Story Notes

TAKE 1 (From video sketch)
We want to spread the joy of biking.
So, we asked 4 people to track their bike rides with thread on a shared map.
But, when people got curious about how far they had been riding… it was a bit of a problem.
We realized, there must be a better way.
But all of the tracking apps we tried were all about fitness—calories, speed, etc.
A lot of the people that we have gotten to know and love are simply using bicycles to get around—to eat tacos, go to work, meet up with friends.
And so, we’ve set out to spread the joy using a bike to get around.
We want to expand our network, make our own world, get inspired by people and what other people are doing.

Our goal: To get people that are biking to get people with bikes to bike more.

TAKE 2
city in dots (life the first year, 2 hours in subway)
- started expanding our circles
social pressure
- what if …
- fell into riding to Manhattan because of each other
(Kristin’s tendency to dare other people to do crazy things, so she can do them herself)
(My tendency to say yes to any challenge)
lines in city
- sometimes it’s hard to get on it, but we’ve had each other to push each other into the habit

We made the social pressure between us
now we want to make that between other people.

- the empowering feeling
- the sense of flying
- being in charge of your own time and your own route
- you can be impulsive – stop at places, talk to people
- the closeness to the city – stitching the city together
- being outdoors and free

Carrie: And for thesis we want to spread the joy of biking that we experience to more people. We launched a bike challenge in the studio for a week in October to explore how we could motivate people to bike.

TAKE 2.1
I hated New York the first year I was here. But I like it now. And I’d like to tell you what has enabled that. I spent most of my waking hours working (in the studio); and a couple of them in the subway. This is what I knew about New York. (points on CG and SVA)

When I moved to Park Slope last summer, I got a bike. And to justify the purchase, I started daring Carrie to go places further away to get my wheels rolling. I didn’t consider myself and avid biker so I actually suggested crazy things I wouldn’t (couldn’t) do on my own. (coney island, traffic) … and everything in between.

But I never say no to a challenge. So, this lead us to … tacos in Queens, fireworks on the West Side Highway, Coney Island, wine tour in Long Island (biking with 3 bottles of wine)
All of a sudden New York looked different to me.

The social pressure that we created between us, lead us to going further and being more committed to our bike seats than we had ever intended. I use my bike to get everywhere in the city.
And I do too. What we experience when we bike (the freedom and fresh air) is something we’d like to pass on to other people too.

SPOKED—a service that helps you and your friends get on bikes more often through two-week bike battles.

Comments are closed.