#daikondaikon

BICYCLIST: Afia Lydia

“I like to get my hands dirty. I like to know what’s wrong and know how to fix it.”

I moved here in November 2013. I had already been biking before with my friend Rashad. He’s actually a bike messenger in the city right now, but we’re from Prince George’s County. We would bike a lot in that area. Baltimore is actually one of my favorite cities to bike because I’ve biked in DC a lot and it’s nothing but hills -- a lot of cars and a lot of crazy people. Chicago felt mostly flat. We do have hills here but it’s a nice mix; I really like Baltimore in that sense.

 -- Why did you think you didn’t fit the “typical mold” to be interviewed for a bike blog?

 I felt like the typical mold is straight up -- Here’s my gear. Here’s what I can do. I can go very fast [Laughs]. I’m really interested in biking, and I love it. It’s really a passion of mine, but I’m very slow. I can pick up speed but I’m pretty slow. I have a single speed Nishiki. I actually got this bike in Waldorf. A co-worker’s husband worked at a bike shop and an old couple came and they gave him their matching bikes. They thought that if I got one and the only other black person got one it would be a couple set in paradise. Needless to say he got his bike stolen. It was very sad. It was a very cute gesture, but I’ve just been modding [the bike ever since], and I love it. So that was how I got this particular bike that I have now. Before then, me and my friend Rashad would drive around and we’d just see junkers on the side of the road and we’d grab em and fix em up!

 -- Do you know how to build and fix bikes?

 With enough ingenuity I can do a lot with my bike. I’ve done all of the mods on my bike, which I guess doesn’t seem like much, but I stripped it down completely and just started building it back up. I started going to Velocipede when I first moved here and they’ve been really wonderful. For the most part I can do all the fixes I need to on my own. A lot of the time it just feels as though in general there’s a weird little bias like, “Oh, you’re a girl. Let me fix this for you.” But I like to get my hands dirty. I like to know what’s wrong and know how to fix it.

 -- How did you get into learning about bikes?

 I work for a company in the health food industry and there’s a brand called “Alafia,” which is a shea butter company based out of Olympia [Washington], but they get all of their products from Togo, and they have a separate program where they send bikes over for girls to go to school in Togo, Africa. There’s a bike mechanic position that they have where the person just goes out and services all of the bikes for a year and I was interested in that for a little bit. I know how to do things, but in a high stress situation where I have to fix a lot… I’m cool with fixing mine, but I don't know if I would be versatile enough [to do more]. So that’s actually one of the reasons I got into learning about bikes.

 I’ve been looking for [a job] in the city because I would rather not have to drive in anywhere. I guess it’s the dream. A lot of people are looking for that, but I think it’s attainable to try to not use gas and keep our footprint down. I had to drive an hour to work each way when I first moved, and it was mind sucking.  Just so much energy, so much energy.

 -- Do you feel safe riding in the city?

 I do, but I know that that’s not “the norm” to feel safe. My friend has been hit like three times. His girlfriend got hit by a golf cart, which was weird, during Artscape. I don’t want want to say “Yeah! I feel safe!” and then just get hit immediately. I’m cautious but it doesn’t matter how cautious you are because of people around you and how they drive and how you ride. It’s all interconnected. I guess I wish I felt safer. I can’t really wear a helmet because I have long locks.  I’ve ordered an extra extra large helmet, but it’s been on backorder. There are bike lanes but the other day someone just started driving into me. I’m not sure what they were thinking. They saw me. It was just very strange. It was one of those things where you tense up because you feel fear, but it wasn’t an immediate reaction. Maybe they were just drifting or something but I’m not sure. It was a thing where I was watching it happen and they were watching it happen… and it was happenin’... and I was like, “what is happening?” Because it was not one of those things where I’m biking and I tense up because I feel it or anything. It was just in plain sight. It was weird and just made no sense.

 -- Is there anything in particular that you’d like to see develop in Baltimore to make riding safer?