andrea Garland, Alta Planning + Design, presents women’s viewpoints on three of the open-ended questions from the 2010 Women Cycling survey: “What would cause you to start or increase your cycling?”, “What reaction do you get when cycling for transportation?” and “Why do you use your bicycle for trips?”
Kristin Gavin founded the Gearing Up program in Philadelphia, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide women in transition from drug and alcohol addiction, domestic violence and/or homelessness with the skills, equipment and guidance to safely ride a bicycle for exercise, transportation and personal growth.
Fionnuala Quinn, PE, Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling, offers up a brief history of APBP’s Women Cycling Project which she helped to inspire, points to resources we can use, and suggests next steps for the project.
Anna Sibley, Masters in Public Health candidate at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, summaries the results of the 2010 APBP Women Cycling Project and survey.
Carolyn Szczepanski, Communications Coordinator, Alliance for Biking & Walking, and columnist for Bicycling Times magazine, profiles some of the women leading the bicycling movement. Her talk is inspired by http://blog.publicbikes.com/2011/03/fifteen-women-who-rule-the-biking-world/
*View the recording of “Writing Women Back into Bicycling” here:
Velomuse Year in Review
People ask, all the time: what is Velomuse, what do we do, and what kinds of cycling are implied? The answer is everyone, everything and everywhere – basically expanding the current resource network in order for people to stick with their chosen sport. Here’s a summary of what we did over the last year, bringing a little bit of everything to Pittsburgh’s cycling scene to Create Lifelong Cyclists (our motto). There’s a link to more information and photos from each event, in succession below. If you want to keep tabs on our progress on a daily basis, please “like” our facebook page.
Start of the National Bike Rally 2010, Albuquerque, New Mexico
January 24: Create and donate medals for Cross’d Bite cyclocross race and provided course marshal support.
February: Create first several drafts of a Memorandum of Understanding (volunteer trail maintenance agreement) between the City of Pittsburgh/Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and Pittsburgh Trails Advocacy Group.
Mar 9-12: Attend National Bike Summit in Washington DC with local advocacy representatives from Bike Pittsburgh and Dirt Rag/Bicycle Times Magazine, as a IMBA delegate for Pennsylvania. Include mountain bike access issues in meetings with Congressional staff. Report here.
April 1st: Pull a friendly prank on our readers for April Fools day.
May 4: Attend Pennsylvania Walk and Bike Summit in Harrisburg, PA with local advocates and City of Pittsburgh Bike/Ped Coordinator. Emphasize Safe Passing laws and help legislators identify concerned constituency. More info here.
May 21: Host Biker Breakfast and/or lead group rides for Bike to Work Day, and Car Free Fridays with various local bike shops and Bike Pittsburgh.
May 22: Venture Outdoors Festival: Organize and host the first Kids’ Bike Rodeo – working with Thick Bikes and Venture Outdoors, to draft and build kid-sized, rideable obstacles and borrowed bicycles from Wilderness Voyageurs. Expanded liability insurance protocol with League of American Bicyclists’ Club insurance program. Pictures and recap here.
May 2010: Host a Bike-Commute Mileage contest for Pittsburgh riders, as part of the National Bike Month. More info.
June 3-6: Attend National Bike Rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is what an advocate does for a proper vacation: 100 miles in 100 degree heat, through stunning scenery. Event report here.
June 18th: Summer Solstice Ladies’ Urban ride from Trek of Pittsburgh to Tazza d’Oro, as part of the Car Free Fridays campaign.
July: Work with City officials and local bike advocates to implement public explanation of City Municipal Code regarding off-road bicycle use in City Parks. Enhance press release distribution list, including newspaper, blog and twitter feeds.
August 12: Co-lead a MTB 101 group ride for women, as part of Bike Pittsburgh’s Bike Fest, with Dirt Rag‘s Karen Brooks and Elizabeth Klevens.
August 14: Host the City’s first permitted bicycle event Velomuse youth bike rodeo inside Frick park (bikes donated by Freeride), helping to create a system to bicyclists to apply for public space permits.
August 15: Coordinate with Thick Bikes and PTAG/PORC in an Adventure Epic connect a road ride with off-road endurance riding.
September 18th: National Park(ing) day – work with OTB Bicycle Café and Bike Pittsburgh to convert 2 street parking spaces with green space. Pictures here.
October 2nd: Lead a group ride for Girl Scouts troop leaders to facilitate training for a long-term bike program.
October 14th: Organize and coach annual Cyclocross 101 clinic, with Koeles Cycling Club, professional cyclist Barb Howe. Event permitted at Highland Park, licensed by USA Cycling and insured by League of American Bicyclists. Registration via Bikereg.com
October 27th: Velomuse Junior Devo and Team IMBA ride, Justin Uplinger WINS High School classification during the Month of Mud series.
November: Partner with International Mountain Bike Association’s Regional Leadership Advisory Council to develop Pennsylvania’s first Long Range “Shared-Use Trails Vision Plan”.
November 6: Attend the rideSFO SF Bike Expo and coordinate with local sponsors. Another vacation-type thing.
December 20th: Host Life Cycles Film Premier in Pittsburgh – the first mountain bike themed film hosted in a full scale theatre, with the help of Dreaming Ant and Pittsburgh Filmmakers. Ticket sales through Eventbrite.
Call to Action – register for National Bike Summit 2011!
Last year, Velomuse attended the National Bike Summit, hosted by the League of American Bicyclists, and coordinated with local advocates from Bike Pittsburgh and Dirt Rag/Bicycle Times Magazine. This year,
“We Need You More than Ever”
National Bike Summit – 2011
March 8-10, Washington, D.C.
bikeleague.org/summit11
The National Bike Summit is a three day event with more than 800 leaders of the bicycling advocacy movement and industry attending. We all converge on Washington, D.C. to share ideas and experiences about how we can make America more bike-friendly. Meetings are scheduled for all attendees with their members of Congress for the third day of the event. Delegates from all 50 states, including local bicycle retailers, industry executives, elected officials and user groups have the opportunity to speak with their elected officials and put in their asks for bicycling.
Furthermore, this is possibly the most important Summit to date. On November 2, 2010, we witnessed a political course correction of historical proportions in Congress. The 112th Congress opened on January 3, 2011, and nearly 80 new members of Congress took the oath, making this the largest group since 1992.
This Congress looks very different. Not only did the bicycling movement lose its biggest champion, Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN), on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, but more than 30 members of the House Congressional Bike Caucus did not return.
This means that the learning curve is high for these new members, and the pressure is on for the 112th Congress to pass a new transportation bill. We are not certain what direction this new transportation bill will take. However, we do know that there is much work to be done in regards to educating the new members on our issues and that they need to see YOU — the nation’s bicycling advocates — next March, in Washington, D.C. Tell them about the bicycle, a simple solution to many of our nation’s persistent problems. Register for the Summit today at bikeleague.org/summit11.
Keynote Speaker Announced
Janette Sadik-Khan, the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, is the keynote speaker at the National Bike Summit’s opening plenary, Wednesday March 9. Since her appointment in 2007, the New York City has completed more than 250 miles of bike lanes and 20 miles of cycle track; passed innovative bicycle parking legislation and delivered extensive education and safety programs. Bicycle use has doubled since 2006, while fatalities have fallen to their lowest level in decades.
For more information, visit bikeleague.org/summit11.
Cycling in Copenhagen – a test of ideals
DNS/DFL vs. DNF/DQ
What’re all those letters about? Well, the literal translation is “Did Not Start/Dead F*cking Last versus Did Not Finish/Disqualified”, and those acronyms are commonly used in bicycle race results, when no numeric placement can be identified. Having gotten my feet wet over the last few years as a professional cycling coach, I’ve had the opportunity to discuss the philosophy and psychology of racing (and goal development) with various intellectuals. It is not that I think a cyclist’s lifestyle is more quantifiable than the status quo; however, in being forced to consider the impact of one’s decisions in all actions, I believe cycling provides solutions where there would be an increasing void.
My personal interpretation relates these acronyms with an element of intention; that is, EFFORT. Basically, the largest obstacle in a race, is getting TO the event, itself. Finishing an event is the next greatest obstacle, which provides a great deal of satisfaction. The goals can also keep stacking, in smaller increments. Honor and good sportsmanship speak lengths about where your personal goals rest, and how much effort you are really willing to put forth. In essence, finishing dead last feels about the same as winning, when I look back on it. My memories are still in the smaller goals I’ve achieved, and there’s at least one thing I found to work on as a result of the race.
I have never considered numeric race results as an indication of success, as field size and conditions can vary widely. Satisfaction can be achieved with more specific goals: a particularly gnarly rockface descent, pacing a climb, nailing a twisty piece of singletrack without braking, etc. Therefore, it is important to pick events which suit your goals and skills, accordingly. And when the lack of opportunity arrives, just pick any race and focus on part of it. Numeric results may not provide the depth of satisfaction that one can achieve in a race situation, only giving a temporary interpretation. The decision to participate in the Art of Racing is a significant one. Success can be found in setting oneself against mother nature – a synergy of bike, mind and body – another good reason not to let recreational rides be replaced by competition entirely.
Charlotte’s Portland to California Bike-touring Adventure
“Journal from the ride home”
by Charlotte PH on Wednesday, September 22, 2010 at 3:33pm
*Charlotte is a student rider from the Velomuse junior devo program in California, racing for Albany High School. she doesn’t have a blog yet, so we’re helping her share her story here, for now. – Editor*
Velomuse, Koeles and Ibis & the Danger Twins’ CX Clinic 10/14
Click the image for bikereg link
Brought to you by:
Velomuse, ko:ǝles Cycling Club, and Barb Howe’s new self-initiated team, Ibis & The Danger Twins.
“Cyclocross 101 with Barb Howe”—the aspiring cyclocrosserʼs clinic of the year! In this clinic, participants will learn hands-on fundamental skills of cyclocross racing including ideal equipment, clothing, nutrition, fitness, and more. The clinic will be taught by 2009 cyclocross champion, Barb Howe and USAC licensed coach, Eryn Hughes of Velomuse. Knowing the skills youʼll learn here will improve bike-handling abilities for all types of riding! Proceeds benefit women’s cycling and local trail advocacy.
| Where: | Washington Oval @ Highland Park, Pittsburgh, PA |
| Why: | Teach fundamentals to beginner/aspiring cyclocross racers and spread awareness of the sport’s unique discipline. |
| When: | October 14, 2010, 6–8 p.m. |
| Fee: | $40 Registration |
| Schedule: | 6:00–6:05 Introductions and expectations 6:05–6:15 Equipment, clothing and nutrition 6:15–7:30 Hands-on skills course 7:30–7:45 Fitness guidelines 7:45–8:00 Summary and Q&A with Barb Howe |
Car-Free Friday in South Side!
[Update: 18September 2010 Recap] Bikerator generates power for a number of electrical applications, courtesy of the Kova Enterprises‘ craftiness. Today, we pedaled to light up 5,000 leds and a waterjet that shot a stream into traffic.
Park(ing) Day at OTB Bicycle Cafe
Bikerator: all the better to power leds or a waterjet, with.
Bike Pittsburgh‘s Car-Free Fridays campaign is visiting Pittsburgh’s South side neighborhood this Friday. With it, local businesses are stepping up to coordinate new, interesting ways to support bicycle, pedestrian and otherwise alternative transportation. One installation for the Global Park(ing) Day re-uses a couple of parking spaces in a high-visibility traffic corridor coordinated by OTB Bicycle Cafe, is particularly RAD:
Car Free Friday - Southside Park(ing) Day