For the past month or so I have been on a journey to delve into and polish my skills as a storyteller to better serve this website and the bike advocacy we're doing here at Women on Bikes SoCal and the national Women Bike initiative. I am so very proud to share that this month we successfully hosted a group of nine women from different parts of Los Angeles and Long Beach to become League Cycling Instructors with the League of American Bicyclists and I'm looking forward to bringing their inspiring personal stories to you as we prepare to launch the Street Savvy adult bicycle safety classes soon.

Three years ago this weekend I got back on a bike again for the first time in almost thirty years. I've been saying twenty, but sitting here right now and counting it out, I realize I've been wrong. Amazing how time flies, isn't it?

I'd been pondering riding a bike again for over six months. I had already begun researching and brainstorming on bicycle advocacy with Georgia Case. Three years prior to that I'd given up my car for health and financial reasons. I'd been watching the urban bicycling revolution blossoming outside of the bus windows, or on my many walks, out and about here in Long Beach with great interest. Above all the bike looked like fun. I recalled with great joy riding my purple-tassled-banana-seated Schwinn as a child.

But I was afraid to try. I was afraid that I didn't have the strength. I was afraid that I'd ride out too far and wouldn't have the energy to get home, that I wouldn't have the strength to get the bike on the bus rack, and that I'd make an idiot of myself trying. Frankly I was afraid of having to deal with my own vulnerability. I felt much safer on the bus and walking thank you.

Then Charlie Gandy asked me to join himself, Bernard Serrano and the Cyclone Coaster group, and other bike advocates along with Suja Lowenthal in the Belmont Shore Christmas Parade. Charlie said that Bernard even had a vintage cruiser that I could borrow. And so I finally said yes to the bike, and I've been saying yes to the bike ever since. I wouldn't have gotten here without a lot of help - from Charlie, from Georgia, from Bernard offering that first bike loan, from my family and friends. No, I wouldn't have gotten here without connectivity.

Since then the bike for me has become a tool for connectivity and optimism. When we ride a bike we are visible to the world in a way that we simply aren't in a car. We can be ambassadors for friendliness and courtesy by smiling and waving at neighbors and strangers as we pass by. Or we can plug in our earphones and tune out, each person for him or herself.

Like many, I have been captivated by Brené Brown and her TEDx talk which I've shared above. I found her equally compelling in her conversation with Krista Tippett of OnBeing.org this weekend. I invite you to watch and listen to both. I think you'll be glad you did.

But what, you ask, could a research expert on vulnerability have to say that would be valuable for bicycle advocacy? We already know we're vulnerable out there damn it! What's to discuss? I'd like to humbly put forward nothing short of everything. I feel vulnerability is at the heart of the matter - but it's the white elephant we don't want to face.

Driving makes us feel invulnerable but it's an illusion. Riding a bike for many makes us feel vulnerable but it's an illusion as well. Life is inherently risky. We can take every precaution known to be a safe driver and yet someone driving drunk, or simply running a red light, can wipe away the safety net our skills and our car usually provide within seconds. We can take every precaution known to be a safe driver and yet the very act of choosing to drive over and over again rather than an active form of transportation can lead us (and our children) straight into the unsafe condition of heart disease, diabetes, and other very challenging sedentary diseases.

I don't make these comments to be dramatic, but to invite us to reconsider what makes us feel safe. We do have a choice. If we can go to that uncomfortable place of facing our own vulnerability and question it, it can provide us with rich and rewarding answers that might just save our lives in a myriad of ways we never considered.

For myself personally riding a bike means I feel more connected to where I live and the people I pass as I ride by. It also means that most of my need for daily exercise is taken care of when I run my errands. What does a riding a bike mean personally for you? I'd love to know.

I had the wonderful privilege of being included in an article on CNN's lifestyle blog yesterday called "Pedal perfect: Bikers shed spandex to inspire new riders." Author Emanuella Grinberg did a terrific job giving an overview of the tremendous appeal of fashion and style has as concept rides, and the allure of every day apparel zipping by on eye catching new bikes to engage new riders to bicycling. Included in the article is the growing popularity of "Tweed Rides" which also happen to be featured in the current "Style & Spy" section of the November issue of Town & Country Magazine (alas the image is not posted online!)

As I write this I had an "aha" moment. I've been trading emails for a few months with a woman here in Long Beach who specializes in the historic architecture of our city and giving local citizens a personal history of their own historic home. We've been playing with the idea of doing an "Arts & Crafts" tour of some of the beautiful craftsmen homes of Long Beach this spring. Wouldn't it be fun to tie it together with a Tweed Ride?

At the heart of style and fashion is the allure of aesthetics certainly, but there is also a celebration of life and an appreciation of the inspiration of our natural world. Last month Harper's Bazaar included model Arlenis Sosa dressed in leopard print riding a cream colored Linus Bike as the perfect accessory (click here to see what I'm talking about on the Linus press page). I am bummed I can't find the image online to share with you. Are there those passionate about bicycling who will scoff? Absolutely, there are those dedicated to the bike only being about speed and utility.

But here is what I know about sticking with utility and sport and survival of the fittest in the marketing of the bicycle - that approach will never get those of us who so very much need inexpensive transportation and a healthy practical solution for our daily exercise needs on bikes. And that's the bike's biggest growth audience. In that rich vein there are millions of possible riders, not those who will wear lyrca, but those of us who will never really contemplate lycra at all.

Whether we admit it freely or not we are all seduced in some way by fashion and style, even if it means we will only ever wear utilitarian khaki. Somewhere, somehow we got the idea that khaki spoke the right language for the story of our lives and how we wanted to represent ourselves to the public. Most of us however, like to change our outside image as we change our own inner landscape. This can mean a small step like a scarf in the latest shade for fall, or a big step like radically changing our whole wardrobe after weight loss or decided one day that we need a totally different hair color. Yes, of course I know as I write this I am speaking mostly about women - but that's bicycling's next big growth audience.

This past year a plethora of savvy marketing teams used the bicycle in their advertising pieces to create the image of happy, healthy living including the team at J.C. Penny's as they rebranded to become "JCP." Take a look here at one of their new videos that includes a happy couple walking a bike (thank you!) on a sidewalk. My wish? They all keep at it and step it up even more!

I'm not out at Ciclavia and I'm a little bummed but I'm ok with it. It's a gorgeous day for it, but it's beyond my strength today to ride over to the train, take the train to L.A., and then ride a much longer route than I'm used to in my daily routine. So I'll cheer it on in spirit as I continue to ponder what makes a real bike advocate, and how we can successfully grow bicycle ridership here in the U.S.

I found this TED talk by Amy Cuddy so fascinating, in part because both riding and dance lessons in childhood and my teens have left me an advocate for excellent posture, but mostly because visually she is not who one would suspect of having low self esteem, of feeling like she didn't deserve to be someplace. I encourage you to watch the video all the way through to learn more about her story, and what she and her research team have discovered about how changing your posture can help you feel very differently about yourself.

Most of us have felt sometime in our lives that we don't deserve to be here, haven't we? I know I have. I still feel regret and shame that I never graduated from college. I knew I had the smarts for it, but I couldn't juggle both school and work, which I needed to do in order to be able to afford it. And in the 1980's what I really wanted to go to school for (either art or creative writing) were subjects which my parents approved of, or thought one could really earn much of a living from. They were fine subjects for leisure time, not to really "make it." Of course my parents were teaching me what they knew - what they did not know was that the personal computer would revolutionize the work world, and turn it on its head.

I had advocates at the time, but I didn't realize it, nor did I understand at that time how to recruit support to my cause. My parents ideals reigned supreme. I was scattered and unfocused, wanting to follow my heart but not having the courage to. I stumbled into the opportunity to go to language school in Florence, living with friends of my family, and when I came home I even took a job with a friend of my Mother's boss. I hate the industry. Hated the hour+ drive each way, but because of my parent's approval, my fear of not finding another good "career" sort of job in a down economy, kept me in that industry for eight years.

It wasn't until I was 37 in 2001, divorced, and suffering almost full time with chronic migraines and fatigue that I decided to hang tough with something I really wanted to do - write. I finally decided I had what I called "The Permission Slip from God" and I was going to keep at it. I had almost no energy, I had a couple media clients, but other than that I was only able to work part time and the only jobs I could find were very low paying, I'd maxed out my credit cards trying one last ditch effort of my own little business, I knew sooner or later I'd have to give up my small but lovely apartment in Santa Monica six blocks from the beach, but I had a computer, I had the internet, and I began to blog and become passionate about social media.

I gave up my car in March of 2007. Riding the bus one day I met a lovely young woman Amanda, who I recognized as working at a small restaurant near the flower shop I worked at. She told me that she liked to ride her bike to work but that she'd been hit by a driver who was angry she was on the road and purposefully hit her, and it had really frightened her. She was involved with a local group of bicycle advocates and she invited me to a "bike to work" day event. I had never heard of bicycle advocacy but I had noticed more and more people riding bikes, and I watched them rather longingly thinking of how much fun it must be. But I was worried that with the fatigue I dealt with it would be too challenging, too hard to get the bike up the two flights of steps into my apartment.

By 2008 I'd met Georgia and John Case. Georgia and I began pondering projects we could work on together to get Long Beach into the broader regional good news press. Long Beach was not the media darling it's now becoming, but Georgia knew the city was gearing up to become bike friendly - she and John had brought Enrique Penalosa to Long Beach while he was visiting Los Angeles and the fire had been lit with City Manager Pat West, and Council Member Suja Lowenthal. She encouraged me to get involved. It fascinated me but I felt a little silly because I was afraid of riding a bike again myself. Then in spring of 2009 the Cases had a party to welcome Charlie Gandy. Charlie and I had met at an event the night before that Brian Ulaszewski held and he offered me a ride to the Cases' house.

I told Charlie that this whole bicycle advocacy idea was really compelling to me, that I would love to help from a media promotional angle in any way that I could but that I'd be a strange sort of advocate as a woman afraid to ride a bike again myself. And that's when Charlie rolled out the welcome mat. He told me that I was exactly the right kind of person to get involved - there were far more women out there like me than women already happily riding bikes. It took another six months for Charlie to convince me to get on a bike again. I made my debut in the Belmont Shore Christmas Parade on a borrowed cruiser from Bernard Serrano and Cyclone Coasters.

The majority of the women I meet and talk to about the idea of taking up bicycle ridership, or who have already taken it up, have no idea what bicycle advocacy is either. They have noticied bikes becoming popular again, and most of them think it looks like fun, but many of them are a little afraid just like I was. Some are afraid of traffic, some are afraid of not having the strength and the stamina. And that's all ok. As far as I'm concerned just noticing bikes again is an excellent first step. I'm doing my best personally and with this website to be that welcoming permission slip for them to ask questions, to learn more, to consider renting a bike for an afternoon's ride along the beach, or to perhaps join us this December 1st when we ride in the 30th Annual Belmont Shore Christmas parade.

Part I in a new series of blogs engaging a series of bicycle advocates in a conversation on new ways forward for bicycle advocacy.

I am dismayed by the news that Governor Jerry Brown decided, at what seemed like the very last minute, to veto the 3' bill or SB 1464.  Rather than restate my frustration here right now (as I'm still ruminating and digesting this challenge and formulating ideas for action) I'd like to point readers to this excellent blog by Ted Rogers of Biking in L.A., including the disheartening news that Brown has not responded to the California Bicycle Coalition's repeated attempts to engage him on the issues of bicyclists to find out where the heck his philosophy is even at.

The news of Brown's veto is even more heartbreaking in the aftermath of the deaths of two female bicyclists in Newport Beach from collisions with cars earlier this month. A memorial ride will take place on October 28th - please click here to learn more: http://www.newportbeachmemorialride.com/index.html

How are bicyclists to become a powerful enough voice to create safer conditions not only here in California but in the nation as a whole? By becoming a stronger and more united voice. we have to see the forest for the trees. We need to build our numbers in advocacy so that they include everyone who not only already rides, but who wants to ride.

Yesterday there was a very lively conversation stream on twitter about the different "styles" of bike riding, the pro's and con's of Cycle Chic, and those who were both delighted and dismayed by the New York Times article "To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets" by Elizabeth Rosenthal. I shared this blog into the mix as my hope that being a bit more open minded and less critical could be a way for the female focused bicycle advocacy movement to thrive. Again Ted Rogers came forward today with another excellent blog today called "The terrible tyranny of the two-wheel tribal wear."

What struck me as I read Ted's piece is how unaware we are as humans of our impact on others by how we dress and how we behave. I am pretty sure the majority of men and women who have worked hard on their bodies so they can suit up proudly in lyrca don't do so thinking "boy am I going to make others feel bad today!" Neither does the woman who is delighted she has found a way around the serious financial challenge of ever increasing gas prices by riding a beautiful and comfortable new vintage inspired bike to work. She loves to wear dresses and heels, she loves the idea she can walk out the door dressed for the office, and the 200 blogs of the Cycle Chic movement have empowered her to do so. Her own ride is not so arduous or lengthy that she feels the need to have special gear to address it. She probably gives no thought to the person who rides by her wearing clothing to deal with a longer commute being made to feel "less than" because she has chosen to dress in professional attire.

As a child I was an ardent equestrian. What does that tell you about me? Yep, I was a horse snob. We even had a word for those who were not professionally trained in riding the way we were - river bed riders. I cringe at the thought of how arrogant that sounds now. We were so sure that those who rode their horses only on trail rides somehow loved their horses less, cared less about their well-being.

We humans love to belong to clubs. We love to feel special, on the inside. I have certainly done my share of wanting to feel like a valued member of a special tribe, and because of that desire I have made others feel left out, uninvited. Not intentionally, but it happened. A decade+ of dealing with ill health and financial challenges have helped me to see that perhaps this is a limited approach to living.

In the wake of the veto, and over the past couple of weeks since  the Pro Walk/Pro Bike: Pro Place conference, the first national Women's Bicycling Summit and the Cycle Chic: Past, Present & Future fall fashion show, I have been reflecting and ruminating on just why I've become a bike advocate. Especially as I reflect back on the criticism of both the Women's Summit and our own Cycle Chic show (the harshest criticism was for the fashion show but there was some tough feedback of the summit as well) and think about how to move forward best in my new role on the steering committee for Women Bike. It is a great honor to be asked. So how can I best approach the position? How can I bring my best to the table with women who may have a very different take on the best expression of advocacy than I do? How can I recognize that we all view the world through our own lens, but invite others to step back with me and take a bigger view?

The toughness of some of the critics of the summit and fashion show (apparently giving no allowance for a first time attempt - and why should they really?) reminds me to double check, and perhaps triple check, my own words before they come out of my own mouth when voicing an opinion about another's work in bicycling advocacy. It is so easy to criticize and often so tough to actually successfully "do" something - especially for the very first time.

My own personal take on why I'm in bicycle advocacy boils down to three key reasons: health, safety and equity. We are a nation and a world faced with a completely preventable and completely reversible pandemic with our current sedentary disease challenges (I have been very very surprised that the health of our entire human population is not more in the forefront of bicycle advocacy). Secondly I want our streets to be safe for all citizens whether you're in a car, ride a skateboard, roller skate, ride a bike, walk, run, skip, take transit or a combination of all. Thirdly I want those who cannot drive a car, or choose not to drive a car, NOT to feel less than because of it - but neither do I want to demonize motorists.

(Krista Leaders image of seeing the Share Our Streets wrapped bus. So cool! Both Krista Leaders and Tony Cruz are riders in this image as well as Geraldine Knatz Director of the Port of Los Angeles. I need to find out who the other two riders are - there's a story here. Images had to be reshot so that all of the bicyclists had helmets.)

Indeed, when Georgia Case and I began our work on the multi-media road safety campaign for Bike Long Beach (which became the "Share Our Streets" campaign coming out now) we were advised very strongly not to demonize motorists. The entire campaign has been designed to be extremely friendly and engaging. I must say I was pretty thrilled yesterday when twice I saw a bus pass me on the street that had Share Our Streets messaging on it.

Courtesy counts is one of our key messages for the Share Our Streets campaign, and that is what I am going to do my best to keep putting into play with my own bicycle advocacy outreach.

So here's my question - is it possible to allow a bigger tent for the voices and the opinions of women in bicycling advocacy so we can truly address the needs and wants of women who not only already bicycle, but are interested in bicycling in the future? Is it possible to allow more open minded nuanced conversation without hardening into our opinions and beliefs?

If we don't agree with one and other's approach could we step back and and try and understand where she is coming from rather than attacking first? Is there something we could learn from each other? Could we find the places where we agree and be cordial in our agreeing-to-disagree where we disagree? If we become known as a movement of great diversity yet united in our good will towards getting women and girls on bikes won't we be much much stronger and powerful for it?

I do get that the phrase Cycle Chic is hitting an unhappy nerve for some. From my reading and conversations with fellow bike advocates (female and male) it appears there are those who feel really judged by the chic aspect, that the movement is only interested in the pretty, the young, the new, the modern, or the vintage polished to perfection, and that you'll be looked down upon if you ride an old bike, and don't always dress at your best.

My take on the movement is very different. I see it as a permission slip to be a normal person riding the sort of bike that most appeals to you (and that you can afford) in the clothes you wear to do whatever it is you want to do that day. And from my conversations with Mikael Colville-Andersen that seems to be very much what he means the movement to be about. I came away from spending time with him during the Pro Bike summit an even bigger fan of his work than when I started. 

But, you say, the images on these cycle Chic websites are only of attractive slender people! They often ride in what I think are really uncomfortable looking high heeled shoes! Ok we hear you on your taste - but are these blogs telling you that you HAVE to ride this way as well? Not that I've seen. What excites me about the movement is that it's a movement, a world-wide movement. Can we celebrate that, even if personally we have a different taste for our own bicycle riding and advocacy approach?

Let's set the chic conversation aside now and take a look at the term cycle, or cyclist, shall we? Even Randy Neufeld of SRAM warned of using the term "cyclist" when talking about bicycling when he addressed attendees at the California Bicycle Summit last year. He advised it makes people feel left out. In the U.S. in many people's minds the terms "cycling" and "cyclist" only mean sport riding, and there are many many people who would like to ride a bike that want nothing to do with the sport of cycling (I had no idea the venom that drips from many at the word "lycra" when I first became a bike advocate).

When Georgia and I did our pre-survey for the "Share Our Streets" muti-media road safety campaign we found out that most people who took the survey don't identify themselves as cyclists or bicyclists, they consider themselves "people who like to ride a bike." I have heard that the San Francisco bicycle coalition has come to the same conclusion and is moving to different language, and I would love to speak with the Executive Director and find out if this is true.

For a long time after hearing Randy and finding out our survey results, I went around mentioning this (and even sort of correcting peopel, ack!) to every person I encountered who used the term cycling and cyclist. I've decided to stop doing that. Why? Because it's another way to make someone else in bicycling advocacy wrong in their language and their approach. If I am asked to write an article, blog, give a presentation, or asked outright my thoughts on the subject  I will mention it, the rest of the time I'm going to try and limit my thoughts in this direction on it to this website.

I have become very wary of being a purist in my approach over the past year. Oh sure I'd love hard core female bicycling/cycling advocates to appreciate and/or accept what we're trying to do with Women on Bikes SoCal, but they aren't the audience we're trying to connect and inspire with this website. We want the newbies and the timid. We want the frightened but curious. We're aiming for those who have begun to notice bikes becoming more popular and can imagine themselves cruising to the beach with the wind in their hair, if they can get over their fear of traffic, feeling silly, and getting up the nerve to walk into a bike shop and ask for what they want. We want the women who think they're only riding a bike again because we're offering an excellent wine tour/architectural tour/foodie tour.

When I'm out and about speaking and doing outreach I'm interested in women of all ages who remember the joy of riding as a child but are worried they aren't strong or fit enough to ride - that's where my own personal story of dealing with chronic fatigue and pain has some value. I'm interested in the woman who has never learned to ride and now wants to be able to ride with her children. I'm interested in women, like myself, who have had to give up so much to survive financially and want to feel just fine that a bike and the bus and walking are the ways they can afford to get about now.

How about you?

How very appropos for IBM to launch it's new "Birth of a Trend" online report on 9/19 by focusing on the growth of the Cycle Chic movement! Talk about media relations gold! The timing couldn't have been better - right on the heels of Mikael Colville-Andersen's (the founder of the Cycle Chic movement) role as a keynote speaker at the national Pro Walk/Pro Bike: Pro Place 2012 conference in Long Beach from 9/10-9/13 to the opening of the Intertrend bicycle retail conference on from 9/19 - 9/21 in Las Vegas. The report takes you through the birth of the movement in 2007 through 2012 and shows visually how the trend begins slowly but then blossoms quickly as connection and interest grows.

What the report illustrates so clearly is the power not only of style and fashion to help engage an audience and thereby helps to grow movements, but also how powerful a celebratory and empowering approach is. Cycle Chic isn't about shoulds, instead Mikael has used his creative skills as a photographer and journalist to share in an aesthetically appealing way what is already going on in the bicycle culture of his chosen hometown of Copenhagen, as well as the bicycle friendly culture of the cities he visits around the world. But perhaps his most masterful step was in allowing others to create their own "Cycle Chic' blogs (there are over 200 of them around the world) to illustrate and celebrate the growth of bicycling in their own cities.

On a spur of the moment Charlie Gandy and I decided to rent a car and go to the Interbike trade show in Vegas and catch up with our friends from the Pro Walk/Pro Bike Conference. It was a heady experience. Where Pro Bike had 850+ attendees, Interbike hosted about 30,000. I was most curious about what was going on with the display of city bike lines and what sort of visual presence women would have at the show. On that note I certainly appreciated the Bikes Belong sign above that was obviously paying homage to both the Cycle Chic movement and the positive impact that Momentum Magazine is having on the bicycling movement by making us aware that yes, women are out there riding too - and not just in lycra! I'm very curious to find out who won the $1,000.

Above: a model Tanya shows off a sleek style at the Interbike/Momentum Magazine fashion show, below on another section of the stage signage lets us know who she is and what she's riding/wearing.

I was also very happy to attend one of Momentum Magazine's terrific fashion shows. I so appreciated not only the organization of all of the different forms of riding, but the branding and signage that clearly let everyone know who was riding and wearing what. But I was bummed to see that both the fashion and technical apparel fashion shows happened in a sort of side alcove and were not nearly as well as attended, nor promoted as I imagined they'd be. Now I understand why the Momentum team envied our long wide Long Beach catwalk for our 9/13 Past, Present & Future fashion show!

I can only imagine the work that goes into hosting Interbike and I certainly applaud the superb job that is done, but I do wish that women could be made to feel even more welcome. The fashion shows ran at 10:00 am and noon. I think they should be at 12:30 and say, 4:00 - and they should have a nice long catwalk so that the models can really ride. We had over 300 people at our 9/13 fashion show - I know that Interbike could easily draw 1,000++ if the fashion shows were in the right location and properly promoted (and perhaps they could draw their own sponsorship from companies that normally don't attend Interbike...). The Momentum creative group, the apparel companies, the bike lines and the models that put their heart and soul into the shows certainly deserve this.

My very favorite booth section was something similar to what was done when I was in the gift industry - a section was organized specifically for bike related products hand made in the U.S.  I felt a tremendous sense of pride seeing all of the products that are being manufactured here. I know it's not easy to do. Imagine how powerful it would be if next year Interbike also had a section for companies that specialize in bike lines that appeal to women and/or city bike riding? Certainly there were beautiful booths full of city bikes like Electra Bicycle Company and Nirve, and companies such as Specialized showcased their Globe line, but imagine if there was a whole row/rows of female-family-friendly city bikes at Intertrend?

If we want to attract the number of riders we need in order to fully and successfully address such issues as sedentary diseases, traffic congestion, successful mobility independence and the overall health of our communities, the bike is key. It really is a tool for urban optimism. But we won't attract and engage those needed numbers unless we make both sexes and people of all ages, races and walks of life feel welcome. Frankly we need to take a page from the great style marketers like Coca Cola, Target, Levi's, Kate Spade, Missoni, Banana Republic just to rattle off a few.  There will be no invitation to ride a bike that fits all, but rather many invitations that illustrate how there is a bike and style of riding available for just about everyone.

And here is another important truth that I've learned personally and several women echoed to me back at both Pro Bike and Interbike - the better dressed you are while riding your bike the better people in cars treat you. As advocates this is something we really need to keep in top of mind awareness.