Sneak Peek & Don't Cultivate a Bicycle Face!

What an exciting week this has been! Wow. Above is a sneak peek from our photo shoot yesterday with model Molly Gardner of the Arts Council Long Beach on 4th Street's charming Retro Row. Molly is shown here at the Art Du Vin wine bar immediately adjacent to the beautiful Art Theatre.

This new photo session for our 3/15 cover story pays an homage to spring. We asked vintage apparel expert Kathleen Schaaf of the famous Meow boutique to help us pull together three different looks reflecting spring 2012's pretty pastels + vintage inspired trends. Margeaux Hamrock of Salon Pop was our uber talented hair & makeup person for the day creating three different vintage looks for Molly's three different ensembles. Special thanks as always to our amazing photographer Allan Crawford and a shout out to our new intern Melissa Bell for being a champion photo assist person. We all had so much fun! We can wait to share it all with you. Stay tuned!

Yesterday when I came in from the photo shoot and checked my email two more exciting bits of news were waiting for me. The first was a note from Momentum Magazine's photo editor David Niddrie letting us know that Women On Bikes SoCal had been selected to be featured in an upcoming issue and asking for the use of some of our gorgeous photos. I love Momentum! And I just received my first print issue two days ago (a very lovely gift from Mia Birk from her visit and talk in Long Beach) but I've been following them online and am so impressed with what they're doing.

Next was an email from local media guru Ron Antonette letting me know that Women On Bikes SoCal was included in Bike Portland's "All signs point to a big year for Women on Bikes." And guess who is the number two indicator that the post refers to? Yes! Women on Bikes SoCal! We are so honored. It's a great post including the superbly crafted Lovely Bicycle, Grist.org's Elly Blue (who will be featured in the upcoming Bikes Mean Business column for 3/15 by April Economides) and much more. Portland has been such a beacon of progressiveness for bicycle advocacy, infrastructure and building a very motivated and engaged riding public. I hope I have the privilege of visiting it soon and meeting Bike Portland's editor/publisher Jonathan Maus to say thank you in person.

So here's a question for you. What the heck is a bicycle face? Above is how I feel when I'm out riding my bike, how about you? But apparently back in 1895 the term "bicycle face" had a less than happy or perhaps publicly acceptable connotation as shared by the brilliant Maria Popova on her cultural musings blog "Brain Pickings." This week I came across a link to Maria's January 2 blog post of "A List of Don't for Women on Bicycles Circa 1895." My other favorite don'ts from the list? Don't faint on the road! Don't forget your toolbag! And don't race! Leave that to the scorchers!

I don't know about you, but I'd love to be considered a scorcher!