Take the Lane

These pinup calendars are safe for work, if you work with cyclists

You can get the usual cycling calendar of Tour de France wannabes doing training rides, or you can try one of these.

Copenhagen-based Cycle Chic has come out with its 2012 calendar of long shots of short skirts, and the CyclePassion Calendar 2012 is out, to show that such pro cyclists as Liz Hatch (her photo was taken with Veronica Andreasson, both dressed in corsets and short skirts on a 2011 TdF downhill . . . I don't think I've ever seen such inattention to the road on the part of the pack, the escort motorbikes or the support vehicles. See the film on YouTube), Pauline Ferrand Prevot, and Hannah Klein are more than powerful legs and determination. There are numerous videos of the CyclePassion women on YouTube, of which this one of Klein is only one.

Then there's the fun Chicago-based TyK (Thought You Knew) cycle chick pinup project, where various female recreational cyclists mug for the camera to show that you don't have to have a racer body to be part of the global cycling community. They were trying to raise $5,000 through KickStarter. That they raised $1,000 more than they needed suggests that hundreds of cycle fans get it. That they raised a fuss when it was rumoured TyK is leaving Chicago shows how important the group is to the cycling community in that city.

 

Critical Mass on Friday

The last Friday of September is usually one of the largest Critical Mass events of the year in Waterloo Region.

The student population is back, the weather is often good and after the first few weeks of classes, there are a number of cycle-equipped, energized, would-be alternative transportation advocates ready to roll.

Not sure what kind of turnout you might see on Friday in Waterloo: the Facebook group has been dormant since July. The Waterloo Public Interest Research Group (WPIRG) has some details on its website. Although the rally time is given as 4:30 p.m. at the Waterloo Park bandshell, it seems to me that the actual start time can vary.

While I'm a big fan of the concept, the actual execution can sometimes be marred by counter-productive behaviour from wannabe cycling advocates who ride once a year and think gasoline engines are evil. Blocking public transit vehicles is just dumb (public transit and bicycles are on the same page, guys!).

And then there are the non-cyclists who are just piggybacking on a parade so they can make a point about land claims, globalization, and any number of issues (What! No Scientologists?). Get your own parade.

I have seen toxic rides and fun rides. I prefer the fun ones, so I encourage the bicycle advocacy moderates -- the Cycle Chic, the Easy Riders, the recumbent fans, the cycle commuters -- to come out, so that the original intention of the Critical Mass is not hijacked by the loons.

Last chance for a car-free Sunday in 2011

In some ways, it would have been nice to have the final Car-Free Sunday of the year next weekend, so the organizers can brag that they had car-free events in three seasons.

But it's cool enough today and likely tomorrow that you can pretend it's fall.

In fact, it would be fine weather for a Tweed Ride, but the rumours early on that there would be a Tweed Ride on this last of four Car-Free Sundays in Waterloo Region seems to be just a rumour. It's not even clear if the Cycle Chic crowd is coming out.

Certainly, there is a heft list of events at the Square2Square website, and whether you are walking or riding, you'll have a good time in Waterloo between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., when King Street is closed from Union to Central. As for linking the two cities next year, it seems somewhat doubtful from here, but we always have hope.

Cycle Chic in Rio

Mikael Colville-Andersen has taken Cycle Chic to Rio, and shows a bit of the cycling culture and cycling infrastructure in this video posted to Copenhagenize.

 

If self-mockery is your style . . .

When cycling advocates start making fun of cartoon character-inspired cycling jerseys, I think the whole Cycle Chic movement has gone too far.

Not that I have such a jersey. But my collection of MS Bike Tour jerseys (winnowed down to a handful after a decade of collecting) certainly has included every colour of the rainbow, and sometimes, many of those colours on the same jersey.

Part of a good cycling defence, of course, is to be seen.

So along comes Road Holland (Serious and Stylish Cycling Wear), a Florida-based online cycling apparel marketer, with its "style makeover contest."  The company is inviting you to mock yourself, by submitting photos of you dressed in your "worst" cycling outfit.

The invitation says: "Maybe it was that shop team kit that you bought when you got your first real bike. Or perhaps it was that on-clearance jersey with the cereal box characters. We understand that you've made some pretty horrendous choices in the past when it comes to your cycling gear. We have too. After all, it takes the dark to be able to see the light."

The light, indeed. Who wouldn't want to sport a jersey with the nightmare-inspired logo of the Flying Monkeys craft brewery from Barrie or that perennial favourite of the Wile E. Coyote pursuing the Road Runner?

Apparently, the "beautiful people" subset of the cycling tribe would prefer the golf-shirt-inspired jerseys of Road Holland. Or so they would have you think.

Thanks to their contest, you need not pay for a Road Holland jersey. Top prize is a Road Holland jersey. You have to endure having your cycling garb posted on their web site, likely with critical commentary. The winner will be declared July 19, 2011. Email your self-mockery to [email protected]

For some, cycling is all about the chic

Want to cycle chicly? You can't go far wrong if you follow the example of Lorena Beightler, the style guru for the Sacramento (Calif.) Cycle Chic.

This article, from the Merced (Calif.) Sun-Star online, is a republished version of a Sacramento Bee story by Sam McManis. It's an interview with Beightler, a 40-something landscape designer and bicycle fashionista who is an unacknowledged disciple of Copenhagen's Mikael Colville-Anderson, the godfather of Cycle Chic.

Beightler has taken to heart Colville-Anderson's 10-point manifesto for chic cycling (choose style over speed, contribute to a pleasing urban landscape, inspire others through example, and so on). I especially liked Beightler's comment that on a bicycle, she does not sweat, she "sparkles."

Would have been useful guidelines to have had before Sunday's Car-Free Sunday event, but there's another one coming up on Sunday, July 17, so if you're planning to be stylish, the "manifesto" would be worth a view.

We had a good time on King Street

I had a fantastic Father's Day, cruising Waterloo's Car-Free Sunday with my son.

Nate provided tech support for live Tweeting from the first such event in Waterloo Region, where King Street from Union Street to Erb Street was closed to traffic. That section of street was taken over by walkers, joggers, skateboarders, inline skaters, cyclists, bike polo players, street hockey players and others.

There was a whole lot of street chalk being used, as by this family (with their Runners push bike in the foreground and their Xtracycle in the background).

I believe Waterloo Coun. Melissa Durrell, who posed for the obligatory "thumbs up" photo just as things got going at 11 a.m., originally hoped for 10,000 people to come out.

That was when it was to be two cities. With one city participating, you could hope for 5,000.

I don't know how many were there. Pretty hard to do a head count when people are ebbing and flowing through the day.

I will say that some people will take a "glass half full" rather than "glass half empty" approach to this first Car-Free Sunday.

One person I chatted with said he felt a bit embarrassed for the organizers because the turnout seemed so light. Another said that he was amazed that so many came out simply because there were no cars on the street. "There's no buskers, no jazz festival and look at all the people."

Looking up and down the street, there seemed to be quite a crowd.

Good turnout for the KW Bike Polo at King and Allen, with the occasional request by passersby to have a go. Nate also posted some video from the Bike Polo location via my Twitter feed.

Not quite as many as one might have hoped at the Cycle-Chic-like "style ride," where cyclists were encouraged to wear clothes usually considered more suitable for a night out than for cycling. They, and the large group of Waterloo County Wanderers, made the trip all the way through to Kitchener's downtown, partly to make the point that although King Street was closed south of Union to the pedestrian portion of the Car-Free Sunday participants, it couldn't be closed to the cycling portion, because bicycles are legal road users.

The Norman Street Moms bicycle decorating tent was busy, as was the road hockey game in front of it. Families with kids were crowded around the tent front to get coloured pipe cleaners and crepe paper streamers to bedeck their bikes.

Speaking of bedecked bikes, who was that family who decided to clip cardboard squares to their chain stays and rattle them in their spokes? I was transported back in time as they brrrrrr-ed up and down King Street.

The scene at Sabletine Fine Pastries, transported me in place, with bikes parked out front, and relaxed riders enjoying a pastry before continuing on their way. A bit of European relaxation in our midst. I heard that Sabletine's doubled their expectations of business today.

Certainly, the Dairy Queen was doing big business. I couldn't get through the door. I was luckier at Whole Lot-A Gelata, where the crowd spilled onto the sidewalk and the street. I heard in the gelato shop that this was the busiest Sunday ever. I wandered over to PDR Picture Framing, expecting to hear a less enthusiastic response, but he was as happy as the gelato place. Busiest crowd he'd seen in a long time. "We never get this many people down here." Having said that, no one bought anything (no one wants to take a picture home on a bicycle, I guess), but he was confident he would see some of the curious shoppers again.

Some entrepreneurs, such as Street Strider Ontario, took their sales pitch straight to the street. Others, such as The Toy Cupboard and the Crystal Palace Chinese food place, treated the event like a sidewalk sale and did a brisk business. That King Street Cycles was not open seemed like an opportunity missed. And Brick Brewing! No tastings with a warm day and all those people passing by?

Of course, the Car-Free Sunday event is not about business. It's about community. Cyclovia events worldwide are intended to get people out of cars and onto the streets, using their feet -- cycling or walking -- to get around, look around and learn more about their community.

It was a chance, too, to see some of the ways people get around: Xtracycles, old Peugots, low-rider trikes, scooter-bikes, and this Segway, used for errands by Fred Ullman. He paused for a photo, but then had to get his eggs and meat home to the fridge.

I understand a "tweed ride" is in the works for a future Car-Free Sunday. I'm hoping to see some home-built and one-off bicycles at the next event, Sunday, July 17.

I'm looking forward to this next Car-Free Sunday, aka Square2Square, and hope you'll be able to join me.

 

Chic cyclists invited to Car-Free Sunday

If you like to cycle and like to turn heads, you'll have your chance on Sunday, June 19 with a "cycle chic" event during the region's first Car-Free Sunday.

Cycle Chic is the brain child of ex-Calgaryian now living in Copenhagen, Mikael Colville-Anderson. Cycle Chic is about style, not spandex (unless the spandex is shiny, dance-club grade).

Colville-Anderson's cheeky website is subtitled, "Hold my bicycle while I kiss your girlfriend." It features largely pictures of stylish women, sexy women, sleek women, flirty women, oh, and the occasional well-turned-out gent, riding bicycles in Copenhagen, Paris, London, New York, Dublin, Montreal, and well, you name it.

Waterloo Region has not yet made the list, but there's no reason not to. The slick chap with white trousers and a black shirt, toting his computer bag on a Dutch-style bike on King Street recently could have come directly from the photo archive of Cycle Chic.

So, our friends at the Tri-Cities Transport Action Group are sponsoring a cycle chic-like event on the first of the Car-Free Sundays, on Sunday, June 19. You are cordially invited to leave your Lycra at home, and wear a skirt, slacks, wing-tips or heels, a vest perhaps or that Euro-striped pullover. A baguette and a bunch of flowers in your front carrier would complete the picture. As much as helmets might be encouraged for cycling generally, those participating in a chic ride might prefer a fedora or cloche. If you have a "fascinator," this would be the opportunity to cycle with it.

Details of the Car-Free Sunday chic ride are here.

Go chic and turn some heads.

Arrested for dressing ugly?

So, if you put a little bit of spin on this story from the Toronto Star, what we are saying is that people with nice bicycles should dress well.

The story is about a 2003 incident where an aboriginal man was stopped by Toronto police while walking his blue Kona. He was arrested for possession of stolen property when a computer check turned up a stolen bike from Winnipeg -- a stolen bike that did not even match the colour or model of the bike the man had with him. The case came before the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, on the grounds that the man was targetted on the basis of race. (He won the case, BTW.)

What made me laugh is that the tribunal was told that the policeman was suspicious of the man because he thought the man looked disheveled. A guy with a bike like that should be dressed better, said the cop.

Now, if this is a legitimate feeling on the part of the officer, I think that sends a message to cyclists everywhere: folks, ya gotta be chic-er.

No more of those rummy sweat pants or soccer warmup gear. Pulling grey wool socks up over your jeans is a no-no. And you guys with the face-masks -- what are you trying to hide?

Fortuntately, the weather is getting better and we will all soon look like fashion models.

Bike Snobbery misses the trends

I enjoyed reading the Bike Snob's cycling bestiary here in the Guardian, although like any such attempt, it reads more like a horoscope than a sociological study.

After all, who isn't a little bit roadie, a little bit "contraption captain," and a little bit urban?

But mightily surprised I was to see that the Cycle Chic movement, with its casual dressing and Dutch bikes, was ignored (unless the Beautiful Godzilla is supposed to be a part of that sub-group). And what of the tweed rides? And what of the Critical Mass crazies?

Oh Snob, when looking down your nose, don't ignore that which is right in front of it.