Yesterday I had an interesting mix of unpleasant and very pleasant experiences.
It all started with a very unpleasant experience in automobiles. I sometimes forget that “rush hour” exists. I’m usually very aware of it as that is the time I don’t want to be near expressway on ramps with my bicycle. Usually around 5pm near expressways is when I’ve had the worst run ins with automobiles. People get crazy at this time. It is like they are trying to blame you for their stressful job that makes them angry. It isn’t my fault that they gave up on their dreams. Don’t be mad at me because I’m having a good time on my bike.
Anyway, sometimes I get in a car and have to remember that I am now one of the people clogging every known street. However, I wasn’t heading home – I was headed to Lansing for a meeting of the Tri-County Bicycle Association (TCBA). Their meeting was starting at 7pm. I left from the shop in my automobile a little bit after 4:30pm. I got to the meeting just after 7pm due to traffic and broken road stuff. A more accomplished motorist probably could have done it in less time, but these car things aren’t my expertise anymore.
But I did my best to keep my cool and eventually I would get there. I was a little bit stressed out though because the TCBA oversees the DALMAC Fund. I was going to collect some grant money from the DALMAC Fund and I didn’t want to walk in late to that meeting. But I did get there and I had a great time. I want to tell you more about the DALMAC Fund and our history with them, but let me tell you about other great things first.
When I got there the TCBA was giving out other monetary awards to children. Of course working for The Hub/Back Alley Bikes, I dig it anytime youth are being recognized. In this case elementary students were being recognized for a poster contest they had entered. Each student had made a poster about bike safety.
I’ve looked on the internet for any images of the posters. They were published in the Lansing State Journal, but all I could find was an article about the winners. I guess you’ll have to take my word for it that these were pretty great posters. It was also great to see kids talking about road safety. I may face countless numbers of cyclists riding against traffic and putting my life in danger on a daily basis, but at least the young children in Lansing can get it right. Maybe one day “bike salmon” will go extinct. I can dream can’t I? With great kids doing such good work it is hard not to feel that way.
So after having my heart warmed by these kids I got into a good mood being surrounded by bicyclists that were happy to be giving back to the community. And let me tell you, the TCBA gives a lot to Michigan cyclists. Besides helping The Hub out they’ve helped get trails built, bike route signage put up and funded other bike co-ops like us.
Last night I heard about funding coming together for different parts of Northern Michigan that would be a part of the US Bike Routes system. Apparently Michigan is making a push to be one of the premier cycling states. So with all the articles about Detroit being a great cycling city, folks are missing out if they don’t take a bike trip around the whole state.
So this was a really cool environment to be in. Here at the Hub we are a part of the “greasy punk kids with wrenches hanging out with kids” faction of the bike world. I don’t often get to interact with the “really expensive bicycles going on training rides to raise charity funds” crowd. Not to say there isn’t any regular interaction between the different cycling groups in this world, but when we can come together it is a really good time. But let me get back to explaining how DALMAC has helped us in the past.
As I got up to except our grant money from DALMAC I decided to tell the story of how DALMAC has helped us in the past. For many years they assisted us in funding our Mechanic-In-Training (MIT) program. The last time they assisted us was 2010.
If I haven’t told you about our MIT program enough, then I’m not doing my job. It really is a program we are really proud of and will be making it even better this year. But in 2010, we also were able to hire Carlisha Johnson who is now on our collective. At the TCBA meeting last night I told a short version of Carlisha’s story. I did this because their funding helped make the program happen that Carlisha found a home in.
This year we changed things up a little bit though and applied for funds to expand our Youth Rides programming. We will be doing more youth rides this year than we have since I started coming around in 2008. I think opening our retail shop took a lot out of us and we weren’t doing as many rides as we used to. A few years later we are on our feet again and doing a ride every Saturday all summer long.
Hopefully this will allow us to have youth be involved after they build their bike and head out of our building. These youth rides will teach youth the rules of the road and how to ride safely with traffic (much like those poster winners in Lansing learned about!). We’ll also be stopping at locations around the city to learn about points of interest so kids can see their bikes as vehicles to so many places. Their neighborhoods and city will be seen with new eyes and their bike is what got them there.
So thanks to the DALMAC fund we can expand what we do around here and get more youth out there on the road. We couldn’t do it with just their help though so donors of all type have helped get us here as well. If you’ve shopped at our retail store, donated a bike or come on our progressive dinner by bike ride. Thank you so much.
But also extra big thanks to the DALMAC Fund for helping us out over the years.
If you would like to help the DALMAC Fund raise money and go on a great bike ride, check out the DALMAC ride which is how they raise funds every year. It is a supported tour from Lansing to Mackinaw.