New
Campus Group All About Bikes
 Samantha
Lyon ’08 strongly feels that there should be more bicycles
-- and people using them -- on the Smith campus.
Lyon is such a
believer in bikes as an environmentally responsible form of
transportation and as a fun pastime that she and a few of
her fellow activists on campus started a group this fall called
the Bicycle Kitchen that invites other bike lovers and riders
to learn about bikes, safety, maintenance and benefits.
The group welcomes
bike enthusiasts and those who want to learn about bikes to
its weekly gathering, which they call “Bike Fixin’,”
on Sundays at 3 p.m. in the Capen House basement, regardless
of the weather. The Bicycle Kitchen also offers a Bike Library,
from which students, faculty and staff members can rent bikes
(for a nominal fee, the group emphasizes) or work off the
rental fee in the “kitchen.”
“We started
the Bicycle Kitchen because we felt there was a need for more
bike awareness on campus,” says Lyon, speaking for the
group’s charter members. “Students who already
have bikes should also know how to fix them up and keep them
running well, and students who do not have bikes should have
a chance to get one.”
In addition to
repairs and rentals, the Bicycle Kitchen members hope to begin
a Green Bike program, in which green-painted bicycles would
be parked in racks around campus, available for the taking
for people to ride to another campus location. “There
will always be a bike close by for students to get where they
need to go,” proclaims the .
Part of the group’s
mandate is to provide a safer campus environment for those
riding bikes. “We believe there are too many cars roaming
around campus and this is not safe for people trying to get
around using human power,” Lyon says.
In the spring,
the group will open a bike repair shop in the college boathouse,
where bikers can stop in for answers to their questions or
problems, or simply to share bicycle knowledge and news. And
lest the fun should be forgotten amid all the repairs and
maintenance, the Bicycle Kitchen members plan to organize
periodic bike rides locally.
So far, say the
group members, the campus response has been very positive,
and the group has recently become a chartered organization
with the Student Government Association.
If it’s
about bikes, they proclaim, the Bicycle Kitchen is the place
to go. “The Bicycle Kitchen is a way for people to get
bikes, fix bikes, ride bikes, hang out with bikes, talk about
bikes, meet each other, and have a good community-oriented
time, which always seems to surround bike culture,”
Lyon said.
Charter members
of the Bicycle Kitchen are Lyon, Anya Domlesky ’06,
Maria Gonchoroff ’07, Jane Jones ’09, and Sarah
Mossberg ’07.
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