ah… Blakey

The complexity of your graph/chart/pictograph/thingy/post is not an indication of my affection or admiration for you.

Case in point:

This is an affirming but very simple graph.

So this is – I am afraid, likely to be a simple post. I am going to have to paste in Andrew’s content – because it is so comprehensive and thoughtful and full, there is little need for me. (And I am very sleepy right now)

Blakey is a unique picture. I have high esteem for him. And I think his sources of inspiration are as lovely and as thoughtful as he is. Click the links, they link to some sweet links.

If you are not inspired by women and cycling and life and Andrew after this, you’re pretty much dead.

Andrew’s kindly donation comes to me to Emma to you via…

Hmm. Inspiring women who ride? There are so many, so here’s a short list.

I have to plug Megan Dean, a totally awesome lady who makes rad decisions every day. She was a courier turned track racer who went to the Yamaguchi framebuilding school and now builds sweet frames in LA as Moth Attack. Hanging out with her in Austin and LA was a definite highlight of my recent trip.

For racing, it’s nigh on impossible to go past Beryl Burton who won more championships and held more records than nearly any other cyclist, plus she handily beat the chaps regularly.

There’s also Jeannie Longo, with 57(!) French & World championships, she’s been competitive at an elite level for such
a long time, she competed in the Olympics in 1984 and 2008. She’s 53 now and won the French elite time trial championship last year along with the Chrono des Nations, beating riders who were in nappies when she started racing.

It would be unfair not to also mention Alice B. Toeclips, aka Jacquie Phelan, another woman who raced with the guys, beat the guys, while having to endure their ostracism. She was 3 time NORBA champion 1983-5. She founded the Women’s Mountain Bike And Tea Society (WOMBATS) to encourage women and girls to ride and is still active today.

For adventurous spirit, Dervla Murphy, who toured from Ireland to India in the 60s, by herself. “In Iran she used her gun to frighten off a group of thieves, and “used unprintable tactics” to escape from an attempted rapist at a police station.”

But really, more credit is due to all the women who took up cycling in the 1890s, Susan B. Anthony said that bicycling had “done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.”. The “safety” bicycle afforded them increased mobility, independence & freedom of dress. A great example of these trail blazing ladies is Annie Londonderry, who cycled around the world in 1894-5, swapping a heavy “womens” bicycle and skirts for a lightweight “mens” bicycle and bloomers (and later a men’s suit).

Blakey, I re-read your email in making this post, and followed the links and, dude, you rock. What amazing stories. I feel really buoyed.

So much so that I made you these two sweet handmade bikes for you and your lady. It’s neither chart nor graph but I just kind of felt that you deserved something reflective of you. Everyone is different, everyone’s graph is different.

Remember all things I said to you outside of Long Play? Well, I still mean them.