Broke Spoke Cooperative gears bicycle basics toward women

By CAROL SOUTH

Traverse City Record-Eagle
Sept. 2, 2008

TRAVERSE CITY -- If you don't know a wrench from a gear, the Broke Spoke Cooperative wants to help.

Geared to women, the cooperative's Your Bicycle: Core Skills for Women and Girls workshop will be held Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. at the loading dock of Higher Grounds Trading Company in Traverse City.

On deck for the session are the basics: learning the names of bike parts and their operation, how to select a bike that fits, how to purchase a bike, basic maintenance and repairs and setting up a portable tool kit.

Workshop attendees do not need to bring a bike to the course. Both members and non-members of the Broke Spoke Cooperative are welcome; non-members will be charged $10. Girls under 12 are free. Registration is required at www.broke-spoke.org or by calling 943-9000.

The focus of the workshop is that knowledge is power, which, like cycling, is a component of self-reliance.

"It's easy to be intimidated or just unsure, so to have the knowledge and be more confident you so can take care of things is good," said Deb Samuel of Traverse City, who is co-organizing the event with M'Lynn Hartwell. "I think it will be nice for women to gather and share their knowledge and support one another."

"If you work on it and know it, you take better care of it," she added.

High gas prices this year have dramatically increased the number of cyclists, a demographic trend Hartwell calls "exploding." Because of this, it is even more crucial to teach riders how to be safe on two wheels.

To create the Your Bicycle: Core Skills for Women and Girls workshop, Hartwell translated to bicycles a previous women's basic car workshop called Women on Wheels that she created for Chrysler.

"We wanted to do the same thing with bicycles and not feel so helpless -- it makes you feel really good to know this," said Hartwell of Traverse City. "We're about promoting safe cycling and a well-maintained bike is a safe bicycle."

While this workshop is specifically geared to empowering women, basic knowledge and repair skills are crucial for both men and women.

A recent lunchtime ride in Chicago with a group of women hammered home this lesson to Hartwell. During the outing, the women came across a man stranded by a flat tire. Lacking any tools -- Hartwell strongly advocates that cyclists carry a kit of basics -- he could not even begin to fix the problem.

"He was just sitting there helpless and this group of women come up with all the tools and got him going again," she recalled. "I found a certain irony in that and a coolness factor (in helping.)"

Co-founded last year by Alita Townsend, Dennis Bean-Larson and Lou Blouin, the Broke Spoke Cooperative is housed in the loading dock of the Higher Grounds Trading Company. An array of tools, parts and equipment are available for use by members, who pay an annual fee for access, events and workshops.

Volunteers, such as Hartwell and Samuel hosting this Saturday's workshop, pitch in with time and knowledge to promote self-reliant bike care.

"It's just basic common-sense information that sometimes intimidates women and it doesn't need to," said Hartwell of why the cooperative is holding the women's workshop. "With more bikes on the road, more people are going to have needs."