Community
Beautiful Godzilla: Alleycat Power
Alleycats were thought up by ADHD bike messengers in urban areas as a way to earn some extra cash, test their skillz and ride their bikes some more, because, apparently, no one but me just wants to go home and massage their butt cheeks after riding their bike all day. … read more
SLC Bike Collective: It’s not about the Bike
Hailey Broussard has five kids, and, until 2008, taking care of them was her sole occupation. “I knew how to be Betty Crocker, and little else,” she says. She does not consider herself a cyclist, though she now spends every weekday leading mountain bike trips and wrenching on dummy bikes in a classroom of kids. As the youth director of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective, Broussard’s job revolves around bikes, but she and others at the Collective argue that the bicycle is part of a larger equation. It is a vehicle for getting around and a vehicle for building a connected and complex community. … read more
Princess Kennedy: Fierce Realness
Here is my hope for my fellow revelers/readers: This year at Pride, be your fiercely real self. I’m shouting out to everyone—gay, straight, whatever—Gay Pride is not only a celebration for us to be us, but for you to be you in your most real self. … read more
Dear Dickheads – May 2013
Dear Adam,
Goddammit, I just wanna rip your idealistic little heart out, chew on it, spit it on the ground, light it on fire, then flip it off as I laugh and watch pieces of you burn into oblivion … but I can’t. … read more
Bright Lights, Salty City
Some days, biking on busy streets is fucking miserable: being constantly screamed at, cursed at, called a faggot and, on some occasions, being pelted with half-eaten food. To many drivers, bike commuters are an infuriating nuisance, and are certainly not taken seriously. It is hard to have a commanding presence on the road on your 25-pound Univega when two-ton cars are flying past you, forcing you onto the shoulder. Nighttime can be even worse—establishing a presence is a pretty tough task with two puny, blinking LEDs. LED By LITE started with this conundrum in mind, their goal being to establish and emphasize a rider’s presence on the road. … read more
Mallet Militia: Utah Bike Polo
Once I learned that Utah is home to two regular bike polo clubs, Beehive Bike Polo Club (BBPC) and Ogden Bike Polo Club (OBPC), I became enthralled by YouTube videos of the sport, with bicycle riders coursing across outdoor courts, whacking balls with mallets like how hockey players whack pucks with sticks. … read more
Pedal Party
Circles turning circles—the efficiency of the bicycle is unmatched. The human motor coupled with the spinning of gears equals freedom for all those who enjoy the sun on their shoulders and the wind in their faces. A love affair with the bicycle makes up a good portion of Utah’s history, and has proliferated in nearly every portion of the state. Twenty years ago, the cycling community had reached a turning point. The sport was extremely popular, and its membership needed a way to unify and deliver the latest developments in a timely manner. Enter: Cycling Utah. … read more
Making Provo Weird: The Provo Bicycle Collective
You live in Provo and can’t afford to buy a new bike or pay for repairs at a shop. Maybe you want to learn how to take care of your bike or ride along the streets safely. Maybe you’re considering moving down past the point of the mountain and want to make sure you’ll be taken care of as a cyclist. If you fall into any of these scenarios, allow me to introduce you to a new friend: The Provo Bicycle Collective. … read more
Taqueria 27: an Original Spin on Classic Food
As soon as I entered Taqueria 27, my eye was drawn to a wall-sized chalkboard that featured beautiful sketches of the restaurant’s vast selection of beer and tequila. Though I’m not a drinker myself, I hear tell that drinking beer and/or tequila with one’s tacos is the shit. So when you come to this restaurant and see their dedication to providing customers with a wide variety of drinks alongside their wide variety of tacos, you get the sense that someone knows what they’re doing. … read more
Different Spokes: Year of the Bike
As spring weather wafts across the Salt Lake valley, more cyclists are coming out of the woodwork. An ample array of road bikes, fixies, mountain trudgers and your occasional tricycle have flooded the streets of downtown, affixing a semi-control over lanes stretching from the U to Rose Park. More than anything, I’ve enjoyed zipping around without fear of skidding my too-thin tires into a rogue snowbank. 2013 has been coined “Year of the Bike” by the City, in appreciation of its most sustainable form of transportation, and I was lucky enough to speak with four of the masterminds behind the most recent programs. … read more