Frankfort ave will once again be closed to automobiles for the always fun and popular Cyclouvia on Sunday, June 24th from 2-6 pm. Broke Down Bike Club is partnering with New Belgium Brewing and setting up in front of Hilltop Tavern and holding a raffle, as well as selling beverages and bringing a fun vinyl press which can add logos to your favorite hat or shirt. Portions of the proceeds will go to Falls City Community BikeWorks, a non-profit providing tools and know how to help people learn how to perform some basic fixes and maintenance to keep them rolling! FCCB will be in front of Hilltop all afternoon, so please come by and see us!

If you would like to volunteer, even better! We will need help at noon at the shop to transport the mobile station to Frankfort and then a few shifts while we were there, as well as a little time to clean up at the end of the event. It should be a really fun event and not a lot of work, but we will still throw in a t shirt for you for your time! Link to sign up genius below.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0545ada62ba0f58-cyclouvia2

Falls City Community BikeWorks is extremely fortunate to have dedicated and helpful volunteers.  In this post, we recognize Scott (“Scotty”) Fast as the first recipient of the Extraordinary Volunteer award!  Scott has been a regular at the shop for several months and has worked with mechanics and shop patrons to repair bikes, organize parts and accessories, clean the shop, and more.  The Extraordinary Volunteer award earns Scott an FCCB T-shirt and a shop credit for some new bar tape, brake pads, or cables or whatever.

We asked Scott to answer a few questions so our members can get to know him better:

FCCB: What’s the best part about volunteering at FCCB?
Scott: I like to give back to the community, and help people out.  I enjoy meeting and working with people, from all different walks of life.  I like the mission of FCCB to get people moving, education, and reducing carbon footprint, by recycling and getting people on bikes vs. driving cars.

FCCB: Why do you ride?
Scott: For exercise, and a sense of adventure.

FCCB: What’s your favorite ride/route?
Scott: The river walk and Belle Isle state park in Detroit, Michigan.

FCCB: Tell us about your bike – do you have a favorite bike now, or perhaps one from your past?
Scott: I’ve been riding a Klein mountain bike for the past 20 years.  As I’ve gotten older, I prefer the upright position of a cruiser.  When I first visited FCCB in March, I dropped off an unused 10 speed, and I was given a tour of the shop.  I spotted a vintage 10 speed Schwinn Suburban for sale, and immediately bought it. It is reminiscent of my 5 speed Suburban I grew up riding for years.

FCCB: What can FCCB do better to serve you and others?
Scott: Have other platforms to communicate instead of Facebook.  I don’t have or really want a Facebook account, and I feel I’m missing out by not being on Facebook.

Noted, Scott.  We’ll work on a non-Facebook platform for distributing announcements and other information.

Hello there.  I’m Scott Render (Pictured over there in the bicycle t-shirt.) I joined the board at FCCB this year and I’m lovin’ it!

Back around 1989, I was working as a new writer at WHAS Radio in downtown Louisville. At the time they wanted to charge me $50 a month to park my car. I was barely making $50 a week. Then I read an article by Joe Ward at the Courier-Journal.  At the time, Joe had been bicycle commuting for many years, having started in the early 1970s. His article about his experiences bike commuting drew a stark contrast between driving the car and taking the more adventurous bicycle.  Smelling flowers in the spring. Seeing and hearing things you never do in a closed up car. Staying in shape. Not polluting. Having an adventure twice a day, going and coming. I was inspired. The next day I got my bike out and gave it a try, riding the short distance from Butchertown to Chestnut and 6th. I was able to park my bike right next to my desk in my office.  No one said a thing. I remember thinking I’m getting away with something here!  This was too easy.  And it felt great. That was 29 years ago, and except for a 4 year stretch working in Frankfort, I’ve been riding to work pretty consistently ever since, both in Louisville and Seattle where I lived in the 90’s for a few years. I can’t tell you how much money I’ve saved, how much more I’ve experienced, and how many cool people I’ve met along the way.

Riding to work today in Louisville, I’m likely to see a lot more folks out there joining me on any given morning. The city has a much more developed bicycle infrastructure now. It’s not perfect. It never will be. It certainly wasn’t when I started, or when Joe started. If you’re waiting for Louisville to be 100% safe and perfect to start riding for transportation, you’re riding down the wrong path. Just join us. Reach out to someone you know (someone at FCCB) and ask how you can start commuting. Reach out to me. It takes some time to get used to. Finding the right bike, the right clothing, the right gear, the best routes. But it’s all worth it. Bicycle commuting has changed my life in so many ways. I hope it can do the same for you.

For me it all started with a short article by Joe Ward. Thanks Joe for inspiring me to start commuting. Hopefully I can do the same for someone else. We really miss you!

Scott Render