What: TyK 2012 Launch Party
When: Thursday, November 3, from 6 to 10 p.m.
Where: The Coop, 230 W Superior, 2F, Chicago, IL 60654 
RSVP: On our Eventbrite page (no RSVP required)

It’s not normally a natural leap from strong woman cyclist to pin-up babe on a bike, but Thought You Knew (TYK) has been trying to change that for a few years now. With its annual pin-up calendar, the women-centric cycling organization has been encouraging its members and friends to get smart about cycling so they can tell the world, “I’ve got all this, but I also know how to fix a flat.” The A.V. Club talked to TYK’s Alexis Finch about the calendar, as well as the group’s ongoing outreach effort to women cyclists across the world.

The A.V. Club: How did the idea of the calendar come about in the first place?

Alexis Finch: In 2008, Kim Capriotti and I came to the realization that we were winding up with folks in the cycling community who were pigeonholing women as either totally girly or as one of the guys. Women were either dressed like guys and covered in grease or they had no idea how to operate a bike. It was unfortunate.

At the same time, a lot of women would go into bike shops and not know what to ask for, or they’d go in and guys would try and flirt with them rather than help them. It was a huge misunderstanding, so our initial reaction was to try and figure out something that would let more women be confident.

Kim had this picture of her holding up her bike above her head that ended up in a Critical Mass poster and even as a tattoo. Brazil’s Critical Mass wanted to use it, even. It was all over the world. It’s a picture of a woman as a strong cyclist, and she’s happy about it.

So, we toyed with that idea and we thought about pin-ups as owners of their own sexuality without really being objectified. If you’re a pin-up, you’re doling out what you want to give. We moved that over to the cycling community, where previously it was just all booth babes at shows with a cute smile, a nice ass, and no sense of the products they were promoting. We’re amazing, sexy cyclists, and we can show that off as we want to. So, we’re trying to set a new standard of what we look like and just give a face to ourselves in general.

AVC: And this is the third year you’ve done the calendar?

AF: It’s progressed over the years. Kim has been the photographer for 2010 and this year. She’s got an amazing eye and she’s a cyclist herself, so she understands the challenges all of us go through.

AVC: You don’t normally think of regular women as pin-ups.

AF: That’s one of the reasons we pair up the pin-up shots with reality shots. As a woman, you’re yourself on a day-to-day basis, but you have this other side inside of you if you want it. You can be whichever person you want, or even both at the same time if you want. We’re allowing women to express their femininity with no risk of them not being taken seriously in the cycling world.

We’re not randomly sexifying these women, either. Each woman comes with their own pin-up idea. We’re not transforming them into something they never would be. There’s no Photoshop, either. These are real women who are given the opportunity to slap on some lipstick and see how they feel about it.

AVC: And you had over 50 people apply for 12 spots?

AF: Everyone initially applied through an online survey, without a photo or anything. We asked people for their first bike memory, what they did, and why they were passionate about cycling. As with any survey, some people did one-word answers and those were tossed to the side. But there were also those with stories to tell, and those ran the full gamut of women who ride bikes and who ride in Chicago. We didn’t want the calendar to be all bike mechanics or all track racers. Miss February, who’s dressed up as Napoleon, learned to ride a bike at 25. She’d never ridden before, and now she’s done it for two years. You can pick this up any time in your life.

Miss January, though, is a cyclo-cross racer, teaches yoga, and does rock climbing. She’s a fit and active woman, and that’s the other side of the story. Miss April does gardening projects in Humboldt Park and elsewhere. She’s a nutritional consultant for WIC.

Biking is for anyone, for any woman and in any walk of life. You can ride a hybrid, a high-end track bike, or a geared bike. You just get on your bike and it’s all good.

AVC: You’ve done this calendar in the past with men, too. Are you doing that again?

AF: We did two years of calendars with men, and that was in part because of the questions like, “Well, are you exploiting these women?” If you watch the video on our site, though, the documentary about the calendar, you’ll see the reactions women have when they get off the stage; they had no idea this pin-up persona was in them, and they didn’t know it could be so much fun.

We had a lot of push from guys who wanted to help the cause, who wanted to help support women’s healthcare, so we did a calendar for them, too. Ultimately, it wound up that it didn’t fit our mission statement. There are issues guys face in this day and age that I don’t understand quite as well. I think of issues of gender and sexuality like a woman. I’m not an expert, though, and if you feel intimidated biking as a man, that’s not my problem.

I welcome anyone else to pick the men’s calendar project up, but two calendars in a season on zero budget is just a bit more than I can handle.

AVC: You’ve met your Kickstarter goal, so obviously things have been going well for you.

AF: It’s the first time we’ve used Kickstarter, and it’s the first year we’ve offered the calendar wholesale. Previous years, we’ve sold it on consignment where the stores don’t get a single dollar. It all went straight to Chicago Women’s Health Center. Now, the mission of TYK is more and more solidified in the US and abroad, and it’s obvious that there needs to be some sort of organization to help get women into bike shops and make them comfortable. Someone needs to be their advocate. So, it’s nice to have the proceeds of the calendar going there, at least in part. Bike shops have a good reason to push the calendar now. They get a percentage of the proceeds, and it’s for sale during the middle of the winter, which is the worst time for sales. Consignment’s just not something I want to ask stores to do anymore.

AVC: What else is coming up for TYK?

AF: We’ve just started the first round of the Monthly Cycle, where we pair up with local bike shops and host an event for women. TYK is acting as a chaperone to bring women into local shops and help figure out an event plan based on a shop’s different area of expertise. Shop owners aren’t event planners, and they’re not used to hosting people for a teach-in or whatever. We help facilitate that. We get 10 women into a shop at a time to meet mechanics, learn about their bikes, whatever.

My entry to the shop community had me going into Rapid Transit with a flat, and they were a little busy, but not too busy. They sat down and taught me how to fix a flat. They took that 15 or 20 minutes to walk me through the process, telling me there’s no need to be stranded. I’ve still gone in other times since to have a flat fixed, but I know that I could do it myself. I’ve helped other people on the side of the road.

That was the moment I felt in control of my bike instead of it being in control of me. I felt independent and powerful, and that I’d never be stranded. I wanted to give that opportunity to other women to meet mechanics and forge a relationship with a shop. I wanted the mechanics to know the women’s names and be able to say, “Oh, it’s Jen. She’s stopping by again. It’s great to see her.”

At our events, each woman gets a Spoke Card with a bike diagram on the back so she’ll know what the parts of the bike are and can call them by name. She can go in next time and say, “I think the rear derailer’s clicking,” and even if that’s not right, it starts the conversation off right using the bike as a point of knowledge.

AVC: Are you just doing the Monthly Cycle events in Chicago now, or is it nationwide?

AF: They started in Chicago, and the first was earlier this summer. The next should be as winter comes along, and then we’ll take a little bit of a hiatus. We’re going to launch in April nationwide.

A lot of women don’t know what they need in a bike shop, and they get angry and frustrated because they don’t know what to do. Mechanics give that energy back, and there’s a huge communication gap. TYK can step in and hopefully facilitate that breakdown.

AVC: How can women find out about upcoming events?

AF: We’re doing an overhaul of our website right now, and when that’s done, they’ll be on the events page. Currently, they’re just listed on our Meetup site. They’ll be everywhere, though. Brattleboro, Vermont wants to do one soon.

[Originally posted on A.V. Club]

The Thought You Knew 2012 bicycle pinup calendar is underway, with startup funding for this year’s project handled through Kickstarter. In terms of this type of project, in [sic] my opinion the TyK calendars raise the bar each and every year, and are among the best of the genre in terms of photography and overall production.

[Originally posted on Urban Velo]

Last year during Interbike time, I was enjoying an evening cocktail with my lady friend Demonika and my man friend JMac. I believe we were sitting somewhere on the grounds of Caesar’s Palace, when a young woman ran into an expansive open plaza and began sprinting in wide arching circles, much like you would expect to see a young child or someone on a dose of mind altering something or other do.

Eventually she made her way to my table and stopped, asking me first if I was Richie Sambora, and then second, if I was me, both of which I said yes to.

She introduced herself as Alexis Finch from Thought You Knew. I was familiar with her through an assortment of email correspondences we’d shared, and she explained her presence at that year’s show and what she hoped to achieve with it. With the conclusion of our conversation, she turned tail and sped back off into the warm evening.

For those of you unfamiliar with Thought You Knew, as I said last year, they’re creating a calendar featuring some sassy local women folk who are not only not hard on the eyes, but also happen to be integral members of the Chicago area bike scene;

As Ms. Finch expressed to me regarding the meat and potatoes of this gig, “we hope to step in to bridge the gap between women and the bike shops they so want to love. We invite women to come by their local bike shop after hours to meet the mechanics, learn how to fix flats and get to know their bikes, one esoterically named derailleur and bottom bracket at a time. We’re hoping to bring this not only to shops in Chicago, but in cities nation wide in 2012.”

So despite my best efforts, here are a whole bunch more women who not only haven’t I forced out of the bike scene, but they are actually reveling in it and being all independent and stuff.

It’s absolutely infuriating.

Sisyphus ain’t got nothing on me.

In news of the world, I have some bullet points to go along with last Wednesday’s piece about the woman threatened with arrest after allowing her child to ride a bike to school.

It would seem as though Tennessee has stepped up the insanity and the state’s governor Bill Haslam signed into law a bill that makes emailing ‘offensive’ pictures illegal.

Now who is going to be the one that dictates which images are and are not offensive hasn’t been made clear.

It’s hard to believe that not one single individual in the Tennessee state legislature didn’t at some point clear their throat and say “you know, there’s a pretty big grey area here. Has anyone even thought to take that into consideration?”

Never ones to take a backseat to stupidity, Florida came back swinging as state Republicans begin their fight to keep ‘cohabitation’ of unmarried couples illegal.

Oh… That’s rich.

As Shannon, who sent me that article so brilliantly stated, “it’s like a no holds barred cage match between Florida, Tennessee & Arizona all trying to out shithead each other.”

Don’t forget Utah. As state lawmakers previously proposed to remove the twelfth grade from the primary school schedule, they can never be counted out.

Having less to do with stupid, and more to do with awesome, last week Danger got in touch and asked me thirteen questions for his new weblog called The Hand Up. In our correspondence, I mentioned that I may have been responsible for among the world’s first dollar premes. He asked for detals and I provided them to him thusly;

The Birth Of The Dollar Preme.

As it turns out, not only did both Tim Johnson, and Andy Jacques-Maynes chime in on the subject, but super announcer Dave Towle who was also present at the 1999 San Francisco Cross Nationals did as well, and they have all verified my account.

And to think that my middle school guidance counselor said I would never amount to anything.

Going from there to over here, Niki from Seattle’s Mobius Cycle Boutique made contact regarding this year’s Core Whore bicycle related alley cat-esque athletic pursuit;

There will be chills and thrills for those young and old.

Not related to that in the least, Charles from Art Crank gave me a shout with a heads up about this brand new collaboration between A.C. and The Trek Bicycle Machine Company;

That’s some good stuff, and Charles is a sweetheart of a fellow. I’m proud of all that has developed in his empire and am thankful that I have been allowed to come along for the ride.

It is with that, that I announce this coming week I have committed to not avoiding jury duty. I’ve successfully dodged it for many years and it wasn’t until Yafro made the point “if you were on trial, wouldn’t you want you to be on the jury?” that I changed my tune. A jury of ‘my peers’ would certainly not be my peers.

Besides, what the hell do I have to do with my days?

Assuming I will be rejected, I will see you back here on Wednesday, but with my luck, I’ll end up getting picked for the equivalent of the OJ trial, in which case I’ll catch you back here sometime towards the end of 2012.

[Originally posted by All Hail the Black Market]

“I was tired of leaving my sexuality at the door in order to get taken seriously in bike shops,” she tells me. “I was frustrated at seeing so many women sitting on the sidelines at bike events.”

Now in its fourth year of production, the Thought You Knew Bicycle Chick Pinup Calendar is the brainchild of Finch and photographer Kimberly Capriotti and is a means to both showcase “strong women with bicycles” and “encourage more women to ride.” Finch described the calendar as “each woman with her own bike, owning her sexuality like only a pinup can.”

“We launched the first TyK calendar in 2009 during the Bike Winter Art Show, and despite it being February, they sold like hotcakes.”

This year’s calendar is looking for one final push on Kickstarter to reach its goal of $5,000 by the October 1 deadline. Donations are teetering around $4,400 at the moment. TyK is accepting donations at all levels, but a minimum donation of $20 gets you a copy of the calendar, with shipping included.

While the calendar will continue being produced, Finch and TyK are in the initial stages of shifting their mission to include outreach programs that will aid women in gaining confidence in bike shops. The Bike Lane in Bucktown hosted a trial run in early August, with shop mechanics demoing how to fix flats and patch tubes, as well as helping participants become familiar and comfortable with the shop’s surroundings.

Finch hopes to continue with TyK-related events and programs in Chicago, but she also has her sights set nationally with the outreach programs. She’s in Vegas this week to do a demo at the international bicycle expo, Interbike. If all goes well at the expo and the Kickstarter is able to pull in a healthy amount of funds, Finch hopes that the main launch on a national scale for the outreach programs will be in March for warmer states and May for the “cold north.”

[Originally posted on Chicago Reader]

Photo courtesy of Thought You Knew.

[Originally posted on Refinery29]

Does the world need more girls, women, elegant ladies, and feminist female fatales on bikes? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. John Pucher’s latest look at U.S. biking data tells a sorry tale - men 18 – 64 are fueling the growth in commuter cycling, while women simply hold their numbers steady and the number of children (male and female) riding is dropping. Meanwhile, women are the ‘indicator species’ for a good bike infrastructure, which generally calms traffic, improves citizens’ health, and reduces air pollution.

Sex sells, we all know it, and Copenhagen Cycle Chic is probably the best indication that sexy sells bike culture effectively. Yet how far can society go with that approach before it loses sales appeal (“Look great, ride a bike!”) and degrades into bike porn? Look at Tyk’s new models talking about a pinup calendar after the fold, and check out an art installation from artist INSA, then give us your views.

Alexis Finch (a woman) has been doing pinup calendars featuring women and bicycles for the last three years. Next year, for the 2012 calendar, she’s got a fresh crop of models from the streets of Chicago and a Kickstarter campaign to raise $5,000 for calendar production.

As you’ll see in the video, all of the models interviewed praise the experience of doing a bike pinup calendar as empowering, not degrading. Working in an all-female milieu, the experience, according to the Kickstarter page, inspired and helped women to “find confidence in the ownership of their sexuality.”

Perhaps the same could be said of UK artist INSA’s Girls on Bikes art installation, which is also all about, well, girls looking sexy on bikes. Posed in front of large graphics in cities from London to L.A. to Hong Kong, INSA’s (also volunteer models) do display a lot more flesh than Tyk’s models do, and we have only the photos, not any interviews, to guess at their feelings.

INSA says about the installation as a whole, which features 12 photographs:

In this set of photographic works the viewer is instantly confronted with a series of subjects fighting for attention. INSA orchestrates a conflicting dialogue between all the elements and explicitly subordinates the value of his own street art to both the possessed object of the bike and the overtly sexualized female presence. Thus questioning our individual perceptions of the ownership of public space, of sexuality and of belonging(s). And by using the colour spectrum as a simple narrative INSA unifies this series of walls that were painted across the globe.”

One thing that seems clear is that INSA’s models all fall in to more or less a single view of female sexuality – a more male-dominated view, if you like, where the breasts and the butts play the lead role and definitely “subordinate the value” of the artist’s own graphics. Tyk’s photos, on the other hand, though they show women in a lot more makeup and styling than most of us would wear in everyday city cycling, offer more than one version of sexy.

Finch says of the Tyk studio shots, “the tiny little peek of an ankle that you get to see, the flirtatious look over a shoulder. It’s about knowing what you’ve got, and giving it out in whatever dose you feel like giving it. For women in the cycling community, where your sexuality has been so much of a detriment to being taken seriously…if you can realize the power that that has, it makes it a lot easier to walk in to a shop and think, I know all this, but I also know how to fix a flat.”

Finch’s words help to explain how she sees her pinup calendar models not as exploitative objects but real people who also can look good each in their own way. It seems to be the difference between commanding attention by looking good and feeling good, and demanding attention because there’s so much on display a viewer can’t help but look.

Is that slight difference enough to keep Tyk’s pinups on the right side of sexy, appealing to women and would-be women bicycle riders?

[Originally posted on Treehugger]

Thought You Knew (TyK), a Chicago-based photography project depicting local cycling women, is launching its fourth year of a fundraising calendar, the “Thought You Knew Bicycle Chick Pinup Calendar.” They’re raising funds on Kickstarter to cover the printing and shipping costs.

I talked with founder Alexis Finch about how Grid Chicago and TyK might have similar aims. We compared the Grid Chicago mission statement to that of TyK and the results surprised me.

Our mission statement starts out with, “Grid Chicago is an outlet for news, commentary, and photography about sustainable transportation-related events, projects, and ideas.” How does Thought You Knew relate to that definition?

TyK is a photography project depicting local Chicago women. TyK will be hosting monthly events to bring more women into cycling with our Monthly Cycles hosting ladies at bike shops to teach them flat fixes and meet their local mechanics.

The next line talks about Grid Chicago being a platform for sustainable transportation.

Since women have been found to be the primary agents of change in communities, the main source of “word of mouth” communication and the dominant users/writers on the internet, TyK’s target of bringing more women to the cycling conversation, who have otherwise felt disincluded, uninvited or intimidated fits well with your goal of being a platform.

Then our mission statement talks about the culture around sustainable transportation.

I’d say that TyK has become a part of Chicago’s culture already, and stands to be more so soon.

Okay, enough about us, tell me more about TyK. How will TyK expand its own mission?

TyK has shifted over to being offered to shops on wholesale. This turns us into an incredibly appealing Christmas item, particularly for bike shops trying to get folks in during the slow season. More sales means more pinups on more walls, spreading the good word. We’re also selling internationally now, which means the “powerful pinup” will be able to become a part of the global vernacular. Tokyo and Shanghai already love us and are really excited at the strong and sassy example we’re providing for the ladies out there. We’ll just hint vaguely at what that means in the next few years.

Will TyK launch in other cities?

There aren’t any plans for the calendar to be a “city by city” calendar. However, there are some plots afoot for next year giving some ladies in the rest of the United States the chance to be nominated to strut their stuff.

In the meantime, we’ll be working to expand The Monthly Cycle [a women-only bike repair class] to cities across the USA. It’s not just shops in Chicago who need more female customers, and who need their customers to feel comfortable. This is an issue everywhere. So, we’ll be working to make sure women everywhere get the chance to learn a bit about their bikes and get welcomed into the cycling world one local shop at a time.

Aside from the calendar and The Monthly Cycle, what else is happening this year?

TyK will be rolling through Interbike (September 14-16 in Las Vegas) filming another section of our documentary. Depicting how women are represented in the industry is an important facet of our mission. We’ll also be participating in the Chrome/Momentum Fashion Show!

This will also be one of our main times to do our wholesaling to shops outside Chicago. Since everyone is already in Vegas, it’s a great time to get the word out and get some orders in. Oh, and we’ll have stickers. Possibly spoke cards too…

[Originally posted on GRID CHICAGO]

Thought You Knew’s goal is to empower women by helping them regain ownership of their sexuality, in whatever form they choose to have it manifest. These are real cyclists, like you’ve never seen them before.

[Originally posted on Laughing Squid]

Visit our Kickstarter page to pre-order your calendar today!

UPDATE: We’ve reached our goal of $5,000! You can still pre-order your calendar on the Kickstarter site … please keep donating!