Bikes, women and access: The ReCyclery makes room for them all
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ReCyclery Community Outreach Coordinator Heather Mirczak wants to see more women, trans and femme cyclists in the shop. photo by Diane Urbani de la Paz [/caption]
News by Diane Urbani de la Paz
Heather Mirczak’s cycling philosophy — and her whole worldview — is pleasantly startling.
“If you ever want to reinvigorate your belief in humanity,” she says, “do a solo bike trip. People are kind. They want to help you.”
Mirczak, the community outreach coordinator at the ReCyclery in Port Townsend, speaks from experience. In college in Syracuse, N.Y., she met a woman who toured the countryside on her bicycle.
“What?!” was Mirczak’s first response. Next, she learned from the woman how to tour on two wheels, and when Mirczak graduated from college in 1992, she biked the 130 miles back to her family home in Troy, N.Y. She later pedaled around Nova Scotia, biked from New York state to Maine, and rode around New Zealand for two and a half months. Strangers helped her all along the way, she said.
All of this makes Mirczak ideal for her work at the ReCyclery. When she was hired earlier this year, her desire was to bring back women’s access nights: evenings now known as WTF for women, trans and femme cyclists who want to take care of their own bikes.
At the ReCyclery, 1925 Blaine St., WTF nights offer guidance on bike repairs, access to tools and time with female mechanics every first and third Tuesday of the month from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The Oct. 21 is set to include a “how to commute on a bike” lesson at 6 p.m.
“It will be the basics if a person is needing motivation or has been bike-commute curious,” said Mirczak.
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Rach Stevenson is among the mechanics who work at the ReCyclery's WTF access nights. photo by Diane Urbani de la Paz [/caption]
The Nov. 4 WTF will be an open-shop night for working on bikes, getting help from female mechanics, and meeting friends, and on Nov. 18 the crew will focus on how to create a bike repair kit.
More information about WTF and other community programs is found at ptrecyclery.org.
While WTF access nights have a focus, cyclists are welcome to drop in for help with various repairs and bike care advice. Instead of being a conventional shop where you drop off your bike and then come back a few days hence to pay for the work done by the mechanic, the ReCyclery takes a do-it-together approach. It’s still a repair shop, but with an emphasis on skill-sharing rather than charging for work done.
On Oct. 7, Erica Ellis was one of seven women who came in for help with their bikes’ drive trains, brakes and tires. Before working on her bike with Mirczak, Ellis talked about how she and cycling got together.
“There’s something about being on [a vehicle] you’re powering yourself,” she said. During the early stretch of the pandemic, she started finding group rides on Facebook. Ellis is still loving those group outings, including the Cascade Bicycle Club’s Kitsap Color Classic on Oct. 12.
Elena Kayak brought her slender Specialized bike in for some attention to its chain and shifters. After some hands-on work guided by Mirczak, she took a spin around the ReCyclery’s paved backyard.
“It’s like butter,” Kayak sang as she shifted from gear to gear.
ReCyclery mechanic Rach Stevenson, meanwhile, helped Cara Fusco with her 23-year-old Schwinn Windwood. Together, the women went over the cruiser, bringing it back to riding shape after a long time idle.
The ReCyclery itself has gone through many changes. Begun as an experiment in 2007, it set up shop in Malcolm Dorn’s uptown courtyard circa 2009, moved to its Blaine Street location in 2012, and became a registered nonprofit organization. By 2020 and the start of the pandemic, the ReCyclery was a repair shop, an operator of youth programs and a promoter of bike access for all.
While the years since have reshaped the organization, its mission hasn’t changed.
“We are here to make bike maintenance and biking accessible to everyone in our community,” Mirczak said.
She’s seeking sponsors to help fund WTF access nights. Mirczak also wants to bring back access nights for seniors, and start them for Indigenous people and other people of color, including families connected with the Jefferson County Immigrant Rights Advocates (JCIRA).
“I'm thrilled about how these WTF nights are going,” ReCyclery program director Nick Singer said. They’re one example, he added, of how to provide a safe and welcoming space for people who wouldn’t otherwise use a bike for transportation, exercise and fun.
These access nights are named WTF “for so many reasons,” quipped Mirczak. Singer and Mirczak share a belief in the power of those wheels to upend social hierarchies.
“A bike,” Mirczak added, “is freedom.”
