Moving Forward To 2021

Happy New Year!

The past year was difficult for many of us, for all sorts of reasons.  I have no idea of what this year will bring--well, all right, I think the first few months, at least, will be difficult as the COVID-19 pandemic rages. However and whenever the pandemic ebbs, all we can do is to move forward.

That is what we, as cyclists, know how to do. Even--actually, I would say "especially"-- those of us who like vintage or "retro" bikes are forward-looking:  We are riding toward a landscape free of the encumbrances of fossil fuels, social and economic hiérarchies and the tyranny of companies that dictate what we can and can't use. 

Pioneering female cyclists Violet Ward and Daisy Elliot, 1895.  (Alice Austen, collection of Historic Richmond Town.)

One thing I can't help but to notice is that social progress--which is to say, equal access to dignity--comes as more women and girls ride bicycles.  (Why do you think I underwent a gender transition? ;-)) Think of the bike booms of the 1890s and 1970s:  Those are, perhaps not coincidentally, when the first and second waves of feminism washed over American society.  I would like to think that we are in another boom and that it will result, current setbacks notwithstanding, long-term gains for women.

Women cycling in Davis, California, 1967

If nothing else, if we see more women (and people of all other gender identities) on bikes in 2021, things have to get better.  I hope so.