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Queers on Fixed Gears

So yesterday was Vancouver’s Pride celebration – a weekend celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, and other non-traditional/generally unaccepted sexualities and sexual/gender identities. Last year, I sat with my friends watching the Pride Parade on Pacific Avenue, and just like every year, the Dykes on Bikes opened the parade. They rode around in loops, swerving back and forth, waving flags and raising cheers from the crowd. There weren’t only Dykes on Bikes, however – there were quite a few gay boys riding scooters. I made a joke that day (and tweeted it, of course) that it was the Dykes on Bikes and the Fruits on Scoots. Hilarious! Rhyming is funny!

Anyway, a few weeks ago it occurred to me that I ride a two-wheeled machine, but I am neither a dyke on a (motor)bike, nor am I a fruit on a scooter. I, and some of my dearest friends, are queers… who ride fixed gear bicycles. Thus, Queers on Fixed Gears was born.

It turns out that riding in the parade with Dykes on Bikes is an open invitation – no paperwork required, just show up at the parade’s head at 11am. And so, we did. I got the movement going a bit late, so there were only three of us, but we rocked it sufficiently. After preloading with a Cranberry Mike’s Hard Lemonade, we bombed down to Robson and Thurlow to meet up with the parade. Upon arriving, we decided to stick to the back of the byke brigade (though I, always the attention seeker, wanted to ride at the front – I’m glad my more levelheaded friends held me back). We were met by some women who I assumed were organizers; they said, and I paraphrase, “If you’ve got two wheels, you’re in.” Right on.

The bykes started up and cloaked us with exhaust (*cough cough*) and we were off. We rode in three-or-four-block loops, back and forth, as the rest of the parade (headed by a police car) moved slowly behind us. I wove back and forth down the hill on Robson, tapering my speed off by pumping my front brake so that I didn’t cross the paths of too many bykes.

Still, I encountered a bit of hostility – one woman barked at me under her breath, “If I hit you guys it’s not my fault,” and a few others seemed to resent our ‘raining on their parade’, so to speak. One of my companions encountered a parade viewer, filming the event, who very clearly was “trying to film the Dykes on Bikes” and wished that we would “get out of the way”. A police officer asked us to ride on the sidewalk, please, to avoid “getting in the way”.

Overall, however, even with that hostility, it was a super fun and positive experience. More than one group of people were happy to see bicycles in the crowd – “I love bikes!” – and some of the Dykes on Bikes riders appreciated our changing up the usual pattern. For me, it was a political statement. I love to fight for acceptance of bicycles as a valid method of transportation. I love my bicycle. It gets me everywhere I need to go and I feel so damn good when I ride it.

What was even better, however, was the crowd response. I adored it – that high feeling I got from riding along with my hands in the air and hearing a cheer rise up beside me like a wave.

Next year, Queers on Fixed Gears will be riding in the parade again. You’re welcome to join us, even if you’re not queer, even if you don’t ride a fixed gear. I want it to be bigger and better next year. I want us to have a banner announcing our participation. I want you to start this ride in your local pride parade. Let’s start a global phenomenon.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 8:42 pm and is filed under politics, real life. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.