Curious about winter biking? Looking for advice on how to ride a little longer into the cool weather this year? Do you like PRIZES? How about SNACKS? What about NEW FRIENDS on bikes?!
Then join us for Grease Rag’s 11th Annual Winter Skill Share!
Join us to learn about topics such as choosing and maintaining your winter bike, riding safely, dressing your cold-weather best, and more! At the Winter Skill Share, our goal is to tap into the deep wisdom of our Twin Cities FTW biking community so that we can all have a safe, fun winter riding season. Since we learn together by sharing our experiences of winter biking from our own unique with each other this event is NEWBIE & BEGINNER FRIENDLY! Come with questions and leave feeling confident and ready to take on Minnesota’s most… “interesting” season.
This event is FREE* and open to all FTW (femme, trans nonbinary, two-spirit and women) riders! If you are a cis man who benefits from cis-male privilege, please respect this space and do not attend this event.
*We encourage people to bring something to the swap, or a non-perishable food item. Grease Rag also takes cash donations.
Schedule
Find the event on Facebook here for ongoing updates and more information!
You are welcome to come and go as you please. Here is a tentative schedule for the day:
11am — Sign in and Snacks
Welcome and small group go-arounds
11:30am – 12:30pm — Session 1*
Room 1: Bike Maintenance and Bike Set-Up Options
Room 2: Self-Care
12:30pm — BYO Lunch
Community announcements and quick post lunch stretch
1:15 – 2:15pm — Session 2*
Room 1: Safety, Handling and Routing
Room 2: What to Wear
2:15 – 3:30pm — Panel Q&A
3:30 – 4:00pm — Gear Swap
*Each hour will have two sessions, so you’ll get to pick between the two. Can’t decide which one? No worries! Many of the presentations have handouts you can grab, and they will be recapped on the Grease Rag blog!
Gear Swap
After spending the day learning about the joys of winter biking, you’ll have the chance to score some new and gently used gear to get you where you need to be! This is a chance for people to donate their gently used gear and for people who need more gear to pick some up for free! If you’d like to donate your gear, just bring it along and drop it off at the swap table. Everyone will get a chance to look through the gear, with folks who are new to winter riding going first. All leftover clothing will be donated to the Face2Face/Safe Zone in St Paul, which serves homeless, runaway, and at-risk youth.
Volunteers
The Winter Skill Share is an annual event that centers the voices and experiences of femme, transgender, and women cyclists. It’s a friendly and supportive space where we share our wisdom and perspective, give away small prizes, swap gear, and inspire each other as we head into the winter biking season. But it’s only possible with the help of volunteers like YOU!
We need day-of volunteers to help set-up, greet participants, time sessions, and more! It’s a fun and easy way to help out our incredible FTW community, and make some new friends along the way. Interested? Sign up here!
Donations
This year we’re asking people to bring non-perishable food items, which will be donated to a local food shelf.
See ya soon!