I can’t really remember when I first learned how to ride a bike. I do remember my childhood bicycle, a pink one with a white basket with a flower. I also have fond memories of racing down a very very steep driveway and hitting a neighbor’s big giant plant. I learned that my handlebar breaks did not work very well and that I needed to peddle backwards to stop, which is kind of difficult when you are careening forward. But of course I kept riding.

One sad day, my parents gave away my bicycle—
and my brother’s as well. He received one before going off to college—and another when it was stolen (presumably because he forgot to lock it up.) I had to buy my own bicycle when I was in college, and I want reparations! Luckily, some really cool people jumped in and helped me. One was this amazing guy named T.C. O’Rourke. T.C. had the coolest bike ever, but that wouldn’t stop him from staring at every single one he saw. He called himself a bikesexual. He took me to this awesome Chicago bike shop and helped me pick out a lovely green bicycle. He knew exactly what to ask for and look for and somehow he scored it for me for under $100. The staff at Urban Bikes are also bike heroes of mine—they actually gave me a ride home (about an hour away) when I couldn’t, for some reason, take my bike on Metra. I think the program started the very next day. And Dave Glowacz turned me on to an amazing book of his, Urban Biker Tips and Tricks. It had everything I needed to know and then some on cycling in the city. I believe he also worked for the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation—a really awesome organization, although they made a huge mistake in not hiring me to work for them back in 2002.

But it was women in particular that helped me feel most comfortable riding a bike. Keetah Simonds, one of my college buddies (and later a housemate at our brief stint in Oxford) would ride her bike all the way from Waukegan to Chicago and back. How inspirational is that?! In addition, she also knew how to use bike tools and introduced me to the Alien ™. Then there was Gin Kilgore, a huge advocate for female cyclists. Gin always had the best bike clothes and tips for everything from basic maintenance to riding in the winter. I eagerly took notes whenever she spoke. And Jennifer (who was living in Cork, Ireland last I heard) actually took me riding to work for the very first time. I knew how to ride in the city but just needed someone to go with me once before I felt completely comfortable, and she gladly accommodated. Because of these fine women, I basked in the joy and freedom that is cycling. I even ended up going carless for an entire year and relying solely on my bicycle when I wound up in Tucson years later.

I am still in Tucson, and our Critical Mass bike rides here are nothing compared to those in Chicago. I’ve also had years of bad luck at local events for cycling enthusiasts. So I was super excited to see an ad in the Tucson Weekly for free bike classes conducted by League of American Bicyclist Cycling Instructors. I immediately decided to sign up for Road I: Street Savvy, Confidence and Safety. When I noticed there was a women’s version of the same class, I made sure to take that one.

Class started on a Thursday night with a slideshow detailing the history of women and the bicycle. We learned that by the late 19th century, women’s bicycles were blamed for everything from increased danger of attack to immodesty, promiscuity, insatiable sexual desire and lesbianism. This mostly had to do with women being unable to wear the big poofy dresses of the time in their bicycles. However, there were many women willing to step up and ride. Frances Willard was one of them—she named her bike Gladys for its “gladdening effect” on her health and mental well-being. Annie Londonderry was the first woman who rode around the world—with a time limit and earning money along the way. And Susan B. Anthony herself was quoted in 1896 as saying “I think [the bicycle] has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.”

Of course, there were critics of all this, including some that cited women cyclists as an example of the “intoxication which comes from unfettered liberty.” Dangerous indeed. In 1897, Newnham College decided to award degrees to women taking the same classes as men. Previously, the women had taken classes but not received credit. There were protests over the new policy and a woman on a bicycle was burned in effigy. Girls on bikes were seen as quite dangerous; I am glad to be one of them.

The course was a great deal of fun. Our fearless leader, Kathryn Skinner, made what would otherwise be a boring slideshow palatable. We looked at bike laws and the reasoning behind them, and learned that we are not vehicles but are devices. We learned the names for a zillion different parts of a bike, and the difference between mountain, road, touring, recumbent and hybrid bikes—as well as girl bikes. We talked about basic adjustments and got some hands-on practice doing basic safety checks, patching inner tubes and changing flats. We looked at girl clothes and got a lot of knowledgeable and informative responses to all of our questions. And we also spent a couple hours going on a ride. During the ride we practiced making left turns onto Speedway off of Campbell. We could do box turns or pedestrian turns, but I was really proud of myself for choosing to make a vehicular left. Then we worked on drills in the parking lot so we’d be better able to look behind us. We worked on quick braking, dodging rocks, and emergency right turns. We also got free lunch!

Upon successful completion of a very easy test, we got a biker bucks for really good freebies! Just for taking this really amazing class, we wound up with an insulated water bottle, reflective stickers, a patch kit, a bike light kit, a really good Kryptonite U-lock (complete with cable lock), a frame pump, a helmet, tire levers (mine are pink!), and of course the manual and bike map and valuable information. They ran out of the free buffs, but I can’t complain since I would gladly have paid money for the course. The instructor, like I said, was amazing and the environment was comfortable and supportive. And you get a ton of free stuff! I always like to let people in on these deals and highly recommend the course. Check out http://bikeped.pima.gov/SafetyClasses.htm for more info.