According to Wikipedia, “cycling culture refers to cities and countries which actively support a large percentage of utility cycling.” And while riding for utility is where a large portion of the culture originates, if you ask me, it goes far beyond that.
To me, the word utility conjures up emotions of things to do that I don’t necessarily enjoy doing. Work things and checklists, but my view on cycling culture is just the opposite. I still ride for utility. I run errands, go shopping, and go to meetings on my bike. So what’s the difference?
I think it’s because cycling culture is bigger than that. It’s about living life on bikes. Not only when it’s necessary, but also because it’s fun. Vacationing to places because they have a place or trail you want to ride. Or knowing the city where your meeting is has a great bike-share program so you can get out an explore instead of sitting in your hotel room all night. Cycling culture is when you do finally get done with all those agenda items and checklists, you go socialize with friends around a bike ride and a beer. Which means you stay physically and mentally sharper, all while not having to pay for parking. And when the local bike culture is strong enough, there’s some type of social ride nearly every night of the week!
As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is bike culture. BeersNGears has been around for a few years now advocating for better legislation and infrastructure, organizing social bike events, building relationships within the community and encouraging more people to ride bikes. In order for BeersNGears to keep building bike culture and move forward with the awesome stuff we have planned, we are going to need your help.
We’re looking for people who are passionate about cycling in Winston-Salem to fill these roles. If you can contribute to one of them, send us a message or fill out the form below!
Social Media Guru
Guest Writers
Like to write? Cool, we need people to write about their experiences riding bikes, advocating for better infrastructure and share the social, environmental and economic benefits of cycling.
Route Planner and Ride Leader
Every BeersNGears ride has to be planned and lead so people have a good time. We need someone with a knack for building good routes and experience leading group rides.
Photographer & Videographer
BeersNGears and it’s partners are doing great things and we need to get a record of it. We’re looking for a talented photographer and/or videographer who is interested in attending BeersNGears events and documenting the transformation of Winston-Salem into an awesome city for bikes.
Artist
We love art. After all, we do live in the city of Arts and Innovation. BeersNGears needs a creative mind to help us design artwork for our events, website and social media outlets so we live up to our city’s name.
Event Planner
BeersNGears strives to put on the best bike events Winston-Salem and the state has seen. We need someone very talented to make sure that happens. We’re looking for an organized, detail oriented, planner who can help take us from idea to event. This person would coordinate with partners to work out logistics of events and make sure we have everything we need to put on a great event.
General Volunteers
We need a group a people who will show up and help with BeersNGears efforts. This could mean promoting and attending events, sharing posts and photos, helping with bicycle parking and facilitating scavenger hunts, sharing knowledge about repairing bikes, and encouraging new people to get involved. These individuals will lead the effort to make Winston-Salem a great place to ride. The good news is anyone can contribute their talents… just use your passion for riding to promote bike culture here in Winston-Salem.
Be a Domestique
Domestique is the term for a road bicycle racer who works for the benefit of his/her team or leader. These are the real heros. The people who support the team. Everyone who contributes to one of these roles will be a BeersNGears Domestique and will get some pretty sweet perks:
BeersNGears swag like jerseys, pint glasses and the likes
Personal bio featured on the BeersNGears website so everyone see’s how awesome you are
Free beer at team meetings. (Of course we have beer at our meetings that’s how we get so much done.)
Bicycle Benefits Sticker so you can get discounts when you ride to local businesses
Pride. You will be on the ground floor of building a thriving bicycle culture in Winston-Salem