Garrett has a great chat with Walter Linares from the Iowa City Bike Library as they discuss the public health benefits of biking and community-wide access to cycling resources.

Learn more about the bike library at www.icbikelibrary.org/

Lauren Lavin:

Hello everybody and welcome back to From the Front Row. This week’s episode is about the Iowa City Bike Library and Garrett interviewed Walter from the Iowa City Bike Library to tell us more about it. I’m Lauren Lavin, the executive producer, and if you’re new here, welcome. We’re a student-Run podcast that talks about major issues in public health and how they are relevant to anyone, both in and outside the field of public health.

Garrett Naughton:

Hello. Welcome back to From The Front Row. We are a student-run public health podcast here at the University of Iowa. Today I’m talking with the employees of The Bike Library in Iowa City and we are on location here at the Wonderful Bike Library and my guest today is Walter.

Walter Linares:

Hello. What’s up, everyone? I’m going to be a little awkward on the mic. It’s no camera, but you can hear it in my voice.

Garrett Naughton:

All right. Well, we’ll just start with what is your role here at The Bike Library?

Walter Linares:

Well, my role is extravagant. You know? I’m the shop coordinator slash mechanic. I’m the first face that you see when you walk in and either the last one that you’ll see when you leave.

Garrett Naughton:

Yeah, Walter likes to stick around here at The Bike Library. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him not here, actually.

Walter Linares:

You know, it’s my second home. I wake up here. I shower here. It’s kind of crazy.

Garrett Naughton:

Well, that speaks a lot to the impact to the community, that you just like to always be around here. I guess you want to talk a little bit about the other people here at The Bike Library.

Walter Linares:

Yes. I don’t know. What do you want to know?

Garrett Naughton:

I mean, yeah. Just saying we’ll give them a little credit, because they couldn’t make it here to the recording, but it’s-

Walter Linares:

So we got Audrey, which is the main boss. A lot of people know her in the community. If you haven’t, come down to The Bike Library. She has … what’s it called? Just done a lot for the community. I hear a lot of cool things that she’s done and progressed here and a lot of people are proud and so am I. Definitely got to talk to her. She’s definitely an adventure person. And then, we got Joe, our lead mechanic. He has worked that World of Bikes, so maybe you know him from there. Otherwise, he’s here on site all the time, and one of the smartest people I know. What’s it called?

Garrett Naughton:

He knows a lot about bikes.

Walter Linares:

Yeah.

Garrett Naughton:

That’s for certain.

Walter Linares:

Yep. I know. But either way, if you ever talked to Drew or Audrey, I’m telling you they’re very extraordinary people. They got a lot to teach and a lot to talk about.

Garrett Naughton:

And when did you start The Bike Library?

Walter Linares:

I’m going to say two years ago. Exact date, I don’t know.

Garrett Naughton:

Yeah.

Walter Linares:

I’ll be honest with you. I work and I don’t realize. I just let time fly and it’s always just a good time here.

Garrett Naughton:

Well, all right. Since you’ve started here at The Bike Library, however long ago it might’ve been, what have you seen grown here at The Bike Library, I guess, since the beginning of your involvement?

Walter Linares:

What’s it called? This is a good question. The Latin community has grown a lot since I’ve been here. I am Latin. What’s it called? My background is Salvadorian, Central America. I am first generation here in the United States. It’s pretty nice to grow a community that I have grown up into and integrated into the bike world that’s predominantly a white business.

Another thing is that we’ve expanded more on our Friday retail, so if you ever come here on a Friday, it’s in Spanish. You’ll hear things, music, in Spanish, and you’ll either have me greet you in Spanish as well, and you kind of just get to learn certain phrases, how to say, “Hi,” and stuff like that. Otherwise, we’ve had a lot of clubs grow as well, too. For example, a little bit more of the Latin stuff, like [Spanish 00:04:02], which is Latin Women on Bikes, and if not that, we have Teen Spark programs that we get to retrofit bikes for teens that don’t have access to resources like that.

Garrett Naughton:

Yeah. And there’s a lot of friends at The Bike Library now that I know that are from that kind of heritage that I’ve been able to have met and there’s some awesome cool people that I think are doing some great things. I know that you guys donate a lot of those what maybe considered scrap. Some people from the community will take that and then donate it to a country.

Walter Linares:

Yes. [inaudible 00:04:40].

Garrett Naughton:

I don’t know exactly. I couldn’t remember the specifics, but yeah. You can-

Walter Linares:

What’s it called? So to add on to that, we have our salvage pile or bikes that we just don’t seem to have time to work on. We’ll have people pick them up and then take them down to Tijuana and Mexico. If not that, in Africa, pretty much anywhere in the world that these parts or bikes can be reused and repurposed. It’s very satisfying to hear and see pictures of kids out in these countries get to use these bikes that don’t get reused here. What’s it called? In Iowa.

Garrett Naughton:

Yeah, I think that speaks a bit to the larger impact that kind of goes beyond just our community here in Iowa City. It’s great to see that you guys are maybe what is not being considered for resale is being still utilized in a different way. I think that speaks to that.

But here, I’m going to rebound it back into … because we’re a public health podcast. I don’t know if you know a lot about it, but public health is basically just the overall health. If you go to a doctor’s office, they’re focusing on your individual health. Public health is the health of a large group of people.

Walter Linares:

Okay.

Garrett Naughton:

That’s kind of how you can explain it. How would you describe The Bike Library’s contribution to the community in a way that is related to health?

Walter Linares:

Let me see. Well, first off, biking is exercise. You know? Wherever you go, you’re moving your legs. You’re pumping sweat out of your body. You know? You’re gassing for air when you hit those really big hills. But it’s satisfying at the end of the day to see how much work you put in, even if you’re just commuting or you’re not an avid biker, but it’s improvement each time you bike. You start noticing little improvements as you go. On top of that, it really helps the environment. You know?Our life goal or mission goal here at The Bike Library is to get more people on bikes. You know? Stop using so much of the fossil fuel and start looking for other resources like the bus transportation and stuff. You know? We don’t want bike to be the only transportation you have, but to be a part of a transportation amongst other choices that you have, that it plays well into the health. You know? It’s a good exercise.

Garrett Naughton:

Yeah, for sure. I mean, me and Walter … I’ve been kind of involved with The Bike Library here for just a little bit just over. I started over the summer a bit and we were able to have a small part in RAGBRAI and we were feeling that after just even this 50 miles, let alone the entire time that one of our friends was doing it, 500 miles.

Walter Linares:

Yeah, I’m telling y’all. If you do RAGBRAI, make sure you have a good [inaudible 00:07:30]. Life lesson learned here.

Garrett Naughton:

He definitely found that out the hard way, but I think there’s lots of events here that we can kind of talk about. Yeah. What kind of programs are available to the community and that you’d like to talk more about and share with the listeners? Because there’s a large amount of involvement that can be done here at The Bike Library.

Walter Linares:

Yes. If you’re trying to find opportunity or a community to join where you want to feel safe or just have an impact into the community or something like that, definitely come down and check us out. For example, we got the WTF, the Women Chants Fem night. If you’re someone who’s looking to find, like I said, a good community where you want to feel comfortable, definitely come check that out every Tuesday night from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at night. You don’t need to be a volunteer, you don’t need to sign up to come show up. Just come here on the time, if you have time, around then, and they’ll greet you with open arms. If you want to learn how to fix a bike, they’ll definitely teach you how to do that.

Otherwise, we got the retail time, which is Rent a Bench. You can come in and learn how to fix a bike so we won’t fix it for you. We want to teach you those skills so that you can continue teaching other people stuff like that. You know? It’s a community where we like to share, what’s it called, knowledge and stuff like that. Not feel like we’re smarter than you or something, smarter than you.

During the summer, we have [Spanish 00:08:59]. I talked a little bit about it earlier. It’s a bike ride every Friday from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. You know? You don’t need to really need experience. You don’t need to be an avid bike rider. If you’re a commuter, that’s great. It’s just a nice way to kind of see more of Iowa and its beauty. There’s a lot more than just corn. You know?

Garrett Naughton:

Yeah.

Walter Linares:

Trust me. There’s a lot more. It’s a very nice way to meet friends. You know? That’s how I met Garrett. What’s it called? I definitely recommend you come and join. If you’re trying to commute during winter, we have a winter cozy. Just come on in and we will get you signed up for it and see if you can get on the list for that.

Garrett Naughton:

Yeah. I mean, speaking towards … you touched on it a little bit, but I’m not exactly from Iowa. But I think the bike culture here is very good. It’s different than, I would say, a bike culture in a bigger city, like Chicago, where it’s less about the actual culture around biking and it’s more just transportation. I think the bike culture here is very interesting in that it draws in a lot of people more so than I’ve ever seen. Do you have anything to kind of say on that?

Walter Linares:

Yeah.

Garrett Naughton:

Just because I like the people I’ve met so far here.

Walter Linares:

Yeah.

Garrett Naughton:

There’s a bunch of bike loving people in here in Iowa City.

Walter Linares:

Oh, you said it. I mean, it’s a growing community, and like you said, right now, it’s more for transportation, but we’d like for it to grow even more from that. Like I said, our goal is to get more people on bikes. There’s a lot to do here, especially if you’re not from here. Like I said, it’s a really cool way just to get to know Iowa. You know? Iowa City specifically. We’re wanting to engage more people in China, better the community, get more involvement, safer, kids riding their bikes to school. You know? It’s a nice thing to see when everybody’s kind of joining in and really putting in effort to improve what we want to grow and diverse more equity in the community and stuff like that.

Garrett Naughton:

Yeah. You guys recently just had a Farm Cycle. Right?

Walter Linares:

Yup. Yup.

Garrett Naughton:

Yeah. I was unfortunately too busy to get involved in that, but I would love to hear more about how that went. I can see on this board over here you guys raised $25,000.

Walter Linares:

You know. I think that’s accurate. I don’t know. You know? You might know a little bit more than that than me. I don’t know, to be honest, but maybe that board is right.

Garrett Naughton:

Okay.

Walter Linares:

Yeah. But yeah, Farm Cycle is an event that’s been hosted for a while. I talked a little bit about our other employees. My boss, Audrey, has been doing it before she joined The Bike Library, and has continued it since. You know? We’re very grateful that we have someone like her who is leading The Bike Library into a new future. You know?

Farm Cycle is just another way to really connect with your local farms and see what they are growing. You know? Organic produce, supporting your farmers. They work very hard for what they do, and the Farm Cycle really does a good job of taking you out there and letting you know what the community offers to you, aside from what you see around you, which is really cool. This is my third year this year that I’ve done it, and before I joined, I did my first year two years ago. Genuinely, it was one of the best experiences I’ve had. It really takes you out of your comfort zone and puts you in a spot where you want to make friends and get to know people and where they come from and stuff like that. You have people who come almost all over the world to really come and join and do this. But yeah, if you’re interested, I’d recommend next year to try it out.

Garrett Naughton:

You say you go to the local farms around the area. Do you get to meet the people who run them and learn about what they do? I guess what farms did you get to visit this year?

Walter Linares:

This year, off the top of my head, I’ll be honest, y’all. I don’t remember. But the farms that we’ve got to visit, there’s always somebody there to really show you around. Man, I’m really drawing a blank right now.

Garrett Naughton:

You’re all good.

Walter Linares:

I got put on the spot, but-

Garrett Naughton:

No, you’re good.

Walter Linares:

What’s it called? We did go to Wilson Orchard.

Garrett Naughton:

Nice.

Walter Linares:

I do remember that one. I believe they’re starting a little apple orchard that you get to walk through and kind of pick apples, which was really cool. We got to try their apples that’s been growing. Let me tell you though. They were worth it. They’re really worth it.

Garrett Naughton:

Did you get to go to Grow: Johnson County? Di you know? Was that a part of it?

Walter Linares:

I’m going to say maybe.

Garrett Naughton:

That’s like the community farm.

Walter Linares:

Yeah.

Garrett Naughton:

Yeah.

Walter Linares:

I’m going to say-

Garrett Naughton:

I think the public health college is a big connection through them, just because it’s a-

Walter Linares:

[inaudible 00:13:49].

Garrett Naughton:

They do a lot of good stuff for the community just by providing. This is a tangent, but they provide people of the community just with resources to grow the food that they like-

Walter Linares:

[inaudible 00:14:01].

Garrett Naughton:

… for maybe immigrants who want to have food from their own home country, they get to do that.

Walter Linares:

Yeah. No, definitely. Community gardens are very must. We, here at The Bike Library, our goal is to maybe get more of that stuff out there. Support your local gardens. There’s a lot of them here in Iowa City, especially in parks. Go check them out.

Garrett Naughton:

Yeah. I guess, I’m going stay focused here on this event kind of aspect. I was a part of two events over the summer. Well, one was kind of a more informal thing. It was when we gave the kids those bikes. I don’t know if that had a name.

Walter Linares:

Oh. What’s it called? So I think you’re talking about the Diversity Market.

Garrett Naughton:

Okay. Yeah.

Walter Linares:

So the Diversity Market is another community-based program that’s been happening for a couple of years now, and that, you can find it … Well, if you know where Taco Bell is here in Iowa City, it’s around that area.

Garrett Naughton:

Oh yeah.

Walter Linares:

What’s it? I’ll come back to that.

Garrett Naughton:

Okay.

Walter Linares:

But what’s it called? It’s just a nice way to get more of the people of color to show their shops. It’s an event that happens on Saturdays during the summer. People of color bring their own shop. You know? They sell pretty much almost anything, food vendors, as well, too. Bike Library was nice enough to be able to go in and give kids bikes for free and the raffle. It’s a lot of fun to see, good music, good food, good people to talk to. Definitely, definitely something to check out for next year.

Garrett Naughton:

And I guess I’m going to kind of shift back over to what you’re talking about for the kind of Rent a Bench. It happens every week and anybody can come and join and you don’t even need to know anything, because that’s what I did. I just showed up and had a bike that was secondhand and I started working on it. I thought it was great. Can you talk more about how you guys are able to teach people who maybe don’t know anything about bikes and are able to give them information that helps them become maybe even masters of working on their own bike?

Walter Linares:

Yeah. I mean, like I said before, we have really good employees. I’ve talked a little bit about Audrey. He’s a great mechanic. And then, we have our lead mechanic, Drew. He is a great teacher, has a lot of great patience, very good patience. You know? We pride ourselves in that. We don’t want to touch your bike. We really want you to feel in control of what you’re doing to your bike. We’re there to take you step-by-step on how to fix your bike, whether that be something simple, like fixing a flat, changing your grips, changing a wheel or your cables, or cable housing. As I’m saying this stuff. Maybe you don’t know what that is, but that’s okay. You know? This is a way for you to feel invited to come down and learn what those components are on your bike. If you’re commuting, like how to maintain your bike for cleaning this, or if you’re running through the winter, how many times do you want to fill up your tire or how did you fill up your tire? Simple stuff like that. You know?

We don’t want you to feel intimidated or feel like you have to know this stuff. It’s a very welcoming place where we want to share our knowledge with you, make you feel empowered, and knowing how to fix your own bike, it’s a really good feeling. Once you get one component done, you kind of start feeling like, “Man, this is not as hard as I thought it was going to be.” And it’s a nice way to invite people in.

Like Garrett said, he started with his own bike, and myself and Drew, we’re there to kind of help. You know? As you know, now, now we’re doing a podcast about The Bike Library, so that’s all I really need to say.

Garrett Naughton:

Yeah. Kind of talking more about the availability for people, what I enjoy is the ability to kind of have these replacement parts or even be able to upgrade higher quality parts that are maybe secondhand, but still perfectly functionable. Do you want to talk a little bit about the kind of donation process and the resale? Because I know we haven’t really even talked about the fact that you guys sell complete bikes, and as is bikes, as well as the … I don’t know. What’s the-

Walter Linares:

Checkout bikes.

Garrett Naughton:

The checkout bikes. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. You want to talk a little bit about that and kind of inform the people if they just want as is bike or check it out a bike just to see?

Walter Linares:

Yeah, so The Bike Library’s been around for 18 plus years. We started with just a checkout bikes, where you can come in, put a down deposit, whatever the bike tag says. Since we’re a non-profit, we don’t charge taxes, so if a bike says 150, 150 is what you’re putting down as a deposit. You get six months to rent out a bike. You don’t need to keep it for the full six months. If you want to bring it back within the week, three months, as long as you bring it back within the six months, we’ll minus $50 from what you originally deposited, which is a really good deal. Genuinely, you’re just paying $50 from the down deposit that you gave, which is really cool. If you like the checkout bike, then you can keep it and we keep the money, as simple as that.

And then, we have as is bikes that are safe to ride. We don’t like to put anything out there that isn’t. Of course, since we’re learning shop, these bikes may need a bit more maintenance, so that’s a nice opener for you to come in and learn how to fix a bike or upgrade components or make it more yours. One thing I always like to tell people is a bike doesn’t have to stay the same. The bike can change to however you really want it. You know? The seat, the handlebars, the tires, the wheels. Whatever is available to that is most definitely changeable.

Garrett Naughton:

Yeah.

Walter Linares:

Yeah.

Garrett Naughton:

As a guy who’s seen Walter’s bikes, I don’t think there’s one thing that stays the same-

Walter Linares:

No.

Garrett Naughton:

… throughout the time that he rides it.

Walter Linares:

No.

Garrett Naughton:

I mean, and how many bikes do you have at this point?

Walter Linares:

At this point?

Garrett Naughton:

Did you downgrade?

Walter Linares:

No, no. I’m about to get another fourth one. You know? Once you get started, once you start learning how to do these things, that addiction starts growing. You know? You need a bike for almost any occasion. You know? Commuting, mountain biking, gravel, or just for fun bike. It’s definitely, definitely a hobby.

Garrett Naughton:

Oh. Yeah. I mean, and the time trial bike that you just keep around, just because-

Walter Linares:

You know.

Garrett Naughton:

You got to go fast.

Walter Linares:

Yeah. You got to build up that speed. You know?

Garrett Naughton:

Yeah. All right. I going to have a go. We’re going to have one last question here. I think that I’ve been able to be lucky enough to get involved with The Bike Library and I was made aware of all the benefits that were made available to me once I did. But if a person that is listening to this, maybe this is the first time hearing about The Bike Library, how could a person listening maybe get involved with the organization or involved with these events that kind of help out the shop?

Walter Linares:

That’s a really good question. If you want to come volunteer, we don’t really have a way you can do it at home. You got to come to the shop during retail day, so Wednesday, Fridays, we’re open from 12:00 to 5:00. Saturdays we’re open from 10:00 to 3:00. Yep. We’re only open three days. I know. Crazy. Otherwise, you can come down to the shop and we’ll get you signed up. I will be your host for the orientation.

If you don’t want to really sign up, but just coming down and help, you’re more than welcome to go to The Bike Library website and you can sign up for our weekly newsletters. It’ll keep you up to date with the events that are coming up. We really appreciate with any help that you can give. It’s not a job. You know? You’re just volunteering. We’re not going to call you when you don’t show up for your shift. It’s just a really nice place for you to come and de-stress if you’ve had a really long day of work or learn more about stuff or have a good time with other people. You know? It’s all volunteer oriented and a lot of it has been thanks to the community and for them to come and donate bikes that they don’t want. Yeah. Thank you.

Garrett Naughton:

For sure. I think we got a lot of great information here about The Bike Library, but if you want to learn more, it’d be bikelibrary.com. Yeah.

Walter Linares:

Yeah.

Garrett Naughton:

Bikelibrary.com. I think what we will be able to do is set it up so if you’re really interested, we can have a link be involved within the episode, or whatever, but I just wanted to say, “Thank you,” to Walter for taking the time. We’ve been trying to schedule this for a good amount of time now. We’re both busy guys. There was even a consideration to do it real late at night.

Walter Linares:

Yeah. Yeah. I’m committed to it. I’m very committed to it.

Garrett Naughton:

Yeah, I mean, I feel like you’re the marketing man for The Bike Library.

Walter Linares:

Oh, no. Yeah. I appreciate the compliment, but just it’s a team-based thing.

Garrett Naughton:

Yeah.

Walter Linares:

You know?

Garrett Naughton:

Definitely. It’s a great team. I’ve been enjoying all of the cool connections I’ve been able to make here, so just giving back and being able to advertise it a little bit more into maybe a different crowd of people. From the Front Row. That’ll be all from us.

Walter Linares:

Thank you. Have a nice day.

Lauren Lavin:

That’s it for our episode this week. Big thank you to Walter for joining us on the podcast today. This episode was hosted and written by Garrett Naughton and edited and produced by Garrett and Lauren Lavin. You can learn more about the University of Iowa College of Public Health on Facebook. Our podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. If you enjoyed this episode and would like to help support the podcast, please share it with your colleagues, friends, or anyone interested in public health. Have a suggestion for our team? You can reach us at CPH-Gradambassador@uiowa.edu. This episode is brought to you by the University of Iowa College of Public Health. Until next week, stay healthy, stay curious, and take care.