Saturday, February 5, 2011

why me and my research ain't special at all


I just read bike snob: systematically & mercilessly realigning the world of cycling in like one day. Ok it took a few days, I had to nap and eat and stuff. But I certainly read it fast. Ok this is not a bragging post about how fast I can read a popular culture book on vacation.

I really like this book. I really like this book because it makes fun of me thirty percent of the time and forces me to ground my research. “Bike Snob NYC,” is a blogger turned author (I think they are one in the same), who basically tears apart any moment in which cyclists try to find authenticity and/or pride in their bicycles. In other words he makes your little circle of bicycle friends seem totally unimportant and lacking any sort of ground breaking-ness.

The Urban Cyclist is not a new phenomenon by any means…the Urban Cyclist undergoes a complete aesthetic reinvention every decade or so depending on the Zeitgeist…the cycling Zeitgeist is currently track bikes and fixed-gears. (p. 67)

BSNYC goes on to list characterisitics of the Urban Cyclist that pretty much sum me up. As for dress, “The Urban Cyclist look is evolving, but presently it is still an appropriation of three distinct subcultures.” One being the “squatter punks” in which the Urban Cyclist appropriated tight black jeans, the canvas sneakers, the ratty sweatshirt, the sleeve tattoos, and the studded belt and/or exposed keys.

Ummmm, aka my daily uniform. Ok but let’s be real here. I never thought I was pulling off anything subversive. I know I look like every other Urban Cyclist in town. Hey it is NOT my fault that a bike messenger decided I was cool enough to join the gang. And, FWIW, BSNYC declares the bicycle messenger another appropriated group for the Urban Cyclist to pounce upon.

Ok so whatevs, he has pinned us down. He even has a section about the “Righteous Cyclist” (guilty as charged). And dissects that brand of cyclist all the way down to what they are righteous about (being able to move a couch with a bicycle, saving the environment, etc.).

Although he lets us all down slowly with hilarity, what did kind of pin-prick my heart is his chapter, “Look at me, I’m original too!: The myth of a ‘bicycle culture.’”

Ouchie.

 So, you see fair weathered readers, I just took a semester to theorize about bicycle feminism, rooted in an urban bicycle culture. Yet BSNYC reports, “While I searched intrepidly for bike culture, I haven’t really found it. What I have found are small groups of bike enthusiasts who call themselves the bike culture.” (p. 131) Blah blah blah. He goes on to argue that what exists are subcultures of cyclists but argues that subcultures are about something that is “usually unimportant to anyone outside of that subculture…they’re cliques with a mission statement.” (p. 133)

Ok already!

Now let’s be real again in this blog post. This dude is not writing in any academic fashion, so it is not like in my dissertation life I would have to debunk his argument to retain my academic street cred. Second, this is SO written by a white guy. I could have spent this time blabbing about how once again women are written out of bicycle culture only to pop up to be feminized and delegitimatized. BSNYC’s one mention and illustration of a woman is describing the “Beautiful Godzilla” cyclist who rides around on her cell phone, with a dog in her basket, and a purse hanging on her handlebars. (p. 75)  And WHY can’t a woman be described/illustrated as a bicycle messenger, mountain bike rider, etc.? The book is written to assume a male cyclist and male voice at all times. Otherwise, why would his “Brief Guide to Etiquette for Non-Cyclists” go on about the annoyance in being asked about one’s impotence when riding a bicycle? I eagerly turned the page in hopes he would write about not asking women cyclists if they need help when fixing a flat on the side of the road. But, um, nope. Must have been accidently left out, huh?

Anyway, even though this dude has left me hanging by a thread in my quest to research urban bicycle culture, now known as my clique with a mission statement, I still love this book. I love it because he is SO right. I may not agree with everything he says, like his argument that if people choose between a brake or a helmet to choose the brake, but he seriously grounded my lofty blabbering about bicycles. I get it. I do need to avoid the tiring cheesy romance so many cyclists exude when writing about their bicycle life. This dude’s all like, yeah…you really aren’t all that cool, Melody the Bike Researcher.

Ok now I am going to fold open the much shorter written piece, “Taking the Lane: Revolutions Every Damn Day,” a zine by and about women who ride bicycles.