Sustainable Cycles, here we go!

I write from the library at Colorado State in Fort Collins, CO. We biked here this morning with great weather. But what’s even GREATER than that is the workshop (well, 2 actually) that Sustainable Cycles put on yesterday in Boulder.

The first was at the Boulder Valley Women’s Health Center, an organization that provides affordable reproductive and sexual healthcare to people. The workshop was held during lunch, so clinic workers trickled in and out during the hour. We had a great disscussion, and 5 people got new cups. Most exciting, though, was that 3 of those people are high school students! The clinic has a program with local high schools where “shapers” or peer health educators, hang out after school and talk health. None of them had tried a cup before, and I look forward to what comes out of their experience! They had some good suggestions like “You should instragram this” and getting more into social media to access the youth…instagram about your cups, spokeswomen!

L to R: Rachel, 2 ‘shapers’, and Sundari (the lovely woman who helped me organize both workshops. Thank you, Sundari!)

Second was at the Radish housing co op near the University of Colorado. Over 20 people attended! I gave away about 10 more cups, and we had an almost 2-hour discussion about menstruation, menstrual products, birth control, sexual health, and health in general. I am stoked to create a space where people can talk freely about what’s going on with their periods, share experiences about methods of birth control, and ask specific questions about how to clean a cup or a cloth pad or a sponge! There were a range of people there–from mothers to almost-mothers to pre-menstrual (though she may have been dragged along by her mom :P).

The workshop at Radish Co op–we all squeezed around a table in the living room.

It’s exciting, it’s happening. I got many thanks for doing this project–and I thanked them for attending and sharing! The goal of this bicycle ride is to get people talking and researching about periods, and to create a community to support each other in doing so. I think it’s working.

Sweet Colorado

Greetings.

I write from Littleton, Colorado, where we have spent 5 days vegging out, hanging with my family, and eating delicious Thai food cooked by my uncle! And also exploring Denver a little bit–going on a fun night-time party bike ride, checking out the local bicycle co op, and visiting the biggest REI I have ever entered (it has man-made white water rapids to test out rafts…) Tomorrow we’re off to Boulder, where I’ll be giving a talk at the Boulder Valley Women’s Health Center. Excitement!

The hospitality we have encountered in this state is incredible. We’ve been taken out to dinner, offered showers, places to stay, and have been hooked up by total strangers–one person from warmshowers.org wasn’t in Colorado Springs when we needed a places to stay, but called his PARENTS, and they welcomed us even though they’d never done anything like that before. And, biking into Telluride, we got offered two places to shower within 10 minutes. AND, a woman we met on the Dallas Divide Summit thought to connect us with her friends in Salida a couple of days after we met her. Colorado is treatin’ us great.

Ok! Off to sleep–up in 6 hours to get on the bike again.

And remember, Owen is way better at blogging than I am: odogsodyssey.com

It’s lovely to have so much water to bike by. No more 80 mile stretches of dry desert.

 

Going from Dolores to Telluride, we biked over a 10,220 foot pass. We slept at a bike mechanic’s house in Dolores–he just invited us to stay after we bought some supplies from him. A great welcome to the state.

 

Gunnison, CO. After Utah’s 3% brewskies, the boys and I were glad to enjoy a nice Colorado cold one!

 

Monarch Pass Day. Over 11,000 feet tall–our highest summit yet! We almost hit 50mph going down the other side. It’s a good thing our bikes were made for this!

Very bike friendly mountain towns. Lots of art, lots of creativity, and lots of people who bike over mountains just for fun.

Goodbye, Nevada; Hello Goodbye, Utah; Hello, Colorado

Hello!

I am sitting in the living room of a kind stranger found on warmshowers.org–that awesome website that connects bike tourists to people opening their homes to us. Showered, laundry drying, and resting now! Owen and I met up with Chris, another 23 year old biking to the east coast. It’s nice to have more company.

Last weekend I got a little food poisoning, so Owen and I spent an extra day with a wonderful German exchange student in Cedar City who we found through couchsurfing. But! We have made up for lost time this week–our all-time high was 119 miles in one day! Utah is BEAUTIFUL. Tomorrow we’ll be in Colorado!

Some differences between Nevada and Utah:

-no casinos in every town in Utah
-I notice fewer bullet holes in the road signs in Utah

Enjoy the photos. I can’t put captions on them, so guess where we are and what we’re doin’!

Also, Owen is way better at blogging than I am: odogsodyssey.com

Austin*, Nevada. Wild Wild West

Howdy.

I am typing on my little iPhone in front of a little a diner in a little town called Austin*, Nevada. Today we biked 70 miles and climbed ’bout 3000 feet. The week has been great! Since last time, we biked over the sierras (except for a 40 mi hitch hike which we won’t talk about), made our way into Nevada, stayed with some wonderful people through a bike tour website called warmshowers.org (yes–even you can host cyclists like us in your cozy homes), and did some city park camping.

We are well on our way, have met some mighty friendly Americans, and are stoked to keep going.

After a rain just outside Carson City, NV.

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Grapes! It was a nice rest stop at the Middlegate Station–which breaks up the 106 miles between Fallon and Austin.

 

*Correction: I meant Eureka, Nevada. We biked from Austin that morning.

In Placerville!

Hello, friends.

Today Owen and I climbed 2000 feet and rode about 60 miles from Sacramento to Placerville. Tomorrow and the next day we’ve got some major climbing as we go over The Sierras. Oh, menstrual cups, the things I do for you.

In other exciting news, Owen and I were in the Santa Monica Daily Press yesterday.

That makes us more famous than we were last week! Link to article: http://smdp.com/samohi-alumni-take-on-cross-country-bike-trip-for-a-cause/121916

I got tired of riding my bike. So I found this pony.

The state Capitol.

‘Til next time!

Day #1, check

Hey folks,

Day one was yesterday, and was pretty awesome. We took BART (public transit) from Oakland to Concord, and biked 63 miles to Davis. It was smooth riding the whole way–with bike paths and bike lanes, a flat landscape, sunny weather, and a nice ciesta in the afternoon at a park in Dixon. A nice 6 hours of riding, and we’re not too sore today. Owen and I are staying with my friend near downtown Davis–which is such a bike friendly place!! Bike paths everywhere, bike parking everywhere, bike tunnels, nice roads, and even a “press for green light” button at some intersections. Pretty awesome.

Owen and I are very stoked! And we are settling in to our new lifestyle very nicely.

Dipping our back tires into the Pacific Ocean at the Emeryville marina. That’s SF in the back.

The start line: 6:30am on Saturday, May 4. We’ve got a long way ahead of us…

Just look at that smoothness! Great roads the whole way.

A garden work party at my friend’s co op. (I’m sitting in their living room right now).

On the Sustainable Cycles front, I have gotten some great responses from people I’ve been talking to. Many of them already use cups and are really supportive of the project. Others use other methods, but still think what we’re doing is great.

Tomorrow we ride to Sacramento, then to Placerville, then Kirkwood, and onward!

Check out an article about us on the LA Streets Blog, oh yeah.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Departure date May 4!

Hey hey from the SF Bay!

Some updates:

Owen had a slight and unexpected health issue pop up, so he has a Dr.’s appt. this week. That pushes our departure date from April 28 to May 4. Cross your fingers that we are healthy and able to start our ride!

The first couple of workshops were awesome. At the Berkeley Free Clinic, we had a great and informative discussion with clinic volunteers and community members. At the California Student Sustainability Coalition (CSSC) convergence at UC Berkeley, Owen and I had about 40 young dreamers attend our workshop–very exciting!

Also, I had the opportunity to check out the Women’s Community Clinic in SF, which is an awesome organization that provides health care for all sorts of women in the area.

I have given out a number of menstrual cups (thank you, DivaCup for the generous donations) to interested women, and have already gotten some response. One woman emailed just to “let you know how pleased I am with this life change!”

It’s exciting, it’s happening, it’s great.

Greetings from Rachel!

Hi, All,

Since Toni last wrote, MUCH has happened. I am riding SF to NYC with my good friend, Owen Gorman, an incredible young man who’s doing a bicycle advocacy project of his own–raising awareness about the Safe Routes to School Program. Check his project out, too.

We are geared up, our route is planned, and we’ve been doing some training here in Los Angeles, including two fully-loaded over-nighters.

The gear: This is Owen’s list. Mine includes ~30 menstrual cups generously donated by DivaCup (figure courtesy of Owen Gorman).

The route: forgive the quality of the image–we’re working on making it “zoomable”, but this is the gist! (courtesy Owen Gorman)

Owen and I on a training ride to Henninger Flats–including a 1400 ft climb over 3 miles. (Photo credit: Kent Strumpell).

As you may deduce from the fact that all the computer images are made by Owen, I am what some might call “technologically challenged” as in, I don’t fully understand what a hashtag is, and I’m still figuring out how the heck Twitter works. But! Alas, given that I am jazzed, stoked, and pumped about doing this project across the country, I am putting effort into entering the 21st century…check out the Twitter account I made! We will be ‘tweet tweeting’ along the way.

Sustainable Cycles has got a couple of events already planned!

• Friday, April 26. 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Berkeley Free Clinic: Sustainable Cycles 101: shifting gears from single-use menstrual products. 
• Friday, April 26 at party o’clock in Emeryville: Owen and Rachel’s Bike Eleganza Extravaganza. i.e. Our goodbye party! As it’s at the residence of a friend, please email for details: sustainablecycles101@gmail.com.
• Saturday, April 27. 1:30 pm at UC Berkeley: Owen and I are presenting at the California Student Sustainability Coalition’s Convergence, though it requires pre-registration…

Fundraising wise, the cup is more than half full! (pun absolutely intended). With a goal of $2000, we’ve raised $1600! Thank you to all those who have contributed!

The timeline:

• Owen and Rachel drive to SF on Tuesday (4/23).
• Owen and Rachel DAY 1 to Davis: Sunday (4/28).

We are pumped, we are excited, we are enjoying our beds for the last few nights! Over and out.

Announcing Our Summer 2013 Cross-Country Bicycle Tour!

Sustainable Cycles is off to an incredible start in 2013!  We were awarded the year-long Lead Now Fellowship; we are presenting at the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research Conference this June; and we are sending Spokeswomen on a trip from the Bay Area to New York City – 3,250 miles!  

Our 2013 trip will be led by Rachel Horn, a recent graduate of UC Berkeley (read more about Rachel in her bio on our “About” page). The trip begins April 28th in the Bay Area and will take about three months.  Passionate Spokeswomen are invited to come along for either the entire trip or a short leg.   Please email Rachel directly if you are interested in joining up!

rachihorn@gmail.com

Like our previous trip, menstrual cup companies are donating cups for us to give away.  Spokeswomen will write blog posts and articles, do interviews, give workshops, and make a ruckus to raise awareness about sustainable menstrual products.

Donate now to Rachel’s trip! Her total budget for the 3 month trip (including food, bike repair, sleeping arrangements, a train ticket back to California, everything) is $2,000.

We run on a tight (practically non-existent) budget and we are proud of it!  On our last bike trip we spent just $1,400, while giving away 200 menstrual cups.  Within a year of use the cups we gave away will save our giftees $9,600 (considering that most women spend $4/month on throw-away supplies).  Since the cups last 10 years, those cups will save our giftees $96,000 dollars!  

Think about it – with an investment of $1,400, Sustainable Cycles saved women $96,000 – that is $68 dollars of value for every $1 invested.  Of course it’s not just about money – those cups are also reducing waste, and benefiting women’s health.

It’s a great investment – donate to keep this incredible project going strong!

Sustainable Cycles has been selected for the year-long, $1,000 “Lead Now Fellowship”

Sustainable Cycles, in partnership with girls’ empowerment organization, Full Circles Foundation (FCF), has been selected as one of 6 projects to receive a $1,000 Fellowship though SustainUS, a youth environmentalist organization!  The Fellowships were awarded to 6 small-scale sustainable development projects all over the United States.  For the year 2013, Sustainable Cycles will partner with FCF campers Tyra Davis and Aniah Bland. They will receive mentoring and support for their project, and get to know the other fellows though conference calls and in-person meetings.

We will be working on creating educator’s packets, and organizing a cross country bike trip to come (more on that later). We’d also like to begin writing posts about some of the international public health work going on regarding access to affordable, sustainable menstrual products.  In Raleigh, Toni, Aniah, and Tyra are developing a line of reusable cloth menstrual pads to sell as a microventure to support FCF.  So far, SC has focused on menstrual cups – we are excited to branch out.  The awesome thing about pads is that we (or anyone!) can make them ourselves without any fancy equipment, and have a low-cost, sustainable product.

Until now, all Sustainable Cycles’ funds have come from grassroots fundraising and small donations, or out of Sarah and Toni’s pockets. We can’t wait to step up our game in 2013!

Here’s some more information about the project. Please let us know if you want to know more, get involved, or if you have any ideas for us:

Tyra Davis sewing cloth pads at FCF’s office in Raleigh, North Carolina

Project Description:

Campers from Full Circles Foundation (represented by Tyra Davis, Aniah Bland, and Toni Craige), will partner with Sustainable Cycles (represented by Sarah Konner and Toni Craige). The FCF girls will learn to make reusable cloth menstrual pads to sell as a fundraiser for FCF, and they will create “educators’ packets” on the what, why and how of sustainable menstrual products. Sustainable Cycles will distribute the packets to community educators all over the country. Sustainable Cycles is also planning and promoting an upcoming cross-country bicycle tour to raise awareness.

Why?:

Conventional products are expensive and wasteful: The average woman in the US will spend about $2000 over her lifetime on single-use, disposable menstrual products. Conventional disposable products are made of trees, bleach, cotton, and glue (none of which are great things to put inside your body). After one use they are thrown away. The average woman throws away a huge truckload of menstrual products over her lifetime.

Very few people know about the alternatives: A very small proportion of US women use sustainable alternatives (menstrual cups, sea sponges, reusable cloth pads). It is not lucrative business to sell these products (they are inexpensive, and you do not need to replace them often). Our culture of silence about women’s bodies and menstruation stops people from even talking about the issue.

There is limited access to sustainable products in communities that most need them: Menstrual products are a significant financial burden on low-income women. They often do not have access to information about alternatives, or the up-front cost of the alternatives is prohibitive.

How we are addressing the challenge:

Making an alternative: We are making a sustainable product by hand, on a small scale, which will replace tons of trash produced by multinational corporations.

Income source for FCF girls and programming: This project could eventually provide fair and empowering employment for FCF girls.  FCF has a long-term vision of having youth-owned cooperative businesses all over the Southeastern United States.

Sparking a grassroots movement, reaching out to new communities, empowering community educators: We hope that the hands-on experience of making the pads and educator’s packets will get FCF girls fired-up about these issues. FCF works primarily with low-income women of color – a community which does not tend to have a lot of access to sustainable products. The girls will have the tools and enthusiasm needed to spark a grassroots change in their communities. Sustainable Cycles will reach out to our large national network of supporters to put the educator’s packets in action all over the country.