After a stupefying car ride home from Minneapolis, I awoke this morning to hear school is canceled today. Another day off. At least this means I'll have a job a little bit longer in June, though I'll get paid the same...
More exciting was the weekend Steve & I spent up North with many friends. The main reason for this trip was
Quality's winter show,
Frostbike. I am indeed new to the bike show circuit, but I take Frostbike to be a fairly mellow, small-scaled show, as far as these sorts of shindigs go.
My dear friend Verna & I struck off on our own, while
Steve & his good friend, Mark from back in the day, wandered slowly, recounting many races and bikes gone by. We came home with piles of shwag and a few ideas for the
Bike Library.
I had a great time. More fun than I thought I would have. I thought I would have to prove myself at every vendor stand as a woman who belongs in the bike industry. This only happened a couple times. Only a few overt sexist remarks were heard the whole time we were there on Saturday. I get pretty tired of getting angry at such things, and I felt this was positive.
So here's a typical image. A huge space filled with logos and clever and not-so-clever slogans, bikes, bike parts, tools, accessories, and white men.
There were a few other women present, and we were happy about that though again, predominantly white. There were more people of color cleaning restrooms than participating in the show. It's difficult and unsteady terrain to sort through the reasons this imbalance maintains.
Most disappointing to me has been
Surly's marketing strategy of machismo. Surly isn't alone in this, of course, but they're really making a go of it. The attitude at the Surly stand was overcompensatingly tough; the kind of toughness that makes me feel like there's a frailty being covered up. Verna & I felt unwelcome but didn't waste our time showing how we can take it. Later, Steve asked one of the guys working the stand if he had ever been to Iowa City. The response? "Get the fuck out of my booth." Eh? As Steve walked away the guy tried to salvage the conversation with a more polite answer.
Eh?? With the exception of those few weird moments, Frostbike was a fun and lively event. Most people were excited to hear about what the Bike Library does, despite the fact that nonprofit, community bike project screams low budget. QBP does a good job keeping a shiny, happy face and making efforts to make good decisions... I refer here to the new addition to their main building. It is a
LEED certified structure that actually has some emphasis on conservation, a word that often gets left out of conversations about environmental friendliness.
Overall, I say well done to Quality, and it was a good weekend in Minneapolis.
Check out the
Bike Library's blog for my report on our visit to
Hiawatha Cyclery.
