Everyday Bicycling

Bike advice for you, by you. Yes, there's a book!

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Q: Dear Elly,

How can I ride my bicycle not with white people?

Thanks,

Lonely Lady in Ohio

A: Dear LLIO,

Choose a time and date and invite some not-white people to ride with you. Make sure it's at a good time for people and begins and/or ends at a place that's fun for everyone, like a bar or an ice cream shop. Talk it up a lot on social media and in person, make flyers, make sure it's easy to find ride details, and tell everyone you meet about it. Have a fun name and tagline for the ride that make it clear what sort of ride it is (sporty? social? family?) and make it sound welcoming to the right people. Make it a weekly or monthly thing and keep showing up 'til you amass a crowd. These things can take time but eventually you'll build up a critical mass... so to speak. Take pictures, collect email addresses, build a powerful movement, and have fun!

Love,

Elly

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Figuring Out How to Speak Bike

Recently Elly Blue put a question out to the Twitterverse, asking people about the things they found difficult when first taking up cycling. This question took me back to 2003 or so when I began cy...

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Do you remember when you first started bicycling? It's hard to remember how difficult some of the basics used to be.

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How Bike Lanes Increase Small Business Revenue

Lesser known examples from Memphis, Ft. Worth Texas, Long Beach, and New York City

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I know unequivocally that I am alive today because of that ride on the Lakefront Trail a decade ago. This knowledge fuels my current efforts to bring the many benefits of cycling to others in the Black community.

from "Why I Fight," by Oboi Reed of Slow Roll Chicago, on Streetsblog today. A powerful example of the connection between personal choices and the need for community and civic action.

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Spanish language bike advocacy materials from the awesome folks at WE Bike NYC!

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It's official! The second edition of Everyday Bicycling will be out next fall. I can't get over how awesome the new cover is. Working on revisions for the insides now!

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Katherine “Kittie” T Knox (1874-1900) challenged perceptions of race and gender in the national spotlight from a young age. Riding a normal upright “men’s” bicycle and wearing self-tailored pants, she paved the way for women to dress as they pleased and achieve mobility on a bicycle, while raising eyebrows and ranking high in races. As a bi-racial teenager in Boston, she joined the first Black cycling group and eventually the National League of American Wheelman. At the annual League meeting in 1895, according to a San Francisco paper, “she produced a league membership card and declared that no exception had ever been taken to her color…After asserting herself to that extent, Miss Knox walked defiantly out with her wheel.” Kitty opened the debate to eventually overturn the color bar, demonstrating her right as an equal member. Even though the League did not officially remove the color bar until over one hundred years later after Kitty had died tragically of kidney disease, her actions were a heartening rally call that paved the way. 

“The leaders tried to lose Knox during the eighteen mile run but she was game, and when the big crowd entered the town on the return trip she was up with the leaders, sailing with the best of them,” the Boston Globe wrote in 1895.

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If you live anywhere with snow or ice or super cold temperatures, this is your main number one best resource for learning all about bicycling through the winter! Vintage website awesomeness thrown in! Hurray icebike! 

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Elly Blue’s Everyday Bicycling is one of the rare books that deserve to be called “perfect.” I finished reading it and thought everyone, absolutely everyone, should read a copy. She concisely and humorously tells you everything you need to know about cycling safely and efficiently in traffic. Far from being a dry manual, the tone is conversational and lively. The contents are well-researched. Even controversial topics are treated evenhandedly and with a fact-based approach. It costs just $10, so you can not only read it yourself but also get copies to give to your family and friends.

From Jan Heine's review of Everyday Bicycling in Bicycle Quarterly.

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Maryann Aguirre on Creating Safer Spaces for her Daughter | Streetsblog Los Angeles

The anti-bike lobby would have you believe that bicycles are just a boondoggle of the white "creative class." Nope. One of the founders of LA bike group the Ovarian Psycos talks about her work and motivations.

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Send bicycle advocate Dave Griffiths to World Bike Forum 2015 by David Griffiths

My name is David Griffiths. I have been disabled my entire life. At the age of 37, I acquired my first handcycle, and became a cyclist. Having a vehicle that allows me to use my body to move my body has not only changed my life, it has changed my thinking about how I move through the world, both...

This is what it's all about, folks. Dave is onto something good. He makes a strong case, he just needs more resources to tell the world. If you support any bicycle advocacy cause in 2015, this will be one of the most transformative things you can do with your 10 or 100 dollars.

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An Interview with Monica Garrison

Black Girls Do Bike seems to be one of the fastest-growing bicycle organizations around. Every time I log onto social media, there's a new chapter of the group...

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Cargo Biking on a Budget

Sometimes you decide you want to ride a bike and you go out there and start biking and that’s all you need and that’s great. Rock on.Other times, it’s more complicated. Maybe you decide you want to ri

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The 8 Types of Rain Cyclists Encounter

Elly Blue offers her expertise on identifying and riding in eight different types of rain.

My latest on Bicycling.

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Should You Ride When You’re Sick?

Tips on biking—or not—when you’re not feeling your best

My latest post on Bicycling is about how bike commuters handle getting sick. 

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I compiled this online appendix to the Everyday Bicycling book two years ago, and then never updated it. I'll be working on refreshing it over the coming months—please feel free to send your favorite resources, websites, and cargo/family focused bike shops for inclusion.