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Tonight 6-7 p.m. Pacific time it's #BikeSchool! I'm guest prof and will be here bringing you the bikey Q&A. Follow the hashtag and hang out with others from #BikeTwitter. All are welcome here!
Counting down the minutes to the start of tonight's #BikeSchool. In ~10 minutes I'll start rolling out questions on bike-related-ish topics. Anyone is welcome to join the chat. We do this every Thursday night because bikes.
#Accessibility tip: Capitalizing each word in a hashtag or your account name makes it more accessible for people using screen readers. Learn more here: https://abilitynet.org.uk/news-blogs/5-ways-make-your-tweets-accessible…. So, #BikeSchool = better than #BikeSchool. #MoveEquity
Get ready to roll! If you've never participated in #BikeSchool before it works like this: As guest prof I ask the Qs. They start with ***Q + a number. All questions will be replies in this thread so you can always backtrack to find your place. You respond with A + the Q number.
Reminder always to use the #BikeSchool hashtag in your replies. The history in case you're wondering where this came from: http://lovingthebike.com/bikeschool
Every summer newspapers, magazines and blogs run stories about great “beach reads”: frothy and undemanding books you’ll take to the beach because it’s okay if you fall asleep and lose the plot, I guess. They’re generally deemed Not Serious Literature. #BikeSchool #GoodReads
My idea of a great beach read is a great book I want to read. It doesn’t have to be undemanding. If it’s so weighty I fall asleep, so be it. I must need the rest. #BikeSchool #GoodReads
***Q1: This musing on beach reads is all by way of introduction to the first question of our bikey Q&A hour together. What’s the best bike book you’ve ever read, and why is this the one you name? #BikeSchool #GoodReads
Great answers to Q1 are giving me books to read to my "I should read this someday" list. Get ready for Q2. #BikeSchool
***Q2: I cleaned out my bookshelves and made piles of bike books by general subject matter. We only have one I’d describe as a coffee-table bike book. Do you have any of these? Have your eye on one that someone should give you as a gift one of these days? #BikeSchool #GoodReads
A2: Our coffee table bike book is "Bike Art", except we don't actually keep it on the coffee table. It's on the bookshelf with all the other bike books to keep it company. #BikeSchool #GoodReads
***Q3: I recently got an oddball book, The Epiplectic Bicycle by Edward Gorey. I like his illustration style and it’s about bikes, so why not? What’s the quirkiest or oddest bike book you’ve ever read or heard about? #BikeSchool #GoodReads
By the way, if you order books through http://BookShop.org you help support independent bookstores. You pick the specific store that gets credited with your sale and they ship directly to you. Kinda like supporting your LBS (local bike shop). #BikeSchool #GoodReads
Some of your answers anticipate Qs I prepared to dig into various genres of books. Hang in there for the ride and you'll get some reading recommendations. #BikeSchool
***Q4: I have a few books of bike fiction, like Pedal Zombies edited by @EllyBlue. Novel Big Brother by Lionel Shriver includes a character who trains a lot, which destroys his interest in his wife’s delicious cooking. Have any bikey novels to recommend? #BikeSchool #GoodReads
#BikeSchool procedural note: You can still jump in and answer questions if you get to class late. Prof appreciates snickerdoodles if you're just now sneaking into the back row. Must be bendy in the middle to get an A. Remember to number your A to match up with the Q, use hashtag.
A4: Oh, I just remembered a bike-focused novel I really enjoyed! Gold: A Novel, by Chris Cleave. Women who are best friends training for Olympic velodrome racing. #BikeSchool #GoodReads
***Q5: From long form to short form writing.... Thanks to @EllyBlue and the folks at Momentum Press I own quite a few bike zines and have a piece published in one or two. Is this a form/format you’ve read/enjoyed? Recommendations? #BikeSchool #GoodReads
***Q6: One of my larger topical collections of bike books = books on bike travel, especially but not only in WA state. Which bike travel guides do you recommend? Have you written about your travels? Drop a link! #BikeSchool #BikeTravel #BikeTouring
A6: We've done 2 long multi-day bike tours that I blogged along the way. Have plans for more in future; would love to get links to fun routes w/details! http://bikestylespokane.com/2017/11/01/bike-touring-round-up-bike-the-gap-co-canal-towpath/ #BikeTheGAP #BikeSchool #BikeTouring #BikeTravel
A6 more: I designed this multimodal tour in NW WA that had trains, ferries and bikes http://bikestylespokane.com/2018/06/08/bike-touring-northwest-washington-state-how-our-bike-ferry-train-loop-worked-out/. Super fun! #BikeSchool #BikeTravel #BikeTouring #BikeWA
***Q7: Related to Q6 on bike travel guides, whose bike adventures have you read about that make you want to get out there and ride? Or that make you appreciate your local street.... I have some on super-long international trips that intimidate me no end. #BikeSchool #BikeTravel
***Q8: If you’re anything like my training racing Sweet Hubs you have a shelf full of books on things like VO2 max and FTP and biographies of the racing greats. If this is your kind of reading, what book should I get him for his birthday? #BikeSchool #GoodReads
***Q9: Another kind of how-to bike book: The “how to get started riding” category. I have 3 or 4 of those including ones aimed at women. Any books you recommend to newbies? Any for specific rider "types"? #BikeSchool #GoodReads #HowTo #WomenBike
***Q10: It will come as an enormous surprise that the biggest single category of bike books I own is books on policy. What Deep Thought Bike Books turn your cranks as you think about how to save the world because someone has to? #BikeSchool
A10: I have LOTS of bike policy books. A few to get you started: Bikenomics by @EllyBlue. Bicycle/Race by @UrbanAdonia. Bike Lanes = White Lanes by Melody Hoffman @MLH_ARCC. How Cycling Can Save the World by @PeterWalker99. #BikeSchool
Rolling to the finish line for tonight’s #BikeSchool. We’re here every Thursday night 6-7pm Pacific time w/someone acting as guest prof to ask the bikey Qs for your bikey As. No particular reason; we just love to talk about bikes.
If you’d ever be interested in serving as guest prof for #BikeSchool ping me or contact @TwittyBoyd, keeper of the spreadsheet. Always a fun time, themes not required.
Thank you all for riding along tonight with #BikeSchool. Now I'm off to order some books! Remember, http://BookShop.org/@Bookshop_Org lets you support your local independent bookstore. Spend your money at the kinds of businesses you want to have around post-pandemic. #BuyLocal
Those of you wondering what just took over my tweet stream can relax. #BikeSchool is over for the night. (If you missed it and it seems like fun, backtrack to the top of this thread and answer any Qs that turn your cranks. Use the hashtag, number your A to go with the Q.)
