Holiday rides with trail dogs: Rosco & Lacy

Happy holidays all! Instead of celebrating Christmas, I celebrate the holidays. As we wind up for the year, my thoughts turn to ‘t(r)ail’ holidays and riding bikes with four-legged friends. The December break is a wonderful time to get out and visit your favourite trails and explore new ones. Riding mountain bike trails with your dog is one of the most enjoyable things you can do. To whet your whistle, here’s an offering from Kona which introduces Rosco the mature trail dog and his MTB owner Lacy. This short video puts together all the best things about MTBing with furry friends – and more. Enjoy! NG.

Holiday rides with trail dogs: Rosco & Lacy. Bicycles Create Change.com 20th December 2021.
Roscoe the trail dog and Lacy. Image: My Kona Lacy Kemp (video still).

The company of dogs when MTBing is the best feeling in the world. They love to explore new places and meet new people – and they ALWAYS love being on trail.

I’m a BIG fan of bikes and dogs. I’ve previously shared stories like:

When you ride with a dog, you are never alone. You always have someone to keep you company and make you laugh.

Dogs are also great motivators. They always want to go faster and harder than you do, which can push you to ride at your best.

Plus, there’s nothing like the feeling of cruising through the woods with your best buddy by your side.

I love riding with my 11-year-old trail dog Zoe. Zoe is a fit and keen kelpie who loves the outdoors and we have had many happy trail adventures together.

Recently I saw this short video (below) by Kona. Kona is an American bike manufacturing company so it makes sense they would promote themselves as gender-inclusive, exciting, and approachable for a range of riders.

Rosco is a nearly retired trail dog. At 11 years old, he’s still got plenty of spunk, but these days he prefers to lounge at home while his human counterpart hits the trails – but not always! Lacy started riding mountain bikes with her dog Rosco as soon as she got him, and the two have been shredding together ever since.

These days when they ride together, they do 30mins ‘old-man laps’ so Rosco can still get his paws dirty.

They take it slow because Rosco needs a few rests along the way – awww bless!

I agree with Lacy that you always learn new lines following your dog.

As an avid night rider – I loved seeing Lacy shed in the evenings, although we don’t get snow where I live, so seeing that was next level for me.

Lacy likes snowy night rides because its ‘like riding sugar’ and its where ‘shadows pop’.

Most riders can relate to Lacy’s sentiment when she says:

‘I feel weird, I don’t feel whole if I don’t get out on my bike.’

Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or a first-time rider, we all feel the joy of riding mountain bikes with dogs. And if you haven’t managed to do this recently, this video will help until you do!

So next time you hit the trails, be sure to bring your furry friend along for the ride.

Happy Holidays all!

New Materialisms SIG – Ghostly Matters

It’s Halloween season.   

What a perfect time to explore haunting and ghosts! 

For our final NM SIG for this year, we are focusing on ghostly matters, and in particular Barad’s (2010) Quantum entanglements and hauntological relations.  

Barad explores the disjointedness of time through electron behaviours, the nature of entanglement and the ethics of the Bohr/ Heisenberg Copenhagen meeting during WW2. 

An ethics of entanglement entails possibilities and obligations for reworking the material effects of the past and the future. As the quantum eraser experiment shows, it is not the case that the past (a past that is given) can be changed (contrary to what some physicists have said), or that the effects of past actions can be fully mended, but rather that the ‘past’ is always already open to change. (Barad, 2010, p.266) 

We are coupling this with the paper of Lisa Blackman (2019) exploring the organizational dynamics of knowledge and scientific truths in a digital age and the hauntological implications inherent in such processes. 

To help us work with the haunting nature of our research, bring along a ghostly image or story to contribute to the mix. 

What we did in this session

Janis did a wonderful job of preparing and hosting this session.

After our introduction, we did a series of warm up activities:

A word cloud with suggested ghostly terms

We then each had time to share our Ghostly Images.

Everyone had something different to share.

Some quick notes during this discussion:

  • Locations with histories and personalities, wants and needs, reverberations with bottle trees that ring and chime and send out affective resonances with musical sounds to alert, soothe and repel. 
  • Hanging in the tree – like words hanging in the air…things unspoken and ghastly or ghostly 
  • I cannot pass on until I have completed this task 
  • Humans being so reliant on the visual – with the unseen, the ‘dis’embodied’, the othering is more acute and ‘real’? How can that be…the less concrete it is, the more real the impact? 
  • We scare ourselves 
  • We spook ourselves and others 
  • Haunted by visions and experiences (PTSD), haunted by/in ‘life’ 
  • Haunted\haunting keeps returning to a moment?? 
  • Ghost is morally changed  
  • Have intention to scare 
  • Giving them agency to haunt us 

Alan Soko – quantum gravity nonsense findings 

Salvia Kind – a taxidermist bear in a playground 

The Bridge to Terabithia & euphemisms  apolitical and no-biological…adults conversations about death with children – so interesting! 

socialhaunting.com/song-lines-on-the-road 

Geoff Bright and Gabrielle Ivison – Ghost Labs & Social Haunting socialhaunting.com 

How NOT to be a mountain biker – My Ghostly Matters

For my contribution, I shared a popular MTB YouTube video which had recently been amended to blur out some content that at the time the video was published in 2013 was published in full, yet more recently has been picked up and challenged in 2021. The section in question explains MTB trail terminology by using a derogatory term for trans people as a joke.

Instead of removing the whole video, the producers chose to blur out the audio and visuals for that section only, leaving an eerie, ghostly trace of what was before. This elision and its haunted digital edited intervention speak to how/why content might/is changed and what is made un/known in the process. Such questions are very in line with Lisa Blackman’s work (see the reading).

For those interested in knowing more, my source comes from the extremely popular video called How To Be A Mountain Biker by IFHT Films. This video has more than 7,194,034 views since being released 24th October 2013.

The ghostly data section is at: (Step 18) 2.25mins – 2.34mins and looks like this:

New Materialisms SIG - Ghostly Matters. Bicycles Create Change.com 29th November 2021

Here is the current, redacted video in full:

Stretching and Murmuring

This session was really inspiring and thought-provoking. Each participant brought something completely different and I felt my brain being stretched and poked into new and interesting directions.

I came away from this session with much to think about.

Here are some of those murmurs from the Barad reading:

“Our debt to those who are already dead and those not yet born cannot be disentangled from who we are. What if we were to recognise that differentiating is a material act that is not about radical separation, but on the contrary, about making connections and commitments?  

An ethics of entanglement entails possibilities and obligations for reworking the material effects of the past and the future.  

Ethics is an integral part of the diffraction (ongoing differentiating) patterns of worlding, not a superimposing of human values onto the ontology of the world (as if ‘fact’ and ‘value’ were radically other). 

Entanglements are not a name for the interconnectedness of all being as one, but rather specific material relations of the ongoing differentiating of the world. Entanglements are relations of obligation – being bound to the other – enfolded traces of othering. Othering, the constitution of an ‘Other’, entails an indebtedness to the ‘Other’, who is irreducibly and materially bound to, threaded through, the ‘self’ – a diffraction/dispersion of identity.  

What if the ghosts were encountered in the flesh, as iterative materialisations, contingent and specific (agential) reconfigurings of spacetimematterings, spectral (re)workings without the presumption of erasure, the ‘past’ repeatedly reconfigured not in the name of setting things right once and for all (what possible calculation could give us that?”

Readings:

2021 Chicks in the Sticks. Singlespeeding Qld’s all-female 3 hr Enduro event.

2021 Chicks in the Sticks. Singlespeeding Qld's all-female 3 hr Enduro event. Bicycles Create Change.com 12th October 2021.
CITS Friends – A big thanks to Michelle & Nick from Pedal Inn (Brisbane)

Last week, I participated in Queensland’s premier all-female 3 hr Enduro (mountain bike) event – Chicks in the Sticks 2021.

…and I had a blast!

I was super excited this year to see for the first time, a new singlespeed-only category which I feel I had a small hand in encouraging over the years (see more below). So of course, I went to help populate the inaugural division and support the event.

This year I rode singlespeed as a solo 3-hr enduro.

And I rode it wearing a collaborative ‘Celebrating First Nations MTB’ outfit.

2021 Chicks in the Sticks.Singlespeeding Qld's all-female 3 hr Enduro event. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th October 2021.
L-R: Seb Mitaros, Michelle Woods, Nina & Michelle Sando

Event Highlights

It was great to see four other singlespeeders also doing solo 3hr. The singlespeed division was called ‘clipped wings’. While we were lined up at the start line, I turned on a mobile speaker I had attached to my bike and played a bike-themed, race-appropriate playlist – which was awesome! It got us all hyped and in the mood. Of course, I played Queen’s Bicycle Race while we were waiting for the starters gun. Then we were off!

My plan was to go out hard early for the first lap, then ease off and enjoy the rest. I was keen to see how I felt during the 3hrs as I hadn’t been riding a lot and it was a hot day – so I reminded myself I was riding, not racing.

At the start line, I shot out like a bat out of hell and gave the division a good run for their money. I pushed hard for the first lap and keep the tempo high. Just before the second lap, I was overtaken by a singlespeeder, which was my cue to ease off and get into a comfortable groove to cruise the rest of the event.

Having music keep my spirits high, and I made a point of chatting and encouraging other riders along the trail.

In time, Michelle from Pedal Inn (who is a friend) caught up to me. I asked her if she wanted to overtake, but she said no. Pedal Inn was sponsoring the event and she didn’t want to podium as it might look a little dodgy. Plus, like me, she was digging the tunes and just wanted to support the division!

So we ended up riding together for the rest of the event. Which was awesome!

By the fourth lap, I was getting a little tired from the heat and sugar overload, but I kept my head positive and legs moving. The track was made for singlespeed riding and although there were a few diversions around A lines I usually ride, I was happy with how it all unfolded.

I had a great time and completed five laps to finish 3rd.

A massive, big thanks to husband who was my event support and most especially to Michelle for her good company on track. What a superstar!

Congrats also to all the riders, friends and family who attended, as well as to the event organisers and volunteers.

  • 2021 Chicks in the Sticks.Singlespeeding Qld's all-female 3 hr Enduro event. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th October 2021.
  • 2021 Chicks in the Sticks.Singlespeeding Qld's all-female 3 hr Enduro event. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th October 2021.
  • 2021 Chicks in the Sticks.Singlespeeding Qld's all-female 3 hr Enduro event. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th October 2021.
  • 2021 Chicks in the Sticks.Singlespeeding Qld's all-female 3 hr Enduro event. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th October 2021.
  • 2021 Chicks in the Sticks.Singlespeeding Qld's all-female 3 hr Enduro event. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th October 2021.
  • 2021 Chicks in the Sticks.Singlespeeding Qld's all-female 3 hr Enduro event. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th October 2021.
  • 2021 Chicks in the Sticks.Singlespeeding Qld's all-female 3 hr Enduro event. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th October 2021.
  • 2021 Chicks in the Sticks.Singlespeeding Qld's all-female 3 hr Enduro event. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th October 2021.
  • 2021 Chicks in the Sticks.Singlespeeding Qld's all-female 3 hr Enduro event. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th October 2021.
  • 2021 Chicks in the Sticks.Singlespeeding Qld's all-female 3 hr Enduro event. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th October 2021.
  • 2021 Chicks in the Sticks.Singlespeeding Qld's all-female 3 hr Enduro event. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th October 2021.

*Images by Nina Ginsberg and Official RATS Event Images by Element Photography.

Previous Chicks in the Sticks

I’ve been supporting this event for many years.

My first CITS event was in 2016 with a mate Corin and another friend Claire as support. We were Team Bicycles Create Change! Our approach was casual, relaxed and have fun. Corin rode her MTB and I was on my singlespeed. Completely unfazed by other riders in ‘full gear’, I rode in less than traditional MTB biking attire, including a flower-decorated bike, helmet, and stretch pants, with not a stitch of lycra or a camelback in sight – which raised quite a few eyebrows. Read more about the 2016 CITS here.

For my second CITS, in 2017, I went to support the event and cheer on the riders. Because I was not on the bike this time, I had more time to chat with riders, families, and event volunteers and get a whole new perspective on the event. Off the bike, I was able to help out and enjoy the color, costuming, and fun in a completely different way – like being able to ‘watch the start’ (which I videoed) as opposed to ‘be in the start’. Read more about the 2017 CITS here.

In 2018, I was back on the singlespeed doing the 3hr solo. It was quite a different experience doing the full 3hr by yourself: pacing, food, ride plan, and mindset played a big part in completing the ride well. As previously, I kept reminding myself that I was there to support the event and not race and so I made an effort to connect with others and enjoy the ride – and not get sucked into chasing and racing. It was a super hot day and that had a big impact on riders. But I drew on my experience, knowing these trails are built for singlespeeds -and (as usual) I had a blast! Read more about 2018 CITS here.

2019 saw a new singlespeed mate, Jen and I team as team and we were the only riders and team on singlespeeds. Somehow, I managed to talk Jen into team-theming as boogie boarders (feigning a sport event confusion, ‘but we are here now with our SS, so we might as well ride‘) dress-ups. Suffice to say, we had far too much fun! Bless you, Jen! We entered as a soft-boiled double yokers team called (again) Bicycles Create Change and even though we were cruising and ‘riding not racing’ we still ended up coming second in our division – wow! We also ended up receiving an on-the-spot award for being the only all-Singlespeed team of the day! A good way to promote singlespeeds at the event – as we saw in the 2021 reiteration in which the event had for the first time an official singlespeed division! Woohoo! And yes, I do feel like we had a small role to play in making this happen!! Read Jen’s guest post of how the 2019 CITS event went here.

The 2020 event was cancelled because of COVID.

So, 2021 was the event’s well-anticipated return! And it did not disappoint.

See you there for 2022!

Chicks in the Sticks 2018. Bicycles Create Change.com 27th October, 2018
Image: Chicks in the Sticks

Decolonise mountain biking. Art bike for a 3hr Enduro

2021 Chicks in the Sticks. Singlespeeding Qld's all-female 3 hr Enduro event. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th October 2021.
Official Event Image by Element Photography

Celebrating First Nations in MTB

As regular readers know, I have been involved in a number of decolonial projects this year – including putting together the Cycle Shifting: Refiguring First Nations presences in Morton Bay Bikeway project.

The annual Chicks in the Sticks event was coming up and I was registered. This year, I wanted to continue conversations about the unbearable whiteness of cycling and lack of support/inclusion of First Nations riders, decolonising MTB, celebrating First Nation experiences and better recognising First Nations connection to country at MTB events.

CITS is Queensland’s biggest, annual all-female 3hr Enduro mountain bike event. Those who know me know I like to bring the fun – so a theme bike and outfit was in order, but not anything mainstream.

Chicks in the Sticks – Annual All-female 3 hr Enduro Event

At this event, there is a big emphasis on fun, inclusion, and ‘giving it a go’, so there is lots of costumes and colour: – there is a profusion of ladybirds, bees, rainbow tutus, Where’s Wallys amongst the more ‘serious’ riders.

In previous years, I have dressed up. For me dressing up means making-collating-constructing the outfit in a new and creative way, from second-hand materials (no buying anything new) and that uses the theme (if there is one) in an original way. For example, for the last CITS, Jen (my riding buddy) and I went as boogie borders (so good!). We had a great time – read more about how we went here.

I wanted to continue the good vibes, but also raise awareness of First Nations experiences. But ‘Decolonise MTB’ was not the right approach for this event.

So I came up with an idea to promote First Nations experiences in a way that was positive and clear, but not confrontational. My idea consisted of a costume that was comfortable to ride it that matched a uniquely decorated bike highlighting my key theme.

To bring my vision to life, I enlisted the help of two incredible women to make my idea happen. A massive thank you to both Alison and Nix for their collaboration!

My Outfit

The outfit centred mainly on a custom-made T-shirt. This was the visually impactful piece and meant I could still ride safety and comfortably. Alison is a creative mate who I have collaborated with on a number of previous projects, including prepping for Bike Hack 19. Alison was integral in producing my T-shirt vision.

The T-shirt was a bright yellow and had connecting circles and indigenous artwork prints on the front and the words ‘celebrating’ over the same indigenous print panel on the back. I specifically chose ‘celebrating’ as a present verb (ie doing) and it was a positive message. The print was sourced from a First Nations art Collective (to support artists) and the other material (black spots and yellow T) were sourced from Opp Shops.

My Bike

Then my artist friend Nix (who you’ll remember from the New Materialists Garden Retreat and the Ride4Justice + UN International Day of Forests Night Ride we did earlier this year).

Nix is a proud Quandamooka woman who is highly creative. I had the idea of decorating my bike in a way that combined the approaches of my previous Art Bike Projects CONS_U_Me Blues with the Kids Bikes are Hard Work …but also it needed to be lightweight, snag-free, and still easy to ride during the event.

We used recycled clothes from Opp Shops to decorate the bike in the colours of the Australian Aboriginal flag (red, black, and yellow) by strapping the frame in red and black with yellow hanging tassels (emulating the flag’s yellow sun) in the middle.

We added a large ball under the seat in the Torres Strait Islander colors.

On the handlebars we had a hint of the theme colous for front-facing reference.

We then decorated the helmet to match.

See the stages of development below.

It was a great project to collaborate with others and it ticked all the important boxes for me like being based on recycling and sustainable principles, increasing awareness for First Nation experiences, creating a new and original outfit to ride in, supporting the event by dressing up and bringing the good vibes, creating something we collectively made that was low-cost, sustainable, and low-tech, and I got to share quality creative time with people I admire.

A massive, big thank you to Alison and Nix – I love what we co-created!

In the next post, I’ll let you know how the event went.

To get more info about this event – see the official CITS website.

Railbiking: ‘Riding rail trails’ and creating your own access to nature & adventure

Many of us dream about ‘getting away‘ to beautiful places to relax and ride bikes with those we love.

Recently, I came across the video Smartwool Presents: Riding the Rails.

In this video (see below), we meet Evan Kay, his wife Ella, their dog, their bikes, and the railbike project they designed to use on rail trails to access more nature and adventure.

Evan and Ella ride MTB – a lot. Like most other MTBers, off-trail riding is their passion and purpose. They like to explore remote places and go on adventure rides.

Evan is an engineer who grew up loving farming, fishing, and family – and combining these passions with his technical skills is at the heart of this project.

Evan and Ella live in Vermont (New England, USA) where there are several disused railroad lines. There are many similar remnants of the old train networks across the USA, and seeing these got Evan curious about how to use these railroads to reimagine family adventures.

The challenge was to combine his technical skills with his love of outdoor MTB adventures. Inspired by seeing other riders adapting their bikes for railroads, Evan and Ella started working on ideas to use the rail to reach ever further and remote locations.

In this video, we see the evolution of their project to adapt their MTB bikes to ‘ride the rails’ – or railbiking as it is known.

A central aim of this project was to experience nature using active pedal power generated through their mountain bikes.

The initial design was based on three main needs. First, they wanted to use their mountain bikes as the drive mechanism. It also needed to be stable and safe. And third, they wanted both riders to be parallel (side-by-side) and not front-to-back (as in tandem like other designs). There is a platform between them that carries all their cargo and the dog with minimal effort.

I was really inspired by Evan’s ingenuity and skills in being able to utilise what is already there, yet often overlooked (in this case the abandoned rail trails) as an opportunity to extend their bike riding adventures – as well as creatively self-manufacturing an adaptive MTB frame that is unique and purposeful. So inspiring to see a design makes it easier and more comfortable to go further, for longer on a bike.

I also love that the whole family can literally ‘go along for the ride’ together!

Gives a new meaning to ‘off-(t)rail mountain biking’!

  • Railbiking: 'Riding rail trails' and creating your own access to nature & adventure. Bicycles Create Change.com. 18th July 2021.
  • Railbiking: 'Riding rail trails' and creating your own access to nature & adventure. Bicycles Create Change.com. 18th July 2021.
  • Railbiking: 'Riding rail trails' and creating your own access to nature & adventure. Bicycles Create Change.com. 18th July 2021.
  • Railbiking: 'Riding rail trails' and creating your own access to nature & adventure. Bicycles Create Change.com. 18th July 2021.
  • Railbiking: 'Riding rail trails' and creating your own access to nature & adventure. Bicycles Create Change.com. 18th July 2021.
  • Railbiking: 'Riding rail trails' and creating your own access to nature & adventure. Bicycles Create Change.com. 18th July 2021.
  • Railbiking: 'Riding rail trails' and creating your own access to nature & adventure. Bicycles Create Change.com. 18th July 2021.
  • Railbiking: 'Riding rail trails' and creating your own access to nature & adventure. Bicycles Create Change.com. 18th July 2021.
  • Railbiking: 'Riding rail trails' and creating your own access to nature & adventure. Bicycles Create Change.com. 18th July 2021.
  • Railbiking: 'Riding rail trails' and creating your own access to nature & adventure. Bicycles Create Change.com. 18th July 2021.

All images in this post are stills from the Smartwool Presents: Riding the Rails video.

New Materialisms and Mountain Bike Trails

New Materialisms and Mountain Bike Trails. Bicycles Create Change.com. 4th June 2021.

Being a posthumanist, embodied researcher means that I think and do things a little differently from mainstream ‘traditional’ researchers. But I am not the only posthumanist researcher.

It is very exciting to see increasing more scholars thinking, doing and writing posthumanism project.

My work comes under Posthumanism and more specifically New Materialisms.

New Materialisms has four main ‘streams’

  • Speculative Realism
  • Object Oriented Ontology (known as OOO)
  • Actor Network Theory (known as ANT)
  • Feminist New Materialisms

My Feminist New Materialisms project puts to work Quantum Physicist’s Karen Barad’s Agential Realism.

Each of the New Materialisms streams have different approaches, but overall agree on:

  1. A return to matter and an emphasis on performativity as an appropriate way to return
  2. A new (flat) ontology or theory of being
  3. Focus on and redefinition of agency
  4. Critical or subversive orientation
  5. A related interest in the posthuman and non-human

…which means I get to read some pretty weird and wacky stuff!

…and I love it!

I have seen a couple of bicycle-focused New Materialisms project. Its not surprising given the ubiquitous and beloved role bicycles have in the world – and it is an understandable fit for active people who work with more-than-human bodies-matter… in this case bicycles!

New Materialisms and Mountain Bike Trails. Bicycles Create Change.com. 4th June 2021.

Dr. Jim Cherrington: New Materialisms & MTB trails

What is super excited to see – are the new and interesting variations beyond the bike, that bike-obsessed New Materialists are now working on… and a great example of this is Dr Jim Cherrington’s work. Jim is a Senior Lecturer at the Academy of Sport and Physical Activity in the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, Sheffield Hallam University, UK.

Jim’s work applies New Materialisms to look at mountain bike trails differently.

I know this kind of work is not for everyone…and you can call me an academic geek… but… I think this is awesome! Why? well..because it ….

  • Embraces the five tenets of NM
  • Further cements bikes (and all things biking) as a serious focus of empirical study
  • Is not urban or ‘cycling’ focused as most other NM+bike projects are (not me and not Jim!)
  • Expands biking scholarship – ie another bike-obsessed NM researcher.
  • Working on a topic most others overlook
  • Bringing attention and interest to MTB
  • Has a regular co-writer/partner and as a team they are prolific
  • Applies different NM approaches/theories and explains how they feature in different bike riding encounters

….to name a few!

So interesting and so timely

This week I have been working on my data analysis and thinking-writing about the agency of the dirt on rural African school trails – so Jim’s work is a welcome and opportune find.

Below I’ve included three of Jim’s NM mountain biking articles (the last two are written with coauthor John Black).

Warning: Can be a little dense for the uninitiated – theory and jargon heavy in places.

For quick reference, I’ve posted the abstract below or download the full article.

Enjoy!

The Ontopolitics of Mountain Bike Trail Building: Addressing Issues of Access and Conflict in the More-than-Human English Countryside.

In recent years there have been calls for scholars working within sport and physical culture to recognise the (increasing) confluence of nature and culture. Situated within an emerging body of new materialist research, such accounts have shown how various activities are polluted by, fused to, and assembled with nonhuman entities. However, more work is needed on the political possibilities afforded by nonhuman agency, and by extension, the stakes that such flat ontological arrangements might raise the management and governance of physical culture.

Building on research conducted with mountain bike trail builders, this paper seeks to explore what it means to know, to be and to govern a human subject in the Anthropocene. Specifically, I draw on Ash’s (2019) post-phenomenological theory of space and Chandler’s (2018) notion of onto-political hacking to show how the playful, contingent and transformative practices of the mountain bike assemblage confront the linear and calculated governance of the English countryside. In doing so, mountain bike trails are positioned as objects of hope that allows for a collective re-imagining of political democracy in a more-than-human landscape.

Cherrington, J. (2021). The Ontopolitics of Mountain Bike Trail Building: Addressing Issues of Access and Conflict in the More-than-Human English Countryside. Somatechnics.

Mountain bike trail building, “dirty” work, and a new terrestrial politics.

Dirt is evoked to signify many important facets of mountain bike culture, including its emergence, history, and everyday forms of practice and affect. These significations are also drawn on to frame the sport’s (sub)cultural and counterideological affiliations. In this article we examine how both the practice of mountain biking and, specifically, mountain bike trail building, raises questions over the object and latent function of dirt, hinting at the way that abjection can, under certain circumstances, be a source of intrigue and pleasure. In doing so, we suggest a resymbolization of our relationship with dirt via a consideration of the terrestrial.

Cherrington, J., & Black, J. (2020). Mountain bike trail building, “dirty” work, and a new terrestrial politics. World Futures, 76(1), 39-61. https://doi.org/10.1080/02604027.2019.1698234

Spectres of Nature in the Trail Building Assemblage.


Through research that was conducted with mountain bike trail builders, this article explores the processes by which socio-natures or ‘emergent ecologies’ are formed through the assemblage of trail building, mountain bike riding and matter. In moving conversations about ‘Nature’ beyond essentialist readings and dualistic thinking, we consider how ecological sensibilities are reflected in the complex, lived realities of the trail building community.

Specifically, we draw on Morton’s (2017) notion of the ‘symbiotic real’ to examine how participants connect with a range of objects and non-humans, revealing a ‘spectral’ existence in which they take pleasure in building material features that are only partially of their creation. Such ‘tuning’ to the symbiotic real was manifest in the ongoing battle that the trail builders maintained with water. This battle not only emphasized the fragility of their trail construction but also the temporal significance of the environments that these creations were rendered in/with.

In conclusion, we argue that these findings present an ecological awareness that views nature as neither static, inert or fixed, but instead, as a temporal ‘nowness’, formed from the ambiguity of being in and with nature. Ecologically, this provides a unique form of orientation that re-establishes the ambiguity between humans and nature, without privileging the former. It is set against this ecological (un)awareness that we believe a re-orientation can be made to our understandings of leisure, the Anthropocene and the nature-culture dyad.

Cherrington, J., & Black, J. (2020). Spectres of nature in the trail building assemblage. International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, 3(1), 71-93. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-019-00048-w

A Dog’s Tale – celebrating mountain bike trail dogs

Ruby the Trail Dog. Bicycles Create Change.com 18th April 2018.
Nina and Zoe the kelpie. ‘Follow the dog’ trail. Forest, VIC.

Many trail riders are what you might call ‘outdoor people’.

One of the greatest delights trail riders can have is going for a ride on wicked trails with best mates. And when I say best mates, I mean two-wheeled (of course), but also two-legged (human mates) and four-legged (trail dogs) mates.

I love riding trails with dogs.

My kelpie Zoe and I have been on many happy bike riding adventures.

Having a dog just makes life, and riding your bike, so much fun.

Dogs and bikes just go together so well.

A Dog’s Tale

Recently I got sent a link for A Dogs Tale which celebrates dogs and trail riders. It is in a similar vein to Paws and Wheels, but with a stronger narrative line from the POV of retired trail dog Raven.

This video has a mix of all kinds of shapes, sizes, colours, ages, locations and breeds. In this video we are introduced to:

  • Raven (the narrator)
  • Levi
  • Lucy & Sid
  • Driggs
  • Nash
  • Emmy

They are all adorable and make you want to get out on your bike on single track.

So many awesome bike riding trails, environments and moments.

Emmy’s tummy scrub at 6′ 55″ is such a great slo-mo shot! Just saying!

So do your mental health a favor … and check the video out.

The description for this video reads:

It all starts with the trail. The crunch of the dirt, the smell of a dewy morning ride, or the feeling of brushing away pebbles with a perfectly timed belly scrub.

These are the happy memories of a trail dog’s life well lived.

Raven is a 13-year-old retired trail dog from Squamish, British Columbia who’s spent countless days frolicking on loamy singletrack beneath towering spruces. Old age has slowed her down, and now Raven happily lies in the driveway, watching dog after dog, and their human, head for the hills.

Celebrating the joys of mountain biking through the eyes of the trail dog, Raven takes us from her driveway memories in BC to the high deserts of Utah, to freshly cut South African trails and back again.

We meet some of the feistiest, four-legged trail personalities along the way, who all enjoy the mountain bike world in their own way, just like us humans do, whether it’s hitting jump lines, lapping through the loam, or setting out to build new trail.

LYP November Bike Drive – Adelaide AU

To the Aussie readers: Happy National Recycling Week (8th – 14th Nov 2020).

Do you live in Adelaide, have a spare bike and are looking for a way to support the NRW theme of ‘Recovery – A future beyond a bin’?

Then this post is for you!

..And if you live elsewhere.. look for a similar program in your area!

Here’s a sneak peek at Lighthouse Youth Program’s November Bike Drive 2020.

LYP November Bike Drive - Adelaide AU. Bicycles Create Change.com 14th November 2020.

What is Lighthouse Youth Projects (LYP)?

Lighthouse Youth Projects Inc (LYP) was established in Adelaide, South Australia in 2016. This program delivers a range of bike programs – including BMX and MTB mentoring programs to give hope to young Australians in crippling emotional, mental and financial situations.

Lighthouse Youth Projects Inc is a registered charity and volunteer supported not-for-profit organisation sharing a love of riding and living life to the fullest. LYP strives to help young people at risk of not being amazing, empowering them for a successful future.

They work with young people, regardless of circumstance, supporting them into positive pathways through our diverse range of programs.

Their services include a range of community and social events, bike skill coaching and events, and life skills and mentoring.

Click here for more about LYP.

LYP November Bike Drive - Adelaide AU. Bicycles Create Change.com 14th November 2020.

LYP Bike Drive

Do you want to help improve the lives of young people AND support the environment at the same time?

To mark Australia’s National Recycling Week LYP is teaming up with the City of Port Adelaide Enfield and the City of Charles Sturt to take your pre-loved bikes off your hands.

LYP welcomes old (or new!) bikes that need a new home, and we are excited to get them back on the road or recycle them when they are past their used by date!

Rescuing bikes from sheds, backyards, and garages allows LYP to continue to provide their mentoring and help at-risk youth to create positive change in their lives.

Join LYP at the Beverley Recycling and Waste Centre, 2-6 Toogood Ave, Beverley, South Australia this Friday 13 & Saturday 14 November 2020!

LYP can’t wait to see you there!

BIKE DROP OFF TIMES:
Friday 13th between 8am – 4pm
Saturday 14th between 8am – 4pm

So if you are around Adelaide and have a spare bike, why not head down and meet the LYP crew and support their Nov 2020 Bike Drive.

LYP November Bike Drive - Adelaide AU.  Bicycles Create Change.com 14th November 2020.

LYP Mentoring through bikes

Not only do Lighthouse Youth Projects offer a range of community events, BMX and MTB coaching, along with life skills mentoring, but they also have a range of videos online to encourage more people to get on their bikes and ride.

LYP November Bike Drive - Adelaide AU. Bicycles Create Change.com 14th November 2020.

Mentoring through bikes

These videos cover a rage of skills, from how to bunny hop, to ‘pumping’ for when you are on a pump track and some general bike maintenance skills (like the video below).

This is another way LYP help to mentors others and share a love of bikes, riding skills, energy and enthusiasm with the next generation, encouraging everyone around them to get stoked on life.

Impressive!

Keep up the awesome work LYP!

Some content and all images and video sourced from LYP website, Vimeo, FB & IG.

Becoming Ruby: MTB, inclusion, identity & heros

Becoming Ruby. Bicycles Create Change.com 21st March 2020.

A Mountain Bike film about inclusion, identity and hand-drawn heroes.

Becoming Ruby is a personal portraiture of an MTBer, family, diversity and community.

This 18 mins film centres on Brooklyn Bell who is a mountain biker, skier and artist. In the film, she speaks about her experience of being a woman of colour in MTB and the alter-ego hand-drawn Ruby she created to help better face the world.

The film explains how Brooklyn was ‘not seeing herself reflected in the community she loves, mountain biker, skier and artist Brooklyn Bell created her own role model: a hand-drawn hero called Ruby J. With Ruby J as a guide, Brooklyn spent the next few years trying to “live like her, breathe like her, be unapologetically black like her,” and in the process shaped her own identity, one that intertwines her love for dirt, snow and art—and a voice with which to advocate for diversity and inclusion.’

As Brooklyn chats with her sister, they muse how MTBers are ‘often annoying, stuck up and rich’. Brooklyn also notes that even if you have money and access, but come from a family that doesn’t value MTB, then you are spending a tonne of money on a new bike or new skills or a climbing rack … that you are a person and part of a culture that has a ‘cognitive dissonance’ – and how isolating that can be.

Becoming Ruby. Bicycles Create Change.com 21st March 2020.

Brooklyn’s narration of what it is like to be a woman on colour in MTBing is well worth hearing. I find particularly salient her comments about music choice being a (differing) point of inclusion as opposed to acceptance.

MTB is definitely ‘white-dominated’, but ultimately for Brooklyn, ‘all that fades away and that what really matters is being connected to the dirt’.

Oh, and the beautiful cinematography of being outdoors, riding bikes and MTB trails – (*sigh*).

Becoming Ruby. Bicycles Create Change.com 21st March 2020.

Brooklyn’s closing poem says it all:

Dear Ruby,

I am strong

I am fit

I am beautiful

I am fast

I have a huge heart

And I will not give in

And I will not give up

I am comfortable in my own skin

I love to ride.

I deserve to be heard and I am here

I am here

And it is just wonderful.

All images in this post courtesy of : Becoming Ruby (film stills)

Fairy Houses and Mountain Bikes

Recently I happened to come across a YouTube video by a guy called Jonathan Wilkins.

Jon is an everyday guy who lives in the US. He is a mountain biker, runner, camper and loves a good beer.

He has a daughter called Sara who is mad about football (soccer), is an active outdoorswoman and keen musician.

Jon has been uploading short videos on YouTube for 10 years. When he first started out in 2010, he uploaded one video per month. His videos range from 11 seconds to 7 minutes and they document everyday life moments – family outings, work commutes, football highlights, music jams and Sara at various stages of growing up.

In 2019, it looks like Jon set himself a challenge to upload one video per day for the whole year. Each video is no longer than 1 minute.

The video that caught my eye was from Jon’s 2019 collection. It was the title that got my attention first. It was called Day 89: Fairy Houses and Mountain Bikes.

Fairy Houses and Mountain Bikes. Bicycles Create Change.com 13th Dec 2019.
Jon and Sara out MTB riding.

It features his daughter Sara working on a fairy house and then the pair going for a ride in the woods. Perfect!

When I watched this video, it made me smile.

This video has it all – simple pleasures, whimsical creative play, celebrating everyday moments, quality father-daughter time, trying new things (thrills, spills) and getting outdoors – and of course bikes!

I also love the juxtaposition of fairy houses and MTB –very original!

Fairy Houses and Mountain Bikes. Bicycles Create Change.com 13th Dec 2019.
Sara’s Fairy House

It always makes me so happy to see MTB dads getting out with their daughters/kids on bikes – and Jon not only does that, but also incorporates Sara’s interest in the Fairy House into the video as well. GOLD!

This video spoke to me of connection, fun, action, playfulness, diversity and inclusion.

Which is what riding bikes is all about for most riders.

I like watching MTB videos (like on Pink Bike) and appreciate the beautiful cinematography, scenery, skills and soundtracks. But equally, I can be turned off by how polished, white, male, elite rider centric most of the videos are.

I prefer videos that show a wider range of MTB experiences – like riders of all shapes, sizes, places, colours, ages and skills.

And having a twist – and the Fairy House is a great addition. I have seen a few ‘creative’ things on the side of MTB trials – why not MTB fairy houses. Why so serious?

It is also great to see the more experienced male riders – and dads in particular – genuinely encouraging more young girls/daughters to ride more.

Yup, it makes me smile.

We definitely need more videos, men, dads and riders like Jon (and Sara).

Happy riding all!

Fairy Houses and Mountain Bikes. Bicycles Create Change.com 13th Dec 2019.

All images courtesy of Jonathon Wilkins video (see above).