You have a little bit of everything in Los Angeles. Diversity, opportunity, creativity, it’s all at your fingertips. But there are two versions of this city: there’s Hollywood, and then there’s the multi-faceted, beautifully complex reality. Born and raised in LA, Ron Holden feels like he owes the city everything but at the same time, he’s always been missing something. Following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, he offered his company the opportunity to make a meaningful change but got nowhere. So instead, he quit his job and founded a movement that allows its members to go anywhere. Ride for Black Lives organizes open-to-all group rides through town that spread the message of equality. It welcomes riders from all walks of life, it bridges the gap between communities, and it’s what keeps Ron riding each and every day.
#black-lives-matter
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Reportage
We Are Not Whole Until We Are All Whole
We have all been on rides that, at some point, require us to dig deep. But we still find a way to get that last bit of energy out of our bodies. We fight, we endure. And on the other side of these rides, we emerge stronger. We need to make the same commitment to anti-racism that we do to become stronger on the bike.
Radar
Good Trouble Cycling Club Tee
This is a great shirt design with a great cause!
The Good Trouble Cycling Club tee pays tribute to the badass cyclist-protestors who have been rallying together to organize and protect protestors on-foot during the Black Lives Matter movement. They ride day-in and day-out to protect their communities, educate others about riding while putting themselves in harm’s way to combat hate, ignorance, injustice, and evil.
They incite GOOD TROUBLE. They fight back.
We created this shirt in collaboration with Santa Barbara artist-ace DJ Javier.
40% of the profits from this shirt will be donated to the Sarah Pitts Memorial Bike Collective – A workshop that encourages diversity within the cycling community and seeks to empower poc, women and the LGBTQ communities through education classes and subsidized bikes for those in need.
Printed on 100% Cotton USA Made Bayside Blanks.
Please allow 2 weeks to ship.
Radar
Grow Cycling Foundation
Over the past few months, we’ve seen a lot of organizations formed to grow diversity within the cycling industry, and this week, Grow Cycling Foundation was formed. This is their mission statement.
“There is inadequate diverse representation in Cycling competition, business, media, and development opportunities. To sustainably grow our industry, we must first build authentic foundations of diversity from within that don’t employ superficial or exploitive solutions. With ears on the ground in these communities, we can provide the education, access, and opportunities that directly address the barriers they face. We will start in North America and expand globally because this is a global problem.”
Head to Grow Cycling Foundation to learn more!
Reportage
A Sequoia Raffle to Benefit WTF Bikexplorers, Bikepacking Roots’ BIPOC Grant, and Antonio Chavez’s BIPOC Program
Whatever you do in this life, do it with fucking passion and power.
Make sure the world knows it – Edward B. Gieda III
I’ve been so inspired by the voices, initiatives and attitudes from our bicycle community in the last year in general and especially in the last couple of weeks of unrest and calibration of who we are and what we’re doing to each other. The calling out of toxic elements and the demand for change has a snowballing effect that is nothing but refreshing. I believe in the bicycle as a tool for change and grassroots movements like the Cycling Industry Pledge by WTF Bikexplorers is just one powerful example of how to drive change and hold us all accountable for our actions, or the lack thereof. For some, the bicycle will always just be a toy or a piece of sporting equipment but for many others, it’s a tool that enables change, growth and freedom.
Radar
The Los Angeles Bicycle Academy!
Check out what the LA Bicycle Academy is all about, as Justin Williams inspires the future of black cyclists in Los Angeles…
Radar
State Bicycle Co and Killer Mike: Fundraiser BMX Bike for Los Angeles Bicycle Academy
Our friends at State Bicycle are running a Killer (Mike) fundraiser!
State Bicycle Co. is giving away, this 1 of 2 (Killer Mike has the other one) – BMX Bike in order to support, raise funds, and awareness for Los Angeles Bicycle Academy. The bike was originally created for rap-legend, community leader and activist Killer Mike. We are asking participants to voluntarily donate $10 for Los Angeles Bicycle Academy on this product page, and they will be automatically entered to win the bike*. We will draw a person at random. The bicycle recipient will be announced Saturday, June 27th. No purchase necessary, see below for details.
About Los Angeles Bicycle Academy (LABA):
Los Angeles Bicycle Academy (LABA) is a youth education program, community bike shop and youth cycling team with a mission to empower, educate and develop entrepreneurial and leadership skills in boys and girls between the ages of 8-18. Within the context of a full-service bike shop we employ a comprehensive hands-on bicycle mechanics, sales and service curriculum including an ‘earn-a-bike’ program. LABA’s cycling team seeks to expand the capabilities of youth from communities where exposure and access to the sport of cycling and lifestyle are limited. LABA will support 9 youth cyclists on its roster for the 2020 season. The bicycle is a tool for liberation and freedom. It is positive for both mental and physical health. Through the ownership of a bicycle, possibilities are expanded, travel becomes easier, new places are discovered.
Radar
The New Yorker: the Bicycle as a Vehicle of Protest
Photo by Stephanie Keith / Getty
I’m sure you’re on the edge of reading-fatigue as the world’s largest civil rights protest has engulfed all aspects of your life. It is important, however, to note that these two-wheeled mechanisms we ride are inherently political. The New Yorker has a great piece on how this politicized form of transportation has played a crucial role in the current protests:
“A week ago, on Wednesday night, the third night of a citywide curfew in New York, police officers were seen confiscating bicycles. Posts on social media described N.Y.P.D. officers violently seizing bikes from peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrators, who were continuing to march in defiance of the 8 p.m.. lockdown. In one widely shared video clip, a jittery camera captured a cop wheeling an apparently commandeered bike; a woman can be heard screaming at police, asking why bikes are being taken, and how protesters are supposed to travel home. Another piece of viral footage, retweeted by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, among others, shows three policemen clubbing a cyclist with batons on a Manhattan street. It’s unclear whether the man was arrested, or what became of his bicycle.”
If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. Head on over to the New Yorker.
Radar
See the Forest for the Trees
This weekend’s events mark a change. A shift in the political environment and one we cannot ignore, or stand by, complicit. I know this is a cycling website but it is important to take a stand here because the world can’t always be a beautifully winding road. The trees can’t always be green and healthy. The path can’t always be clear. One thing that is for certain is we need to listen to the people of this planet with compassion. Listening through the chaos, through the fires, through the destruction is the only way we will heal as a society. That’s what this is, a society, and all people deserve equal rights.
Sometimes the trees have to burn to save the forest.
Always listen to the oppressed.
We’re standing with each and every one of you.
#blacklivesmatter
