Category Archives: Valencia

Orxatona

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The Orxatona is here!

Orxatona is the Spanish Criticona based on the Critical Mass which takes place in one city every year. This time the fortunate city is Valencia. The first Criticona in Valencia took place back in 2014 and after a decade it will be again surely a great party for urban biking this year. It is a huge event from 1st to 5th May in which local and external bikers will enjoy the city, its bike infrastructure, the good mood and many more. The Orxatona offers routes, parties, a bike polo exhibition, an alley cat race, the Valencian Critical Mass support, a workshop to tune your bike, an impressive ride (the official Criticona) and the XiquiMassa (a kind of Critical Mass for families and children), among other activities.

You are more than welcomed! Are you going to miss it?

Todobici

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Workshops fix your bicycle indoor and some of them do it outdoor. Going a step further, few workshops not only fix bikes indoor and outdoor, but also do it free on streets, parks and pedestrian zones in order to help no-bikeholism. These workshops think people as customers as well as key persons to improve Earth as it comes to environment, better health and happier.

One of the workshops is called Todobici which is located in Valencia, Spain. It has promoted biking for more than a decade in which, in addition to fix and sell bikes and components, has contributed to develop the neighbor and the bike activism. Todobici shows adapted workshops outdoor as master classes with the name of “Con las manos en la grasa” (something like Fill your hands with grease, in English). They say that it is important that those who pedal bikes know their vehicles and names of parts and basic repairs. It has done workshops for children in schools, senior citizens in several locations, women in Todobici and online in the 2021 Ciclosferia. Moreover, it is a workshop in which you can find Ciclosfera.

The Turia course

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The Turia river crossed the city of Valencia, Spain, for ages. It provided water and fish resources to citizens long time ago and is cited in books and texts. The problem is that it overflowed every autumn in a meteorological event called cold drop in which floods were produced year after year. Thus, Valencian authorities decided to deviate it upstream so that such floods were not repeated. At this point, they thought what to do with the more than nine kilometers long of new, profitable area that is called the Turia course.

At the beginning, some idiot politicians proposed to convert it in a highway with twelve car lines. “A fast way to go through Valencia”, they argued. Immediately after, lots of citizens and associations presented an innovative idea in the Valencia of the 80’s. They fought to convert the Turia course in a massive garden which could be enjoyed by locals and foreigners. You can see the huge difference between one and the other proposals in the picture bellow. People pressed so much with demonstrations, opinion pieces in newspapers, banners in streets and so on that politicians saw their desire and how important it was. At this point, some politicians contemplated the second proposal as the most interesting and protective to the inhabitants health. In the end, it was the chosen one and we enjoy the Turia course as one of the green lungs of Valencia. By the way, you can cycle it thanks to two bike lines which start at the Cabecera lake and end in the city Aquarium.

Ciclosferia 2023

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As I wrote about it, the first Ciclosferia took place in Valencia, Spain, in 2022. This urban bicycle exhibition continues to be placed in Valencia in 2023. Indeed, it is going to be opened on April from 21st to 23rd. This is a great opportunity to enjoy urban cycling since you will take into contact with bike brands, shops, workshops, bike activists and many more. You will test bikes, garment and components novelties if you want. Moreover, four music concerts will make this party more pleasant and finally, a Brompton bicycle will be raffled.

If you are going to be closed to or in Valencia these days, this is an impressive plan to spend the weekend.

Ciclosferia

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It seems quite odd the fact that there has not been celebrated an offline exhibition on urban biking in Spain so far. It is not so strange the fact that the chosen city to host it is Valencia because of the promotion of this urban movement as it comes to the development of cyclist infrastructures and local laws among others in the last years. The jointed effort of Ciclosfera and the Valencia council, as well as bike stores, brands and workshops, will make it possible. As a result, the Ciclosferia will take place in Valencia, Spain, from 13th to 15th of May 2022.

The shed number 2 in the Valencian La Marina has more than 4,500 squared meters. All this surface will be covered by bike brand stands and everybody will be able to test dozens of bicycles from e-bikes and traditional bicycles to hybrid ones and cargobikes. Besides, circuits, activities for children, raffles, food trucks and concerts guarantee amazing days for bike users next to the Mediterranean see. I almost forget it: It is totally free. A perfect scenario to discover the present and future mobility. A feast in order to spend the day, eat and pedal, enjoy confidently that everything, mobility, health, entertainment and efficiency, goes through bikes.

Rueda Film Festival

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The Rueda Film Festival was born in 2015, though their creators had pondered it for years. It started in Barcelona and several other cities have seen it such as Valencia. It is inspired by bikes, cinema, culture and environment. Hence, they invite you to think over energy, the collective power of people, participation and culture joy, always having in mind bicycles.

The Rueda Film Festival program is divided into sessions that last around 85 minutes and show a feature film or several shorts ones. You can see all the films by free thanks to the support of sponsors, strategic partners and collaborators. All of this is was created by a diverse group of people from different fields with a common denominator: Pedaling bikes contributes to solve major problems we face today.

As it name indicates (rueda in Spanish means wheel), it not only shows international films related to bicycles, but also organizes concerts, exhibitions and bike acrobats events. And what if I am interested in hosting the Rueda Film Festival in my city. As explained here, send the organizers an email so that they give you advices, the conditions as well as the package with everything you need to plan and promote your event. Just take advantage of their expertise.

Tio Pepe

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Tío Pepe (Oncle Pepe in English) was probably the first bike activist in Valencia, Spain. His personality allowed him to develop one of his passions: To modify bicycles so that they seemed objects and animals completely different to what people have in mind when listening to the word bike. He showed oddness, fun and open-mindedness in every artwork and ride from the last century. But above all, his persistence in making a better world on the base of bicycles is what we appreciate the most. He worked in the workshop called Villa Quita Penas (Villa Shame Removing, notice the good mood) in which he developed his most famous machines like the bike-horse or the bike-boat. Moreover, he used to ride his bikes dressed in extravagant costumes with banners on which everybody could read forceful sentences such as I pollute friendliness, happiness and peace, or Whether it is hot or cold, with a bike you travel better (in Spanish it sounds great).

One of his modified bikes is the bike-horse:

One can see the external structure to represent a horse, including the mane. If you keep your eyes on what is above the front wheel, you will discover an intelligent mechanism to transfer movement to a metallic hammer which hits a plate as the bike rides. Here you have a detail:

Next, the bike-boat:

This colorful boat made children smiling the moment they saw it. Again, you can see the metallic plate to make noise, yellow in this case. Furthermore, this bike has a special movement since the rider goes up and down similarly to waves as she pedals.

Just to illustrate his mood, he built a bike-car and one can read As all my neighbors have cars, I also have one (including the license plate) in the back.

Finally, if you wonder what face had Tío Pepe just check it out:

Now, you understand why Tío Pepe was so cherished by the people in the Cabañal neighborhood and by Valencia itself.

Bicis para todas

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Bicis para todas (Bikes for everybody, in Spanish) is a project which aims at making life easier to people who can not afford to buy a bicycle. It is developed by bikeaholics from the Valencia area with the goal of making a better world. They accept bikes from donations no matter in which condition and, as expertise in bicycle mechanics, they fix them. After that, they give bikes to people (one per person) who appreciate the present in order to use it for going to work, looking for a job, using the bike to deliver things or gifting it to his/her child. Several groups in urban biking as well as workshops and bike stores collaborate in this project. Regarding the time they spend fixing bikes, the two more important groups are Soterranya from Torrent (a city close to Valencia) and Tándem (which is located at the capital of the Valencian Community). Tándem helps people at risk of social exclusion and show them how to earn a living, whereas Soterranya focuses on minorities with the same target. For instance, Soterranya teaches subjects to children with difficulties at school and manages a library. Both groups constitute the spirit of this project which has made it possible to cheer up more than 500 people as the local government expressed thank to them last September. Good for them!

Bike and genre

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Bicycles can be enjoyed by both, women and men. Nevertheless, the way both genres behave when riding use to be different. Studies say women tend to ride at lower speed without competing between them (at least at no professional level) and appreciate much more landscapes in routes, whereas men tend to be more competitive with more testosterone, ride at higher speed and do not put so much attention to sceneries.

At psychological level, women do not usually speak openly to men regarding common problems they face when biking. On the contrary, they feel more confident to talk about their issues to other women. Moreover, car drivers act differently in arguments with a bike ridden by a woman or a man. If a woman is biking and a dispute with a male car drive takes place, the car driver acts as a beast feeling he has the right to yield or insult the woman even if he is wrong and malicious in his reasoning (supposing he has one since sometimes he has nothing to clutch at straws). In contrast, if a man rides the bike, the male car driver does not show himself so aggressively as he innerly know he could loss in a fight. This animal behavior is another example of the patriarchal society we suffer.

Here I have exposed some reasons because women need women-gender spaces to share ideas and empower themselves. Feminism is a global movement which looks for women to have the same rights as men. Biking is just another field in which come out. As a result of it, changes have been producing. For example, the Iberian Congress was initially opened to both genres, but in the Zaragoza edition they decided to give a space only to women with the creation of the Cyclist Women Meeting. This meeting was repeated in the Valencia edition and it was agreed to differentiate it with an appropriate event by women to women. The Iberian Congress is not expected to count with the Cyclist Women Meeting anymore, which will be an independent event held in a different place and date.