"Women+ are not small men!" -Dr. Stacy Sims
"Women are built for child bearing. We have 6-11% more body fat and we burn more body fat during exercise. We have more slow twitch fibers and we rely on carbohydrates as fuel.

"The primary hormones that fluctuate during our cycle of estrogen and progesterone. Estrogen increases fat utilization.
Progesterone delays our sweat response and increases our core temperature causing hot flashes inflammation. It also promoted muscle break down. This is why diets fail women more than men and certain foods can make you feel great one day and bloated another. Our hormones do all this seemingly harmful damage in the name of reproduction and species survival!"
"It's time to start thanking our hormones, stop blaming them, and work with them to achieve our fullest potential whether you're a commuter, recreational rider or elite athlete."

What is Girlz Gone Riding?
•Mission: To get more women mountain biking and ensure they have a great experience every  time
•Vision: To be the example for other women’s clubs across the globe. To inspire women to enjoy the adventure and bring their girlfriends along

This group's goal is to ensure every GGR ride is a good experience for all participants. They hold ride volunteer workshops and certify each ride volunteer to be able to lead, sweep or float a ride

Since this is a pretty divisive topic the first thing that I will ask from you is respect.
Respect towards others opinions and postures, there is no dialogue if we all think we are right beforehand so the second thing that I will ask from you is to keep an open mind, I won’t tell you what to think or what your personal conclusion should be at the end of this conversation, but I will ask that you give the chance to other points of view to spark at least a little curiosity to encourage a more constructive and positive discussion.

I will also give you a spoiler alert, I personally support Trans women in sports, and you might think that this obvious because I’m a transgender woman and I also practice sports, but you should know that it wasn’t always this way, When I first started my transition in 2010 I was a basketball player.  I was convinced that my days in competitive sports were over and that at 28 Years of age I would never set foot on a basketball court again. (Back then, cycling was only a means of transportation for me.)

A few months ago, before COVID-19 was a really really big deal, I was in New Zealand, riding bikes. A friend of mine was taking part in Love to Ride's Aotearoa Challenge. I had forgotten about Love to Ride for 2 years and suddenly there it was in my life, in New Zealand. 

Love to Ride is an online platform where you can log bike rides, get points for pedaling and win prizes. Pretty wonderful right? I actually only took part the first time because the grant prize was a free trip to New Zealand and I figured, I bike a lot anyway, I bet I have a shot at winning...

Spoiler alert, I didn't win. I had to pay for that recent trip to New Zealand. HOWEVER, Love to Ride changed how I think about biking. They use this behavior change approach to biking which is really effective. I had a friend who rarely rode bikes and she joined the challenge because I convinced her to just sign up and see how it went. Well she ended up getting a better bike, and getting into bike commuter and nothing about that shift had to do with me. The constant positive feedback that you get just by doing short, slow rides around town was really encouraging. 
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So anyways, Love to Ride seemed to really work. It turned non-bikers into bike lovers. So I wrote an email that same day, contacted the folks at Love to Ride and said, let's do this in San Diego. Well 2 months later we're about to launch a 25-day bike challenge in San Diego, amid the COVID-19 crisis and I couldn't be more thrilled for this adventure. You can participate inside on a bike trainer. You can participate by taking solo rides around your block, or you can get out and go on bigger blood pumping tours if you're in a safe place to do so. 

We're living in this strange time where suddenly we have no place to go, pollution is decreasing, car traffic has eased and biking is a beautiful option! What a better way to support those new bikers than giving them a great reason to bike...positive feedback and the chance to win prizes. 

Well I inserted some Vie Cycle into the event and yes, we're doing a full 5 days of WTF focused prize drawings. So if you're a WTF biker, get on your bike horse and ride any time between May 25th and 29th. Everyday there's a different prize to win. 
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Here's a sneaky peak....

I recently taught a workshop at Bike!Bike! Tijuana. If you've never heard of Bike!Bike! that's cool. It's only a world wide annual conference for bike lovers, and in particular people who volunteer at bike collectives. The scene is usually packed with bike punks, anarchists, nomads, bike messengers, wrenches, advocates, organizers, you know...people who do it for the love of bikes and not for money. 

If you're just here for the Multiple Intelligences zine, that's fine. CLICK READ MORE and you'll find it at the bottom of the next page. 

I played a part in organizing the event by collecting bikes, hosting bike repair parties and organizing rides to Tijuana. The day before the start of the conference I met with 30 folks from around the world (Chile, Montreal, Wisconsin...) and we took a leisurely  sunset ride to Mexico. 
Oh wait, I'm supposed to be writing about Multiple Intelligences again, right. 
Well, I'm getting there. I just thought you wanted a little lead in. 
Ok, Bike!Bike! day one. That's what this post is about. I led a two hour workshop on something that I care deeply about and I want to share it with you!

I was out on a bike ride today and thinking about the ways that people in cars pass me. On multi-lane city streets, a lot of drivers understand that it is safer for everyone if they switch lanes to go around me and then return to my lane after they've made some space between us. Sometimes on single lane road, motorists get fed up with driving my speed and they zoom around me without leaving much room between us. This is especially fun in places with stop lights, because those lights are usually timed to accommodate a slower speed limit. So when I'm riding at about 14mph, I should be able to get most of the green lights if I time it right. Whereas motorists who get annoyed by driving my speed will floor it past me, stop and wait at a light (until I catch up and pass them) and then floor it past me again. Rinse and repeat. 
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So here's my solution for people in cars who pass too close...
I give you the, "Give me 3 feet or get keyed!"

It's a prototype, so I'm open to feedback...

Recycling and reducing waste is part of Vie Cycle's mission. Turns out there are a million and one ways to reuse busted bike tubes. Shoe laces!?! That's what's up and for real, they are the best thing. Every time I put my shoe on I'm like, "woah! this is such an enjoyable experience!" Maybe you feel that way anyway about shoes. I didn't. I hate having to untie, loosen laces, scrunch in my foot and then tighten up and tie my shoes every time I leave the house. 

Bike tubes just made my Vans into slip on shoes that get instantly tight when my foot is in them.

Got chipped paint on your bike?
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All you need is touch up paint and here's how to get it!

You can visit a bike shop, request paint from the brand manufacturer or you can USE NAIL POLISH!

For the nail polish option, you just need a few unpainted finger nails and a beauty supply store. 

2011: The year of the thesis.
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I was at Pitzer College, living in a house off-campus with five of my friends and most of us had elected to write a senior thesis to fulfill our graduation requirement. A house of six people with six distinct majors meant that hypothesizing and philosophizing abounded in our living room. It would have been hard to not learn from each other in this setting. 
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My thesis was about the role of women in bicycle cooperatives and I like to think that all of my housemates developed a love for bikes because of my influence, but this post isn’t about that. This is about the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, the subject of my housemate Bennett’s thesis.