FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE COMMUNITY BIKE VOLUNTEERS AND CYCLING ENTHUSIASTS TO CONVERGE AT NORTHEAST REGIONAL “BIKE! BIKE!” GATHERING IN TROY, NY ON SEPTEMBER 29.

MORE INFORMATION: http://www.troybikerescue.org CONTACT: 518-573-7947

Troy, NY - On September 29, 2012 representatives from community bike projects across the Northeast US and Canada will be gathering in North Troy for an event called “Bike! Bike! Northeast.” Activities will take place at both Troy Bike Rescue (3280 6th Avenue) and The Sanctuary for Independent Media (3361 6th Avenue).

Bike! Bike! Northeast will be a full day of workshops, skillshares, discussions, and networking complete with an afternoon bike ride and an evening of world-class music from San Fransisco’s Rupa and the April Fishes (http://theaprilfishes.com). Conference sessions will cover a wide variety of topics relevant to the DIY biking community, from ‘trash-hacking’, welding, and making recycled jewelry to diagnosing your bike’s mechanical problems by ear, starting your own bicycle delivery co-op, and maintaining a consensus decision-making collective.

SCHEDULE OVERVIEW 9am-10am - Registration 10am-12pm - Workshop Sessions 12pm-1pm - Community Lunch 1pm-5pm - Workshop Sessions 5pm-6pm - Bike Ride 6:30 pm - Sanctuary Community Potluck 8pm - Rupa & The April Fishes play live

In attendance at Bike Bike! Northeast will be local ‘bike people,’ many of whom congregate and organize around Troy Bike Rescue as well as their colleagues from similar collectives in other cities such as Burlington, Ithaca, Toronto, Cortland, Worcester, Boston, and others. The conference is not necessarily intending to attract local recreational or competitive cyclists, though they are welcome. The activities will more likely appeal to those who ride as a form of resistance to ‘car culture’, and understand bicycling as a lifestyle.

Community bike projects aim to build ‘bike culture’ and community through hands-on education. They collect and recycle old unwanted bicycles and make them available to patrons at low or no cost. The ultimate goal is to get more people riding bicycles for transportation. Many of these projects started off, like Troy Bike Rescue, as small back-yard projects in the late 90s or early 2000s and now operate spaces that serve as self-service non-profit shops, and urban classrooms for all things bicycle.

Bike!Bike! Northeast is a regional off-shoot of the (Inter)National Bike!Bike! Conference that happens annually - most recently in Vancouver BC in June 2012 (http://bikebike.org). about:blank Every year it is organized by a different collective. The first Bike! Bike! was held in New Orleans in 2004, and was attended by about 30 organizers of non-profit/anti-capitalist bike shops around the country. Now, it is an international gathering of around 300 people that has taken place in many cities such as Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, San Fransisco, and Toronto.