I came up with the idea to distribute a survey about Seattle bike shops as I was developing the syllabus for an introductory workshop on cycle touring for women, trans, and femme people at the Seattle Colleges. I did not know who will show up for the class, so I had to consider: What would I have wanted to know about cycling in Seattle when I started?
Read MoreI have met a lot of shorter cyclists and they got me out of my bubble. I decided to make a list of bikes with frame sizes under 50 cm, so if you are not the height of the average U.S. man (me) you can find a bike in your size.
Read MoreThis type of heartbreak is one of the most lonely I have ever experienced. I made the choice not to see my family, so why should I even be sad? Nine years ago, it seemed like I was the only person in the world making the decision to be apart from my family, and there were so few people that knew about my situation to its fullest extent.
Read MoreAfter a few days in Manila, we took a short flight to Busuanga — the northernmost island in the Palawan island chain.
Read MoreIf one were to drive straight from the front door of our hotel to Tagaytay, the trip would have taken about 2 hours. But this is Manila, and this is our family.
Read MoreMy sister found really cheap tickets to Manila in late summer 2019 and we decided that she, her boyfriend, and I would take a trip together over the week of Thanksgiving. My sister had been to visit for a week about three years ago, and the last time I had visited was when I was 16.
Read MoreI commend anyone that has moved through their fear and anxiety to try something new, and to continue living their lives in spite of all the things that may be designed to hold you back. I hope you find that thing that makes you scared in that very particularly exciting way.
Read MoreSometimes you just wanna take a trip with a small group of folks that you can be your dumbest/best self with. I spent a lot of my summer up until this trip meeting new bike folk and cobbling together groups of new friends to ride into the woods. This time it was just the shrimpy gals — minus a few key players of course.
Read MoreI wanted to make the most of this time of year by planning to explore the Olympic Discovery Trail, yet another one of Washington State’s amazing rail to trail conversions. The rail lines were removed from the Olympic Peninsula in the 1980s and advocacy to create a multi-use trail began shortly after.
Read MoreThe League of American Bicyclists has named Washington as the most bike-friendly state in the nation since 2013. There is no better example of this than the Palouse-to-Cascades Trail (formerly known as the Iron Horse Trail, which was formerly known as the John Wayne Pioneer Trail) which spans 285 miles across the state to the Idaho border.
Read MoreIn 2019 I got more confident about planning bike trips, and started planning some trips on my own. I planned out a few overnight bike trips throughout the summer. I had wanted to ride to Fort Flagler the previous summer, but had not been able to convince any of my friends to go with me. I chose a weekend at the end of June and hoped we would get good weather.
Read MoreA friend I had known for some time asked me if I would be interested in riding in Oregon over Memorial Day Weekend with a bunch of rad women. One of the leaders at The Bikery was put together a group ride for femme, trans, and women-identified folks. I did not know anybody except my friend, but was so excited to meet more femmes that are into cycling.
Read MoreThe Bikery has become well known for its accessible bike camping throughout the beautiful Seattle summers. This was my first time going on one of the trips and it did not disappoint. Registration for the campout took place online in the weeks before the ride, which was the weekend of the summer solstice. Registration was $5/person to cover the cost of the campsite reservations, but nobody is ever turned away from Bikery events for their ability to pay.
Read MoreIn certain moments during the events I was able to forget the racist, capitalist, and imperial notion of national borders and focus on the nature of people and sport. There is such beauty in the different ways that shared human values or needs show up across the world.
Read MoreI had made a weird resolution to myself when I was 27 or 28 that I would go to South Korea by the time I turned 30, and here was my opportunity. I knew that I loved Korean food, thought a lot of Korean people were really pretty, and was just starting to get interested in Korean skincare. However, I was not prepared to fall in love with the country and culture in the way that I did.
Read MoreThe winter high holidays can be pretty tough for people who are estranged from, or in conflict with, their biological or adopted families. I had been talking to a friend of mine who was also estranged from her family about spending Christmas week together, and when she told me we should drive across Oregon and camp at a remote hot spring on the East side of the Steens Mountains I said yes immediately. I was so excited to get away from the drippy and grey Seattle winter, and the fraught relationship I had with the high holidays, that running away to the middle of the desert with no reception and a car full of booze felt like just the ticket.
Read MoreHiker-biker sites in Washington State Parks make it so much easier to coordinate trips because as long as you are riding a bike, you can assume you will have a place to stay. I found Scenic Beach State Park and thought that it looked like a pretty phenomenal spot to hang out for a weekend.
Read MoreI have been lucky to have been a cyclist for most of my life. After a few years living in Seattle without a car, and riding these hills with panniers full of all manner of household items and groceries, I figured that hauling camping gear would not be that much of a stretch. Since I love the outdoors but did not have a car, if I was carrying all of my camping gear I would not need a car to get out of town in the first place!
Read MoreI moved to Seattle the summer of 2015 to start an internship at a landscape architecture firm and start my graduate career at the University of Washington. I was lucky in that I had two friends in the program, and several friends in town, that I could lean into when I felt out of place. I was also lucky that so many of my classmates are wonderful people that have gone on to do incredible things across the world.
Read MoreI spent a few days in Rome visiting my lovely friend Kate, who is now in her final year of the M.Arch program at Notre Dame. Because Notre Dame has a focus in classical architecture, their students are required to spend the first semester of their thesis year in Rome. Kate was an incredible tour guide because not only had she been in Rome and around Italy for the last few months, but she also has a degree in art history and understands the art and architecture of the city at a much deeper level than I can fathom.
Read More
