Category Archives: Events

South End Traffic Incidents Spur Efforts to Prioritize Pedestrian Safety

2021 was the deadliest year on Seattle’s streets since 2006 with 31 lives lost. Vision Zero is the city’s adopted goal that no one should be seriously injured or killed while traveling on our streets. In response, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has just released their highly anticipated “top to bottom” Vision Zero review.

While it contains much needed recommendations to reform SDOT’s internal culture and practices, it fails to propose an action plan to create safe streets for all. Seattle Neighborhood Greenways released their plan containing equitable and proven solutions to get Vision Zero back on track last November.

On Tuesday, March 7th, SDOT’s report was review by the City Council’s Transportation & Seattle Public Utilities Committee. Head to South Seattle Emerald’s page to read more about the issues facing South Seattle.

Ed Ewing, executive director of Bike Works in Columbia City, a “social justice minded organization that centers on racial equity,” said bicycle safety and pedestrian safety are deeply intertwined, and traffic fatalities and injuries for pedestrians and cyclists are greatest in areas that have the least biking infrastructure.

“(In) South Seattle you have the most fatalities, you have the most injuries, you have the most car accidents and then you have the least amount of bicycle infrastructure,” Ewing said. “There’s a direct correlation, and again that lines up with our intention of focusing on the South End because we know that there is a huge need for safety improvements.”

Local groups like Bike Works, Smash the Box, and Seattle Neighborhood Greenways have been reaching out to and meeting with SDOT officials to advocate for safe streets in South Seattle in light of historic racism and discrimination in governmental decision-making, Ewing said.

“There’s history. There is a tremendous history of divestment, of underinvestment in the South End and pretty much any city that has a Community of Color,” Ewing said. “Our goal is to really amplify and increase the awareness of those folks who are making those decisions. Here’s the cumulative effect of divestment in this area, here are the opportunities, and now that we know, let’s do something about it … But if there is reluctance and a desire to stay in the same place, then we have a problem. We have a problem.”

Please watch this video on how we can get Vision Zero back on track at Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.

Volunteer Opportunity: Tour de Fleurs Community Ride

Bike Works needs volunteers to help us run our alleycat race in celebration of spring, the second annual Tour de Fleurs coming up on Sunday, March 26th.

Sign up to volunteer here

Volunteer roles

Opening & setup (1-2 ppl)

  • Shift time: 12-2pm
  • Meet at the Bike Works Shop at the start of your shift (3709 S Ferdinand St)

Checkpoint hosts (10 ppl)

  • Shift time: 1-4 pm
    • Meet at the Bike Works Shop (3709 S Ferdinand St) at 1pm to get supplies and head to checkpoints
    • Remain at checkpoints from 2-4pm. Checkpoint locations will be shared on the day of the ride. 
  • Facilitate checkpoint activities and sign rider manifests + assist riders as needed. Most checkpoints will involve arts and crafts, but the details will remain a surprise until the day of!

Closing (2 ppl)

  • Shift time: 3:30-6pm
  • Meet at the Bike Works Shop at the start of your shift (3709 S Ferdinand St)
  • Role: help tally scores at the end of the ride and support as needed with clean up 

What to expect

Volunteers can expect to carry some light supplies and to bike up to 3 miles to reach their checkpoints (locations will be shared on the day of the ride). Please bring a backpack or a way to carry things on you/your bike. 

Volunteers will be at outdoor checkpoints for 2hrs+, and should dress appropriately for the weather.

  • Restrooms: at Bike Works at the beginning and end of the ride. You are welcome to stop into nearby businesses or use public restrooms as needed
  • Food: provided at Bike Works at the end of the ride ~4pm. Please bring your own snacks if you need them
  • Breaks: you are welcome to sit or rest while waiting for riders at your checkpoint station. Feel free to bring blankets, chairs, water, snacks, etc. anything you need to feel comfortable for your volunteer shift
  • Optional Dress Code: Floral Spring Awakening

For additional access needs, or questions about volunteering, contact Lena Kabeshita at lena@bikeworks.org

Learn more about the event at the registration page

What is an alleycat?

An alleycat is a bike race modeled after a day in the life of a bike messenger; the checkpoints will be kept secret until the day of, and the ride will take place on city streets amongst traffic. There is no set route, and it is up to the rider to navigate their own path from checkpoint to checkpoint.

We recognize that all sorts of people of varying abilities ride bicycles. The one thing we all have in common is that we find cycling fun. So we’ve planned the ride to celebrate and encourage fun with a wide array of jovial checkpoints and challenges based on non-bike related talent and luck. Prizes given for mini-game challenges, best dressed, fastest, slowest, etc. Food and drink will be provided.

Strategic Plan 2-Year Community Report-Out

On February 21, 2023, we hosted an online community report-out about the progress we have made towards our Strategic Plan goals over the last two years and a discussion about next steps.  

Our Strategic Plan focuses on four areas for development through a racial equity lens: internal culture, community engagement, job access, and the use of our physical space. In the first year of implementation, we focused mainly on our internal culture work to promote retention, expand organizational capacity, and ensure that our values are reflected within the structure of Bike Works. This work was conducted concurrently with our programs, in service of greater community impact.

During the last two years, we also progressed our goals to deepen community engagement, promote job access, and enhance our physical space as a community resource. Those focus areas were also covered in the report-out.

During the last two years, we also progressed our goals to deepen community engagement, promote job access, and enhance our physical space as a community resource. Those focus areas were also covered in the report-out.

You can watch a recording of that event below.

View the event slides

 

We explored two discussion questions during this event: what else would you like to see from Bike Works, and what can we learn from you? We wanted to hear about the racial equity and social justice initiatives that our community members have experienced or spearheaded in their own workplaces or community organizations.

Check out the notes from that discussion here

A recurring theme throughout the night was how do we navigate decision-making while also striving to be more equitable and non-hierarchical? This is an ongoing discussion at Bike Works. One of the ways we have begun to address this is by creating a “Criteria-Based Approach to Equitable Decision-Making” tool as a reference guide. This is a “living” document that is subject to change, but we wanted to share it with our community.

Check out Bike works’ equitable decision-making tool

Finally, we discussed the need for bicycle education materials in languages other than English to increase accessibility. We do have this Spanish-language resource and terminology guide. If you have additional resources, especially in any other languages, please send them our way!

Click to access our spanish resource & terminology guide 

You can view the complete Strategic Plan document here, and watch a recording of the initial roll-out of the Plan in March 2021 below.

Youth Cyclocross Recap

In late November, our courageous Bike Works youth showed up and participated in two Cyclocross races. This was a first for most of them and definitely a first for Bike Works. 

Our crew received quite the warm welcome from the Cross community. They all did an AMAZING job on the course and we even have a few students in the top ten of their category! Most of the youth that participated expressed the desire to do it again which is a win for us. For those that decided it wasn’t for them, we commended them for trying something new for the first time.

Big shout out to Monika, Tom, Tommy, for all their leadership and planning. Also props to R&R, Cascade Bicycle Club and volunteers for their help with getting the bikes ready for each race.

Our team is looking forward to next year’s Cross season and bringing more POC to the Cyclocross races in the future!

-Rich Brown, Program Manager

End of Summer South Seattle Community Ride!

We had a blast hosting an all-ages South Seattle community ride on Sunday, August 28th! We had families with tandems, trailers, and cargo bikes. Dozens of Bike Works volunteers, current and former staff, and supporters rolled through. We even had the good fortune to cross-over with Northstar Cycling at Chuck’s Hop Shop Seward Park for an end of ride celebration.

Chuck’s generously donated $1 per pint ($50 total) and matched all additional donations to support our program partners, Young Women Empowered (Y-We) and STEM Paths Innovation Networks (SPIN Girls). REI also sponsored the event by covering delicious food from Muriel’s. This was a true community event and we’re so grateful for the good vibes.

Check out some of the photos below – full album on Facebook. Photos by May Cheng, Elise Hirschi, and Nick Strother.

Check out the full album on facebook

A group of cyclists getting ready for a ride A group of cyclists getting ready for a ride A group of cyclists getting ready for a ride A group of cyclists getting ready for a ride

An adult and a youth riding bikes on a trail 3 people at a table

Three women in sunglasses smiling at a table with drinks Two people at a table with beers

 

Tour de Fleurs: Our First Alleycat!

On Sunday, April 3rd, Bike Works hosted our first-ever alleycat-style bike ride, the “Tour de Fleurs” in celebration of spring!
All photos by Kae-Lin Wang

VIEW ALL THE PHOTOS ON FACEBOOK

A woman kneels by her bike which has a bouquet of white flowers tied to the top tube Three cyclists with helmets and flowered garlands around their necks

An alleycat is a bike race modeled after a day in the life of a bike messenger; the route is kept secret until the day of, and take place on city streets amongst traffic. There is no set route, and it is up to the rider to navigate their own path from checkpoint to checkpoint. In addition to the urban asphalt, the “Tour de Fleurs” featured numerous dirt/gravel options to increase stoke and help riders connect to the great provider of flowers and life, Mother Earth.

Video edit by Sean Flood

Two people using a mic to speak enthusiastically, presumably to a crowd gathered outside Two cyclists in orange and one in black smile for the camera

We recognize that all sorts of people of varying abilities ride bicycles. The one thing we all have in common is that we find cycling fun. So we planned the ride to celebrate and encourage fun with a wide array of jovial checkpoints and challenges based on non-bike related talent and luck. About 100 riders participated and together we raised over $1,300 to support Nurturing Roots, a Black woman owned farming community program in Beacon Hill. Nurturing Roots came through with their vegan mac ‘n cheese and bike-powered smoothies! Food was also provided from our supporters at Ezell’s Famous Chicken and Pagliacci Pizza and REI brought a DIY sunglasses station!

A woman sitting at a table full of brochures and stickers Two people smile at the camera enjoying fried chicken from Ezell's

Inside every [person]
Lives the seed of a flower
If [they] look within [they] find beauty and power
Ring all the bells, sing and tell the people everywhere that the flower has come
Light up the sky with your prayers of gladness and rejoice for the darkness is gone
Throw off your fears let your heart beat freely at the sign that a new time is born

-Minnie Ripperton, Les Fleurs

A group of cyclists A group of cyclists with their hands in a circle

Two cyclists with pipe cleaners sticking out of their helmets A young person on a bike gets their nails painted for an alleycat challenge

Someone holds up a Bike Works jersey A small dog in a bike basket

Two people smile for the camera A cyclist smiles with one hand in a paper box and the other holding up a piece of paper

Promoting Race & Gender Equity in Cycling

On Thursday, March 24th, 2022, Bike Works Executive Director Ed Ewing facilitated a panel of activists and cyclists to discuss different approaches to promoting race & gender equity in cycling and beyond. Panelists Edwin Lindo (Northstar Cycling Club & Estelita’s Library), Roxanne Robles (Friends on Bikes, Feels on Wheels, The Bikery, and Outdoors for All), Lee Lambert (Cascade Bicycle Club), and Ella Dorband (Breakfast Racing Team) shared their experiences as organizers and advocates, and how they work to make different types of cycling more inclusive including racing, touring, bikepacking, adventure riding, and community riding. Check out the recording of the event below.

Meet the Speakers

Ed Ewing: Ed has 31+ years of marketing, project development, strategic planning, and nonprofit leadership experience. He co-founded the Major Taylor Project, a youth cycling initiative focused on creating opportunities for Black and Brown youth in diverse and underserved communities. Ed has cycled competitively since 1983, and still actively races today. He is also a founding member of the Rainier Riders, a cycling club led by Black and Brown riders.

Roxanne Robles: Roxy is a cyclist, urban planner, sewist, and Filipinx food enthusiast living on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish (Seattle, Washington). She started bike touring in 2017 after realizing that bike touring was not that different than hauling 30 pounds of groceries up and down Seattle hills. She organizes with Friends on Bikes, and volunteers with The Bikery & Outdoors for All. Roxy is passionate about supporting new cyclists and spreading her love of bikes and bike touring, and she uses her Capricorn powers for good by planning summer bike trips months in advance. She thinks tarot cards are an essential item on any packing list, and loves to talk about feelings. Her book, An Introduction to Bike Touring will help you get started on your cycling journey!

Ella Dorband – Ella Dorband is, along with founder Mackenna Lees, co-captain of Breakfast RacingA headshot of Ella Dorband, wearing a pink and red racing jersey with the words "Breakfast" on the front Team, a multi-discipline team of 49 WTFNB racers in the Seattle-ish area. She currently races cyclocross, cross country mountain bike, and track. Previously, she was a Lead and then Board Member at The Bikery. In 2023 she and her partner hope to direct their first race, but basically everything about this is TBD. Outside of the bike world, she is a technical project manager and art enthusiast.

Edwin Lindo: Edwin has embarked on the journey to ask and explore the hard questions of Race & Racism within the institutions of Medicine and Law. As faculty at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Edwin has developed curriculum and teaches on Critical Race Theory and Medicine; and is also the Assistant Dean for Social and Health Justice within the Office of Healthcare. His research and scholarship has focused on the history of racialized medicine, race & racism within medicine, social justice and social movements, and decolonized pedagogies for critical education.

Estell (his partner and wife) and Edwin founded and curated Estelita’s Library, a Social Justice Community Library & Bookstore dedicated to the goal of bringing truth and justice to communities through decentralized knowledge and decolonized spaces. Their books cover topics of justice, liberation, identity, race & racism, economic and political theory, and anything else that guides us in understanding our world through a critical lens. You can find them at EstelitasLibrary.com. Estelita’s Library is named after their 4 year old, Estella.

Edwin is also the co-founder of North Star Cycling, the largest BIPOC cycling club on the West Coast — our goal is to bring melanated people and a conscious of justice to cycling. We have built community through Sunday Service rides and Wednesday night rides. Our model is special in that we are hear to provide unconditional embrace of minoritized folks, no matter where they are: never riding a bike to racing in Cat 1 crits. For those that are new, we have a fleet of bikes that folks can borrow for the rides and a clubhouse to encourage community building. In just over 2 years, we have engaged with over 300 folks in rides, community events, and friendships. We’re excited for what the future holds.

Lee Lambert: Lee Lambert is seven months into service as the Executive Director of the Cascade Bicycle Club/Washington Bikes. He joined Cascade after working 15 years in the nonprofit sector advocating for equity in Washington state’s education system. Born and raised in Tacoma, throughout his life, he used a bike for basic transportation, recreation and fitness. Lee sees his role at Cascade as a perfect partnership between his avocation and vocation. He is passionate about making biking accessible for all and a viable alternative to driving a car by ensuring that we have a simple, safe and connected system of bike infrastructure in Washington State. Lee and his wife have two children and enjoy many outdoor activities in their free time.  He is also a proud alumni of WSU and Seattle University.

Paracyling & Perseverance with Edie Perkins

Edie Perkins was struck by a car and paralyzed from the chest down in 2017. Today, she is still an avid bike racer, member of a national women’s paracycling team, and Executive Director of the Kelly Brush Foundation, who provide support & opportunities to athletes and folks with spinal cord injuries and other disabilities. In an evening of storytelling, Edie shared her vulnerability and positivity as she described her experiences with adaptive cycling and disability. Also featured is Ed Brondson, Executive Director of Outdoors for All, a Seattle-based organization providing recreation opportunities for people with disabilities including one of the largest adaptive cycling fleets in the country.

Do you, or someone you know, have a unique cycling story to share? Please get in touch with Elise to discuss presenting at a Bike Works “Bicycle Stories” event.

Getting Involved Through Biking

Isaac Dyor, Tyler Callaghan, & Ashton Breer are sophomores & juniors at Interlake High School, and Alex Wright is a junior at O’Dea High School. They are friends from the same recreational soccer club who recently decided to work together on a service project, both to meet their school requirements, and to give back to their community. 

So far they have collected over a dozen bike donations from their friends & neighbors, and delivered them to the Bike Works warehouse for use in our shop, programs, & giveaways. Below is an interview with Isaac and Bike Works Development & Communications Manager, Elise, about this wonderful project to get bikes back on the road and into the hands of those who need them most!

Q: How did you hear about Bike Works?

A: I wanted to get involved through biking. I found Bike Works’ website through online research. I saw that you take bike donations, and I thought, well, a lot of people have extra bikes laying around. Instead of sitting in a garage, maybe they could be donations.

The two most important aspects of bikes are freedom and fun.

Isaac Dyor

Q: How did you come up with the idea of collecting & repairing bike donations for your community service project?

A: We wanted to provide as much value as possible for our community service project, not just checking off the requirement. Since I had knowledge of bike repair, I saw that as an opportunity to use my skill set to provide more value. I figured we’d get more bikes if we went and collected them too. We started with our neighborhoods, and are now expanding to the families in our soccer club.

Q: Where did you learn about bike repair?

A: I started mountain biking last summer and slowly learned more tricks over time by reading online articles and watching YouTube videos. But I am still a beginner. So this is also an opportunity for me to keep learning. I’ve learned that anybody can start repairing bikes with a little time and a little effort.

Q: What does riding bikes mean to you?

A: For me, the two most important aspects of bikes are freedom and fun. As a kid, you can’t drive, so bikes give you the freedom to go to a friends’ house or to the park by yourself. I believe that is important for growth and maturity of kids. For me, it was always more fun to ride a bike with friends than get a ride from my parents. I also think bikes are fun, they give people the ability to bond over something and get exercise.

It only takes a little bit of work to make others really happy.

Isaac Dyor

Q: Why is community service important?

A: Community service is a way to give back and learn lifelong skills. And it only takes a little bit of work to make others really happy. We’ve donated twelve bikes so far, which I hope means we’ve made twelve people happy. I’m hoping we can keep collecting more bikes to make more people happy. 


Bike Works processes between 6,000 – 8,000 bike donations every single year! We accept any and all donations of bikes, parts, and accessories for use in our youth & adult programs, bike giveaways, and for sale in our social enterprise bike shop. Bike donors are vital to our organization. Thank you to everyone who donates bikes to Bike Works, and to volunteers like Isaac, Tyler, Ashton, & Alex for helping get the word out and harnessing the power of their communities!

Kae-lin Wang on Building AAPI Community through Cycling

In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Bike Works would like to share a reflection written by Kai-Lin Wang, a comedian, baker, photographer, and a sponsored rider for All City Cycles. Last March, in response to the escalating attacks on Asians around the country, Wang organized an impromptu ride as a place for healing and solidarity for those who identify as Asian. Over 40 strangers and friends came out on short notice in support. We are excited to share Wang’s story, and to invite any Asian Pacific American identifying riders to join another ride on Saturday, May 22nd for a chance to sprout a new community. Thank you Wang for your vulnerability and inspiration.

I was born to my Taiwanese parents in Massachusetts and later my mother became widowed when I was 8 years old. She then moved my older sister and me down to Texas where we spent our adolescent years growing up subconsciously assimilating to white culture.

The Atlanta shootings on March 16, 2021 uncovered a history of anti-Asian sentiments, xenophobia, misogyny, and fetishization of Asian women in this country that shook the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community into fear, pain, anger and deeply rooted trauma. To me personally, it completely flipped my world upside down in a way that I would have never expected. It resurfaced so much racism and family trauma in my childhood that I had suppressed my entire life trying to fit in and fly under the radar in order to keep quiet and not disturb the peace. Basically, I was reevaluating my entire racial identity that I had been so ashamed about for 30+ years. To say that the following week was hard to process is truly an understatement.

Basically, I was reevaluating my entire racial identity that I had been so ashamed about for 30+ years.

I had also come to the realization I had diminished myself as an Asian American so much that I had little to no close AAPI friends in my own community. Most of all of my friends are white, and I now find it deeply unsettling. I had met up with another Asian friend that week that was super impactful in processing the trauma, and it was incredibly healing to be with another person that looked like me and had similar racial experiences growing up. Timing was crucial for me as I am an external processor.

From there, I thought I would try to put together a bike ride as quickly as possible for the AAPI community because I knew that’s what I needed and wanted. Initially, I was inspired by Ron Holden, who is another fellow sponsored All-City rider, that started Ride for Black Lives in LA. Hearing him speak about his passion for the community was infectious, and I had always wanted to organize a ride but have felt I was not credible nor equipped enough with the experience. But this time, I felt like it was so important to me that I knew it had to happen, and it didn’t matter that I didn’t know what I was doing. I wanted to create a safe space for healing for the AAPI community where they could come together on bikes, be able to meet others where they were, and build a genuine connection. I knew I couldn’t have been the only one feeling so alone that I wanted to be surrounded by my people during this time.

I wanted to create a safe space for healing for the AAPI community where they could come together on bikes, be able to meet others where they were, and build a genuine connection.

That evening, I had never experienced so much pride in my own race and identity. We had felt seen, supported, cared for and so loved by our own community. This was only the beginning of our healing and the spark of something more to come.