Did a parental ever make you burn a $1 bill as a youngster to make you aware of the "pain" of seeing your money wasted? Mine didn't *actually* make me do this, but I definitely heard this experience recounted narratively on multiple occasions.
Anyway, that's what I needed to do regarding learning how to change a flat bike tire: even though $10 buys, say, three boxes of delicious cereal or enough gas to last me for a week, I needed to make myself fork it over as a donation to Diana, the very nice volunteer who led the Women's Bike Clinic at the Sopo Bicycle Cooperative this afternoon. I had never heard of them before, but now I am SO glad that I have.
Seriously: how cool is a community bike shop? The shop itself is very difficult to find is you're not looking for it: go down the alley in between the Australian Bakery Cafe and the Blue Frog Cantina; the entrance to the bike shop is from the back parking lot. But one *can* find lots of neat information about Soco on their website. Their mission is "to create equitable access to cycling by providing no/low-cost bicycle maintenance services and education" and when they are open (7pm to 10pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; 2pm to 6pm on Saturday) one can fix your own bicycle, help others, and gab about cycling. They also put on classes like the one I attended.
In some respects I know a lot about how to be a recreational cyclist and bike commuter, as riding bikes has been a very important part of my growing up and my life as an independent-ish adult. But I didn't know exactly how a fixed gear bicycle works until I attended the class and I had only changed a flat tire once before in my life. The class was a little too basic for me (and the stuff that wasn't basic, like how to repair a broken bike chain, didn't interest me) but I greatly appreciated having the opportunity to meet some cool-seeming ladies and to learn more about the cycling community here in the ATL. Next time I need to have a repair done on my bike, I will likely bring it here even though Bicycle South is just up the street from me, so that I can learn while someone hopefully helps me. 'cuz let's be real, I am "so po" that the community bike shop donation scale (they ask for a donation of $5 to use the shop and tools and $5 per part purcahsed) makes my wallet happy. And I'm all about education and empowerment, so I value being helped by a community of cool folk to help me learn skillz that I can use myself and help pass on to others. read more