We just want to thank Burley Design, makers of high-quality bike trailers, for their generous in-kind donation. Burley’s donation enabled us to stretch the grant money from New Belgium to purchase two more trailers than we were planning on buying. We purchased four Flatbed bike trailers, and we are busy getting the tools and supplies to equip them. We cannot wait to start pedaling (not merely peddling 
a message of sustainable transportation, empowerment and building healthier communities!
Author: P2P
P2P Fundraiser Dinner Menu
We just got word from chef Char Zyskowski on the menu for our July 26th fundraiser dinner. Dinner includes beer or wine and will be served at 4 pm. $45 if you walk, bike or carpool to the south hill garden location–near 42nd Ave and Perry St. Payment due when you register.
Email Liza at pedals2people@gmail.com if your taste buds are watering and you want to reserve your spot. Here it is, YUM!
Mexican
Fiesta
One of my
favorite cuisines….full of flavor, spice and color.
Upon Entering….
Sampling
Plate
Crunchy
Corn Chips with Gucamole & Pico de Gallo Salsa
Chile Rellenos
Apple Charlotte’s
chile rellenos are made fresh from California green chiles, stuffed
and finished
in an authentic egg batter. Sauced in a light
tomato and
broth sauce….delicious.
Chile Verde
& Cheese Enchiladas
We make
them right in our kitchen, sauce and everything. You will love
them!!
Mexican
Beans
Made the
authentic way….from scratch and fabulous.
Maria’s
Panque
A fabulous
Mexican Apple Cake….what a way to end your Mexican Fiesta!
Bike to Work (or Where ever) Wednesday
Today was a lot of fun–a double dose of bike cheer with two great events: Walk n’ Roll to School Day and an Energizer Station for commuters.
Plum Tree School helped with both of these events. For Walk n’ Roll to School Day, we worked with Plum Tree teachers earlier this month to promote biking as a fun, Earth-friendly, and empowering mode of transportation. PT teachers got the kids focused and excited to participate today in the walking and rolling, and nearly everyone made it to school by foot or by wheel! Check out John’s pics.
We cheered for folks as they arrived or passed us on their way to work. One woman even stopped on the way home FROM her work at Sacred Heart. We’re glad she rode up the hill and stopped for coffee and treats. Total number of participants = 20 riders and 6 walkers–a great turn out!
Only two more days of BTW left, so get out there and ride!
Reminder–Watch the Paris-Roubaix with us!
P2P is partnering with the Steam Plant Grill to host our annual Paris-Roubaix fundraiser this Sunday. We love watching this spring race with friends and fellow cyclists. Good eats, Couer d’Alene Brewing Co. beers, and one-of-a-kind location make this a great venue for the race. Paris-Roubaix is one of the oldest professional cycling races. 260 kilometers of muddy, cobblestoned road winding through northern France keeps racers poised for sharp cornering and tricky maneuvering. How can you resist the excitement and a jump start to your spring cycling?
Come watch the race with us–the party starts at 1 pm, and Paris-Roubaix coverage on all tv’s starts at 2 pm. $2
suggested donation to P2P; Steam Plant Grill will make a donation to
Pedals2People for each pint of beer or entrée. All ages welcome.
Bike Summit Tomorrow
Tomorrow marks Spokane’s first ever bike summit. All bike groups, shops, co-ops, touring companies, and two media groups will convene at the Steam Plant Friday for the event. Folks will meet or get reacquainted with eachother. We’ll have the opportunity to tell our stories. We’ll have plenty of time to listen to eachother and ask questions. Thanks to the Bicycle Advisory Board for bringing all of us together. Hopefully the effects of the energy you put into this event will ripple throughout the community.
South Hill DIY garage open in January
We’ll try Weds nights this month. 6-8 pm at the garage.
More info about the garage on our Projects page.
We're a 501(c)(3) charitable organization
On Thursday, we got the big letter from the IRS:
Dear Applicant:
We are pleased to inform you that upon review of your application for tax exempt status we have determined that you are exempt from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contribut6ions to you are detutible under section 170 of the Code. You are also qualified to receive tax deductible bequests, devises, transfers or gifts under section 2055, 2106 or 2522 of the Code…
This is a huge milestone for our organization and comes at a good time as we look to focus on our planning and growth for the coming year.
Cheers!
Changes to Shop Hours
Some changes are afoot at the garage.
Our regular hours will be changing for the Fall/Winter. Instead of regular Monday/Weds nights, we’ll be doing sort of ad hoc garage hours based on volunteer availability.
To find out when we’re open, consult our event calendar. Our goal is to update the calendar a couple weeks out. We’re just getting October figured out now, so there’s nothing there. But keep an eye on it; we’ll be adding some slots over the next week or so.
Come next spring, hopefully we’ll be able to do our Monday/Weds again and maybe a weekend day. And with some luck we’ll have another space closer to the flat part of town.
This is a community bike resource, so it relies 100% on community volunteers to run. We need trustworthy, smart, happy volunteers to help run this thing. If you’re interested, email Liza at pedals2people at gmail.com
On a related note: if you go to the garage to work on a bike, you should expect to learn. None of the volunteers that staff our garage are experts. We’re all hacks — well, except for Liza — , but we’re all passionate about bikes,community,and working together. If you want expertise: go to a bike shop. If you want to learn and teach: come to our community shop.
More info on our community shop on our Projects page.
A really great ride
This morning I had a great ride to work. Nothing fancy, no crazy tricks, no landing jumps, no racing cars up hill, no in depth discussions with auto drivers about why I should or shouldn’t be riding on the sidewalk. Just a great, quiet ride with sprinkling rain. I don’t have fenders because lately they make me crash, so I got dirty – that part was also great. The weather was perfect, the gray sky was beautiful and it felt so good to be riding my bike. i love my bike. i guess this is a romantic, sappy post about nothing really, but i had to tell someone. I guess I had a honeymoon moment this morning. I have been commuting pretty religiously for awhile now but still feel like I am not yet a “hardcore commuter” (whatever that means) so I guess I ride around trying to be real serious most of the time – you know paying close attention to every side street, pothole, pedestrian – all those important things. But this morning on my ride,I mostly just thought. Thought about things and about the road and the rain,and whatever – it was great! I got to work completely relaxed and happy – hopefully I can carry this throught the rest of the day. Does anyone else have amazing regular ole rides like this?
Garage Guidelines
Right now our P2P space is a donated garage in a residential neighborhood. At some point, we’d like to have a space closer to downtown in a more retail/commercial type area. We’re grateful for our space right now and we want to keep it.
Location
Our space is a garage is in the alley behind the house at 4218 S Garfield.
Please do not disturb the owners of the home, you can find us in the alley between Garfield and Scott streets and between 43rd and 42nd ave. Generally, we’re open to the public on Mon/Weds nights from 6-9pm. Check our event calendar to make sure we’ll be there.
Summer Garage Schedule
Summer is busier than other months, so to make sure we’re getting our work done as well as providing a DIY space, here’s how we will be scheduling garage time for the summer:
-
Donations welcome 6-8:30, Mondays and Wednesdays
- Volunteer work from 6-7:30; no DIY’ers during this time please
- DIY bike time and tool use from 7:30 – 8:30
- Clean- up 8:45-9
Dropping In
We love having drop-in volunteers. If you come up to the garage unannounced (“drop ins”), you must be either volunteering or coming to do DIY work on your bike. At the space we have right now, we can’t have general hanging around. If you drive, find a place outside the alley to park.
DIY Info
There are two kinds of DIY’ers.
#1 DIY space/tool renter: If you are doing a project that requires a bike stand and more than basic tools, then please consider paying for the space/tools.
DIY Space and tool rental $10/hour, 1/2 hour minimum. This gets you a stand and access to the master work bench and generally the assistance of a volunteer mechanic. We typically only have one or two stands open at a time. If we get too many DIYers we’ll start scheduling folks in. Only paying DIY’ers can have unfettered access to the master tool bench.
#2 Drop-in fixes: For minor fixes (flats,tweaks,tightens, adjustments, etc), it’s a voluntary donation kind of deal.
Drop-in’s work on bikes outside the garage without a stand. For tools, you can borrow one “stripping bucket” of tools to use. The stripping bucket contains some basic tools (hex wrenches, screw drivers, crescent wrenches, etc) that can fix basic bike issues. If you’re a drop-in fixing up your bike, please do not help yourself to master work bench tools or any parts in the garage without assistance from a mechanic volunteer. If you’re able, consider donating some small amount for the use of the tools and garage resources.
Our goal is to get you riding your bike, not to squeeze every penny out of you, but really: there’s no such thing as a free lunch. We take trades of all kinds and volunteer time as payment too.
Buying Stuff – Used Parts – New Parts
Buying stuff: the garage is not really set up for retail sales. Generally, we encourage folks with means to go to a local bike shop and buy stuff. However, we also think it’s important to recycle and reuse where ever possible, so we like to sell our used parts/components to industrious people. We sell a few new things (cables and housing mainly) — but only if you’re doing a bike build. We do not sell new parts/components for below retail cost.
You can come and buy stuff, but you can’t dig/browse/etc unattended. Also, people looking to buy stuff are the last priority behind donation drop offs, volunteer management, etc. When a volunteer has time, the volunteer can go through stuff with the person looking to buy stuff. The garage is too small to have people wandering through and browsing while we try to work.
The best way to get parts when it’s busy (spring/summer) is to send email to pedals2people@gmail.com and send us a list. We can help you and maybe get a pile going for you before you get there.
A basic price list is here.
Garage Lead
All garage nights will have a Garage Lead. This person is in charge of keeping the flow going and making sure all volunteers are busy, donation drop offs are tended to, and any special events are squared away. The Garage Lead handles the money and makes sure everything is properly locked at the end of the night. The Garage Lead also must fill out the Wrap-Up sheet at the end of the night.