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History
In the late summer of 1998, a former board member of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition circulated a letter that included a list of proposals for reenergizing the dispirited SF bike community. Buried in that list at number 7—after "suing the city" and "reeducating traffic engineers" —was the idea of a "Bicycle Summer"—"bringing thousands of monomaniacal riders from all over the world for an all-out conversion on the city streets."
It had been a rough time for SF's bikers. Almost exactly a year before, the July 1997 Critical Mass ended in disaster when Mayor Willie Brown, in a rash moment of frustration and egotism, vowed to shut down the ride. After weeks of mounting tension, thousands of bikers took to the streets under the glares of officers in full riot gear. Over a hundred riders were entrapped and arrested in illegal stings; every single case was dismissed by the courts. Critical Mass weathered the storm, but uneasily. The August ride, thousands strong, was a nervous, tentative truce between the riders and police— and the ride's legitimacy has not been seriously challenged since. Soon thereafter, many of SF's bike activists were faced with an equally arduous task: the planning process for a citywide bike network
When Joel brought his list around we were exhausted, frustrated, and just a little bit defeated. Of all his ideas, the one that caught the most attention was the simplest. BikeSummer would be a welcome break from the politics of the past year, and, we hoped, would remind us what we were working for. From the beginning, BikeSummer was about building community. We knew there was no way our tiny BikeSummer Ad Hoc Organizing Committee could
A frantic month, and over ninety events, later, BikeSummer '99 came to a close; but already some of our visitors were planning their own BikeSummer.
As it turned out, the Chicago bikers—an intense group known for heaving their bikes over their heads in solidarity—couldn't
Just months later, and showing no sign of slowing down, the organizers threw a BikeSummer with all the trimmings and more: a scavenger hunt, late night city mountain biking, a Bike Poetry Night, a class on setting up your bike to carry your dog, a drag ride... Did they stop there? Naturally not. The success of BikeSummer 2000 notwithstanding, it may be that Chicago's greatest contribution lies in the continuing tradition of BikeWinter—an event now past its fourth frigid year.
In 2001, the eager activist crowd of Vancouver took up the torch, and put their own twist on BikeSummer—their summer of velolove.
Said one participant: "It was, well, wonderful. It was exhilirating to meet people fighting the same fights we are. I was immediately and warmly welcomed everywhere I went, fixed up with a lovely family who housed me and became good friends, and enjoyed every event, especially the Wholesome Undie Ride and Dinosaur Rocky Horror Show. The Vancouverites have got it going on! I have since been reviewing the Canadian immigration requirements and I think fondly of making the move. BikeSummer Vancouver was small but it was an exuberent, cohesive, and thoroughly charming time. You don't need lots of money or slick press coverage to have a good time and to make a difference, that's what livable communities are all about. ¡Que viva Vancouver!"
Portland, one of the great success stories of modern American urban planning and widely regarded as one of the best biking cities in the world, took over for 2002. The CHVNKs, vigilant as ever in preparing for the Carmageddon, illustrated techniques for saving a baby from a flaming stroller while opposed by a biker in a Spiderman suit. BikeSummer '02 also included an urban design tour, a wine country ride, camping, an ice cream tour... and several well-attended pub crawls. Portland wins extra points for enlisting local brewers Full Sail to concoct a BikeSummerFest Ale. And, ending on a promising note for the future of BikeSummer, Portland donated $1,000 in startup funds to the 2003 BikeSummer committee and planned its own Mini BikeSummer for summer 2003. 
And BikeSummer continues to spread! We've recently learned about BikeSummer Kyoto, held on a weekend in both 2001 and 2002.
And now on to the Big Apple. Surely, if any city can throw a month-long bike festival, this is the place. Mahatma Gandhi is famously quoted as saying that "we must be the change we want to see in the world." New York City's own Charlie Komanoff translated the sentiment into bikespeak for us at BikeSummer '99: "If we want to make the velorution, we must live the velorution." BikeSummer is an attempt to live our velorution, to create the life we want. It's a simple vision: every day, people we know, or people we might like to know, are doing something, anything, together—by bike. It's all too easy to get caught up in our struggles, whether fighting City Hall or the local traffic, and we need to support each other in our efforts. But BikeSummer is equally about living the world which we want—a world in which our problems with City Hall can be put aside, and in which we can enjoy the fruits of our labors. While we needn't center our lives around our bikes, they can serve as a constant reminder: not only that we can change the world, but that we can do so under our own power.
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