Va De Bike!

This is it. My last post about my visit to São Paulo, so if you haven't been inspired yet by these amazing urban cyclists, here's your chance!


We've got Renata Falzoni here pointing out the phrase that runs through the veins of every bike advocate in every city I've ever visited: Go by bike! It's so simple, and yet, we often must fight so hard to do just that.


And here's Felipe Aragonez, Bike Reporter in action! In this picture, he's calling into the radio station to report on traffic conditions from the bike lane. (And coincidentally, the car behind him belongs to another reporter from the TV station reporting from the same corner!)


Oi Renata! Oi Felipe!


Meet Laura, Ana and Carlos! Three SP bike advocates whom I had the pleasure of getting to know at Renata's house. They were busy at work doing a photo shoot for a calendar of famous cyclists posing nude avec bicyclette due out later this year. I can't wait to see it!


Ana gifted me this fantastic necklace that her friend makes. I wore it day and night for the rest of my trip in Brazil.


Oh, and this is all you get to see from the photo shoot. Sorry. These are the feet of a tall, gorgeous blonde volleyball player who also happens to be a bike advocate in São Paulo.

I guess you had to be there.

Or buy the calendar.

Or go to SP and be inspired for yourself.

ghost bike - long live marcia

I was told that in São Paolo, 85 cyclists are killed in hit and run accidents with cars each year.


And that's only what's reported. The actual numbers of deaths and injuries to cyclists caused by motorists are far greater. There is little to no accountability for these deaths.


As in most cities in Brazil, in SP, cars don't stop for red lights for fear of being carjacked. So obviously a person riding a bike is considered crazy, risking his or her life out there on the road. A bike (and logically the person on the bike) is in the way of car traffic. If there's no space for bikes, then there's no space for bike lanes. Where would a bike fit into this picture above?


Despite the opposition, Paulista cyclists bravely and tenaciously paint their own bike lanes onto roads in their city. This "bike lane" was stenciled onto Avenida Paulista right in front of Marcia's monument.


A bike lane serving as a reminder to respect the living. A ghost bike serving as a reminder to respect the dead.

Praça do Ciclista

Wouldn't it be a kick if Justin Herman Plaza, the birthplace of Critical Mass, was officially renamed Cyclist Plaza by the city of San Francisco?


Such is the case in São Paulo. Because of the growing popularity among Paulistas of the Bicicletada, their city did just that. Praça do Ciclista is where SP cyclists congregate for political demonstrations and organized rides.

São Paulo is a city that feels blocked.


Support the Bicicletada!


It's a city where citizens plead for more love, less cars...


and for revolution.


It could be a place where biking puts a smile on your face, instead of where drivers are sourly stuck in gridlock.


Replace each car with one bike.
Each motorist with one cyclist.


Now, here's a beautiful vision for a livable city. I was informed that SF muralist Mona Caron came here. Maybe she painted one of these bikes.


Leave tire-prints wherever your bike takes you. Cast long visible shadows, and may they permanently leave a mark. And may all our cities acknowledge the movement that's taking over our planet.

São Paulo's Bike Share Program

Q: What's São Paolo got that San Francisco ain't?

A: A bike share program.

Sponsored by the auto insurance company Porto Seguro (you heard me right, CAR insurance), UseBike has (I was told) about 24 stations connected to or very near to Metro stations in SP, so commuters can get off the subway, and grab one of these bikes to go that extra mile.

On our rainy tour of SP, Renata not only showed me a gas station (where we took cover with beers during a torrential rainstorm)...


but she also showed me one of the UseBike stations along Avenida Paulista.


She told me that UseBike employs at risk youth to man their bike stations (I could be wrong, but these kids look all right to me).


Probably because rain was coming down in quantities parallel to Iguaçu Falls, not a lot of bikes were checked out that day.


In addition to UseBikes, the bike racks at these stations hosted some Paulistas' personal rides (Renata and Felipe recognized some of their friends' bikes parked here).




UseBike isn't just about sharing bikes, it's about sharing bike culture! Some popular titles were on sale here, including David Byrne's Bicycle Diaries (which I will formally review in a later post).


This sticker says it all:


I ♥ Bike Share!

Renata Falzoni - Pedalar é um direito! (pt. 1)

I had the honor of meeting and cycling with Renata Falzoni in São Paolo. She's like the Jeanne d'Arc of urban cycling and mountain biking in Brazil. She and one of her bike journalists met me at my hotel located in the mecca of transvestite hookers/glue sniffers and safely led me to greener pastures.

When I arrived at the corner in front of Renata's house, I instantly knew I was among my people.


Pedaling is a right.


The cement wall in front of her house is covered with gorgeous, colorful and inspirational stencil art.



She hooked me up with a mountain bike and we were off on our tour of the urban jungle.


Everywhere we went, people waved at Renata. She knew every ciclista paulista.


And if she didn't know them yet, it was only a matter of time that they would join her crusade for bicycle advocacy.


We were escorted on our tour by Felipe Aragonez, one of Renata's crew of bike journalists who call into São Paolo radio from the bike lane to report on traffic conditions during rush hour.


We posed for a pic in front of what is locally known as the Push Push Monument, a statue depicting the Bandeirantes who basically stole the land that is known as Brazil from the native peoples. The great push westward, otherwise known as land grab.

Standing here with my Brazilian bike comrades, I felt that the significance of the statue meant something greater for the bike movement, especially here in SP.

To be continued...

Getting Naked for Bike

The illustrious Renata Falzoni was my gracious tour guide in Sao Paolo yesterday. Take a minute to check out her film about these dedicated urban cyclists - our bike brothers and sisters in the Southern Hemisphere!

We´re not in Rio anymore, Toto.

As soon as I got off the bus in Sao Paolo, I hopped in a cab to my hotel, only to be greeted immediately by a glue sniffer. EVERYONE, including my cabbie, told me to be extremely careful in this neighborhood. I was warned about Rio, but somehow I feel this is worse!

Tomorrow I will be riding around Sao Paolo with Renata Falzoni, to whom I was introduced by Gary Fisher last time I ran into him at the market in SF. So I can give you the full report of Brazil´s largest city by bike later this week. Tonight, I am trying to get through the night unscathed!

Biking in Rio seems to be on the up and up. My friend Holly was our tour guide for the week. She led us through a tunnel that she used to ride through all the time when she lived in Rio 10 years ago. On the other side, we realized, when a fellow urban cyclist was laughing at us, that a bike lane through the tunnel had been added! The day we rented bikes, we met another urban cyclist named Fabio on the bike lane that encircles Guanabara Bay. He leads group rides in Rio on Sundays, up to 50 people. When it started pouring down rain so we all ended up taking shelter and drinking beers instead, which made riding back to Copacabana soaking wet a little easier. Rain or shine, the views of the mountains, the water and the Christo from the bike lane are spectacular.

No photos until I get back to the states. Tchau!