Announcing The Bicycle Story Podcast! Episode 1: Bike Skills Save Lives

Posted on October 28, 2015 by josh| 4 Comments

Today marks a big shift for The Bicycle Story and I’m all kinds of excited about it. But for those of you who just want the goods, let me first tell you about episode one of the brand new podcast!

Bikes changed Khalil Brewers’ life. The 19 year old went through Bike Works’ Job Skills Program, which helped put him on a path towards success and away from gang life. In this episode, we learn about Brewers’ dark past in St. Louis, his experience with Bike Works and its jobs program lead Ben Schultz, and the future he’s heading towards. (Songs: Soporific & Odyssey Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

So with that said. The Bicycle Story’s 5th anniversary (!) looms just a few days away. Through the years I’ve had the chance to interview a ton of amazing people from all corners of the bicycling world and share their stories as Q&As. But now it’s time for a fresh approach. As it’s always been, bikes and the many fascinating people and stories associated with them are the through line. The difference is now I’ll be telling those stories in a short, narrative podcast (think 99 Percent Invisible or an act of This American Life). Audio opens up a world of potential and I’m thrilled to see where it takes me and the site.

Thank you for listening. Thank you for supporting the site for half a decade. I hope you’ll stick around for this great new chapter of The Bicycle Story.

Cheers,
Josh

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Posted in Advocacy, Mechanics, The Podcast

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Ian Crane: Riding to Recovery and Redemption

Posted on September 3, 2015 by josh| 5 Comments

Cyclist Ian Crane of Jamis-Hagens Berman team stands for a portrait at Greenlake Park in Seattle, Wash., on Friday, August 14, 2015. Photo by Matt Mills McKnightIan Crane. Photo by Matt Mills McKnight from the Denver Post

What if you worked for years to accomplish a dream goal and finally achieved it only to have it snatched away an instant later? How would you react? That’s exactly what happened to 25 year old Ian Crane. Last year was his first as a professional cyclist. He’d signed with the Jamis-Hagens Berman squad and was getting better results than he’d expected. His career was full of promise. Then, as the 2014 season wound down, he had a horrific crash that left him hospitalized, scarred, and unable to ride. Ian’s reaction? Unwavering positivity. The recovery process has been extremely difficult, but Ian says it’s had unexpected rewards that have solidified his love of cycling. I spoke to Ian a few days after the anniversary of his crash about his cycling life, his path to professional racing, the crash in Colorado, recovery, his new goals and more.

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Posted in Interviews, Racing

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Davey Oil: The Radical Activist Pushing Family Bikes in the Mainstream

Posted on July 22, 2015 by josh| 4 Comments

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Davey Oil in front of his family cargo bike shop in Seattle. Photo by Josh Cohen.

If you ride bikes in Seattle, you likely know a bit about Davey Oil. As co-owner of the family cargo bike shop G&O Family Cyclery he’s played a critical role in Seattle’s family biking boom. As a longtime bike activist, he’s worked for and been involved in Bike Works, Cascade Bike Club, the Bikery, critical mass and more. Having straddled the fence between the radical activist side of the bike movement and the insider-politics advocacy side, he has a valuable perspective on the growth of cycling-as-transportation in the city. I sat down with him at a coffee shop next to the Family Cyclery for a wide ranging conversation about his roots in activism, the rise and fall (and re-rise and re-fall) of Seattle critical mass, the mainstreaming of bike politics locally and nationally, the advocacy world’s struggles with diversity, the family biking boom, and much more.

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Posted in Advocacy, Bike Industry, Interviews

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30% Off Bicycle Story logo Tees

Posted on July 16, 2015 by josh| Leave a comment

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Now until stock is gone, The Bicycle Story logo tee’s are 30 percent off in the online shop. I’ve got tees remaining in XS, Small, Medium, and Large and I want them out of my closet and into your hearts and homes! They are high quality American Apparel screen printed here in Seattle by a rad mom and pop shop. Get one today. When they’re gone they may be gone forever!

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Posted in Everything Else

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The 3 Month Honeymoon By Bike

Posted on July 14, 2015 by josh| Leave a comment

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The Megamoon tour of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. Photo via maiamedia.co.uk.

When Hannah Maia and Patrick Taylor-Bird got married, they decided to go big with their honeymoon: a three-month bike tour from New Mexico to Canada along the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. Maia is a filmmaker and documented their trip with this fantastic short film. It does a remarkable job of capturing the joys and challenges of bike touring. Awe, exhaustion, thrill, the need to sing out loud to distract yourself on a seemingly-endless climb. The film reminded me of past trips and got me day dreaming about future adventures.

Megamoon from Maia Media on Vimeo.

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Posted in Bike Touring, Cycling Media, Everything Else

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