by Andy Lambert

The summer is over. Nightly temperatures are creeping into the 50s and my event calendar has changed from weekend long events to food coop demos and campus outreach events. It has been a good summer. We did some big gigs and made a lot of new friends. From renewable energy and sustainability fairs to music festivals, we spread the Peace Coffee love all over the northland. Our last two major events took us across Lake Michigan and across the Mississippi River.

Peace Coffee was a sponsor of the 1st International Fixed Gear Symposium held in Traverse City, MI, over the second weekend in August. The event was a gathering of about 80 fixed gear enthusiasts from all over the country. What is a “fixed gear,” you ask? A fixed gear is short for a bicycle with a one-way drive train. In other words, when the wheels are in motion, so are the pedals, there is no coasting. When the wheels move forward, the pedals move forward and vice versa. For many bicyclists who ride "fixed", the fixed gear bicycle represents all that is good and pure about bicycles. Fixed gear bikes symbolize a return to simplicity in an age of tricked out road bikes that run in the thousands of dollars and can come with up to 28 different gear ratios. Fixed gear bikes have just one gear like the original “safety” bicycles that the Wright Brothers built in the early 1900s.

People who want to ride fixed generally start by converting an old beater road bike that they dig out of their garage. The conversion is relatively cheap and can be done at any bike shop. Our very own Melanee Meegan just "got fixed" this week and paid about $30 in parts for the conversion. So far, she loves it, and she is not alone in her renewed love for her bike.

The 1st International Fixed Gear Symposium was organized by Dennis and Katy Bean-Larson, the creators of the hugely popular website, www.fixedgeargallery.com. Over 5,000 people from 85 different nations around the world visit this online gallery of fixed gear bikes every day. Hundreds of people submit pictures of their homemade creations every week and are posted free of charge on the web site (though, donations via PayPal are encouraged). Affectionately referred to as "bike porn", the web site has created a cohesive and diverse community of bike lovers around the world. The symposium was the first opportunity for many fixed gear lovers to meet other people who share this common and unique interest. Brad Wilson, former Intrepid Bike Delivery Dude for Peace Coffee, and I loaded up the delivery van with coffee, about 40 gallons of reserve biodiesel and our fixed gears and went to the symposium. We found that there are two things in this world that fixed gear enthusiasts really love -- nice bikes and good coffee. We were genuinely thanked many times for making the 12-hour journey to share our Fair Trade, organic, shade-grown goodness. While we were in Traverse City, we stopped in Oryana Food Coop to do a demo and to meet the cool cats in that store. They were all super gracious and helpful, and I will definitely stop in that coop again the next time I am in their neighborhood.

After returning from the fixed gear symposium, I got busy preparing for the closing event of the summer, the 11th Annual St. Paul Bike Classic. Organized by the St. Paul Neighborhood Energy Consortium, the event draws over 5,000 bicyclists from around the metro area to enjoy miles of traffic-free riding all over St. Paul. Riders have the option to ride a 15 mile route or a 30 mile route, both of which have rest stops with food and refreshments along the way. This year’s event was graced by perfect weather and a huge turn out. A few folks from the Peace Crew showed up for the fun and rode the 30 mile route.

After one year of being the events coordinator at Peace Coffee, I have to say that bike related events are my favorite. It seems to me that people who enjoy riding bikes are generally peaceful people of good nature and hearty spirit. I think the bicycle is the world’s greatest invention for many reasons, but mainly because they are such a strong unifying force. Things that normally divide us seem to vanish when people come together around bicycles. Riding side-by-side with other bicyclists in a large group is a very powerful feeling and the experience unites people in a beautiful way. As long as there are events like the Fixed Gear Symposium or St. Paul Bike Classic, Peace Coffee will be there serving up our brew and riding along to share in the powerful unity of being a bicyclist.

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