Why do I cry when I watch movies like this?

Cute Dorky Artistic Cycling

Beauty and the Bike

This is a teaser for a movie that deals with teenagers and the mental mindset concerning cycling. It is a great dive into te public psyche that we are confronting as bicycle advocates.

Video from Gacharinco!

I must say I am jealous about how much room they have.
I was also extremely surprised to hear their choice of music.
This just warms my heart!

Dude

Little Moments That Make a Difference

A tribute to instances that affect our lives.
by Jamie Bond and Eliza Strack

* Today I was walking home and it looked like a 60 year old Italian woman in a wheelchair was spare-changing because of the guy in front of me disregarding her. I walked past prepared to give her an easy dollar in my back pocket. Instead, she was asking to be pushed a block ahead. The sun was shining and I said,"Of course!" I can't imagine why the fellow in front of me passed up the opportunity.
I wheeled her to the dollar store, stopping along the way to bypass a puddle in the walkway. (One of her feet was dragging, and that is what stopped us.) She had us enter the store backwards, as if she did it herself. We didn't talk much, she just thanked me.
When I got home, my roommate instantly asked me if I had just saved someone. I was shocked and asked her why. She said it was the way I jumped up the stairs. I told her she was reading the hologram correctly. -->ES

* Recently, I briefly stopped by a friends house to drop something off. Their kid that was playing in the other room ran out as I was leaving to give me a single tissue for my bike so I would'nt slip because it was raining. So thoughtful. -->JB

* I get a sweet satisfaction with signaling in traffic, on my bike. I have been adding flare to it lately. Taking in the 3 seconds before turning rule, I add a follow through and final flare. Very reminiscent of Fosse. And hold. Lately I have been riding with no hands as much as I can. It's part of my program to become a better German-style bike dancer. At a stoplight recently, while I was practicing my no-hands-geared-bike-trackstand, a fixie rider on the other side of the road congratulated me. I was so thankful to have broken the silence/social stigma barrier of the fixie culture by having one of them acknowledge my existence. I felt like the small bike bubbles this city has were bursting and joining.--->ES

* Last week I was at a local brewpub with my brother enjoying a nice stout beer. Half way through the tasty beverage, I noticed a cute little fruit fly going for a swim. Brave little fellow was'nt the least bit worried about getting swallowed alive by a thirsty giant. He must have known the appropriate glass to pick. I found out that it is proven that fruitflies have alcoholic tendencies. I fished him out and put him on a dry coaster where he shook off and then buzzed away. For the rest of the beer, I marveled at how such a small little fly and someone like me have something in common. -->JB

Coming in February: Bike Porn 3

Performers at MINIBIKECABARET

The Bombshells:


The Cheesepuffs:


Jessie Roadkill:


The Nerv:

MINIBIKE CABARET!!

MINI BIKE CABARET

What: Variety Show featuring Punk Rock, Burlesque, and Booty Shaking with proceeds funding The Derailleurs bike dance tour.

When: Jan. 30th

Where: The Box Factory 865 Florida #1

How Much: $7

Additional Info:

derailleurs.wordpress.com

The Bay Area Derailleurs present MINI BIKE CABARET, a multi-media art and dance extravaganza featuring peers, friends, and supporters of the bicycle dance movement on Saturday, January 30, at 9 P.M. at The Box Factory 865 Florida #1 @ 21st. Tickets are $7. For more info, visit derailleurs.wordpress.com. The evening will feature dance performances by the Derailleurs, the Bombshells (punk rock burlesque), and the Cheese Puffs (lounge burlesque); live music by The Nerv (hard hitting, straightforward inspirational punk), Jessie Roadkill (quirky singer-songwriter), and Tongue and Teeth (haunting and passionate); dance music by DJs Zelko (of Kafana Balkan), Miss Rowdy (booty), and Mega Bitch (more booty); an art show, film screenings, and the release of the Derailleurs’ bike-themed coloring book.

^{The Derailleurs are one of 12 dance teams around the world who focus on the bike as a symbol of affection on the dance floor. They are taking their hip-hop and jazz flavor with a suicide girl twist on the road to Portland and Reno for mutant bike events in February. They have been working hard on an upcoming feature film and will be showing the trailer for the audience. Along with writing scenes and choreographing, they have been drawing for the release the Derailleurs Activity Book featuring imaginative drawings and informative bicycle anatomy, available for $5.}

The team garnered media attention last year when co-founder Hollis Hawthorne was in a major motorcycle accident in India. They raised $100,000 in three weeks to help fly her home via air ambulance. They have been trudging through this year to stay together and stay productive in honor of their fallen leader.

The group’s mission is to promote the bicycle as transportation, art medium, and tool for personal empowerment through creative, athletic, and humorous dance on, with, and about the bicycle.

Jessie Roadkill is a singer/songwriter known for her work with the Stars and Garters performance troupe. She is also a well know staple at Amnesia Bar with the most entertaining and creative Karaoke performances know to man. She is witty and comical and brings it hard with her fantasy lands emerging from her guitar and ukelele strings.

The Nerv are hard-hitting, highly animated, political pleaders. They tell it like it is and the singer's vocals are powerful and clear. They are hellbent on revolution with a healthy apetite for positive change.

Tongue and Teeth are writhing and haunting banshee dance trio along the lines of Grass Widow.

Dj Zeljko has been packing the dancefloor for years with the eastern European-flavored Kafana Balkan parties. He is known for his Gypsy-phillic jams, and this party he will be delving into his transworld punk fusions.

Djs Mega Bitch and Miz Rowdy make the booty shake. They are well sought after for their club-hits meet art warehouse style. Expect heavy bass and big sounds that haven't been autotuned. These ladies will keep you on the dancefloor till closing time.

Photos available at http://www.flickr.com/groups/bayareaderailleurs/pool/

^{______________________}

^{derailleurs.wordpress.com}

http://agentchaosproductions.blogspot.com/2008/06/modern-history-of-bike-dance-team.html

^{www.myspace.com/thenervband}

^{www.myspace.com/djmegabitch}

^{www.myspace.com/cheesepuffssf}

^{thebombshellssf.tumblr.com}

^{myspace.com/kafanabalkan}

Bikettiquette

I have been moved recently by the evil Bike Injunction being partially lifted. I was cruising up The Wiggle on my way home and I saw that the bikes in the road had squiggly arrows painted before them. Then up on Scott I saw a bike with blue bike lights all over it. I had a feeling something big was about to happen. At the light of Oak and Scott there was another bike with blue lights on it, and a sound system, along with the Bicycle Coalition Welcoming Committee. They were there in a pack of four or five just to tell passing bikers to enjoy their new left turning lane and green bike box, like Portland has (minus the big bike stencil that our city is lacking). I pulled over and saw a fellow bike polo player who was part of the jam. I hugged him a little too close because it was a huge celebration. A big win in safe cycling in the city. I started to cry as I heard the team announcing the new bike lane to fellow wigglers and them proclaiming extreme happiness. I admitted my burgeoning tears and Patricia and Marc admitted theirs earlier. What a good experience! I rode my bike the whole way home with an Obama-esque smile on my face.

Riding around the city I have been feeling a few things I need to get off my chest. Call them Bikettiquette or my own pet ppeves, but just hear me out.

1: Stop Signs
Dearest Cars, you cannot get mad at us bikers for running stop signs if you always let us go for it. I always yield at a stop sign, and if someone has the right of way, then I let them go. But if you just EXPECT us to run the stop sign, by you pausing, you are giving us the right of way. Which, I am thankful for because it takes much more personal energy to stop and go on a bike as opposed to pushing your foot on a small pedal. I think it is very courteous of you to give me the right of way. I just wish we could put it into law so we can all know what to do at the intersection in question.

2: Signaling
This is not just for dorky commuters. While I don't see the need for signaling a stop unless I know some motha effer isn't paying attention, I see the true slick awesomeness that these alert signals have on my ride. Bikers: if you cant hear my chain coasting and you don't know I am behind you, take out your ipod because it's CODE BLACK:ninja time. Your life depends on it. But my life depends on your awareness. I am behind you and you are slow, but you are also turning right when I can pass you. If I know where you are going, I won't make you wish you wore a helmet.
Sometimes I signal if no one is there. It's good exercise. It's a dance. It's sexy.

3: Exiting your car
What the fuck. Seriously. Have you ever thought to look out the window? This is a city. Not the country. There are crackheads and tourists and, yes, bikers that have to survive in a treacherous 3 foot margin in between one ton metallic moving things. How in the hell can you be mad at a biker that you hit with your car door? Why is your first reaction to be angry at us? You didn't sustain the injuries for which we don't have insurance.
BIKERS: Why the hell do you think it's okay, in the heat of adrenaline before any of the aches and pains have set in, to NOT get the insurance information of the driver at fault? Listen, I know you are alive and you are thankful for that, but what about the chiropractic adjustments you need to get back to normal instead of sucking it up and having over 50 suck? What about a new bike because yours was cracked and is no longer safe? Seriously, you need to snap out of it and get out your show flier and tagging marker and at least get their license plate as they casually drive off.
THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR DOORING! DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT!

4. Ego
Dear Bikers: PLEASE be thankful when a car stops opening their door when they see you.
Please be thankful for when a car lets you have the right of way at a stop sign.
Please be thankful for the car that goes into the other lane to pass you.
Remind yourself of all the good drivers and try to pay it forward.

Again, I may even break these rules from time to time, but I think we need to be on the same page and get a better groove going. We can coexist. It may be better with separate but equal streets. Why must you hold on so tight to streets when we could keep your car drives less stressful for you if we were free to swerve so slightly (that slightly that drives you insane) in our own boulevard?
It would be better if we didn't have to breathe in all the exhaust of the cars, ma

SF BIKE EXPO sat. 21st 4:30

Derailleurs
Bike Fashion Stage
SF Bike Expo
Cow Palace
4:30pm

Be there.

Trackstand competition
Bike Fashion Show

Cycle Japanese newspaper article on Derailleurs

Summer 2009

Thanks May Z for the great meeting of the minds!

The Age of Bike Dance

Wielding BMX bikes, a unicycle, a trike, colorful wheel parasols, and whips made from inner tubes, The Derailleurs take the stage to perform “dance on, with, and about bicycles.” Their moves include lifting girls mounted on bicycles, twirling wheel parasols in unison, BMX tricks, gliding across the stage on flaming bicycles, and mostly just moving to the music. The image put forth is a quirky mixture of fly girls meets a group of teenagers on stage at a middle school talent show.

They perform choreographed moves in unison, but their real essence lies in the varied dance styles that each girl brings to the group. Agent Double00* explains “everyone adds their own flavor to the group since we all come from different backgrounds. And everyone has their own bike trick that they like to do.” For example, Agent Double00's special trick is called “The Get Down, Get Up” which involves bringing the BMX to a stop, dropping the handles down, and pulling them back up again. Among their ranks lies a ballet dancer, a breakdancer/double-dutch aficionado, a sexy vixen, a unicyclist, and a bicycle acrobat, not to mention the fire dancers. With all these forces combined, they form the Derailleurs, the all female bike dance troupe hailing from the Bay Area around San Francisco.

This motley crew of girls appear on stage in their own unique individualized costumes, matching in color only. Like street gangs, most bike dance teams have their own colors; the Derailleurs have claimed turquoise and black. In their mismatched outfits the group takes on a misfit style eschewing the nature of the group. They really are just a random group of women with lots of sass, bubbling with enthusiasm, a love for bikes and a drive to dance, who have come together in this new form of bicycle enjoyment.

And they are one of a larger community of bike dance groups that span across international cities, from the B:C:Clettes in Vancouver, Canada to The Spokes from Manchester, UK. Of course it all started with the Sprockettes from Portland, Oregon in 2004 and it just keeps growing. Agent Chaos exclaimed at the end of our interview, “Japan is a good place to have a bike dance team start up” and she, like the other girls are excited to meet a new dance team from this side of the world.

*Bicycle dance team members generally adopt Agent names, like spies.

National Geographic write-up on Portland Bike Culture

http://traveler.nationalgeographic.com/2009/11/feature/portland-text

OMG!!!!! and then there were 12.....

I would like to announce the newest members of the Bicycle Dance Revolution:

Gacharinco! - Bicycle Dance Team Nagoya

check it out!!!!!
http://www.candycranks.com/archives/3924/comment-page-1#comment-590

Old article on Zoobomb

I found this article from six years ago. It's a succint depiction of the Zoobomb Phenomenon while it was happenening.

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/GenesBMX/message/5045

Pics I found while sick

Reporting the Spreading of Rad America to Raonoke:

I like to keep you updated when a new chapter of Bike Love opens up in the world. The following correspondence was sent to me from Rev. Phil, Bike Pornographer, in Oregon. He will be making his way through the cuntry on a bikesmut tour. (bikesmut.com)

"On another note, some exciting things have happened in Roanoke since I
came back from Oregon. 1)Ciclovia has been adopted as a Parks and
Recreation program, so it would be insured by the City (yeahh), I
will continue to be the organizer and mostly in charge of fund
raising. 2) Roanoke has established an official StarBomb ride
(inspired by ZooBomb , it got pick up after the Movie Veer was
showcased here few weeks ago). We also have a zoo on top of Mill
Mountain which also has a Neon Star, so instead of calling it ZooBomb
they’re calling it StarBomb . I don't personally have the fear to
do it, but the crowd was huge and they had a blast. Check out the
facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=138944124685.


Andrea Garland, MS CE
Planning Technician
Roanoke Valley-Allegheny Regional Commission"

More Tweed:

SF Weekly did a photolog of the event:

http://www.sfweekly.com/slideshow/view/28488758/



More Tweed photos from Seagravy!:









http://www.flickr.com/photos/32260602@N06/sets/72157622276270811/with/3929788037/

Tubular Tweed Ride!

It ruled.
People look really good in tweed.
Any the participants were great at doing what we wanted. With smiles.
I couldn't stop smiling.
Mustaches always make for a good time.


Here are some photos I found today: (thanks flickr.com)


Gary Fisher starting the game with the mallet throw:


In action:
"

The Crowd celebrating the goal:


thanks Russel Daniels
http://www.flickr.com/photos/redhorses/

Sigh.

Back from a great week in Nevada. Right back into working it. Run Run.
My wifey in a coma went to Tennessee on saturday.
I missed her departure.
We have been filming short films with the Derailleurs, so I have been starting to think "in movie".
I wanted to have one long shot of Hollis' journey from the room to the airport transport.
I wanted to get everyone who loves her to line the hallway, the elevator, and the exit.
I wanted them to be smiling, standing tall, and maybe whisper-chanting an uplifting phrase.
The night before I left for Burningman, I slept the night in the hospital with her.
I wish I could imagine it very intently, right next to her, and somehow transfer the image into her mind in the form of a memory.


http://www.wsmv.com/video/20831362/index.html

Political Piece on Bike Lane FAIL:




Git ya Shakin' It!
Bicycle Samba:




Dude plays music on a bike pump:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r3BNoBD7J0

Polo is my favorite spectator sport.

Made by Janel Sterbentz

Haha.

I have officially been called out as WRONG on the bicycle dancing front.
My "Modern History of Bicycle Dancing" doesn't include , at all, trick bikes and track standers.
While I believe these to be future Olympic Sports, my goal for focusing on the "street style" dancing is because it is a newer phenomenon.
I focus on this sector because it sprung not from years of gymnastics, but from the zeal to express the love for the bicycle. The videos listed below are what I have drawn inspiration. They do not neccessarily prove me wrong, just one sided.

I digitally DARE someone to come up with a trick-bike-gymnastics-inspired bike dancing history.
I would love to see it.

Here is what was written on Craigslist in Washington DC:
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/bik/1341330578.html

Bike dancing is the traditional name for “trick riding” on fixed gear bicycles. It isn’t new, it isn’t from Portland and these German Ballerinas can do it far better then those kids from the Sprokettes.



http://www.shredordie.com/videos/051328113e/crazy-german-bike-dancing

This blogger is totally wrong…
http://agentchaosproductions.blogspot.com/2008/06/modern-history-of-bike-dance-team.html

As is NPR…http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5613188

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX9phXawPc4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48C_KHwt53c&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okPoeUiGwIE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csFXnIpDTrE&feature=fvw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZjd9pBmLoU

Midnight Ridazz encouraging the Scraper Movement!

It constantly baffles me that more folks aren't scrapering their wheels.
With this new fast technology, things spread far a wide so quickly.
That is why I am stoked to run into the LA crew keeping it creative.

Check out this post:
http://midnightridazz.com/viewStory.php?storyId=3436

SF Tweed Ride and Bike Polo

Save the Date:
September 16th 6:30pm
Dolores Park Tennis Courts

Dear Friends and all the hirsute able,
The Derailleurs are teaming up with SF Tweed Ride and SF Hardtop Bike Polo for a special night of movies and your chance to be in one.

What:
Derailleurs will be filming a scene from our upcoming movie.
The scene is supposed to be back in time, so bring your cruisers and derby caps.
MUSTACHES ARE HIGHLY ENCOURAGED.
Our performance is fairly short. We might perform it twice or thrice for all the detailed delight.
Then off to the movies with the dapper riders.

Our movie has the intention to give a shout out to local bicycle badassery.
That means we want you to come out in full, handlebar mustache effect.
Find those suspenders, bloomers, and blouses.
You will be a VIP at the screening!

For more background info:
http://sftweed.com/

See you there!

ps: If anyone has lightning we could use, send and email to bayareabikedance@gmail.com