SD Grrrl Fair, Bike Workshop

Ken from Bikes Del Pueblo dropped us a note to let us know about the upcoming San Diego Grrrl Fair. His email had a request that states in part,

San Diego Grrrl Fair 2009
San Diego Grrrl Fair 2009

San Diego Grrrl Fair is a local event set for December that is designed to share skills and knowledge to empower womyn/women and their communities. We're currently looking for anybody who is woman cyclist to head a workshop or discussion on biking, such as sharing their experiences riding or just practical how-to's of biking.

If you are a woman cyclist and would like to head a workshop, please contact Ken at sxeken (at) riseup (dot) net or leave a comment that we can forward to Ken .

Furthermore, the organizers would also like to host an event that reflects the needs of their attendees. They have created a survey to determine what those needs are.


A Plea to Keep Bike Lanes in Birdland/Grantville

eastboundgenesee

At SDNN today, Brian Peterson, president of the Grantville Action Group, makes a plea to retain one of Birdland/Grantville's few bicycle lanes, pointing out that a proposed plan to remove the lane flies in the face of the city's alleged determination to support bicycle infrastructure.

[I]t is important to make bicycling easier, not harder. Yet, even though the city of San Diego’s General Plan speaks of encouraging the bicycle as a viable form of transportation, they are seemingly not doing anything of substance to make it any easier.

The photo above shows the stretch of eastbound Genesee Avenue that passes under the 163, site of the proposed bike lane removal. As is plain from the photo, even the current bike lane seems barely adequate, but it's one of the few bits of bicycle infrastructure in this auto-centric neighborhood. Is this what it's come to? Scrambling to retain the sub-par infrastructure we already have, instead of promoting new and better development?

Read the entire column at SDNN.


This Week in the San Diego Bike Blogosphere

Uh, is it too soon to claim that the time change threw me off and that's why I'm late getting this week's roundup posted? Or am I early? You decide.

Anyhoo, this week:

Do you know about and/or write a blog about bicycling in San Diego? Tell us about it and maybe you'll be famous like these people some day!


Dissecting Media Bias: Keegan Kyle's Subtle Digs on Critical Mass Affect All Bicyclists

I posted last month about Keegan Kyle's (Voice of San Diego) apparently negative impressions of the Critical Mass ride he went on. Some readers didn't find Kyle's take negative, others did. Well, Kyle is at it again, with a short bit about this month's upcoming ride. The headline and teaser this morning on the "This Just In" section on the main Voice page reads:

Watch for Bicyclists Friday Night: Hundreds of riders will hit the streets, break traffic laws, anger some motorists and be the primary duty of a few police officers.

The first problem here is that Kyle doesn't identify Critical Mass specifically. Just reading this, the problem becomes "bicyclists" who have to be watched for, like a hoard of roaming brain-hungry zombies. Get the shotgun Martha, those damn bicyclists are out again. Moving on, the first thing those bicyclists will be doing (after hitting the streets, which is their legal right), will be breaking traffic laws. Then, they'll be angering some motorists. Then, they'll be tying up police officers who might be protecting and serving elsewhere were it not for these nasty bicyclists. Not a word about the statement Critical Mass is trying to make, just the problems it causes. The brief entry that follows is the same.

The monthly cycling event in San Diego called Critical Mass is scheduled -- sort of -- for Friday. No one actually schedules the event, but it's become tradition for hundreds of residents. A cyclist herd rides through the city on the last Friday of every month without regard for its traffic laws or motorists. I reported last month's event and how police accompany the group.

The bicyclist herd moves with no specific leadership and its course changes every month. It starts at the large fountain in Balboa Park after dusk. It travels more than 20 miles, usually, riding through the downtown at some point.

I won't be covering this month's event, but I'd love to know how it goes. I would like to hear from all perspectives -- bicyclists, law enforcement, motorists, etc. Send an e-mail about your experience to keegan.kyle@voiceofsandiego.org. I hope to write a short blog post about reader responses next week.

Let's first point out that referring to the group as a "herd" is immediately dehumanizing and urges readers to disregard the legitimacy of the event and the people involved. This seems particularly dangerous since the afore-mentioned angry drivers may already regard these human protestors merely as roadway obstructions. The focus on disorganization highlights the unpredictable (read: dangerous) behavior of the group. And once again, Kyle emphasizes the disregard of traffic laws and inconveniencing of motorists. It's impossible to deny that these things take place during Critical Mass, but Kyle consistently fails to notice to what end all of this supposed anarchy is put.

Kyle says he wants to hear from bicyclists about the event. I urge all bicyclists to write to Kyle, whether they like Critical Mass or not, and urge him to consider that his words have an impact on the way every bicyclist is viewed in our city. With careless words and confrontational, dehumanizing language, Kyle is fueling the hate of motorists who see me and other bicyclists on the street every day and think "that's one of those Critical Mass assholes, I'm gonna teach 'em a lesson." I never like to ride the morning after Critical Mass because I wonder if some angry driver is going to run me down because he had to wait twenty minutes the night before. Now I'm starting to wonder if riding the day after a Keegan Kyle story comes out is safe either.


From our mailbox: a petition to bring the Amgen Tour of CA back to San Diego

From our mailbox, we have this petition from Amber Connor at aconnor (at) sandiegonorth.com:

We are trying to gather support from the biking community to bring back the Amgen Tour of CA to the San Diego region for 2011.  If you would like to help, please encourage members of your group to comment and show their support on our Facebook Fan Page or use #SDAmgen in their Twitter conservations.  If you would like to organize a bike ride following last year's Amgen Tour of California route up Palomar Mountain, please let me know & I'd be happy to send you a copy of the actual route.  Thanks for all your help!