Handicat Flyer!

Here it is!



Feel free to print it out and post it up anywhere bicycles can be found!

Also, I'm still looking for a few volunteers and a stable pool for the afterparty. Gimmie a call, leave a comment or email me at notquitealibrarianATgmail.com

BFF Handicat

This is it! Flyer coming soon, but for now here's all you need to know for the upcoming (tentatively titled) Handicat!

BFF HANDICAT

When: Sunday, May 23rd, 2010. Registration starts at 2:00 pm, race begins promptly at 2:30 pm.
Where: Starts at the Brooks, end TBA.

There will hopefully be 12 ordered checkpoints including the start and finish, depending on how many people I can get to run 'em. At each stop the racer will have to perform a task, and the earlier you get there the harder it'll be - in other words, there'll be handicaps. So it's anyone's race!

Registration is totally free, but then again, sponsors are nil. There will be a few homemade prizes and Cort is gonna toss up some swag, but for the most part, this one's for fun and braggin' rights.

Tell your friends!

Oh, and here's the tentative list of checkpoints (though not in any specific order yet). I'm also looking for someone with a pool in the midtown area. Andrew might have one lined up, but it'd be good to have some other options in case it doesn't work out. I've also got it mapped out here, but here's the list just in case.

The Brooks Museum - 1934 Poplar
Underground Art - 2287 Young
Chickasaw Park - E. Chickasaw Parkway & Sparrow Hop
Wonderbread Factory - 400 Monroe
Beale Street and 2nd
3760 Carnes
Hi Gorgeous - 1475 Madison
Autozone Park - 175 Toyota Plaza
Main Library - 3030 Poplar
Davis Park - Spottswood & S. Prescott
Commerce Square Parking Garage - 2nd & Union

I'm fucking pumped!

You thought you were safe?!

Didn't think there'd be an alleycat at BFF Memphis this year? YOU WERE WRONG!

Andrew and I have one in the works tentatively scheduled for May 23rd! Stay tuned for full deets within the next three days! Lots of Exclaimation Points! Booyah! Spread the word - hopefully people can stick around Memphis for one more day.

Ugh!

I can't help but feel completely hopeless after some random person in a car calls me a bitch on my ride home today. Not to mention watching another car full of drunk women deliberately swerve at my friends and then at me the other night. A girl I was talking to today in class about cycling had no idea bikes were allowed to be on the road. I can't help but think it's pointless to try and change people's minds about bikes in this city. I love riding my bike and the happy things and awesome friends riding a bike has brought to me, but damn, it's scary sometimes. If I get hassled, me being a young girl on a bike, I can't imagine the kind of shit you boys get. Is this just Memphis? The South? What is so evil about a bike? The other night when Brett and I were riding through an intersection (with a green light) a woman in a car (stopped at the red light) was shouting as us, "REALLY!? REALLY!?", like she couldn't believe we were on bikes. I think that's the weirdest one I've gotten so far. She basically was implying, "you fucking dumbasses, why the hell would you ride a bicycle?". We all work so hard here in Memphis, trying to do the right thing for ourselves and our community by riding a bike, but the only reward we ever get is harassment. Riding by Republic Coffee about a week ago, someone on the patio shouted "This isn't Portland!". No it's definitely not even close to Portland, but what does that person get out of discouraging me from trying to make Memphis a cycling city? Who are we hurting? I'm perfectly content with loving bikes and knowing that some other people never will, but does that make me a bitch? Does that make me worth swerving at with a car? We deserve encouragement, recognition, and respect instead of blind and ignorant hatred. I usually don't let motorists get to me and definitely never let them see me bothered or just affected at all, but they have been persistently evil lately. I guess I should spend less time on the internet and more time riding, like Christina.
















Christina over at bmorefixed is basically awesome. She, amongst tons of other girls out there riding, makes me feel better. I stole this from kteket's flickr, which is as equally awesome.

Just Busted

I didn't used to like The Warble, but I'm pretty sure I just wasn't ready for it. Suffice to say, I do indeed now like 'em - but I haven't kept up with them since Spacetime Breakfast came out. So, while looking at pictures of all the recent flooding, I was pleasantly suprised to find a video of theirs up on the Commercial Appeal website.

Check it out! While Just Busted (the paper, not the song) is often a bit trashy, its entertainment value increases like a bajilion-fold when there's someone you know in it.

Save the Kitties!

I was sad to read that the House of Mews isn't doin' too great financially right now. You can read a bit more about it on LeftWingCracker and a field guide to urban memphis. If ya feel like you can adopt a cat in an emergency situation or could donate some money, they could definitely need the help right now.

Chrome shoes and Thursday Ride

So we got our free Chromes in the mail a few days ago and I've worn them everyday since. I love these shoes. I still don't know if I would fork out the money for them, but they have definitely impressed me so far. I wore them to the studios everyday this week so they're already nice and dirty. Now everytime we go riding we look like a team wearing our uniform shoes! Brett took some pictures of them the other day and I'm sure he'll post about them more in depth later, but here are my favs.



I've also been working on keos a bit. They're pretty much tiny and sucky at this point, but I've only been trying since yesterday. I still like this picture, though.



The Thursday ride was pretty fun last night. I haven't fallen really hard since the infamous trolley track face plant about two years ago, but I made up for it big time last night, eating it hard a record four times. Brett tried to murder me by accidentally running me over twice. I then bombed when I landed crooked jumping the Shangri-la ledge, and once more on the way home while tricking with my feet in the straps. That wouldn't normally have been so much of a problem, but I was too tired and achy from falling so much already, I had no business trying anything. Just in general, I shouldn't be trying tricks in the straps until I'm actually good at them. Speaking of learning tricks, it seems I've started the whole freestyle thing when everyone else in Memphis is getting over it. It'd be nice to have some people to help me out when learning new stuff, but not many people ride fixed anymore beside our little group. I can't wait for Charles to get his Cutter. He's gonna be tearing it up. If Ali wasn't too punk rock for group rides, she would have rode that huge bank with me last night. lolz. I know I should be happy that there are girls riding at all, and I am, but I guess I just want more girls to practice tricks and be awesome with. Ali's still working on the bar spins, but definitely got trackstands down. At the end of the night I had a swollen ankle, a bloody knee and elbow, and a comforting sense of accomplishment.