|
|
WE Bike NYC bids farewell to our founding director, Liz Jose!
Join us in bidding adieu to an amazing leader and friend, Liz, at a special Happy Hour in her honor TOMORROW MAY 1st at Mission Dolores, see details below under "Upcoming Events".
Dear WE Bike NYC,
It is with a sadness and excitement that I announce to you that I will be leaving New York at the end of May. I have been offered a job in Seattle doing youth development work with bicycles at Bikeworks and it is a new adventure I am excited to take on!
WE Bike NYC, however, will stay in New York City and continue to run amazing programming under the leadership of Casey Ashenhurst and the other dedicated volunteers. I will stay on as a consultant, helping out any way I can from the West Coast and will keep my email liz@webikenyc.org.
But before I go, I wanted to take a minute to write a note to all of you to say THANK YOU for an amazing two years of bicycles, rides, and friendship. When I started WE Bike NYC, I was really looking for a community to keep me grounded in this huge city. I knew I liked bikes, and I am not competitive or fast, so my first thought was to look for a non-competitive group. Many times in my life I have been supported and bolstered by all-female-identifying groups and it just made sense to me to look for something along these lines.
For me, the creation of a space just for women in the cycling community meant for once that I didn’t have to assert that I was a woman. It meant I wasn’t “fast for a girl” or asked “What do you do?” at the mechanic shop where I work, or offered help when working on a paying customer’s bike. It was a space where, for once, my gender WAS NOT my defining factor. And although entrance to the group is limited to those who identify as women, the diversity of experience, ability, and style continues to amaze me.
WE Bike NYC is a space where I have met the most amazing women in New York City. It has brought together women from Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Staten Island and created an opportunity for us to share a common experience. Sometimes the relationships I form on rides last for that day, and sometimes they extend over years. I am so thankful for the opportunity to share time with all of you.
In addition, the ability of WE Bike NYC to bring women into positions of authority in the New York City cycling and advocacy scene has been wonderful! Six WE Bike NYC participants have moved into roles as mechanics, sales women, outreach coordinators and program directors. WE are not only creating more space for ourselves on our rides and on the road, but this space is expanding to include the larger cycling world.
So this year, when I ride in my third and final 5 Borough Bike Tour, with 25 riders including leaders from our Mujeres en Movimiento program, our Moms on Wheels program and their kids and our general WE Ride program I’ll be reflecting on how far WE’ve come and how far WE Bike NYC has taken me. I am excited to see where it leads the rest of you, either on short rides to get cookies, or long journeys into bicycle advocacy. Feel free to send me stories, comments, thoughts, goodbyes or hellos at liz@webikenyc.org.
I cannot thank you all enough for making New York feel like a home, and for making an idea into a movement.
Sincerely,
|
 |
WEBike NYC is an entirely volunteer-run organization, but it still takes a bit of money for us to maintain our current standards of operation!
If you are looking for a way to support fun, free, noncompetitive bicycle events and programming specifically for women, please consider donating to WEBike NYC!
|
|
*WE Bike NYC events are open to women, female-identifying, and gender non-conforming people only, unless otherwise noted.*All WE Bike NYC events can be found on our website here: http://webikenyc.org/events/
National Bike Challenge
Thursday, May 1- Tuesday, September 30
Anytime- Anywhere
Register and join our team HERE!
Bike Month is here!!! The League of American Bicyclists is hosting the National Bike Challenge to unite 50,000 riders to pedal 30 million miles from May 1, 2014 until September 30, 2014. The WE Bike NYC team page is up (free to register and participate) and WE want you on our team! Join us in amplifying our presence on the road!
Bike Month Kick-Off and VERY Special Happy Hour
Thursday, May 1 (TOMORROW!!!)
6-9pm- Mission Dolores Bar 249 4th Ave, Brooklyn, New York 11215
RSVP HERE
WE Bike NYC was founded in January 2012 to be a community of women who ride and inspire other women to ride bikes! Later on this May, WE will be saying farewell to our Founding Director, Liz Jose, as she continues her journey of bicycle advocacy work in Seattle. WE want to thank Liz for developing an amazing program where women can feel free to check their egos at the door and ride with all levels on all types of rides!
So-- WE're sending her off in style! Join us for this VERY special Happy Hour to kick off Bike Month, and celebrate the next exciting chapter for Liz-- and WE Bike NYC! This is your opportunity to come out, hang out, and talk bikes!
**ALL GENDERS are welcome at this event, so bring your friends!** Good times guaranteed.
WE Bike NYC Rides the 5 Borough Bike Tour
Sunday, May 4
6:30am- Meet-Up at City Hall Fountain
RSVP HERE!
For the third year in a row, WE Bike NYC is riding the 5 Borough Bike Tour! If you have a BLUE start time (7:45am), and want to ride the tour with us, please join us for a pre-ride meetup! WE'll be doing some last-minute carbo-loading with bagels and coffee, plus pace-grouping and matching up ride buddies. After a few group photos, WE'll roll over to the start line to be in place to begin the tour.
Monthly Planning Meeting
Wednesday, May 7
7-9pm- NYU 25 W 4th street between Mercer and Green, 5th Floor Conference Room
RSVP to info@webikenyc.org
Want to help plan rides? Have an idea for a workshop? Want to spend some more time with WE Bike NYC movers and shakers? Join us at our monthly planning meeting! Have questions? Want more information? Email info@webikenyc.org!
WE Bike NYC Outreach at New York Bike Jumble
Saturday, May 10
10am-4pm- The Old Stone House, 336 3rd Street (bet. 4th and 5th Avenue), Brooklyn, NY 11215
More info HERE
Fulfill all your cycling needs for the summer! Get yourself a new or used bike, new and used accessories, clothing, collectibles, artwork, overstocks, and bargains galore. And don't forget to stop by the WE Bike NYC table to say hi, buy raffle tickets for our June 7 Moms on Wheels Event, and score some temporary tattoos!
Cyclofemme and Cookies Ride
Sunday, May 11
11am-12:30pm- Pier 25, 225 N Moore Street, Manhattan, NY 10013
RSVP Here!
Cyclofemme is a socially-driven, grass-roots, international event that celebrates women on bikes! WE'll be participating by leading a ride up the Hudson River Greenway for a cookie indulgence picnic. Meet at 11am at Pier 25 off of North Moore Street.
The route from our meet-up spot at Pier 25 is a smooth 10-mile stretch (about one hour) up one of NYC's best bike paths, the Hudson River Greenway. We'll take this tree-lined path along the water to a hidden gem and the last remaining lighthouse on Manhattan Island, Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse, aka, the Little Red Lighthouse.
Bring cookies or another treat to share, plus water and, as always, your helmet!
Moms on Wheels Brooklyn Flea Ride
Sunday May 25
10:00am- Meet at Cobble Hill Park, Corner of Clinton and Verandah, Brooklyn NY 11201
RSVP HERE!
Strap the kids into their bike seats and take a ride with us along the Williamsburg waterfront as we ride along Kent Avenue to East River State Park where we'll enjoy all the spoils of the Brooklyn Flea! You are welcome on this ride with or without kids. But helmets are required for everyone!
Please RSVP to momsonwheels@webikenyc.org so we know who's coming! Meet at Cobble Hill Park for our "ABC-check" (and find out what that means!) and coffee. WE'll be riding up Clinton, but let us know if you'd like us to stop and pick you up along the way. The ride is about 9 miles round trip, and is almost exclusively on protected bike lanes. Come ride with us, and don't forget bungee cords in case you find that Blondie LP you've been searching for!
Moms on Wheels- Bike New York Street Skills Class
Sunday, June 1
10am-12pm- Bicycle Habitat, 476 5th Avenue, Brooklyn
RSVP Here!
DATE CORRECTION- WE accidentally distributed some flyers with wrong information: This event will take place June 1, not May 25.
The Bike New York Street Skills class offers important street-riding safety information that will go over everything you need to know to get comfortable riding in NYC! The class will provide concrete examples of city cycling scenarios and how best to handle them so that you enjoy pleasant, stress-free rides. The class is 10am-11:30am and then the last half hour will be devoted specifically to answering all your questions related to safe biking with your kids!
|
|
May is Bike Month so there's SO many awesome bike-related events happening throughout the city! Here are two of our favorites, but more can be found at BikeNYC.org!
Transportation Alternatives Bike Home from Work Party
Friday, May 16
6:30-9:30pm- DUMBO, Brooklyn
More info and RSVP HERE
Bright lights against the night, the Manhattan skyline in the distance and a bike bell symphony? It’s not your typical Brooklyn Friday night. Under the high stone archways of the Manhattan Bridge, DUMBO Brooklyn will be transformed once again into an evening festival of bicycles at the second annual Bike Home from Work Party. Pop-up shops with bicycles, clothes and accessories will line the streets; food, drink and a joyful way to celebrate bicycling to work.
Meta Local Collaborative with James Rojas
Latino Urbanism: Shaping US Public Spaces through Imagination and Culture
Saturday, May 17
10am-12pm- Queens Museum of Art, Immigrant Movement International, 108-59 Roosevelt Ave, Flushing, NY 11368
More info HERE
Part of the Open Engagement Conference at the Queens Museum of Art, this two-part workshop will explore the ways that people shape their environments to serve cultural, emotional, and social needs. Through a presentation and a bike ride around Corona, participants will consider the role of immigrants in transforming the use and character of neighborhood spaces. Please note that while this workshop is open to all participants, a bike is needed for the second portion of the workshop.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
