Community service, mobility justice, geospatial analysis, unpopular opinions, joyful rides
I had the pleasure of participating in Bike!Bike! West 2026, a conference of community-based and co-op bike organizations that I’d been unaware of until my friend and colleague July decided to take on the daunting task of putting on a multi-day anarchistic event here in Oakland. The post Bike!Bike! West 2026 appeared first on Bike Lab .
Laura Killingbeck is embarking on the "Choose the Bear" bike tour, visiting support workers across Michigan to discuss gender-based violence. It brought up some thoughts about my own privilege as a cis het man traveling solo in remote areas. The post Choose the Bear appeared first on Bike Lab .
Last year I wrote about how DJing at East Bay Bike Party was a joyful way to contribute to the community, that feels important in these times even though Bike Party lacks an agenda. The joy, alone, is enough reason to keep it rolling in 2026. But I think what I'm observing is, within a creative community, joy is generative. Innovators will find ways to use joy to deepen community and further…
During Oakland's ill-fated plan to sell out its waterfront to John Fisher, OakDOT presented an image from a Washington, D.C. underpass as a vision for pedestrian access under 880. That project was already a failure in 2022; I checked it out while visiting D.C., and found that it now has several bike-specific elements. The post More field work in Washington appeared first on Bike Lab .
In my series on neighborhood change along streets named for MLK, Washington, D.C.'s Anacostia neighborhood was identified as notable; between 2000 and 2017, Anacostia saw Black population increase, while median income also increased. That unusual pattern could represent development without displacement, the Holy Grail of community and economic development. The bicycle is the Bike Lab's preferred…
Oakland's Department of Transportation continues to work towards aligning city practices with the values expressed in its Geographic Equity Toolbox. The latest example is a report on the community engagement for a now-adopted Community-Led Traffic Safety Pilot program, which was received very differently in neighborhoods which have a history of being harmed by infrastructure projects. The post…
Social factors related to cycling are important, and poorly understood. I’ve tried to get connected with as many cycling sub-cultures as I can; one I’ve participated in for years is East Bay Bike Party. I've been DJ’ing at EBBP since I built a bike sound system as a COVID project, and I had an interaction this year that let me to consider the meaning of the EBBP community. The post Keep n it real…
The Bike Lab’s premise is that the bicycle can be a tool to understand and fight structural injustice. Bike riders everywhere share the same experience of freedom and mobility, and that shared experience can break down barriers and create new connections across communities. The Gaza Sunbirds sponsored a global solidarity ride in support of aid to Palestine, which created controversy in the East…
I had the privilege to accompany Backwards Brian to the Climate Ride Green Fondo. I talked with some of the organizers about their decision to allow him to join after hearing about what happened with AIDS LIfeCycle. To Climate Ride's credit, they were willing to sit with the discomfort for a while, and eventually let Brian do his thing. Can we foster that kind of inclusion throughout the bike…
I got into a good rant at Oakland BPAC this month, on the topic of the Transforming Oakland’s Waterfront Neighborhoods (TOWN) project, the city’s attempt to give away millions of dollars in support of the cynical and extractive effort to let a billionaire (A’s owner John Fisher) enrich himself by building 3,000 luxury condos at Howard Terminal. I got annoyed, because the project ignores the East…