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Making Provo Weird: The Provo Bicycle Collective
You live in Provo and can’t afford to buy a new bike or pay for repairs at a shop. Maybe you want to learn how to take care of your bike or ride along the streets safely. Maybe you’re considering moving down past the point of the mountain and want to make sure you’ll be taken care of as a cyclist. If you fall into any of these scenarios, allow me to introduce you to a new friend: The Provo Bicycle Collective. … read more
Different Spokes: Year of the Bike
As spring weather wafts across the Salt Lake valley, more cyclists are coming out of the woodwork. An ample array of road bikes, fixies, mountain trudgers and your occasional tricycle have flooded the streets of downtown, affixing a semi-control over lanes stretching from the U to Rose Park. More than anything, I’ve enjoyed zipping around without fear of skidding my too-thin tires into a rogue snowbank. 2013 has been coined “Year of the Bike” by the City, in appreciation of its most sustainable form of transportation, and I was lucky enough to speak with four of the masterminds behind the most recent programs. … read more
Mashin’ and Thrashin’ with FOAD Fixed
I interviewed Sam in 2011 for SLUG—our first FGFS rider profile. Sam was the first of the crew to start riding fixed about seven years ago, when most of them were sophomores in high school. Jackson started the blog on foadfixed.com nearly two years ago as a way to post their edits and connect with the FGFS community outside of Salt Lake, beginning with a video of Evan. That’s when FOAD became official. … read more
Beautiful Godzilla: Take a Look, It’s In a Book
It all began with the Bike Snob NYC blog. I was working as the door girl at Brewvies––which essentially meant I’d stare down my nose at kids my age and demand to see their IDs in between writing college papers––and picked up on reading the latest Bike Snob post during my shift. He was the main influence of this column, obviously, though I only chose “Beautiful Godzilla” as the title because “Feminist Bicycle Rants” was already taken by some anarchists in Brooklyn. … read more
Beautiful Godzilla: Home Sweet Home
Every winter, but especially after a particularly wet one like this year, I promise myself it’ll be my last in Salt Lake. I really love this city––I just can’t handle pedaling or driving through all this extremity-numbing precipitation. What inevitably keeps me here is the fact that I can navigate my way around this godforsaken desert without Siri holding my hand. A city doesn’t become home until you can confidently give a stranger accurate directions to the nearest, local strip club. … read more
Beautiful Godzilla: I Am Not an Athlete
Yes, people, I signed up for OKCupid, the online-dating website. Since I spend a decent amount of time on a bicycle and/or organizing bicycle events (and writing a column about bicycles), that’s obviously something I added to the interests portion of my profile. After getting a handful of messages from “granola” types whose profiles lauded cringe-inducing key words like “hiking,” “climbing,” “camping” and “outdoors,” I realized I was inaccurately marketing myself as athletic. … read more
Cutthroat Racing Fundraiser: Bicycle Dreams Screening @ Brewvies 01.23
Serving as a fundraiser for the fun-focused cycling team, this screening of 2009’s Bicycle Dreams was one of the stops on its resurfaced 2013 tour. … read more
Beautiful Godzila: Down Here, It’s Our Time—It’s Our Time, Down...
A cloud of warm air forces its way through the loose loops of yarn on the crocheted scarf covering my mouth as I pull my bike out of the shed. What doesn’t make it past my mom’s needlework fills in pockets of moist heat around my face, providing a comforting sensation in contrast to the dry freeze that’s stinging my uncovered eyes. I’m wearing enough layers to regret the extra hoodie after the first hill, but if I’d tensed from a single shiver walking out the door, I might’ve changed my mind and stayed in. Besides, the only humans awake at this hour to witness my pit stains and matted hair are busy with someone’s hand up their skirt in the back of a cab. … read more
Beautiful Godzilla: I Don’t Wanna Grow Up
There was a period of time when I was growing up, from about 3 to 11, when bicycles were cool and coveted for something other than their hipster/hippy appeal. From my first purple-tassled princess bike with glittery training wheels, to that shiny green 10-speed with thick, black tires, few things could give me greater joy upon entering the garage on Christmas day––except maybe not to walk in on my uncle with my mom’s old breast pump. So, what is it about bikes that’s so cool at that age? My theory has to do with the silver screen. … read more
Beautiful Godzilla: I Don’t Wanna Grow Up
Bicycles became this representation of youth and freedom from authority that seemed impossible to attain when I was a dependent little kid––and I think that’s what brings some of us back as adults. … read more