Bikes on the Drive woke up early on Sunday morning and we hit the streets like a bunch of guerillas and a few tree stencils and a bunch of green chalk.

One of our new employees Cam Macleod was given the task of stenciling over 100 tree symbols all over The Drive for Car Free Days. Cam has a bit of a marketing background and was up to the task.

It was quite the community effort with my next door neighbor Andy Hurcum building the plywood stencils for me it was a lot better the the cardboard contraptions I had made.

Cam and I had tons of fun stenciling trees all over The Drive.  There were lots of questions about The Tree while we were out and about. We talked and chalked and had tons O’fun.

Once we ran out of green chalk we decided to call it a morning and head back to the shop to help open up.

We set up out booth with a couple of nutcase helmets some Chain J and our beloved Tree.

By the time we had set up shop and grabbed our second cup of joe for the morning, it was time to give away our second Tree of the summer. We shut down the shop for 15 minutes and joined the party on the street ilan gave a talk about why we put our time and resources into the The Tree.

During ilan’s little bike evangelism we amassed quite the crowd of people. It was really nice to capture the attention of the drive community on one of the biggest days of the year.

The draw was made and we are pleased to announce that Deepak Vyas you are the winner of a Bikes on the Drive Tree by Devinci.

Other area’s of interest we wanted to make note of:
Instead of commuting to work why not just bring work with you, Driven by Profit won hands downs for the most unique use of a boardroom table ever. We just not sure commuting on top of a boardroom table is the most sensible and eco-friendly way to commute. But guaranteed you’ll never be late for your next meeting.	Driven by Profit mobile board room
The free hugs girl outside Bikes on the Drive who gave well over 1000 people hugs that day.	Free Hugs Girl
The mimes (Victorian era ?), They were just amazingly awesome to watch and how they interacted as they strolled down the drive.	Mimes on the Drive
Our friends on eight wheels instead of two at the roller disco on Graveley St. They were really kicking the tunes and looked like they were having a great time.	Roller Disco on Graveley St

Also did you enjoy car free days? Well if you did you should let your mayor and counsel know.  Drop them a line I am sure they would love hearing some positive feedback from the days events.

Category: Advocacy, Events, News

Tags: Advocacy, bike evangelism, car free, celebration, charity, commercial drive, culture, draw, guerillas

Our major goals at Bikes on the Drive (BOTD) is advocacy, education and awareness of bike commuting, bike culture and overall community building in the East Vancouver community itself. For any business owner it just makes sense to be an active, contributing member of the local community.

One way that we do this is through supporting Global Agents for Change. This registered non-profit was founded in January 2007 by a group of young professionals, university students and social change agents from Vancouver, Canada.

During one of the many conversations ilan has with his customers, he heard about Global AFC in 2007. Being the sociable and knowledgeable guy that ilan is, (yes he did pay me to say that), ilan offered some tour consulting to new riders who might be going down in the group.

“I invited the senior people of the group down to the shop and I gave them the full run down on touring bikes; The challenges people have with bags, peddles, shoes, living out of a bike for a month,”

What we found out was that it was the first time they were given this type of knowledge and information, which you really only find out by doing or talking to someone who has.

The result was that they booked the entire team of riders to come in and talk with ilan.

It was also a complete coincidence for ilan, a former financial planner who dealt in-risk management and lending and now manages  BOTD, to find a charity that dealt in touring, cycling and microcredit lending to break the cycle of poverty in developing and third world countries. It’s a good fit to say the least.

Since that time we have offered both education for riders on repairs and maintenance of their bikes while on a trip, along with a safety briefing and equipment knowledge.

The shop also sells gear to the riders at cost to the shop.

“We had sold really strong touring packages worth up to $3,000 for $1,800 and donating all the labour associated with bikes and components,” said ilan.

With both a Mexico and European tour with a total of 71 riders, the shop was a little packed this spring and the boys (and Jaimie) were a little busy in preparing a number of bikes for the trip.

Two additional things happened this year: One with the launch of The Tree commuting and touring cycle first aid attendant, Agent Bugsy Delesalle purchased one of the first BOTD Tree by Devinci after talking with Autumn, and had it loaded for bare as she left Vancouver for Mexico: Two, ilan had gone a step further and approached the supplier and manufacturers of components and equipment for the BOTD and told them about Global AFG. As a result Brodie, Arkel, Avid, Tubus and Shimano either offered at cost or at a discount on top of whatever BOTD was offering the riders.

And while according to the official Global AFC blog, Bugsy offically hates hills. Apparently she is doing fine and heading to Seattle as we speak.

Category: Advocacy, Events

Tags: Advocacy, Agent for Change, bicycle, Canadian, charity, commercial drive, Devinci, Global, microcredit, non-profit, sustainable, touring, Tree bike