Author: rubygertz

Happy belated Summer Solstice!

We are happy, a little sad, and proud to say that the 2015 tour has concluded! Both Sarah and Ruby are back to work in NYC, Rachel H is working at a summer camp in Vermont, Olive is working at a camp in California, Rosie has returned Down Under where she is applying what she learnt on tour to her work with Sustainable Menstruation Australia (www.sustainablemenstruationaustralia.com.au), and Rachel S. is in Boston planning her next adventure. 

The last  week of our tour from NYC to Boston were some of our best and strongest days. We hustled hard, completing the 300 mile journey in 5 days’ time.  As we headed north we got to bike through some New England beach towns. We were near the ocean for much of the week, and got to ride through beautiful salt marshes and forests. After a 77 mile day that ended just before a rainstorm hit, we were hosted by an amazing Warmshowers host named David who generously took in all 6 of us. He regaled us with stories about his bike tour from England to Israel and fed us a veritable feast that included freshly caught trout.

We then traveled to New London for our last official workshop at Fiddleheads Food Co-op.  We felt incredibly welcomed by the community, and their employees even took us home for the night. Next was the long, but exciting last leg to Boston. Although the weather was unseasonably chilly and rainy, our spirits were up and we were feeling sentimental about our last few days on tour.

Finally, BOSTON!
WOW! WE DID IT. 
Our trip concluded in Boston on June 3rd. We got a great surprise when Ruby’s mother arranged for a police escort for the last three miles of the tour. The streets of Melrose, MA shut down, and we were welcomed warmly by enthusiastic bystanders! We were overwhelmed by joy and gratitude at having completed our journey safely, and we ended the evening with a “make your own baked potato” bar-– this was a highlight of the day!

On June 4th we made our way to the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research Conference. We were so happy and relieved to have arrived at our final destination and the mecca for menstrual activism. The Society gave us many platforms to share our stories, including a morning panel, afternoon workshop, and evening potluck. It felt great to have our work be recognized and valued by other activists, scholars, and researchers. Individually, we all found the conference itself to be life changing. Key note speaker Loretta Ross spoke about her Reproductive Rights model, and opened our eyes to the many social, political, socioeconomic factors that effect women’s reproductive rights daily. Jax from the Menstrual Activist Research Collective (M.A.R.C) led an eloquent discussion about the importance of “queering” menstruation, and the implications of our language when discussing periods. Lisa Leger from Justisse enlightened us about the Fertility Awareness Method of birth control, which was inspiring enough to have Ruby looking into a possible career shift! WASH United presented a global perspective, and reminded us about the basic needs that are not being provided to women all around the world, including clean water and the privacy needed to change a menstrual product. We were all touched by  ceremonialist Giuliana Serena, who gave a heartfelt workshop about rites of passage with her organization Moon Time Rising, and gave permission for each attendee to use the space to facilitate their own rite of passage about issues ranging from menarche, to menopause, to abortions. We left the workshop with teary eyes, and full hearts. 

All in all the conference was life affirming, and reminded us of the great importance of this work to our community, and world! 

And our work continues!

Sarah W. was able to present on a guest panel for the “Unmentionables Film Festival” in NYC. Again, another opportunity to share stories from our journey, and meet other inspiring activists, including a woman who teaches therapeutic double dutch, and two 16 year–old, up–and–coming film makers who had their movie, “A Girls Rite” featured at the festival. 

Although our 2015 tour has ended, Sustainable Cycles continues to grow and gain momentum. We feel that we are at the cusp of a menstrual revolution, and we are deeply grateful that we (and you!) are a part of that revolution. Stay tuned for more updates as we enter the next chapter of Sustainable Cycles post 2015 tour.

In the past few weeks Ruby and Sarah have been pedaling hard to the east. We are happy to be in Virginia, and looking forward to meeting up with our other Sustainable Cycles crew members in Richmond!

We had a wonderful ride through Missouri on the Katy Trail, which is an old rail road line that has been converted into a bike trail that traverses almost the entire state. We saw more animals than people, but did have a chance to give away a menstrual cup to a curious female cyclist we met on the trail. We also had a successful event at Clover’s Market in Columbia, MO where we met fellow women’s health enthusiast Carrie Pattison. Carrie is an herbalist and midwife, and gifted us free samples of Wishgarden medicinal tinctures in exchange for a cup. They have been helpful to us on the road, especially for muscle cramping during the ride and seasonal allergies. Visit her website here: http://www.wishgardenherbs.com

After the workshop we  continued along the Missouri River to St. Louis, spotting everything from eagles to deer to turtles. The scenery was breathtaking, and the riding conditions were easy and enjoyable. At last!

St. Louis was a stark contrast to our trail riding, but we quickly fell in love with the city’s diversity, which was reminiscent of our home town of Brooklyn. We had a great workshop at the Community Arts and Movement Project, and spent two nights with our inspiring friend and fellow bike touring enthusiast Amy Fleming! We traded travel stories and stayed up all night working on a jigsaw puzzle before riding out to the city bus station at 3am to catch a Greyhound bus to Lexington, KY. Ruby miscalculated the mileage and we were going to have to cut out about 300 miles to get to our next workshop in time!

We arrived in Lexington on the day of the Kentucky Derby. Our gracious host Bill offered to drive us 50 miles the next day just so we could attend his Derby party. How could we say no?! The race was only two minutes long, but we enjoyed the company and the city of Lexington, and got to drink authentic mint juleps out of silver cups. Next we went Stanton Kentucky where we met Joe Bowen, a man who walked across America on stilts in 1980, and who has done TWO 14,000 mile American bike tours. Joe was inspirational, and told us how important it is to follow your dreams. He also took us on a tour of Kentucky’s natural arches along the Red River Gorge. Joe was intrigued by our project, and requested a menstrual cup so that he may share the idea with fellow travelers as they come through his bed and breakfast. “This is incredible!” exclaimed Joe as he got a close up look at a Rubycup!

We were sad to head east into the mountains and leave our new friends, but the Appalachians offered us lush green vistas despite excruciating climbs. Since many of these roads were built before grade regulations, we often had to get off and walk/push our bikes up the steep, winding roads. Our mountain riding was cut short by a busted axle and wobbly wheel just after we crossed into Virginia. Feeling unsafe on the steep mountain passes, we were miraculously able to get 3 separate rides over 100 miles to the closest bike shop in Abingdon, VA.

We are very excited for our event tomorrow!

Saturday, May 9th
at: the Virginia Tech Women’s Center (206 Washington St., Blacksburg, VA)
12-2PM
Tell your Virginia friends!

We have had a great few weeks through colorful Colorado and into Kansas. The Colorado landscape was the most beautiful we’ve seen so far, and we were even more excited to be finished with the Rocky Mountains. We had a safe journey into Boulder where we stayed with Ruby’s cousin and were greeted by our sponsors at Green Guru. Jezryl from Green Guru showed us around town, invited us to a bike party with free food and beer, and even gave Ruby a tour of the Green Guru studio/shop and a well-needed bike bath! Our event at Community Cycles was equally successful, bringing in about a dozen passionate participants.

Next we rolled southeast towards Denver. We visited with some old friends and family, and made new friends at our workshop at the Mutiny Info Cafe. We had a large, diverse turnout of people, many of whom shared their own expert knowledge. We were especially happy to meet Jen Lewis, a talented menstrual artist who is also involved with the SMCR (http://www.beautyinblood.com).

As we headed south into strong winds, we stayed with some inspirational and hospitable female cyclists, includinga retired naval officer, a passionate dietician, and a mother of two who is planning her own cross country bike tour!

Pedaling east from Pueblo we were happy to see new landscapes as the mountains gave way to flat, flat plains. Today we made it into Kansas, marking our halfway point through America. Kansas welcomes with a windstorm, but we are still thankful for the flat terrain! We will continue to pedal the prairie until our next workshops:

April 25th in Columbia, MO, at Clovers Natural Market 11am-1pm
April 29th in St. Louis, MO at CAMP 6pm-8pm

Ruby and Sarah are happy to report they have made it to their 4th state, Colorado! The West has treated us well and we continue to meet inspiring women everywhere we go. Salt Lake City greeted us with open arms, and lucky us, we rolled into the Bicycle Collective on Women’s Night! The Bicycle Collective also hosted an all-women’s alleycat race leading up to our event!  It was great meeting more strong and bike-friendly women, and being hosted by our lady bike pal Alex from NYC. We got to take a few days off, see the city, and soak in Alex’s antique bathtub! We had an inspiring workshop with our new friend Giuliana Serena of Moon Time Rising (http://moontimerising.com) who started us off with a presentation on the history of menstruation and the feminine hygiene industry, and it was great to meet another menstruation enthusiast! We will be seeing her again at the SMCR Conference in June, and are super excited for her workshop on ceremonialism! SLC was also our biggest workshop yet, GO SLC!!!

We continued to be inspired as we headed east, especially when we stayed with 91 year old Jane in Ioka, UT. Jane has previously founded two special education schools in schools in her county, and is currently in the midst of creating a transitional program for women released from prison. We briefly skirted around the subject of our bike tour before Jane made it clear that she loved talking menstruation. “It happens around the dinner table whether we talk about it or not,” she said! She was impressed with our project, and even requested a few cups to pass on to the young women she counsels. She also introduced us to her friend Karen, a Mormon midwife who knows loads about women’s health and is passionate about caring for the women in her community even though many of her neighbors disapprove of her having a career that takes her away from her family. She told us about the Mormon Feminist Housewives, a group of women intent on improving conditions for women from within the Mormon faith. We were so honored and humbled to meet these incredible women who continue to fight the good fight despite adversity!

Our most beautiful biking day yet took us through Yampa River Valley in Northwestern Colorado, and we found ourselves in Steamboat Springs staying with an an avid female mountain-biker, skier, and fire fighter! We have enjoyed meeting strong western women and talking PERIOD!

Over the next few days we will be traversing the Rocky Mountains. We are excited to be hosting our 4th and 5th workshops at the following locations:

April 3rd: BOULDER, CO from 6:30-8:30pm at Community Cycles, hosted by our awesome sponsor Green Guru Gear!  https://www.facebook.com/events/861494443909492/

April 4th: DENVER, CO from 4-6pm at the Mutiny Info Cafe

We hope to see you there!

Ruby and Sarah here! Proud to say that we have officially made it to our third state- Utah! This is the first bike tour either of us have ever done, and we are finally starting to adjust (both bodily and mentally) to this new physical lifestyle.

After leaving the sunny state of California and beautiful, mystical Lake Tahoe, we began our journey across route 50 in Nevada, known as ” The Loneliest Road in America.” Nevada was beautiful in its own way, and very difficult to traverse by bicycle. There are often 60-70 miles between towns, with no services or even places to refill water from one town to the next. Also, the mountain ranges run north to south, so between towns we also had to cross 2-4 mountain ranges a day. The ascents were brutal, steep climbs for 5-15 miles, followed by thrilling and terrifying descents at up to 30 mph, flying down into the basin only to climb up the next range.

In addition to the fact that we were both still green to the physical challenges of bike touring, we both got visited by “Aunt Flo” in Nevada (to use my favorite period euphemism). We mused a lot about the impact of our menstruation on our physical performance, whether it was a hindrance or not, and what the spiritual significance might be of emptying a menstrual cup on the side of the road in a barren desert. I will say that we felt incredibly grateful for menstrual cups, because having to change tampons or pads in this type of environment would have been pretty inconvenient and gross (where would we dispose of them?) not to mention quite uncomfortable for biking such long distances.

While the populations in Nevada were sparse and we had very few interactions with other women, we did have a few impromptu discussions along the way about alternative menstrual products. We visited with a friend in Fallon, NV who is in the US Navy, and we talked about how menstrual cups could be a total game changer for women in the service who are deployed on ships or in other conditions where it is not convenient to carry a load of period supplies or dispose of used ones. We also stumbled upon a big St. Patrick’s Day party in Border, NV where we country-danced with a bunch of real-life cowboys and had some quiet little girl-talk side conversations with some of the women there (most of whom were young mothers) about the harmful chemicals in pads and tampons, and how much money they could save by switching to reusables. We were delighted that they were very curious and open to it!

We finally made it to Salt Lake City yesterday, where we will be taking a few rest days before our BIG EVENT on Saturday! We are thrilled to be collaborating with Giuliana Serena of Moontime Rising, a local menstruation expert and guru, who will be opening the workshop with a talk on the history of menstruation! The SLC Bicycle Collective has also organized an all-women alleycat race during the day to lead in to the event! Tell your Utah friends, this event is going to be our biggest yet!

Ruby and Sarah are rocking through Cali! We started by picking up our bikes at the Oakland Amtrak and staying with some fantastic hosts at an Oakland co-op. They had a beautiful garden and fed us well, and took some information about sustainable menstrual products.

Our hosts in San Francisco had a chicken coop and made us homemade eggs. The hills were killer, but we were able to make some good connections and purchase last minute gear at our Sports Basement event.

The next day we took the Vallejo ferry and headed to Lake Solano outside of Davis for the most beautiful biking we have ever done. We rode through rolling green pastures and wine country, and got up to 27mph on some of the downhills! We camped at a park overnight and woke up to dozens of peacocks! In Davis we had a successful event at the US Bicycle Hall of Fame. We met five amazing women, and we were able to check out the “history of the bicycle” exhibit! We saw a 6 person tandem, and a few seriously old “penny farthing” big wheels.

 

The next day we passed through Sacramento on the American River Bike Trail, which was amazingly beautiful and scenic! We then made our way to Folsom, and YES there is a Johnny Cash memorial there. Our host had cycled 11,000 milast year and helped us plan our next few days through Carson Pass and into Nevada. He even offered to drive us up the steepest mountains of the Sierras, which he said were some “real superhero climbs even without a fully loaded bike.” He dropped us off at the top of Echo Summit, and we rode four miles downhill into Tahoe.

So far we are blown away by hospitality, and willingness to discuss reusable menstrual options.

Tomorrow we will decend into Carson City and stay with a host with a young daughter who loves when women cyclists visit. Us too!

Major thanks to all of the 200+ wonderful people who donated to our Indiegogo campaign! We surpassed our goal of $10,000, and our seven riders will be embarking on their journeys in the next few weeks! We are so grateful for your love and support, and are so excited to start this adventure!

Thanks to our sponsors, DIVA CUP, LUNETTE, THE KEEPER, MY OWN CUP, RUBY CUP, PARTY IN MY PANTS, COZY FOLK, THINX, JUJU, AND GLAD RAGS, for donating the samples that are making these workshops across the nation possible!

We would also like to thank Vaya Bags, Green Guru, DeFeet, Bicycle Habitat NYC, and WEBike NYC for providing our riders with some snazzy gear that we can’t wait to use!

Rachel H and Olive will be starting in Los Angeles on March 2 and biking across the southern tier, joining up with Rosie in Austin, TX. Ruby and Sarah will begin their tour in the Bay Area on February 26, and will bike across the Midwest. Rachel S and Heather will be biking up the east coast from Key West, Florida. All seven riders will converge in Richmond, VA on May 14, and bike in a group up to Boston for the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research conference on June 4th.

We are gearing up, and we are thrilled to know that we have the love and support of all of you! Follow our progress on Twitter @bikeperiod and Instagram @sustainablecycles !

Upcoming events:

San Francisco, CA : Saturday 2/28 2-4pm at Sports Basement, 1590 Bryant Street

Davis, CA: Monday 3/2 6-8pm at US Bicycle Hall of Fame, 303 3rd Street

Long Beach, CA: Monday 3/2  4-6pm  at The Long Beach Depot for Creative Reuse, 320 Elm Ave.

Las Cruces, NM: 3/20 7-8:45 pm at Mountain View Market Co-Op, 1300 El Paseo Road