If you have stuff to sell, you have to register.  Register by January 31st!

Have you scored anything sweet in the past?  Are you going to look for something specific?

1:20 video poem from People For Bikes, “If I Ride.”

“…and I won’t be a boy, or a girl, I’ll just be ‘a rider.’”

“If I ride, I will be strong.  I will change tires myself.”

Holy mackerel!  -9, with 15 mph winds, -33 deg. windchill?

Frost on my lashes, and yes, I am smiling!

No problem.

Before I tell you about my unusual morning commute, I want to start by saying that I am not a bad ass.  I am a normal person that sometimes does bad ass things.  And you can too!

I suited up for the weather, intending on riding 3 miles downtown, catching the express bus into St. Paul, and then riding a few blocks to my building.  This is how I get to work on really cold days.

If you are curious, I was wearing…

• Helmet, fleece headband, wool cap with a bill
• Piece of wool tied around my face (cut out of a sweater), fleece necktube thing
• Thin wool liner gloves, heavy leather chopper mittens
• Two light wool base layers, heavy snowboarding jacket
• Fleece Terry cycling tights, rain pants
• Very thin wool liner socks, heavy wool socks, serious winter boots
• I also smear on a heavy face cream on to help protect my skin from getting chapped by the wind!

I was perfectly dressed for the short ride to my bus stop, for waiting around for 5-10 minutes, then hopping on a bus while stripping layers, venting, etc., and then zipping myself back up for the short roll to the office.

HOWEVER, fate did not want me to ride the bus today.  After a few buses passed me by because the racks were frozen*, I got fed up with waiting and my fingers were starting to get cold.  So I biked to work.

My fingers warmed up while I rode.  I had one too many layers on my head, I had to pull open my jacket zip a little because my neck was too hot, and my hands got a little sweaty.  The only part of me that got chilly was my rear end, and my toes got pretty cold in the last few miles.  Overall, a success!

Riding to work in the cold is something lots of people do, all winter long.  Why was this ride any different?  TELL US WHY WE SHOULD CARE, LOW!

This occasion is momentous and post-worthy because this is the first time I’ve ridden my entire commute in this kind of weather!  Yay for me!  If you had suggested I do my commute in -33 deg. windchill I would have laughed in your face had I not just accomplished it, powered by donuts and Nutella.

This post is a reminder that YOU CAN DO IT.  You are an ordinary person capable of super bad ass things!  And this is also a reminder to celebrate your achievements.  Maybe you’re not ready to bike through the winter, that’s okay.  Celebrate the coldest day you’ve ridden, the time you rode into that gnarly headwind, or made it all the way up Marshall hill without feeling like you were going to vomit, because there are always going to be people that bike farther, faster and in colder weather than you.  So celebrate those personal victories!

*I’m not breaking up with public transportation, we just had a rough day.  I have been meaning to contact MetroTransit about the bus rack problem though.  They wash the buses off in the morning, the water freezes in the mechanism, and no amount of hand strength or banging on the damn thing with your U-lock will get it unstuck.  Surely there must be a better way.  It is policy that bus drivers are allowed to let you on the bus, with your bike, at their discretion.  I try not to bully them if they say no.  If I get attitude I take down their driver number and call MetroTransit.  Their customer service department is excellent, in my experience.

Wheel Sexy will be a fun, community cabaret featuring performers of  all sexes, orientations, “frame types” (bicycle AND body) and levels of bicycling experience.   By “bicycling body,” we mean both the individual bodies that transport us and the community of bicyclists that sustains us. We’ll use elements of burlesque, comedy, dance and live music to construct a cabaret with a bicycle theme.

To recap: Bikes. Badass people. Music. Celebration!

Come check out the show at the Bryant Lake Bowl  March 1st, 9th, & 10th @ 10PM.

Want to be involved without being onstage?  Great!  We are looking for people to help with everything from costume design to bicycle maintenance to guerrilla advertising.  Email us at wheelsexy@gmail.com with any questions or ideas you have about how you want to be a part of this kickass show.

Want to get involved?  Me too!  I will be attending a meeting at the Minnehaha Free Space this Saturday, from 11AM-1PM:

Come to hear about our ideas and share your own! We’ll start with a roundtable discussion, and maybe even get in gear and do a little movin’ to jumpstart some ideas for the show.

Want to be involved without being onstage?  Great!  We are looking for people to help with everything from costume design to bicycle maintenance to guerrilla advertising.  Email us at wheelsexy@gmail.com with any questions or ideas you have about how you want to be a part of this kickass show.

If you like to plan ahead, there are a few more dates you should know about:

Bring in any ideas you developed at “Chain of Though”, or just  show up if you’ve got a performance piece ready to roll. You’ll be paired with one of our directors, who will help you develop your piece for the show!

Come to the Minnehaha Free Space to either Monday January 16th @ 6PM, or Tuesday January 17th @ 6PM.

Throughout February, we’ll be rehearsing on our own and meeting up weekly as a group to share our stuff!

My favorite bits are, “Keen, intelligent mind,” “Powerful thighs,” and “Wool saves lives!”

This image was created by Kurt Seaberg.  ”It is meant to encourage winter biking in Minnesota.  See you at the ice shanties!”

The Art Shanties open this weekend on Medicine Lake.  Check out the ICE-Cycles Shanty!

Over the years we’ve talked about bikes quite a bit, including gender issues within the bike world.  We recently have started a “blogversation” called, “WTF and “the cyclist:” dialogue about identity and definitions,” that she posted up on her blog.

We’re talking about…

Is “woman” or “female” a more inclusive term for identity?

How do you define “cyclist,” and are there reasons why people would choose not to self-identify as a cyclist?

If you’re interested, please read through and chime in.  Ideally, this will be a conversation with all of you, and not just between Mel and me.

7-9PM at Recovery Bike Shop, 2555 Central Ave NE

This monthly Grease Rag event is usually facilitated by Charlotte.  At 7pm she leads an instructional hour on a different component or maintenance task, and the remaining hour she facilitates an open shop.  I (Low) will be attempting to fill Charlotte’s shoes this month, and I’m going to do a demo on how to clean and preserve your winter bike.  So bring those dirrrty grrrls in!

Those of you that I’ve seen at the Uptown Grease Rag and Sunrise Cyclery have noticed that the nights are slower paced and there are more people available to help you with your bike.  The benefits of the “off-season!”*  Think ahead and do major work now, when we aren’t so busy.

*We really need a better term for the cold-season.  Because a lot of us don’t take time “off” from biking!

CALL FOR ENTRIES: That’s right, we are now accepting artist submissions for our 2012 show. We have a roster of 35 Twin Cities artists to fill with newcomers and repeat offenders alike. To be considered for the show, send three digital samples of previous work (URLs, JPGs, PDFs, etc.) to us via email. The Call for Entries will close on Saturday, January 21.

Please check back for updates, and follow ARTCRANK on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news.

There were stories from Kat Fowler at Thank You For Seeing Me, Loretta Trevino (Seattle) and Leah Preble wrote about Babes in Bikeland, Anna Dorenboos wrote about RAGBRAI, and Letta Page wrote about her first century!  Great stories, definitely worth a read.

I really wanted to submit a story, but I honestly could not narrow it down to just one in time for the deadline!  If you had to pick just ONE… what is your best bike story of 2011?

I had some fun bike camping, I had some fun racing, I had some fun just riding around.  But as far as unique bike experiences go… I played bike polo for the first time with Kat, Greta, and a bunch of YOU!

13 of you showed up to try this crazy sport out.  Greta and Kat instructed us, we scrimmaged, there were zero fatalities.  The polo players lent us their equipment and bikes and told us to go crazy.  And we did.  <3

Wrench with us at Sunrise Cyclery (901 W. Lake St. at Bryant Ave.) 7-9PM.

Grease Rag NE will be January 10th.

Grease Rag wants you to know…

Know your Bike Lane Markings, check out this kindred WTF/ LTS night in New Orleans, tell us about your goals for 2012.

STICKERS are here and at Sunrise for a suggested donation of $1!  Get ‘em while they’re hot.

greaseragmpls@gmail.com
@greaseragmpls
Facebook group
Flickr group