It's so hard to believe that it's been over a year since I posted to this blog! I have been focusing so much of my time on story telling to engage people in active living advocacy. I apologize to all of you who have been kind enough to stop by and haven't found anything fresh to you. If you're curious you can find what I've been writing about on my other site www.womenonbikessocal.org.

For a few months now a little voice has been quietly whispering in my ear "it's time to draw and paint again." At first I brushed the voice aside with impatience scolding, "Do you know the time that will take? I don't have time for that now, I have plently of creative outlets going on here already!"

Considering that I've written quite a bit about "Allowing Our Permission Slip from God" one would think that I would listen very carefully to such voices. Alas no, I was in my "busy" mode, my "I need to keep working hard because my current income project will end in a couple of months and I need to find my next big paying project!" I had decided that I want to learn video editing both because I really want to learn to create great videos, but also because that voice of fear keeps telling me to learn new skills to be viable in today's challenging job market.

Fortunately while on this busy-ness spree I decided I also need to get inspired and clear and turned to two of my favorite Life/Creativity/Spirituality/Getting Real coaches Martha Beck and Danielle LaPorte to do so. I signed up for one of Martha's terrific teleseminars, and purchased Danielle's "The Fire Starter Sessions" to listen to on my computer.

And guess what both ladies asked me to do? Get quiet, and still, and listen to that little voice I'd been trying to shush. There within I would find my treasure, my joy, my true passion and my next divine right project.

I knew this before they told me but only so far.

For someone who has been so artistic her entire life, I have not allowed my artistic side to step forward front and center fully for myself as an adult. I have always always combined my creativity and artistry with ways to promote the ideas and skills of others so I could feel it was a smart business strategy.

I'm not sorry I've done this, it's been a wonderful adventure that continues until today, but I am sorry that I haven't also allowed my artistry to be fully allowed and developed just because. I am sad I didn't think there was room, space, place and time for both.

Happily the little voice came back and this time began adding images. For some reason my creative self is rather obsessed with red poppies of Spain and has been for a few years now. I have never been to Spain, but I found images of the flowers on stock photo sites (like the image above) and have used them as my computer screen saver. My friend the photographer Allan Crawford and his wife Laura travel frequently to Spain and he has taken some gorgeous images of them.

I love the incredible deep rich vibrancy of their color. I love that such a bountiful bloom lives on top of such a thin, fragile and long stem. As I write this I have an "aha moment" that perhaps I'll be able to put into words in the future, but right is too fresh and raw to put into words right now.

My first test painting on board - unfortunately my camera did not take the best image.

So far this year I have done one small poppy inspired painting as a test to see how I like working on board instead of paper (I LOVE it), and today I will start on the second painting in this series. I've also created a Valentine/Bicycle illustration to make my own Valentine's cards that I'm very excited about.

Once I began painting again my dreams (which have always been elaborate) took on a new beauty and richness that at times is achingly beautiful. In one dream I was walking through an art exhibit of the likes I have next seen in my life. An exhibit where the walls were carved wood sculptures of reclining women that were so gorgeous and sexy and intricate and mysterious I have no idea how they could be recreated in reality.

And every moment of creating these new paintings have been a joy. I can't wait to hear what the little voice tells me to draw and paint next.

Me on a borrowed vintage cruiser of Bernard Serrano at Christmas time 2009

On November 1, 2011 we will launch the new website "Women on Bikes SoCal" website to encourage, engage and empower women and girls of all ages, races and walks of life in the Southern California region in the beauty and benefits of bicycling. While preparing for the launch we are actively seeking bike "love" stories from women around Southern California. In hopes to inspire you to share here is mine.

My bike story is one of a mid-life renaissance. Just over two years ago, at 45, the bike brought surprising new strength, increased mobility and fresh new opportunities into my professional life. Like the author of the the beautifully crafted and very popular bike blog Lovely Bike I too suffer from health challenges and felt unathletic and frail.

In early spring 2007 I gave up my car. It had just become too much to deal with. It was an old Honda that had been a marvelous companion but was starting to really fall apart. I live in the charming but parking limited Long Beach neighborhood of Alamitos Beach. Finding a parking spot within 3 blocks is a challenge after 5:30 pm, come home from a party or event at 10 pm and I'd be walking 10+ blocks. Certainly the exercise was good for me, but working from home as a freelancer I didn't need my car every day. I would often forget to move my car for street sweeping, or even forget where the heck I'd parked it in the first place. Between increasing gas prices, piled up parking tickets and frequently needed repairs I simply couldn't afford the car anymore financially or physically.

It was hard to give it up, it was. I worried about the stigma that would be attached to no longer owning a car. Fortunately I'd spent a summer living in Italy at 19, and lived there for school at 21 and knew in Europe almost everyone takes some form of mass transit at least part of the time. I also knew I was lucky that Long Beach has a very good mass transit system. It seemed that every place I had a client there was a bus stop within a block and half (and one about a block from my apartment as well).

Once the car was gone my main feeling was a sense of relief. I was still very challenged with fatigue and daily migraines and riding the bus was simply easier than driving had been (I could read while traveling what a plus!). I began to take mental notes of how walking was tough in the city. Where sidewalks were completely missing and things like that.

Working in Naples for two different clients I learned that the high median speed of traffic through that section of town meant that it was challenging for local businesses to thrive. I met people regularly who came into a flower shop and a very famous local wine shop I worked with admitting they'd been driving by and meaning to stop for 5/10/15 years but just never had before. I had honestly never before equated street speed with street economic vitality. It was a real eye openener.

To my delight I met fascinating people on the bus, including a lovely young woman named Amanda who lived in my neighborhood and worked in Naples as I did. She was active in the Long Beach cycling scene and shared with me how a motorist had purposefully hit her while she was riding her bike because the motorist was apparently angry she was sharing the road on her bicycle. I became aware of how many people in Long Beach were riding bikes. I loved riding a bike as a child but felt it would be too physically challenging for me, still I certainly wanted others who road to be safe. And I was getting very clear that in our hurry hurry hurry speed obsessed culture many were paying for the ease to get across town on side streets quickly.

In 2008 Georgia Case and I began talking of collaborating on possible projects. By then I considered myself a pedestrian and transit advocate. What I would do with this new mental attitude I had no idea. My background is in creative writing, design, and marketing and public relations. I didn't realize there were people who had jobs specifically for advocacy. But I did know Georgia and her husband John had founded Bikestation in Long Beach and I began to actively research the fascinating new world of bike and pedestrianadvocacy. Still I wasn't ready to get on a bike yet myself. I still thought of bikes as a mobility tool for very fit people.

In the summer of 2009 Georgia and John hosted a party to welcome Charlie Gandy, Long Beach's new Mobility Coordinator to town. He was a charming guy and the bike-friendly crowd was very pleased Long Beach had brought someone so knowledgable about bike and pedestrian advocacy to town. I went home and googled him. He had quite a resume (but no website of his own yet). The idea of Charlie plus the news that Sumi Gant, as the head of Bike Long Beach, had raised millions of dollars of grants for bike projects for LB was pretty exciting for many of us in Long Beach.

But I still wasn't ready to get on a bike.

Charlie became a neighbor and a friend. About six months later Charlie invited me to officially get back on a bike for Belmont Shore's famous Christmas Parade. Council member Suja Lowenthal and her staff, and Bernard Serrano of Cyclone Coasters and his friends were all going to ride in the parade. Charlie said Bernard had a vintage cruiser I could borrow. We'd ride in the parade and the next day go with Bernard and his crew for his famous vintage bike cruise around town.

I decided to go for it. It was time. I was very nervous. I was afraid I'd forgotten how to ride and that I might take a spill right in front of hundreds of people, but instead I took to riding again like a duck to water. My body hadn't forgotten. What fun it was and what a great reception the crowd gave us that night.

The next morning I was still game and went for the vintage bike ride as well. A large crowd met at Portfolio's coffee house (mostly men I must say) with a fascinating array of vintage and new bikes. We rode down through Belmont Shore and toured through the canals of Naples. I had a couple of epiphanies. The first is that you move much faster and much easier on a bike than I had thought. The second is that bike speed is the perfect touring speed and that Long Beach is really beautiful by bike. I made it 3/4ths of the way through the ride before my body gave out, and I simply bowed out gracefully and went home. My world had shifted. I could ride a bike again!

When my brother and sister-in-law heard about my ride they offered to give me a vintage cruiser a friend had given to them. For Christmas my family helped me get the bike repaired and paniers for the back so I could use it to run errands. My mobility around town was now complete.

In the summer of 2010 Georgia and I won the bid to create the road safety marketing campaign for Bike Long Beach. The campaign is called "SOS: Share Our Streets" and will launch late this fall. It is one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever worked on. Later that year I began to work with Charlie Gandy at Livable Communities, and the following summer with the local non profit Bikeable Communities. I am convinced none of this would have happened if I hadn't given up my car.

Sadly this past summer my wonderful cruiser was stolen. I've decided I can be even more mobile if my next bike is lighter and has a few speeds so the few hills around Long Beach aren't such a challenge for me. I also want to make sure that I can sit completely upright - it makes it much easier on my back and neck. I've been researching the hot bikes of Electra, Public, and Linus and I recently found out that Long Beach has it's own bike design company 3G. In the meantime I rent a very comfortable Raleigh hybrid from Bikestation when I need one.

Deciding to propose the Women on Bikes SoCal program came about for a variety of reasons. I now understand that the bike is the perfect urban transit tool, even for women like me who deal with some physical health challenges. I am honored and excited that Charlie, the Bikeable Communities Board Members and especially Andrea White-Kjoss of Bikestation (who created the first Women on Bikes bike safety training + bike scholarship program for at rish and low income women in Long Beach) Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal, April Economides of Green Octopus Consulting and Elizabeth Williams of Calibike Tours are so supportive and ready to move forward with me.

We know, unfortunately, the needs and desires of women in regards to bikes are not always taken into account. I hear stories all the time of boyfriend's and husband's talking women into purchasing (or even buying for them) mountain bikes when the woman really wanted a bike for around town, or of sales staff in bike stores completely ignoring female shoppers because they assume they weren't going to buy anything. We want to change that. We want to give women a voice and a real presence in the bike world. And we want to invite women who hadn't thought they could ride a bike to give it a try.

Would you like to share your own inspriational bike story? If so we'd love to hear it. We're collecting stories now for our Women on Bikes SoCal website launch. We want 30 stories for 30 days! Write to us at wobsocal (at) gmail (dot) com if you'd like to be included!

From the Street Etiquette Blog gorgeously crafted fashion layout "The Black Ivy"

At Idea Group we're all hard at work finishing up the last pieces of the "SOS: Share Our Streets" campaign that will take off and fly soon for the City of Long Beach (wait til you see the PSA's!), which means it's time for me to gear up for a brand new campaign that I couldn't be more excited about - Women on Bikes 2012. Now that the majority of the photography, look and feel for "SOS" is already done (you can take a peek here) and we're at the fine tuning phase, I'm now free to contemplate the flavor and feel of the new campaign. I've registered the domain, I've begun to lay out the website and happily a blog from the always right-on-the-money Seth Godin reminded me to begin an account on Squidoo. I'll share when all is ready.

I truly do believe in the power of synchronicity, synergy and serendipity and embracing new tools. It has sparked fascinating connections and opportunities for myself and close personal friends. Has it played a role in your life? Walking home yesterday I ran into Rand at his fantastic new location for his Fingerprints indie music store on 4th in Long Beach. This is a man proving that yes, old ideas can survive in our current modern era if you move forward masterfully, if you engage new tools. And this is a man who can get the Foo Fighters and Wilco to play live sets for sold out crowds in the store - and he uses the Internet to make that happen.

We are fortunate that Rand and Kirsten (the owner of the wonderful adjoining coffee house Berlin) are big supporters of the Long Beach bike movement. With that in mind I asked Rand what he thought of an idea that I've been mulling over, a way to raise money for the Women on Bikes campaign that would be affordable for almost everyone, and would give a big shout out to talented female musicians in our fair city like my sister in law Beth (of fielding) and a young singer songwriter I really like very much Kristi Jo. Rand was very supportive of the concept, said it was completely "doable" and I left with a smile on my face. Sweet!

Over the summer at the Dwell conference fashion journalist/author/design maven Rose Apodaca of A & R  told me to check out an article in the New York Times about a group of young men of color and their terrific street style. They had a great look, she said, and were using a beautiful antique bike in the layout. She was talking about an article on Joshua Kiss and Travis Gumbs and their style blog Street Etiquette from which I'm sharing the above photo. I was dazzled. Isnt that a beautiful shot? I hope you'll take a look. I love both the concept and feel of "The Black Ivy" layout. Ok, this may sound a bit wierd coming from a middle aged white woman but I need to say it, I love that it's proud and artful and to me saying being educated is cool - and subliminally riding a bike is cool. I hope someone shows this to President Obama. I've been daydreaming about how "The Black Ivy" can inspire me on my mission to use style as a catalyst and conversation starter.

I have a confession to make. My dreams and ideas for projects have rarely fully come to fruition. Only a few times have I looked at a completed project, story, or piece of of my own art and thought, "wow that's the best I can make it." Sometimes this is because I'm hard to impress (especially regarding my own work, perhaps you know that one?) Sometimes it's because my budget and tools couldn't go to where my vision was, and sometimes it's been because I lacked the skills and leadership to inspire others to undestand what was possible. But right now I feel incredibly inspired to take advantage of all I've learned and all the tools out there.

Thirty years ago I'm sure Steve Jobs and conceptual artist Nick Pugh envisioned this amazing era we live in, this time where the most sophisticated tools of creativity are available to the masses via the personal computer and digital cameras and digital recording equipment to employ for story telling as they will, but I can assure you I did not. Sitting in my Fountain Valley High School art class, as I determinedly used a crow quill pen (yes, the very tiniest tipped one - it would be years before I discovered rapidographs existed) creating my meticulous pointalism illustrations, I didn't see any sort of bright future for myself in the arts at all.

I wanted to go to Art Center in Pasadena (where I had been for weekend drawing classes via a scholarship program) but at my house it wasn't believed that most artists could really make a decent living. First at Yamaha and then at Fender my Father spent his days with the best of the best. My sister and I spent our childhood and teen years hearing about recording sessions and private jet flights with the Eagles and Neil Diamond. Rather than making my Father optimistic about life for a young person in the arts however, it made him a fierce critic and well, rather pessimistic. He was incensed that uniquely gifted musicians like Bonnie Raitt who could play, sing and write, didn't sell better while vanity groups sold millions (Sadly he was out of the business when Raitt broke out with Nick of Time and did the "Thing Called Love" video with the sexy Dennis Quaid).

But I digress. The point I want to make here is that we now have amazing creative tools that can be at just about anyone's fingertips. The sky is the limit to the beautifully crafted engaging story telling we can now create - but we need to expand our imaginations and skill-set to employ them.  We need to face squarely when our roadblocks are emotional, not practical. In this challenging economy now is not the time to hide under the bed and say we're done with learning. Yes baby boomers; I'm talking to you.

These new ever evolving tools can be tricky to get the hang of, but they're not impossible. Look for guiding stars to inspire you and show what's possible. Don't try and be good at everything, mast the skils of one thing at a time. Perhaps it's Street Etiquette inspired by a proud heritage and illustrating beautifully that yes, young black men do go to college, or perhaps if Bonnie Raitt speaks to you, you'll remember that Nick of Time was made more popular by Raitt jumping in wholeheartedly and starring in videos. If she could learn to harness the tools of the era and watch her star rise, why not you?

Coming soon the new technoogy I want to embrace? Videography stay tuned!

Last week in honor of the "SOS: Share Our Streets" campaign for Bike Long Beach I decided to buy myself a little present. Georgia Case and I (as well as some very talented creatives) have been working on the marketing pieces for this road safety campaign for almost a year now and it's just about to debut. I wanted this small self gift to be mindful and celebratory but other than that I didn't really know what I wanted it to be. Wandering down 2nd Street in Belmont Shore I stopped in front of the Blue Windows boutique, which always has such excellent displays, and some colorful strands of beads caught my eye.

I decided to investigate further.

I meandered around the shop until I came to a lovely little jewelry display case that was filled with these intriguing pieces, including an array of beaded bracelets for just $10.00 a piece. The bracelets also had a very striking hang tag showing a photo of a woman smiling. Perfect. I'd found my gift and my gift seemed to want to tell me a story. When the sales girl took out my chosen bracelet I flipped the little card over attached to the bracelet and read "using fashion and design to empower women to rise above poverty." Even better, this really was a truly mindful gift. An item that would remind me of my great fortune here in the U.S., but also remind me of the power of art, imagination, and connection.

I couldn't wait to get home and find out more.

At home I discovered that www.31bits.com is the brainchild of a young woman named Kallie Doval, who first visited Uganda in 2007, and met women making beautiful paper beads. I don't want to paraphrase the story too much because I want you to click the link and read and experience the story yourself. You'll read and see a successful collaboration between a group of U.S. friends and Ugandan bead designers and creators. What I love about this website is that it's a visually and emotionally engaging story told well.

The 31 bits team partnered with the creative studio Collaboration Reverberation to create their sleek but fashion forward website. It appears photographer Trever Hoehne took the local fashion photos for the website, but I am not sure if he also took the striking portraits of the women designers and bead makers in Uganda (but I'm going to find out!).

This is the kind of fresh creative thinking that health advocacy in general, and bike advocacy in specific, needs to ponder and be inspired by if we truly want to engage more female ridership. Women and our needs are complex. I don't feel black and white thinking, saying "it's all about safety" and "everyone must wear helmets!" will get us where we want to go. We want to affect millions. Safety, style, access, economics, ease of use, comfort all (and more!) have to be acknowledged and addressed. 31bits.com excels as a fashion site, an advocacy site, a marketing site, and a visually and emotionally engaging story of woman in a war torn land being empowered by art as commerce.

Honestly, I would love to see what this creative team would do with a bicycle advocacy site focused at women. Hmmm.

What Saturday July 16th's entertaining and inspiring sold out TEDxSoCal Thrive here in Long Beach brought home to me is something I've been aware of and mulling over for a few years. But it's an issue I hadn't quite decided come to terms with in such a stark fashion - that the health of a large majority of Americans is losing terribly in the marketing wars, and everyone in our country is paying for it.

Diana Hendel, CEO of Long Beach Memorial and Miller's Children's Hospital, and her talk on Childhood "Obesity: Local Solutions to a Global Problem" was sort of the last straw that made me recognize not only why I'm such a passionate advocate for biking and walking, but why I'm recognizing equally clearly that it's time to change tactics or obesity and diabetes will win.

Make no mistake about it. This is a consumer war. The makers of such items as products filled with high fructose corn syrup (that acclimate our taste buds to want sweeter and sweeter things), and video games that keep us sitting on the couch, spend millions and millions of dollars on campaigns to keep us buying them.

The cute little fellow I've posted above (my nephew Simon) is my personal symbol of why this war is so important to take up anew with fresh ideas. At 20 months Simon is one active little fellow. He is constantly on the move. He has healthy-eating-active-living minded parents - but many children his age aren't so lucky.

Simon and the children in his generation do not deserve to carry the burden of staggering health loss and health costs predicted for them because we as an American society have become so obsessed with buying stuff that our health suffers. Nor does the generation before it, or any of us really - we have the science, we know the facts, living and eating the way a large number of the American population is now we're doomed for certain health challenges.

We can shake our fists, we can write papers, we can place articles, we can make speeches, we can place blame, but in a market driven advertising soaked society we need to face squarely that we're just not good at should.

Why? Because we're too used to being entertained and seduced into changing our behavior - unless personally our behavior becomes too expensive to sustain, or it's against the law and the risks of being caught become too high, we want to be courted and cajoled into change, thank you. Very few of us want to actually set fashion trends, but millions of us want to follow along once that trend is hot.

We have in the bike an excellent tool to help combat some of the biggest health challenges and transportation challenges facing our country. But we've got to get the word out right.

I have written here before that I share the forward thinking Copenhaganize.com's philosophy that bike advocates really need to think more like marketers, but I'm broadening that. Here is what I now believe, until the health industry and all the affiliate industries associated with it (and I'm including bike advocacy in this) recognizes that it's time to face failure and change it's game plan, we're not going to get much farther than where we are today at reducing obesity and diabetes rates for anybody of any age.

Again, make no mistake about it. This is a consumer war. One side is fighting for the health of our society - the other side just wants to keep selling its products. We have to do nothing less than change our culture. To do so those who understand well the changes in behavior that need to happen need to get creative, innovative, sexy and fun. We've got to become experts at emotionally and visually engaging storytelling.   

Updated: Monday June 27th

Above Long Beach's Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal at the recent 3rd & Broadway separated bike lanes opening. Suja is not only one of LB's leading bike-friendly advocates, along with Andrea White-Kjoss of Bikestation I feel it's fair to say Long Beach is home to two of the most cycle-chic female bike advocates in the country.

The past three days made the hair stand up on the back of my neck, but in a good way. Synergy and synchronicity were in the air everywhere. First off I want to thank everyone for the support and sharing of my blog "Bicycling Needs to Be More About the Girls" especially Allan Crawford of Bikeable Communities and newly of Bike Long Beach, Damien Newton of StreetsblogLA and Andrea White-Kjoss of Bikestation all shared links on topic back that showed synergy & synchronicity love.

On that note Bikestation now has a terrific new blog on their site from bike + transit commuter Nancy Huntington called "Executive Bike Commute Saga." Nancy is new to the world of bicycling riding paired with transit riding as a commuter. She's discovering, just as I did, that bike speed can be the perfect touring speed to discover her city anew. She and her husband John live in the beautiful Naples section of Long Beach and also own Long Beach Hydrobikes. If you're looking for a fun, fit way to see the beautiful Naples Canals homes and shoreline of Long Beach a Hydrobike is the perfect way.

On StreetsblogLA blogger Angie Schmitt writes a very astute piece on "Cycling: What's Holding Women Back" and notes that what women need are good female role models in the media i.e. Jessica Alba on a commuter bike in a starring role in a romantic comedy.

I'm going to take that a step further and say that I believe we need good female bicycling role models in the media for every generation. Jessica Alba is great (and she actually did play a bike messenger in a T.V. show), but I think we also need to see women like Jennifer Aniston on a bike, and Julia Roberts, and Oprah and maybe even Blythe Danner.

And I'm going to interject here that I really feel bicycle advocates need to understand that the terms "cycle" and "cycling" are tough words for many people to embrace. Publicists like myself learn early that if we want to be successful pitching the media we have to calibrate our story so that it fits well the particular media outlet we're focusing on. I invite bike advocacy realm to consider using different bicycle language for different audiences. Why? Many (especially women) equate those words with lycra and racing or those who can manage very long arduous commutes by bicycle.

When we began working on the upcoming bicycle safety marketing campaign for Bike Long Beach our creative team was told very specifically to replace the terms "cyclists" and "cycling" with the terms "bicyclist" and "bicycling" to be more open and inviting and inclusive - to be more about fun than long arduous commutes and athletics.

I need to say a big thanks here to Charlie Gandy for reintroducing me to the joy of bicycling. Like many people who haven't been on a bike in a long time frankly I was afraid. I thought I lacked the strength and coordination. Managing migraines and fatigue are an ongoing issue for me. For years I really thought walking was the best choice of exercise for me. But then Charlie rolled into town. It took him a few months to convince me but finally three of his selling points won out: a) that my riding skills still existed, that they'd wake back up b) that bicycling was easy on the joints and c) that I could find the right bike and the right speed to work for me.

He was right about my skills and the easy on the joints bit. I have been riding a vintage cruiser now for about a year and a half and have loved it. But now I'm ready to find a slightly lighter bike with a few gears so I'll feel comfortable riding farther and won't be frantic at the thought of a big hill.

Charlie has also dared me to find my own bicycle advocate voice, to stop always playing publicist and step forward with my own bike story thoughts and opinions more. About a month ago he realized he had a scheduling conflict between speaking at the Dwell on Design conference and attending the 15th Anniversary of the Thunderhead Alliance. Since Charlie created the original Thunderhead retreat training he had to go. This 15th anniversary really is a celebration of many of the movers and shakers of the modern bike movement. I thought he'd ask Ryan Snyder to fill in at Dwell, but he said, "No, you need to do it." 

And that is how I ended up on the "Are Two Wheels Greater Than Four?" panel on Sunday with four very talented and savvy women and a great turn out. I look forward to getting to know our host Alissa Walker of Gelato Baby and my fellow panelists Melanie Smth of Mélendrez, and Allison Mannos of the LACBC better. I feel they will be key players in the greater Los Angeles conversation of how we successfully market bike riding as a stylish, smart, cost effective, healthy and fun transportation option for women.

Does this mean I want to exclude men from the bicycling conversation? Not at all. But as Charlie points out women are the indicators of our species. If women feel safe and comfortable riding bikes they will allow their children to do so as well. If women feel safe and comfortable riding bikes they'll accompany their husbands and boyfriends on bike rides, and they'll find ways for their families to do so more often. They will also avidly share the benefits with their friends and extended families.

One of the women I have most wanted to ask to join both "how to use fashion and style" to successfully market bikes to people in general (and women in specific) conversation is journalist, author and fashion maven Rose Apodaca - who just happened to also be at the Dwell conference as well. Rose and her husband Andy Griffith are passionate design advocates and own the trend setting A+R design store on Abbot Kinney in Santa Monica. I was very curious to see if they had been following the rise of popularity in the whole Cycle Chic sparked from Copenhagen and slow bike movement.

"We love bikes!" Andy exclaimed right off when I told him about my new-ish life in bicycle advocacy.

"Did you see the article recently in the New York Times on men and bicycling fashion?" asked Rose. Ah, no I hadn't (trying to track it down now), but I think my question of interest was answered. And I think I may have a pair of new voices to query, not just one. Sweet. I hope we will find the right time for these two very talented and busy people to come on a Long Beach bike tour with Charlie soon.

Dream with me a little in creating the perfect style/design minded bike event here in Long Beach that can bring together these talented people...

As I prepare to participate in the Dwell on Design panel "Are Two Wheels Greater Than Four" I have been having some fascinating conversations with my Mom and three of my very best and oldest girlfriends about bicycling.

I have been spreading the gospel about this excellent and spot on article in June's Bicycling Magazine by Dan Koeppel. The article wrestles with the new wave of bicycling culture that's blooming around the country (and it is certainly a rapidly growing vine here in Long Beach) because it's sort of hard to define. It's not about speed, or crunchy advocacy (though those members are an avid part of the conversation). It's more about the hip new urbanism, comfort, design, fashion and well, joy. It's a lot of fun to ride a bike that fits you well and is easy to ride. One can discover one's town or city in whole new way moving the speed of a bike (I find myself doing this almost every day). This is one of my favorite bits:

"But the end result of this latest wave could be huge, even transformative: a return to the days when bikes were a basic component of everyday life, and not just technologically advanced machines reserved for the fit. Think of it as cycling's slow-food movement."

What I found most fascinating is that the greatest increases in bicycling from 2005-2009 (the latest stats available), per the article, are not in top bicycle-friendly cities. Hmmm. What can we bicycle advocates and the bicycle industry in general learn from that? I am eager to see what the stats say for 2010 and 2011 because I have personally witnessed a huge boom in the "slow bicycle movement" here in Long Beach in a fascinating array of tastes and styles.

"Wait a minute," my Mom stops me in mid expounding, "Are there really nice bikes for girls now? Because I refuse to ride a man's bike. I told your stepfather absolutely not when he tried to drag his old ten speed out for me to ride recently. No. I will not ride a man's bike. It's very uncomfortable for me. But if you're telling me there are comfortable bikes out there designed especially for women - maybe three speeds or something like that - I'd be interested in hearing more."

My Mother is 67 going on 35. She is a doer, a planner, a shopper, a creator of fine meals. She usually finds exercise for the sake of exercising too boring to stick to as a routine for long, but she is very game for it if it can also accomplish something else - like errands, and social time. Sound familiar? Anyone see themselves in this picture?

My Mom also made it very clear that she does not want to be intimidated while in the process of buying a bike to ride. My friend Terri echoed the same point about recent negative experiences shopping for a bike for herself. Both want it to be easy and fun - not an arduous task where they have to be lectured on helmets and safety and expensive gear to the point they are afraid of getting on a bike at all, and certainly not by young male sales clerks who aren't listening to them about their specific wants and needs.

And these are the same things my best friend from High School echoed. All of these middle-aged women are totally open to riding a bike, indeed they are ready willing and able. They'd like to save the gas money by riding to local errands, they'd like to get more exercise, they'd like to experience the childhood joy of riding a bike again, but they want to be heard on what works and what doesn't for them as women riders.

Last Monday I had the great privilege of participating in an advocacy training session with the Bikeable Communities team and several O.C. bike advocates at the beautiful home of Corona Del Mar bike advocate Frank Peters led by Charlie Gandy. When I shared with the all male group (except for me) about my Mother's preferences, and what my female friends were telling me, Pete van Nuys, the Executive Director of the O.C. Bicycle Coalition told us two interesting points: 1) The bicycle industry still focuses its energy on the male oriented "road racer" set of bicyclists even those these riders are only about 3% of the bicycling public. 2) The bicycle industry does no direct advertising to the public.

Ah, no wonder my Mom has no idea there are now cool bikes out there for women. No wonder that I've noticed bicycles as props in all kinds of editorial in popular fashion magazines from Vogue to G.Q., and ads for Banana Republic and Keds, but not ads for the bikes themselves in the popular media. 

Imagine what would happen if the bike industry put the same attention it puts into the road race bikes into bikes for the rest of us, and particular attention to the likes and needs of women? Imagine what would happen if female focused advertising, advocacy and safety classes were a common place thing and not cutting edge?

To further support my theme here I'd like to share Elly Blue's article on Grist.org this week "Bicycling's Genter Gap: It's the Economy Stupid."  Blue brings up the fact that nearly all new riders in the U.S. over the past 20 years have been men. It's a fascinating article that brings up very valid points about both the economic and childcare challenges that still affect more women than men.

It sounds like both the bike advocacy world and the bike industry have some shifts in focus to make if we want to gain the great increases in bicycle riding we all report we do.

It's official! Sunday June 26th I'll have the great privilege of joining three very talented women (writer Alissa Walker, Alexis Lanzt of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition and Melanie Smith of Mélendrez Communication on the panel discussion "Are Two Wheels Greater Than Four" at the Dwell on Design Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center on the Sustainability Stage. What could be even better? That I can take the train from downtown Long Beach to very near the L.A. Convention Center. I can even take my bike and ride the last little bit.

Of course design is a key factor to creating spaces with greater "Livability" for everyone. For over fifty years now both new cities and old cities alike have been built, or modified, on the idea of privileging the car first and yet each and everyone of us is actually first a pedestrian.

But when I gave up my car just over four years ago I wasn't thinking about design. Nor did  I think to myself, "hmmm...now would be the perfect time to become a pedestrian and bicycle advocate I hear it's such a hot growth field!" A car free (or car light) life is not for everyone, and we at Bikeable Communities aren't going to point to others and say, "You should be doing what I'm doing, you should be riding a bike." What we can do is share our own experiences. We can invite you to consider new opportunities. My own story is that I was a freelance writer and media relations person who was struggling with chronic pain, fatigue and financial challenges - many of which were coming from my aging car.

The closer to home I could work here in Long Beach, the less time I had to do any sitting in traffic what-so-ever, the better it was for my health. I stopped going after jobs in L.A. at all and began wondering, "what if I didn't have to drive at all?" What if I didn't have to even contemplate finding a place to park? You see, Long Beach is a relatively old city by West Coast U.S. measures. I live in a rather dense neighborhood that was designed sometime in the dearly 1900's before the concept of everyone owning a car was paramount and where I was walking 10-15 blocks home from my parking spot if I ever had the audacity to come home after, say, 10 pm.

The more the parking tickets piled up, the more I noticed how many buses there were everywhere and coincidentally that there was a bus stop right in front one of one of my clients, and another one 1/2 block from my apartment door.

One day when my car battery died I decided to give it a try. Not only was the bus conveniently located for me and one of my main destinations I could read on the bus.

Now I probably need to back up a little and fill in a little back story. One of the big reasons I was so open to the idea of letting go of my identity as a "car" person was because I had had the great privilege of living one summer in Como Italy when I was 19, and almost a year in Florence Italy when I was 21. Riding the bus is a normal part of daily life for people of every walk of life in Italy, just as is riding the train. I had been primed to be open minded, and I have the great fortune of living in Long Beach which has a darn good mass transit system (Long Beach, I believe, is the 6th densest population in the nation).

Still, I did dread giving up my car. I worried that it would make me seem "lesser" in the eyes of others. I worried what my clients and possible clients might think. I came of age in the 80's and was steeped in the "dress for success" and "create the right image" philosophy.  But I decided to make the jump anyway and I've never looked back. Why? Because not dealing with finding a parking space, moving a car by "x" time on "such and such" date, and letting go of both a car insurance and a weekly gas bill were all such an amazing relief.

Does that mean I'll never be a car owner again. No, I might. But not owning a car means that I have to plan my time better and not over book, and that is saving my sanity and my health. Taking my bike and the bus I am almost always right on time, or even early. Here's what I've discovered about driving, driving a car tends to makes you feel that you can wishfully bend time. That you can leave 15-20 minutes later than you should have. We seem to all remember magic days when we zipped from one appointment, or one errand, to the next with no traffic and that's how we seem to think it should be all the time. But it isn't, is it? Traffic is here to stay, now it's up to us to find new ways to deal with it.

I recently had a fantastic long weekend trip to San Luis Obispo (touted by author Dan Buettner as the "happiest place in America" in his book Thrive which I'm having the great pleasure of reading right now). I greatly appreciated not only the region's spectacular natural beauty, but also how the city itself has made key decisions to honor that natural beauty and as well as its historical past, most especially in the downtown area, and how the city has chosen time and again to bloom and grow in a way that has great integrity. This path did not just happen, it was chosen time and again (beginning in the mid 1970's) by visionary leaders who stepped away from their own self interest and thought about what would make the city center most appealing to the public.

Nothing jumps out at you as jarringly out of place. Even new buildings have a classic feel, with interesting architectural details that fit beautifully with the architecture of the late 1800's and early 1900's when it was first truly becoming a city of note. The creek running through the center with walk paths and viewing areas, the Children's Museum, the interesting mix of cuisine and shopping choices means that the center of San Luis Obispo is such a very pleasant and enjoyable place to visit as a tourist.

Pondering all this, I decided I wanted to think anew about how we might imagine our own branding, and what we want to have it help make happen. 

Yes, I agree "brand" is one of those words that has become so popular, so blended into the hip vernacular, that it's very easy to get so tired of hearing it that we want to run away screaming at the mention. But if we're small a business professional responsible for our own success, and the success of our team, we just can't do that. The buck stops or starts with the decisions and actions we make.

What we can do is step back and look again at the concept of "branding" with fresh eyes, and what the Buddhist call, "A Beginner's Mind." We can take a break from the "shoulds" we've read about and researched, especially if they've begun to overwhelm us with a list of things we have to do, and decide to approach the subject from a new angle, one that might be easier to take in bite sized chews. 

We might even try the the concept of "Mindfulness" approach (again from Buddhism, the link I've included Pema Chodron speaks on Mindfulness for meditation but I believe you'll take away the flavor of what I'm proposing),  mix that with a good dose of curiosity and I think we're onto something quite fun and fascinating.

Taking all this into account I'd like to now ask you three questions I just decided to ask myself:

How might I bring greater integrity, honesty and artistry into the work I do?

San Luis Obispo has decided as a city that it wants to celebrate its historical past and uses not only the look but the feel of this past to influence the the look and feel of modern buildings to keep that integrity. It was also the first city in the world to pass a no smoking ban in all indoor public areas, and the city does not allow drive through businesses.

What Top Brands Can Teach Us About Integrity

I am not a coffee person. I don't like the taste of anything bitter, but if I'm in an unfamiliar place (especially say, an airport) I am relieved when I find one of the major coffee house chains. If it's a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf I'm especially happy as they brew very delicious iced tea, in flavors I love, and tea is my drink of choice.

Now this is not to say that I won't search out an interesting local alternative, I absolutely will (and then if I find something I love I will Yelp about it), but while I'm getting my bearings straight I like to go with a known commodity. So I'm also happy if I see a Peet's or a Starbucks. Their tea is brewed too strong for me, but I can always ask for a little more water. I know that I'm also going to find a selection of tasty treats as well. I can rest assured of this because these brands have a tremendous amount of integrity in the standard and quality of the beverages and food they serve. 

These companies also have, by and large, a very high standard set for customer service. It is rare to have a problem with a server's attitude at these locations. Your order is most often handled with a great attitude and alacrity. What I find with new companies (especially for some reason, new coffee houses) is that this is the thing that falls apart first, the customer service. And why does it fall apart? Because in a new business very frequently not enough time and attention is given to two things:

A) Employee training

B) How to handle inevitable challenges

My sister once told me this marvelous customer service tip - it's impossible to give excellent customer service if you've never seen it modeled and experienced it yourself. Wow. Think about that. Is it possible you are expecting to give a level of service in your particular business that either you, or perhaps your employees, just aren't familiar with? Might I be well served seeking out experiences of being well served? 

How Else Might I Be Sending Mixed Messages?

Many of us are working on slim margins and tight budgets, so no, we don't always have a huge budget for our company's look and feel. That's okay, really. The Internet has made it very possible for anyone to have great marketing materials and a clean, neat and appealing website, even with a very small budget - but all these online choices can often lead us into many different design directions.

You've got to pick one and see it through. Your business cards, your email signature, your website look and feel, your marketing materials, your press kit, your letterhead, etc. etc. all need to have integrity. No, you may not afford to be able to have everything redesigned and reprinted to match right away, but you can move in the right direction. Make a list of all of the different print and online materials you have out in the public and make a commitment to slowly and steadily bringing all of them into design alignment.

Next we'll talk about honesty and the power of not over promising! 

I am one of those crazy people who believes the universe speaks to us if we're willing to listen. The way I've decided to listen for 2011 is by proclaiming this my "Year of Allowing." I've written again and again about those, "Allowing Your Permission Slip from God" moments, and finally I've decided to take that concept to the next level. I want to apply it to my life as a whole.

But how, you ask, did this very "no duh" concept finally dawn on me?

Right before the holidays I was looking for a book to inspire my gentleman friend on the idea of writing a book. He has led a fascinating life, he has both the expertise and a philosophy that inspires people, and writes engagingly and entertainingly when he sets his mind to it - but he finds the concept of writing a blog weekly, let alone writing a book, a daunting concept. He's getting close, but he can't quit wrap his head around the venture yet. I thought that if I found a short pithy example he might say, "aha."

Instead I'm the one who had the "aha" moment.

After wandering around my local Borders and finding nothing but great deals on ribbon I sat myself down in front of the Buddhism section and said, "Okay universe I need something really good, something short and sweet and really engaging. I need to find a spark."

I am not a devout Buddhist, but I have dedicated this site and the way I go about my marketing and PR work to the Buddhist concept of Maitri, or unconditional friendliness in my outreach and my approach. When I follow this concept as a guiding light things flow quite well, when I don't I get mired in frustration. And I have fallen in love with the honest, appealing and moving work of many of Buddhism's leading writers.

So there I was, sitting in the aisle of the bookstore gazing at a plethora of books in the Buddhism section. Should I get the latest by the Dalai Lama, or perhaps my two favorites Thich Nhat Hahan or Pema Chodron? they all felt too heavy duty for my gentleman friend. My eye caught on a title, "The Wishing Year" by Noelle Oxenhandler.

I pulled out the slim volume. It was the right size. On the front was a very good review by the Buddhist writer Jack Kornfield who I also admire tremendously saying the book, "Beautifully illuminates the art and mystery of wishing...inspiring, funny, serious, honest, heartfelt, and irresistibly readable." It sounded so good I wanted to read it right that moment. I bought two copies and then rushed over to my favorite gourmet-but- fast-food Mexican place to eat a quick dinner and dive in.

It had been a hectic roller coaster time emotionally. My Mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer right after Thanksgiving. She had had surgery right away, but things were up in the air about treatment. The prognosis was very good but they didn't know if she'd just need radiation or chemo as well (of course we were all praying no, no chemo but at the same time wanting the treatment that would make the cancer disappear for good).  My gentleman friend and I were in an up-in-the-air place. We work together, and we are neighbors, and then last August we'd decided to move forward with romance too. By October it had all felt too much. We had backed off, salvaged the friendship and continued our work.

And then the holidays came and my gentleman friend spent Thanksgiving with my family and I. He was invited to spend Christmas with us as well (he recently moved from another state) in Las Vegas. He decided to accept, and then asked if I'd like to go to the Grand Canyon right after with him.

But as what? Just a friend? More? It wasn't clear, and for the first time in my life I didn't feel like talking about it in advance.

In the book Noelle goes on a journey of wishing for a year. At the very beginning she openly declares to herself and her friends her desire to heal her soul, buy a house, and find her soul mate. But she is a skeptic. Raised Catholic, she was taught "ask and ye shall receive" but that asking for things for oneself was just not the thing to do. I can relate. I was not raised Catholic, but nonetheless find it extremely difficult to wish, to pray or even simply ask for things that are just for me myself and I.

About a third of the way through "The Wishing Year," a couple of days before Christmas, I was so inspired by Noelle's honesty, her doubts, her inspirations, the ups and the downs, and her integrity, I decided that I wanted to try something radical for a year too - not wishing, no, I preferred the idea of allowing.

Allowing is tough for me. I know it and thus I came up with the phrase "Allowing That Permission Slip from God" (though obviously I'm not the only one who has used the phrase) because I realized that is exactly what I've done much of my life. I've waited for a sign from the universe, heard it, moved forward and then doubted when the going got tough, or it felt extravagant and and indulgent. It was more important, wasn't it, to focus mainly on my career (even though I hated my job)? While I was married my focus was my husband's career. Obviously, reflecting back, I would decide the cosmic "green light" I'd felt had all been in my Polyana-ish imagination (though in truth my imagination isn't very Polyana-ish at all). The "yes," I decided hadn't been clear enough, firm enough, solid enough. I would let go of my idea, my dream, my wish and usually, sadly it was something very nurturing and interesting and compelling to my soul. Or, I would take an idea and try to figure out right away how to make a business out of it. I didn't feel right spending serious time on anything that wouldn't make money.

So here I am writing down for others to see that I've proclaimed 2011 "My Year of Allowing." I want to just simply allow in a big way things I haven't in the past. Specifically I want to allow a dramatic decrease in the amount of pain killers I need to take daily for head and body aches, I want to allow true down time rather than only working vacations, and I want to allow magic in my love life.

Stay tuned for how things work out...some interesting things have flowered already - yes, the trip to Vegas and the Grand Canyon was quite romantic.