Writing exercises, from my bicycle’s point of view:

Hello, My name is Charlie. I’m from Austria and I’m blue. We know at least that much because my sticker says so. I’m a bit of a lost boy you see. I was rescued from a dumpster by Bud, at Cambridge Bicycle, and then re-outfitted. (The time between this and the next part of my adventure no one knows about and I’m not telling.) I was put out with the other used bicycles in front of the shop and a girl in a dress walked by me. Then she came back, she just couldn’t walk right by. First she thought I was too tall for her, but after a test ride we knew it was meant to be. I was sold to this weird girl, Jessie after that, who took me out of Cambridge, to some place called Waltham where there aren’t as many of my people. After living in that place for awhile we came to Somerville.  My people abound!  I live in a stable of bicycles now, so I’m never lonely.

I don’t talk much, so the best Jessie can figure is that I was manufactured in the late 1980’s, shortly before my parent company: Steyr-Daimler-Puch was broken up in an antitrust lawsuit. They also did some shady business back in WWII but that was before I was born and so I hope I’m mostly innocent?

I’m also a Bergmeister. Don’t tell but, I could be older than I look, they started making Bergmeisters in the 1960s as a step up from those pedantic Clubmen (Clubmans?). Bergmeisters are known for their signature copper plating, but like I mentioned before, I’m blue. I also have this snazzy seat tube art with commemorative Olympic rings, which is all well and good, but which Olympics? I don’t remember exactly and the sticker doesn’t remind me either, you spend time in dumpsters and let’s see what you remember…

When I’m not outside I tend to spend my time in scenic basements, in Waltham and in one particular brownstone in Boston. I don’t have to sit outside in the rain and the cold to wait all day. But my favorite place is outside, by the Charles River, for which I am named. Oh I almost forgot to mention, I’m a Buddhist bicycle, I didn’t know that I was but I carry Jessie to Buddhist meetings all over the place, so does that make me a Buddhist too?

Well this is the most talking I’ve done in awhile, I usually leave that to my human. Oh have you checked out my new drive train? I’m a fixie now.   And boy oh boy I’m getting a tuneup next week!

I’ve been reading some of the bloggers on Boston Biker sharing how they deal with four season variability whilst cycling in Boston.  With the exception of this brilliant piece of wit, I haven’t heard much from the ladies.

Not that thermodynamics applies in much of a different way to we women folk, but still I will add in my two cents.

Year-round lady cyclists? First of all we do exist (even this far north).

So what to wear?

So this is what I wore this morning on the cold ride in, which thankfully had so little wind I was thrilled.

Head:
-Bern helmet (doesn’t leave much room for a hat underneath, but has liners you can switch out)
-360s Ear warmers
-Scarf (when 45 degrees or lower)

Body*:
-tanktop (usually cotton)
–Sugoi Runners Hoodie (makes you look like a ninja, I only put the hood up when it’s below 20 and windy, hood fits nicely under a helmet)
-L.L. Bean vest (Polartec fleece)
-Wool felt knee length coat (with proper layering this functions between 45 to below zero, can keep out rain (for awhile) and snow)

Hands:
-fingerless gloves under
-NorthFace APEX gloves (for wet yuck)
-L.L. Bean gloves (realllllly cold my hands are going to fall off days)

Legs*:
-long undies by CuddleDuds
-Jeans
(*besides usual lady type undergarments)

Feet:
-SmartWool socks
-boots of some kind or another as long as they fit in the toe baskets (toeclips)

Sometimes like today, also
-ToastyToes shoe warmers

For rain/slush/yuck
-Rain coat
-plastic rain pants
-Hunter Boots (knee high, obnoxiously blue, and yes they fit in the toe clips)

Much of this I have had for years or has passed down to me, some of it is retrofitted from my years riding horses, much of the “fancy” gear items are gifts from my family in the hopes of no more hypothermia.  You see back in the Waltham days, when I was just figuring out this longer distance in the weather stuff, there were a couple instances of hypothermia (and one of heat stroke).

Oh ye cycling commuter perspectives vary…. I work at a business where the dress code is very strict and rather conservative, this means usual cycling clothes are not an option for the workday.  So my reply to this is to commute in one set of clothing and work in another, not the right solution for everyone.  The stage for this was set when I lived in Waltham back in 2010.  I was commuting 12.2 miles each way via bicycle and that commute in work clothes would have rendered my entire professional wardrobe a tatered ruin blowing in the breeze.  I am not dainty, I push myself when I ride, I don’t want to have to be going the speed of a person on crutches just to keep my wardrobe pristine.  There are some amazing people out there who can go quickly and look fantastic at the same time.  I am not one of these people.  I get grease stains, I fall and rip my pants (seemingly only when they’re brand new, why?), I ride through puddles.  And even though I have a fender situation (race blades, think fenders with commitment issues), I know myself well enough to adapt to what I need.

End of my two cents.

Cycling and soft power, part 1

I’m a veggie powered girl on a bike and I am changing the world. By riding a bike.

An enigma on wheels….  Adventure rolling by…

Before I braved these city streets on two wheels myself, I’d seen them in my college years, had friends who were – cyclists.  They seemed to walk some other path.  I just didn’t get it.  Over time and many other variables (location of residence, schedule, financial, sense of adventure, wanting to feel the wind on my face) I decided to give it a try.

No one ever held a gun to my head and said, “You’d better ride a bicycle, or else you’re gonna get it!”  No one ever threatened my family or loved ones and forced me to ride a bicycle.  No one told me I was doomed to damnation and hell fire if I didn’t bicycle.  No one made me do it.  No makes me do it.  It’s all an internally motivated decision.

I wanted the sun, the sky, and the stars.  I wanted the wind and the city lights. And so I rode.

I didn’t want the stuffed and stinky T.  I no longer wanted to engage with the unreliable and inefficient buses.  I wanted a choice. I wanted my own piece of that enigma and adventure. So I rode.

That attraction, that drive is part of something larger.  Something internally motivated.  Something that can change the world.  You might call it soft power.

Soft power?  Professor Joseph Nye’s term for the sort of influence and power that doesn’t involve guns, wars, economics, appeasement, sanctions, coercion, and the like (i.e. hard power).  Soft power comes from the power of attraction.  Soft power means getting the people you want to do something you want them to do without the use of force.

Soft power in action in the present…

This Economist article (to paraphrase and oversimplify a bit more than I’d like) documents the Chinese government tapping the legendary Sun Tzu on the shoulder and recruiting him out of history to serve as their soft power mascot/bandleader/spokesman.  A lot of things in more recent Chinese history make it somewhat unpalatable; human rights violations, that whole Tibet thing, that whole Communist thing, just to name a few. So how do you sell your image to foreign investors to help maintain your-total-crazy-awesome-wonderful-scary-impossible-to-maintain economic growth?  Soft power of course.  You don’t want to come off as extremist, too one sided, or threatening, no! No! No!

So who comes to the rescue?  Indubitable historical legends (they have that Je ne sais quois).  Ladies and gentlemen, let us introduce Sun Tzu, legendary figure to whom The Art of War is credited.  Now walk into any largish book retailer and you can find all sorts of extrapolations on The Art of War, from fashion to business to martial arts, probably even baking (but I will admit, I haven’t checked).  But as the Economist author points out, it is, in the end, still a book about war, which is not soft power.  So in trying to get in on the pop culture let’s-do-everything-according-to-The-Art-of-War-and-we’ll-succeed bandwagon, these government leaders have, in fact, not exactly hit the soft power nail on the head.

Getting it right, for the right reasons…

“… I would like to propose inner-motivation as the most important key for opening the way to an era of soft power. Over the ages, hard-power systems have succeeded by using the established tools of coercion or oppression to move people toward certain goals. What is characterized as soft power, however, is by contrast based on the inner-generated energy deriving from the internal urge that is created through consensus and satisfaction among human beings. The processes of soft power, the unleashing of the inner energies of the individual, have since ancient times been considered the proper province of philosophy in the broadest sense, rooted in the spiritual and religious nature of man.”

These words belong to Dr. Daisaku Ikeda, lay Buddhist leader, educator, scholar, writer, etc. who gave a speech at Harvard University in 1991 on soft power. He outlines an idea for social change based on the change within an individual, and how inner motivated change lays a powerful and profound foundation for an age of soft power.  But how does my riding a bike contribute to the foundation of a new age?

When you ride a bike you’re making the choice to walk Frost’s “road less traveled by” (as opposed to say, driving a car).  You’re making a statement even if you’re not out to make a statement. We are rolling advertisements for everything biking is. We’re a varied bunch with a lot of different ideas on just about everything. But we are through this very act, often inadvertently, making a statement for change.

Cyclists, in choosing these less traveled existential by-ways, in many ways embody this old New England standby (and of course other places!) of the “do it yourself” or DIY mentality. Do not leave to others what you can do.  “Stand up and make the change.”* “Be the change you want to see in the world.”** DIY comes from internal motivation for change, for betterment.  DIY requires you reach inward, past what we are sold or told we can do, a push inward toward creativity and growth.

Ikeda’s explanation for a powerful social change comes from such internal growth and exploration.  When we dig deep inside for what we’re truly made of, when we work to expand our capacity, when we challenge what we thought was possible we are walking the path to internal change. The same creativity and courage that powers DIY can power social change.

Part 2 coming soon!