it's started

ok

so i'm going to blog!

so much thought is pouring through my head, an outline?

bikebike, i rode to bikebike! ~400 miles, from portland to Vancouver BC

(it was amazing)

shall i just tell the story? i never feel like i know what to say.  We left portland on friday the 15th, four new friends, Darren, Taylor, Marjorie and myself.  I was the hub, having met all these people before, (Darren being a long time friend and past housemate) but for everyone else it was a new beginning.  

we gelled, even with a bike break down occurring with in the first hour (Taylor’s derailer hanger broke in half) and a two hour late start, we laughed and road and got to know each other.  

hmm, i just can’t write this way, sorry y’all, it has nothing to do with my feelings towards the story, only my complete inability to capture it.  hopefully some pictures will help...

did you get it? do you feel the love? do you feel the wild beautiful weather and green landscapes.   There are these roads of trees too, shaded roads with bits of light streaming through, pollen floating through the air, and if the breeze caught you, and you happened to have the right song playing, the world went slow mo, and i glided.  

and luckily you can’t see too close, in the pictures of me reaching the tops of hills, i’ve got too many photos of that.  when people ride harder than you, they reward you by cheering you on as you reach the top, they snap a photo of you in your moment of exhaust, is that sweat or tears momoko, i can’t tell.

We rode 6 days, an average of 65 miles a day.  As we got closer to bikebike/vancouver, the magnitude of what i said i would do started to weigh on me.  I picked up my computer and 3 video recorders in Bellingham, i got an international data plan, i got ready for bikebike!

and yes, i’m excited, but the ! at the end of bikebike! is actually just part of the name. 

at this moment, i’m slightly drained. 

bikebike! is the most magical thing i’ve ever seen.  why, because there is so much energy, life, and love.  Four days long, it starts with a party, then 8 hours of workshops, then a party, then another 8 hours of workshops, then a bigger party, then a breakfast no one can wake up for, workshops that are hung-overly attended, and a circular discussion of what has happened and where it will happen again next year.  

it’s complex and beautiful, multi cultural, multi national, and for the most part, it’s all done with volunteer work and love.  people say things like “bikebike! is my favourite vacation” while they are elected to a minimum year long commitment to be a working group for bikebike!  this is the place that your community bike project get it’s rejuvenating juice.   Like zelda’s magic potion, but this is where all the fairies come together and ooze.  

and it’s funny for me, this is probably a place where i am the most sober.  I barely drink despite surrounding debauchery, i don’t want to miss anything.  i want to remember every conversation.

talking about how bike collectives are like organism, and the process of existing, and struggling is much like an evolution/survival of the fittest, and so, if we make a start up kit, and we fund new shops, we run the risk of denying the collective the opportunity to grow and develop and possibly even come up with some new way of organizing that makes them stronger and more resilient.  Cause we talk constantly of organizing ourselves, of not reinventing the wheel, but it makes me wonder, what if the wheels not done being thought about, it’s not perfect, maybe we ought to reinvent at every moment to have a chance of achieving something better.  

but re-invention without and understanding of the past is often wasteful, and there is a philosophy that thinks through “how to run an effective collective” and that philosophy is not that much different for collectives of any kind, or businesses, or homes, or relationships...

and i could talk about this for hours, and guess what, at bikebike! i do.