Today was the Commuter Challenge at WLU. The Commuter Challenge is a national program that aims to increase awareness of the benefits of sustainable commuting and to encourage Canadians to take action by walking, cycling, taking transit, carpooling or tele-working instead of driving alone to get to work. This year, Laurier wanted to focus on how alternative transportation can contribute to environmental wellness, but also can improve personal wellness. They also thought it would be fun to have the couchbike out to draw attention to the cause.
This morning, Toronto celebrated Bike to Work Week with a group commute and pancake breakfast. The Community Cycling Organiser for the City of Toronto had contacted me about having some of my bikes involved. Originally, it wasn’t clear who would be lined up to ride the bikes, but there was talk of various celebrities and politicians.
Shortly before the day, it was proposed that a three piece drag queen act called the B-Girlz would ride the couchbike and that we would commence the ride from the corner of Church and Alexander as part of a sub group called the Pride Ride. Aside from some mild anxiety about how this might impact my chances with the single ladies, I agreed that this sounded like fun.
Because of the transit strike, the B-Girlz were a little late in arriving, but eventually they emerged from a taxi in all their pink, lime and turquoise glory.
The start of the ride was mostly uphill. I was concerned about how the girls would fair in climbing the steep slope, especially with their crazy high heels and the weight of the third one sitting in the middle, but they seemed to manage it with great ease.On the downhill section on Yonge Street, the girls were surrounded by vehicles from the media. I was pretty nervous because there is a definite art to braking on the couchbike. I knew from experience that if anything went wrong, we could have a really ugly situation on our hands. In the video you can hear my nervous laugh as one of the B-Girlz suggests, “Let’s see how fast we can make this thing go”. Fortunately, the B-Girlz once again impressed me with their skilled couch handling. The video ends with a short photo op with Jack Layton and Olivia Chow.
