Bike Girl Reads Blogs

Bike Girl has already posted about helmets. While riding, she also wears a Road I-D. But this week, her attention was called to another bit of safety equipment.

Artistic Cyclist Ines Brunn performed in Los Angeles at a recent Bicycle Film Festival event. She lives in China, and regularly wears a mask to protect herself from breathing in pollution.

Recently, this mask gave her an added measure of protection. Instead of re-telling her story, Bike Girl encourages readers to check out Ines's blog about the experience here

Bike Girl Dreams Big

As loyal readers know, Bike Girl has quite a stable of bikes. This stable of bikes poses a storage problem in her tiny studio apartment.

That's right, Bike Girl's job as a fearless protagonist is not a particularly highly-paid position. While some would call her co-habitation with the bikes "cozy," Bike Girl often fantasizes about the day when she will be able to afford her fantasy bike storage solution.

If Bike Girl had unlimited resources, she would expand her collection and have a climate controlled chamber for each bike. While she's at it, she may as well hire several attractive mechanics to clean each chain link of each bike after every ride, and keep less-often-used steeds at their shiniest by wiping them down with cloth diapers each day.

If Bike Girl had more realistic, but greater resources, she would get a two bedroom apartment, with one bedroom for tucking in her bicycles. This room would have hanging bike storage on the walls, and included a workbench and stand so Bike Girl could get grease under her fingernails.

In lieu of a whole room just for bikes, Bike Girl would like a living room with extremely high ceilings. If she had that, she could use her cunning to create a pulley system like this.

But until Bike Girl breaks out of the lower middle class, she will continue climbing over her Girl Bike each morning, banging her head on the touring frame behind the couch, and pretending her go-fast bike is some sort of modern art piece, hanging on her wall.

Our fair protagonist wants to know how her readers store their bikes. She encourages them to leave comments.

Bike Girl Wears A Helmet...Usually

Bike Girl does not think Mandatory Helmet Wearing laws are a good idea. When convincing many people riding is a good idea, both Girls and Boys often ask if they'll have to wear a helmet. By the tone of their voice, Bike Girl can tell they're not keen on the idea. After all, helmets do not look cool on anyone.

But Bike Girl is certainly not anti-helmet. In fact, there are some situations in which Bike Girl thinks helmet wearing is important. Following are some situations our fair protagonist has recently found herself in, where the decision to, or not to, wear a helmet was made.

1. Helmet: Bike Girl spends a lot of time riding on poorly maintained streets. (Bike Girl is looking at you Tom LaBonge) These poorly maintained, busy, narrow streets are somewhat treacherous. Bike Girl has wiped out numerous times by catching a wheel in a pot-hole, sliding out in a turn on gravel, or avoiding obstacles. There's also always the off chance that a careless driver will bump her. For most trips on these roads, Bike Girl wears a helmet.

2. No Helmet: On a particularly good hair day, Bike Girl dolled herself up in ribbons and curls and took her Girl Bike to work.She also was planning to take her bike on the bus for part of the trip to avoid getting sweaty. Even though her route to the bus stop was over busy, poorly-paved streets, she determined she would be visible enough in her dress, curls waving wildly in the breeze, for the 1 mile trip, she chose not to wear a helmet.

3. Helmet: In order to maintain her Girlish figure, and because she's game for a challenge, Bike Girl regularly takes her Go-Fast bike on training rides. As she pictured herself screaming down hills, weaving through traffic, and head-down sprinting, she decided a helmet was a good idea.

4. No Helmet: Bike Girl, while fiercely independent, enjoys special time with her Significant Other. Lucky for Bike Girl, her Significant Other happens to own a tandem bicycle. When she rides the tandem with her Significant Other along low-traffic roads to the beach path for a romantic sunset make-out session, Bike Girl is protected by a Love Bubble. This bubble is impervious to cars. Seriously, when was the last time anyone heard of a disgustingly cute tandem couple being hit by a car or wiping out? Bike Girl chose not to wear a helmet.

So in conclusion, should people be required to wear helmets? Bike Girl thinks not. But should people wear them anyway? Bike Girl, 90% of the time, says yes.

Bike Girl Gets Inspired

Even Bike Girl sometimes gets burned out on riding a bike. Whether it's the honking drivers, the smog, or a slightly unhealthy dose of over-training, Bike Girl's love of biking has a tendency to wane.

But lately, our fair protagonist has been experiencing a surge in enthusiasm. This may partially be due to her having recieved a new book in the mail about bikes. It may be partually due to the natural Enthusiasm Cycle she experiences from season to season. It may also partially be due to the coverage of the Giro D'Italia she's been watching on the internet.

While watching said coverage, Bike Girl came across this video, which expresses her current feelings about riding pretty exactly. For those who are "working" and cannot click on the video, the quote follows:

It's not to show me or show something. It's good to get back and that is what I like. And that is riding my bike and enjoying my bike and go stronger and stronger day from day. -Fabian Cancellara of Team Saxo Bank

Cancellara is Swiss and finished 157th after Stage 4. He's also 28 years old and has very Hollywood good looks. But back off ladies. He's married!

Bike Girl Wears A Dress

Life has been weighing heavily on our fair protagonist lately. Bike Girl's Job has been stressful, she fell ill, she's been training for races, and then the roads seemed to get just a little more dangerous.

Today, Bike Girl decided it was time to lighten up. She threw care to the wind, donned a summer dress, and headed out for a slow ride on her extremely feminine girl-bike. Bike Girl loves her girl-bike. When she's on it, she cannot help but smile. She also cannot break 12 miles per hour, which is a lovely change.

She rode to work with her hair blowing freely in the wind. She took the side roads, and wore no helmet. Pedestrians smiled, drivers gave her more room than usual, and when the wind blew, she accidentally gave a bus driver quite a show.

While riding in the sunshine, stress melted away. Sore muscles were not felt. And Bike Girl had a great deal of fun.

Bike Girl Conquers Fear

Fear is one of the primary things that keeps people off their bikes. Bike Girl was terrified to get on a bicycle on the streets in Los Angeles before she made the conversion. But cyclists saddle up every day knowing that they have a right to the streets.

What happens when the people who are supposed to be protecting that right decide simply not to? This happens.

Well in response, this happened. Cyclists stormed the Bastille to force the politicians and the police to answer to the mistreatment of cyclists in the city.

Bike Girl is joining other members of the Bike Writers' Collective in condemning the treatment of cyclists by the LAPD and members of the L.A. City Council.

Until the people who are supposed to be protecting cyclists' rights step up, Bike Girl suggests readers learn the vehicle code in their area.

This pamphlet and this post helped Bike Girl learn the rules of the road, and how to bike defensively.

This is where the rules are for riding a bike in California.

This is the Cyclists' Bill of Rights, endorsed by the L.A. City Council.

Bike Girl Is Outraged

Bike Girl has heard via her red Bike Writers' Collective bat phone that a horrible Hummer v Bike accident in Downtown. Apparantly, the police took the motorist's side, despite the motorist reportedly ramming through a group of cyclists intentionally.

Fellow Bike Writers' Collective embers Gary Rides Bikes and WestSide BikeSide have the details.

If the links don't work, it is because the sites have gotten so many hits, they have crashed. See Midnight Ridazz to weigh in.