We're pleased to introduce Ellie Bash as our Sister Cyclist for the month of May. Ellie advocates for women's cycling through her work with the Bike Root and the Good Life bike shop. She is also co-organizer, alongside Kristi Woo, of the CycloFemme YYC ride. 

Join Ellie and her awesome green bike this Sunday for CycloFemme YYC! We will see you there! 

Tell us a little about yourself.

I'm originally from Minneapolis, I moved to Calgary four years ago to do my master's degree in Glaciology. Biking is my second passion, after glaciers. I'm super excited to split my time between riding in Calgary and hiking Yoho this summer, both as part of my job!

What do you like best about travelling in your city?

I love seeing other cyclists! I feel like we're part of this secret club that everyone else is missing out on.

What is your favourite riyoko piece?

I'm pretty stoked for a pair of blue tights that Kristi has in the works for me.

What do you never leave home without?

Chapstick and a pair of earrings.

Tell us about the Bike Root. 

I was very involved in the Bike Root in it's first two years. It is a community bike shop that emphasizes empowering people through education and self-powered transportation. I started off teaching workshops for women, but quickly became involved in many other aspects of keeping the project running. Although I no longer work at the Bike Root, I still feel very strongly about educating people, women in particular, about cycling and self-reliance. I think if you own a bike you should know something about how to care of it. That provides a kind of freedom for people. Women especially are often intimidated by the male-dominated worlds of cycling and mechanics. Though it isn't complicated to understand a bike, women aren't often given the opportunity to learn.

What are you up to these days?

Right now, I'm super excited about the CycloFemme ride on Sunday! Hopefully it will be the first of many rides in Calgary to honour and empower women. 
It's not about excluding men (they are totally welcome) but about providing a space that encourages women to explore cycling and to feel confident as cyclists in the city. 

I have also recently started working as a greaser at the Good Life community bike shop in Kensington. It gives me the opportunity to work alongside some really awesome women and, hopefully, provide a space and an example for other women to learn about bike mechanics. What I would really like to contribute to the Calgary cycling community is knowledge and confidence for women to be able to fix their own rides. And men, too, but I am most inspired to give to women

What is your philosophy?

Find something you are passionate about and do it.

<3 riyoko

We couldn't wait to hear what riyoko's own Jordan had to say about her trip to Coachella this year. For those of us who didn't make it to the festival, Jordan has kindly shared her story of this once in a lifetime experience. Enjoy! 

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Although we weren't flying, our journey started at the airport. We were there to rent a car so we could start off for Indio, California and Coachella, one of the largest and most renowned yearly music festivals. We set off later than we had hoped but we were excited to be on our way! After a slight detour at the border, our group decided that we had the stamina to drive straight through to Las Vegas to spend a night there. We got to Vegas from Calgary in 22 hours; we were fatigued but quickly energized by the bright lights and vibrant night life of the city. We splurged on a hotel room, caught the Wiggly Pirate Girls show and wasted some money on penny slot machines. Our night in Vegas helped us to get pumped up for what was in store for us at the festival.

When we woke up it was hot...incredibly hot. We hit the hotel pool and did a bit of shopping before getting back on the road. We were in the home stretch of our trip with just 6 hours of driving to go. As we cruised, we sang along to the 7gig playlist that featured all the artists we were about to see. When we drove into Indio and onto the festival grounds, our priorities were to set up camp, have some drinks and get to some show. Our first show of the weekend was The Rapture. It was awesome to see them perform "House of Jealous Lovers" along with a few of our other favorite songs. The next band on the agenda was M83 who we followed with Amon Tobin, who stole the night with an insane light show consisting of a swarm of cubes. The cubes spelled out his name with the DJ booth set up in the centre cube. We became fast friends with our camp neighbours as we spent the rest of that night together enjoying the shows. 

The next day proved to be us against the heat. The sun was scorching at 106 degrees F./ 41 C. and we were forced spend the day following the shade. We caught Destroyer and Zeds Dead; I got to crowd surf for the first time in my life at Awolnation. During our second day, we stopped frequently at the Heineken tent (the only air-conditioned space on site). This is where we caught Ilesha, one of Calgary's own names on the electronic scene. Later that night we saw Bon Iver, and I enjoyed one of the best performances of the weekend when they played "Skinny Love." The Radiohead show was amazing as well; amid the thousands of people there you could have heard a pin drop. It was such a moving performanceand people all around me were tearing up. Our second night concluded with a search for other Calgarians in the campsites, this brought us to a discotheque that some festival goers had set up in their site. 

Sunday was even more of a weather survival game. We saw Noisia during the day and nursed our sunstroke with the few cold beverages we could get our hands on. We made friends with a bunch of Brits who generously shared their warm, bagged wine. That evening we saw Calvin Harris, who put on another spectacular light show. He also shot what felt like a 10 tonne truck's worth of confetti onto the crowd during his latest single "Feel So Close,"- it was great! We then caught At the Drive In, in preparation for the most life changing show of the weekend: Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. I've listened to these artists consistently since high school, so seeing Snoop and Dre was like a dream come true for me. I felt like I was on cloud nine during the whole performance. 50 Cent came on stage mid-set with the other members of G-Unit and they were followed by Eminem and the infamous holographic Tupac. I'd heard some rumours of the Tupac appearance at the previous weekend but I simply couldn't have imagined I'd be seeing 50 and Eminem. It was a truly mind blowing, once in a lifetime opportunity that I'm grateful to have had.

Exhausted from heatstroke and our intense 3 day festival adventure, we were in bed by 2am on our last night there. We woke up early the next day to the ever-blaring sun, packed the car and said goodbye to all of our camp friends from around the world. The trip home to Calgary felt much longer than the way to the festival. We were worn out from the experience and spent the night just outside of Salt Lake City in Beaver, Utah. We made it back in one piece and I couldn't be happier to have made the trip. All in all, Coachella was one of the best times of my life. It is surely an experience I will treasure for the rest of my life. 

<3 Jordan

In anticipation of the one long stretch of warm weather we get here in Canada, we've been thinking about about the sounds that will be the soundtrack to our summer. We can't wait to see what this summer has in store for us and music will certainly accompany and add to our adventures. Here are a few places where we'll be going to find music to get us in that summer mood.

Kristi: The sites that I love and am a year-round loyal fan of are definitely where I'll be finding my summer playlist. 

For hip-hop that speaks to my heart and my feet I go to WeFunk Radio and DJMensa. 

For rad Canadiana from all over the musical spectrum I love CBC Radio3.

For a monthly digest on all the latest Blog sensations and electronic I check out Hype Machine Radio out of NYC.

....and a current favourite that will definitely be blasting this summer is, DucHeSsSaYs, hailing from Montreal and screaming all over Canada and beyond <3

Lastly, although they're not music I love tuning into Stuff You Missed In History Class and This American Life, they are definitely a part of my summer soundtrack.

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Natalia: Every summer, I really look forward to Sled Island podcasts. Last year they were posted right on their site and this year they can be found at CJSW. These podcasts are always well selected and will get you in a summer festival mood, whether or not you're able to go to the shows.

I also like to check out Nylon Magazine from time to time as they post a good summer playlist. You might ask why I would mention this since a 2012 version hasn't yet been posted? To this I say- check out the one from last year and know that the whole thing was available for free on iTunes. Those of you who are into free downloads might want to keep an eye out for this year's selection.

My top non-music picks are The Guardian's Science Weekly for their really interesting podcasts and Radio Canada for news in French, which is how I like it to be.

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Happy listening <3