Cycle Chic Ride Route, MeetUp and Pecha Kucha location
Posted: October 19, 2009 Filed under: Cycle Chic, Events | Tags: Biking Lifestyle, CCC, Events, Healthy Community 2 Comments »Now that the Pecha Kucha location has been revealed (The Music Farm!) I can reveal our ride route and meetup location for our October 21st Ride to Pecha Kucha Night Charleston
Start: Marion Square @5:45PM
Meetup: Chai’s @ around 6:30PM
Pecha Kucha: 7:15 @ The Music Farm (we’ll be locking our bikes here before we go to Chai’s)
View Larger Map
Oct 21 – Cycle Chic Ride to Pecha Kucha Night Charleston
Posted: October 13, 2009 Filed under: Cycle Chic, Events | Tags: Biking Lifestyle, Cycle Chic, Events, News Leave a comment »Yes that’s right all you lovely people with bikes – our next Cycle Chic Ride is going to Pecha Kucha Night Charleston on October 21st! Why? Because we love what they do and what they represent and man, this next line-up is a doozy not to be missed. It’s all about creativity, inspiration, entrepreneurship and having a bit of fun fun fun. So let’s go ride our bikes! It’s easier than looking for parking…. Read the rest of this entry »
Biking is the new art of living
Posted: September 11, 2009 Filed under: Cycle Chic, News | Tags: Bike-friendly, Biking Lifestyle, Cycle Chic, Trends 1 Comment »I found this great article in the New York Times, that talks about biking as the new art of living. Aren’t we so hip and fabulous Charleston Cycle Chic-ers? New York City itself has come a long way in making the city more bike-friendly and since most trends and fashions start in the US in NYC, I’m hoping some of their influence will rub off here. 
Here are some excerpts from the article! Click here for the full text.
“Until recently, bikes were merely fashionable. Lately, it seems, they are fashion — and they don’t have to be ultraexpensive novelty items to qualify. As fashion companies start marketing bicycles and bike gear, Mr. Dutreil, a supporter of bicycle-advocacy programs in New York, said he wants to see more cyclists pedaling around in high style, just like that woman in the Randall photograph.
“An elegant lady or man,” he said, “on a bike that is elegant, that’s really the new art of living.”
In fact, bikes have become de rigueur in many boutique windows. It is no coincidence that fashion is having a bike moment at the same time that New York City, the capital of American fashion, has gone bicycle crazy. The number of daily cyclists in the city has jumped to an estimated 185,000, from 107,000 in 2005, according to Transportation Alternatives, a bicycle-advocacy organization. In addition, the city has installed more than 120 miles of bike lanes in the last two years, making it easier for new cyclists to take to the streets dressed to impress, not to duel with cars.
While some cyclists outside the fashion world expressed mixed feelings about seeing their trusty mode of transportation turned into the next gladiator sandal, others looked on the bright side. Even if new riders buy a bike only because they’re the cool new thing, they’re still buying a bike, wrote Matt Simonds, a cyclist who works at a nonprofit agency, in an e-mail message. In such cases, he wrote, “it’s kind of strange what happens when they got on a bike after a long period away from one — they remember how awesome it is to ride one.”
What bicycling has meant to women…since 1895
Posted: August 29, 2009 Filed under: Cycle Chic | Tags: Bike-friendly, Biking Lifestyle, History 3 Comments »Ok – obviously much has changed for women in 114 years, but this excerpt about Women and Bicycling from Statemaster.com gives us some historical perspective. Bicycles emancipated women – in style, in transportation options, in the ability to explore life on their own. Pretty neat, huh?
“The diamond-frame safety bicycle gave women unprecedented mobility, contributing to their emancipation in Western nations. As bicycles became safer and cheaper, more women had access to the personal freedom they embodied, and so the bicycle came to symbolize the New Woman of the late nineteenth century, especially in Britain and the United States.
The bicycle was recognized by nineteenth-century feminists and suffragists as a “freedom machine” for women. American Susan B. Anthony said in a New York World interview on February 2,1896: “Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.” In 1895 Frances Willard, the tightly-laced president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, wrote a book called How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle, in which she praised the bicycle she learned to ride late in life, and which she named “Gladys”, for its “gladdening effect” on her health and political optimism. Willard used a cycling metaphor to urge other suffragists to action, proclaiming, “I would not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum….”
Bicycle Advertisement from 1895
Listen to the words…
Posted: August 27, 2009 Filed under: About | Tags: Biking Lifestyle, Slow Bicycle Movement, Tips, Video Leave a comment »I love this video – found it today on Twitter. While the images are beautiful – it is the words that are important. Listen. Know why you do what you do. Isn’t that the zest of life?
I know it’s a bit early for this but…what should the Cycle Chic Holiday Parade theme be?
Posted: August 20, 2009 Filed under: Events | Tags: Biking Lifestyle, Events 2 Comments »….it’s fun to think about now so I am going to ask! Charleston Cycle Chic is going to be submitting an application in the next few weeks for us to participate in Charleston’s King Street Holiday Parade on December 6th, 2009. We thought it would be oh-so-fun and festive to have Cycle Chic ride our beautiful bikes and ring ring ring our jingle bells to welcome the holiday season.
But. We need a theme. Something with elegance, class, fun, and movement….
Submit your ideas here and I’ll post them for the world to see.
2008 Parade on King
P.S. Yes, Cycle Chic has taken a Hot Weather Hiatus in this steamy month of August – but get your bikes shined up for the next ride at the end of September!
Boston’s Mayor Rides – Does Charleston’s Mayor Riley too?
Posted: August 10, 2009 Filed under: Community Organizations, News | Tags: Bike-friendly, Bike-to-Work, Biking Lifestyle, Healthy Community, Trends 1 Comment »Ok so this post isn’t exactly about Cycle Chic in the ‘chic’ sense, but it IS about something near and dear to my heart (and the underlying motivation of Charleston Cycle Chic) – making a city more bike-friendly. This past weekend, the NY Times wrote an excellent article on how Boston, long known as a ‘cyclists’ minefield’, is turning itself around and implementing measures to become more bike-friendly. Now Boston was established much the same time Charleston was. It has historic buildings, narrow streets and is surrounded by water and bridges. It also has a history of moving a bit slowly to get things done. But not anymore. In fact, Bicycling Magazine recently cited it on it’s Five for the Future list.
What does it take to make a city bike-friendly? As I experienced so clearly on my recent trip to Boulder, CO – it’s about creating bike lanes that go from Important Point A to Important Point B. It’s about having bike racks everywhere (here’s a link to ours). It’s about businesses encouraging bike parking (like Charleston’s Downtown TacoBoy!), and educating drivers about what it means to share the roads.
But it’s also about having leadership that loves to ride. Boston’s Mayor Menino recently discovered the biking lifestyle and realized just how important it is to a city’s sustainability and enjoyment and so quickly got to work. He even started Hub on Wheels, a Citywide Ride and Festival.
So I get it. As much grassroots moving as we can do, it still has to come from the top. So Mayor Riley – here’s what I propose to you. Come ride with me around our beautiful city. If you don’t have a bicycle, I’ll buy one for you. That’s my commitment to you, to this city, and to this lifestyle. Try it! It just might change your life.
Thanks Treehugger! Cycle Fabulousity in the streets of Charleston
Posted: July 21, 2009 Filed under: Cycle Chic | Tags: Bike-to-Work, Biking Lifestyle, Healthy Community, Trends Leave a comment »I just found this article on Treehugger.com talkin’ about all ya’ll Charleston Cycle Chic aficionados with a photo of our lovely Cara Kelly riding down the Battery. What do you say CCC ladies (and gents)? Are we going to live up to their vision of us? Our gorgeous fall is just around the corner and we can no longer use the excuse of ‘perspiration’. Let’s ride into the sunset, shall we??
By the way, if you haven’t seen Treehugger.com before, they have a superb collection of posts on all things ‘green’ and progressive – from Design and Architecture to Food and Fashion and everything in between. Check them out!
Article excerpt…
“Charleston Cycle Chic is making biking to work all the rage. Bonnie wrote about Cycle Chic in London last year and while it took a little longer to catch on here in South Carolina, the movement is gaining a foothold. In South Carolina and even in a more forward thinking Charleston, all too often you’ll see people hop in their cars to drive two feet and then have trouble finding a parking space which leads to them continually driving around the block…more
So envious – a Cycle Chic Boutique in Dallas
Posted: July 7, 2009 Filed under: Cycle Chic | Tags: Biking Lifestyle, Chic, Fashion, Trends 2 Comments »Oh yes – I have been mulling the idea of a Cycle Chic Boutique over for quite some time – even come up with the style and colors for the inside (robin egg blue with white couches and big mirrors, walls of baskets and the ability to mix and match bikes and accessories with ease), have discussed the concept with my friends and local bike shop owners – the works. And while I don’t personally want to open a retail shop (too many things on my plate already) I WISH I WISH I WISH someone would take this on in Charleston! Check out Fleetwood Kit Kat’s bike boutique in Dallas, and be sure to read their blog for all the neat things they do or see this video from their local news station. Kudos!
Enter to win a bike at Chictopia! Submit your cycle chic pic.
Posted: July 6, 2009 Filed under: Cycle Chic, Events | Tags: Biking Lifestyle, Chic, Contest, Events, Photos 1 Comment »Ladies, now I know that most of you aren’t camera shy, and furthermore, I know that there are zillions of you out there who love to ride pretty on your fabulous bikes. So take a moment to send in the chicest photo you have of yourself, enter the TopShop Chictopia contest and win a bike!
What you say? You already have a bike?
Well – you know how I feel about that. Bikes are the new handbags. It’s fun to have one for every mode and moda. The other option if you win, would be to donate your bike to someone in need of Cycle Chic transport. Wouldn’t you like to be responsible for introducing another person to the lovely biking lifestyle?
All you have to do is create a Chictopia profile and then upload your photo with your bike to the profile page and enter the contest before July 17. Each week five winners will be selected – 4 will be selected by Chictopia users and 1 will be selected by TopShop. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite!
