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?

Free Bike Tune-Up at the South Perry Street Fair

i saw an old friend, lisa, at the free tune-up event today. she was with her family at the fair. zoe showed me her balloon doggie. lisa came over to say hi, and asked if i always worked. the last time we saw each other was when she stopped by where i work to ask about a new bike. she was smiling when she asked me this question, and i smiled when i responded, “this isn’t work. this is fun!”

ask any of the P2P volunteers that were there today, and they’ll tell you the same thing: we had a ball! it’s exhausting, rewarding, satisfying, and totally enjoyable to do a tune-up event. but a lot like when you cook a yummy meal for your friends. you feel happy providing something homemade that brings people together and nurtures the soul. i feel the same way about these tune-up events. we provide something good, but we get so much happiness in return. beth, mike,john,ken, ben, jace and klay worked so smoothly together today. it was awesome being a part of it all.

The Shop hosted us at their spot from 10-2, just like they did last year. Thanks guys for the awning, the bottomless container of cold water, and the huge chunk of space in your parking lot. don’t forget to check out the summer movies at the Shop this summer. Top Gun shows tonight at dusk! http://www.theshop.bz/

P2P Fundraiser a Huge Success!

We couldn’t have asked for a better fundraising event! What fun with awesome food and great company!

Char Zyskowski and Karen Copeland of Apple Charlotte Cooking and Catering Co. donated their time and super cheffing skills to cook the best cajun spiced meal ever. Former Apple Charlotte graduate students also helped with the food preparation. The muffeletta knocked our socks off! Yummy grilled veggies, freshly-baked chiabatta, salty olive tapenade and melted jack cheese sealed the signature New Orleans sandwich. Each bite was the perfect combination of salty/sweet, soft and crunchy. Apple Charlotte also prepared red beans and rice, jambalaya, cornbread, chocolate bourbon cake and sweetened ice tea for over 30 people. WOW! Odem Corps donated wine for the event. Conbined with pefect summer weather and relaxed outdoor dining, we felt like the luckiest bunch of cyclists on the planet :,,)

The ticket sales brought in the money we needed to pay for our legal fees. Now, pedals2people is sending our 501c3 packet off to the federal government. we’ll be one step closer to building a community cycling center.

Thanks so much to everyone who attended and participated. you made our whole year!

Fundraiser Success!

We couldn’t have asked for a better fundraising event! What fun with awesome food and great company!

Char Zyskowski and Karen Copeland of Apple Charlotte Cooking and Catering Co. donated their time and super cheffing skills to cook the best cajun spiced meal ever. Former Apple Charlotte graduate students also helped with the food preparation. The muffeletta knocked our socks off! Yummy veggies grilled to perfection, freshly-baked chiabatta, salty olive tapenade and melted jack cheese sealed the deal. Each bite was the perfect combination of salty/sweet, soft and crunchy. Apple Charlotte also prepared red beans and rice, jambalaya, cornbread, chocolate bourbon cake and sweetened ice tea for over 30 people. WOW! Odem Corps donated wine for the event. Conbined with pefect summer weather and relaxed outdoor dining, we felt like the luckiest bunch of bike freaks on the planet :,,)

The ticket sales brought in the money to pay for our legal fees. Now, pedals2people will send the 501c3 packet off to the federal government, and we’ll be on our way!

Thanks so much to everyone who attended, participated, and donated you

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.

Pride Parade 2008

Thank you to everyone who Joined us for Spokane Pride this year. We all had a really great time. The turn out for the event was amazing. It was reported to have doubled since last year! Pedals 2 People won 2nd place for our entry in the Parade this year….$50 prize. Great job Bikers!

Here is a link to a video with some of the photos (most of which were taken by Beth…thank you): http://s301.photobucket.com/albums/nn61/Pedals2P/?action=view&current=P2Pvideo.flv

OutSpokane Pride Parade: June 14th

This parade is special for P2P. This parade was sort of our official outing as an organization last year. I’m pretty sure it was our first official P2P event. And it was a huge success. I think we had about 25 cyclists show up get gussied up and ride. It’s a fun event.

You don’t have to be gay, lesbian, bi, transgendered to ride. I waxed philosophic on this event a while back.

We really want to blow the roof off the sucka this year with participation. I think doubling the number to 50 cyclists would be a huge success, but what if we could get 100?

Here’s how it works:

June 14th, Saturday.

9:00 AM: show up in the Civic Theater (Howard and Dean — across from the arena) parking lot to decorate your bike. You MUST bring some decorations to share with others. This is what makes it work. Crepe paper, streamers, colorful fabrics, whatever. Just find stuff in your house that’s colorful and can be taped and zip-tied to a bike. Tape, zip ties, and pipe cleaners are handy too.

10:30 AM: we move, en mass,through Riverfront Park,to the staging area on Post. Or Wall.

11-12: hang out and enjoy the entertainment. My favorite part of the parade last year was the hanging around before it started. There’s a ton of activity and craziness.

12: do the parade. Bring some candy or other goodies to toss out to the kids.

Speaking of kids: this is a family event.

Pictures of Pedals2People at last year’s OutSpokane parade.

Bike To Work Week

It’s BTW week. This morning’s breakfast in Riverfront Park was a huge success. At least 200 people on a cold, damp morning. As soon as we figure out what’s going on with pictures on our blog here, we’ll get some photos up.

Upcoming P2P BTW events:

— P2Pers will be roaming the streets looking for bike commuters. We’ll have a Bumble Bar to give away to each person we meet. And if they need minor adjustment/air or whatver, we’ll try to help.

Weds night at REI. 7pm. Dave Peckham, from Village Bike Project, will be showing a free screening of Ayamye. We’ll have a trailer there to take donated bikes.

— Friday afternoon: 4:30-6:30 — Steam Plant BTW wrap up party. P2P will not have an official deal at this event, but we’ll all be there enjoying a local beer from CdA brewing co.

Dig the new site

Thanks to Kathrine Horecny, a grad student at EWU for a great design and implementation of the new P2P website. It looks great. When you get work for free, you take what you can get when you can get it. In this case however, Kathrine delivered and delivered quickly. We’re so thrilled with the site. Thanks again Kathrine. And thanks to professors Mindy Breen and Anthony Flinn out at EWU for getting the P2P website project in the pipeline and helping us out.

An important part of the project was the blog integration work, so that the frist 250 characters of each blog post shows up on the home page and on the “blog” page of the site. This work was done by my friend Alex Wetmore, whose selfless generosity truly knows no bounds. He also hosts the Pedals2People site and blog, CyclingSpokane forum, and JohnDogFood.com on a server in his basement for me…not to mention bikelist.org, and many other sites. He does this all for free.

P2P Upcoming Events

tomorrow, it’ll be May and that means bike to work (BTW) month–whoo-hoo!

in celebration of bikes, and commuting, and springtime, and all things right and good in this world (getting a little carried away i guess), we’re taking part in some cool events.

  • Monday, May 12th, 7-9 am: P2P will be in riverfront park near the carousel helping to fix bikes for BTW commuters. there will also be a pancake breakfast, so come get some fuel, and then ride to work.
  • Wednesday, May 14th, 7pm: REI will be host a ffree showing of Ayamye,the Village Bicycle Project’s powerful documentary about their efforts to bring affordable,reliable transportation to people in ghana, africa. David Peckham will be there to answer questions and discuss his experiences in ghana. please come to the showing upstairs in the clinic room. 1125 N Monroe.
  • Wednesday, May 14th, 6:30-8:30pm: we will be collecting bikes for the Village Bicycle Project, if you have an old bike collecting dust somewhere, please bring it REI on May 14th so it can go to a good home. we’re only accepting adult bikes in repairable condition. here’s some info on acceptable bikes.