Nikki McThewson (left) and Shawna Williams in the doorway of Free Range Cycles. Photo by Kendall Rock courtesy of Free Range.
One Seattle shop was far and away the top-rated bike shop in the SPLAIN survey: Free Range Cycles. The shop in its iconic little building in Fremont received a 4.87 out of 5, and that was with 52 people weighing in. The shop had twice as many “5” ratings as the second shop on the list of 42 shops. See our report for more about that survey.
Clearly, Free Range is doing something right, and word has spread among women, trans, femme and gender nonconforming people that it is the place to go. And when they go, they have a very positive experience. So I spoke with Shawna Williams, the owner of Free Range since taking over for the legendary Kathleen Emry in 2018, about what she and the staff at Free Range do to make their shop so welcoming.
“As a queer mixed-race woman in the cycling industry, this is always there,” she said. A lot of staff conversations stem from personal experiences in shops that they don’t want to repeat.
But they don’t always get it right, either.
“We’re still working on these things all the time,” she said. “We work really hard to ask questions and to not assume someone’s knowledge about something based on the bike they come in with or their appearance … we spend a lot of time asking about their experience and if they have any questions. Asking what their goals are and what their riding style is.” (more…)
Editor’s Note: Roxanne Robles conducted an online survey between September and December of 2019 asking people who identify as women, trans, femme or gender nonconforming to rate how comfortable they feel at 42 Seattle bike shops. Though Seattle Bike Blog did not work on the survey itself, the two of us have worked together on how to present the data. I stand by Roxy’s work. You can read more of her thoughts on the survey on her blog.
Bike shops are vital infrastructure. They are the places you go to keep your bike working, and the experts who work in shops offer hard-earned knowledge that only the most dedicated do-it-yourself hobbyists can hope to match. Beyond just fixing bikes, though, shops can be the heart of a bike community, a place to meet up to have fun or learn.
Because shops are an important part of cycling, it is important they are inclusive and accommodating places to visit. Cycling is marked by a prevalence of not only cisgender men, but able-bodied, white, and wealthy people. Walking into a bike shop can be stressful if you do not fit within these intersections. It is a really common experience for many people outside these demographic categories to be ignored, talked down to, or talked over when they are trying to procure a professional service.
The Seattle Pedalers Looking for Action to Inform (“SPLAIN”) survey was developed to take the temperature of Seattle bike shop culture, to have a better understanding of where people feel comfortable, and to offer a space for them to relay their stories and experiences. People usually start their cycling journeys in a bike shop, looking for a bike — if this experience is stressful, traumatic, or uncomfortable it might turn them off to cycling completely.
We want to be very clear about what these ratings say (and don’t say). The survey was developed with Google Forms and distributed via email, Slack, Twitter, Cascade Bicycle Club’s social media, the Seattle Bike Blog Bike News Roundup and word of mouth. The survey had one page for each bike shop and asked respondents to rate their experience in each shop they had visited from 1 (“I don’t feel comfortable here”) to 5 (“I feel comfortable here”), with a space at the end of the survey for feedback and anecdotes. Respondents were asked to give feedback only for those shops they have visited. There were 90 responses in total. To calculate scores, the responses were weighted and the total was divided by the number of responses for each shop.
Because the survey was distributed organically and respondents self-selected, this cannot be viewed as a scientifically accurate poll representing all women, trans, femme and gender nonconforming people in Seattle. Rather, it is a qualitative snapshot of 90 people’s reported experiences. And people could have wildly differing experiences at the same shop. For example, Alki Bike and Board received a below average 2.78, but the only comment anyone left in the optional text box was, “Alki Bike & Board is the BEST!!!!!” Some shops received fewer votes than others, so their scores might be significantly impacted by just one or two ratings. The total number of votes received is noted within the bar for each shop on the chart.
The length of each bar represents the shop’s average rating. The colors of each bar break down the proportion of the shop’s 1 – 5 ratings. The number at the end of the bar represents how many of the 90 total respondents rated that shop. For more detail, see the spreadsheet of the rating counts.
Sound Transit is resurfacing a stretch of the Eastrail between the South Kirkland Park and Ride and the intersection of 120th Ave NE and Spring Blvd in Bellevue. So anyone trying to get through will have to detour via Northrup Way and 120th Ave NE.
Construction is scheduled to close the trail Wednesday through Friday, though of course at this time of year work is rather weather-dependent.
Staring Wednesday, Feb. 12, Sound Transit’s contractor, Hensel Phelps, will close a small portion of the Eastrail in Bellevue, for three days, near the construction site of the Operations and Maintenance Facility on 120th Avenue Northeast. The closure is needed to complete trail surfacing and reconstruct the temporary trail bridge.
What
Three-day trail closure and detour
When
Wednesday, Feb. 12, through Friday, Feb. 14
Where
Eastrail near the Operations and Maintenance Facility East construction site on 120th Avenue Northeast in Bellevue.
More
In order to continue through to 120th Avenue Northeast, you’ll need to follow the following detour (Coming from the north, at the South Kirkland Park-and-Ride):
Detour off the trail to the existing bike lane/sidewalk on 108th Avenue Northeast to Northup Way
Use existing bike lane/sidewalk on Northup Way/20th Avenue Northeast
Head south on 120th Avenue Northeast to Spring Boulevard intersection
Plan ahead, leave early and allow extra time to reach your destination.
A group that wishes to remain anonymous posted an official-looking “Notice of Proposed Street Use Action” sign at the north end of the 2nd Ave bike lane near Denny Way, informing the public that “the City of Seattle has decided to remove this portion of the Second Avenue protected bike lane to make room for more cars.” It continues:
This will allow more people to drive to events at the new Seattle Center Arena at the cost of safety for pedestrians and people on bicycles.
If you have comments about this change please contact the following parties:
Mayor Jenny Durkan – Twitter: @mayorjenny
or email: [email protected]
Rob Johnson, Oak View Group – Twitter: @heyrobbyj
Email: [email protected]
Councilmember Andrew Lewis – Twitter: @lewisforseattle
Email: [email protected]
And, unfortunately, the sign is true. As reported previously, current transportation plans that are part of the arena remake would close this section of the bike lane, routing people biking onto the sidewalk just south of Denny Way.
The sign is amazing because it makes a couple important points at the same time. For one, of course, it alerts people that the city wants to remove a section of one of our city’s best protected bike lanes. But it also highlights the double standard regarding how much public notice and public debate is needed to add a bike lane versus how little public debate there has been about removing one. (more…)
I am very excited to try out an all-new feature for the Bike News Roundup: Video commentary! I will still be posting links to news and other interesting stuff from around the region and around the world like I have for the better part of the past decade. So if you’re just here for the links, they aren’t going anywhere. But now the roundup will also come with a video where we’ll walk through some highlights and talk about them. It could be a good opportunity to bring in guests, too. We’ll see where it goes. Post your feedback on the format in the comments below or on YouTube.
Kelli Refer joined me for this week’s chat. Kelli was Legislative Aide to Councilmember Mike O’Brien until his term ended at the end of 2019. She also happens to be my amazing spouse. Thanks, Kelli!
First up in the roundup, performance artist Simon Weckert put 99 smart phones in a little red wagon, loaded Google Maps directions on all of them and then walked around central Berlin creating “virtual traffic jams.”
The Cedar River Trail underpass at 154th Pl SE is full of water. Luckily, there is a street-level crosswalk that makes for what should be an easy detour. But we aware that increased rainfall could lead to more flooding for the riverside trail. Details from King County Parks:
Excessive rain and flooding has created adverse conditions on many of our trails today. The Cedar River Trail is closed at 154th Pl SE due to high water in the underpass tunnel.
A reader also noted in the comments of a previous post that the Green River Trail is closed in Tukwila near the I-405 crossing. So be on the lookout for other closures along that riverside trail if more heavy rain falls.
These closures are in addition to previous reports about closures on the Sammamish River Trail, Snoqualmie Valley Trail and Preston-Snoqualmie Trail.
Riverside bike trails are very pleasant for obvious reasons, and the grades are typically good, too, since they follow the river. But that obviously makes them vulnerable to flooding when rain gets too heavy for too long. I’m sure it will stop raining one of these days…
