Grease Rag’s Annual Winter Skill Share & Gear Swap 2023

Join us for another year of learning, connecting, and sharing what we have to usher a community of FTW people on bikes through another Minnesotan winter! (FTW = femme, transgender, non-binary, two-spirit folks, women identified) (not cis men who benefit from cis male privilege)

Sunday, November 12
12:30-4:30pm
Minneapolis Central Library, Pohlad Hall, 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis

We will have a series of skill shares to help share the basics of winter biking, in a safer space.

Bike Maintenance
What to Wear
Self Care
Safety, Handling, and Routing
After the skill share there will be a community gear swap with essential winter items.

Things to know about the Skill Share
This is by and for FTW. If you are a cis man and benefit from cis male privilege, this event is not for you.

Masks are required in the presentation space. The smaller classroom has snacks and will be mask optional. There will be an air purifier in the classroom. The library does not require masks. We will be providing masks to our participants. Please test within 24 hours of the event. Please stay home if you have a positive test or feel any symptoms.

This event is FREE. We want to keep things as accessible as possible to FTW, so this event, like all of our events, are volunteer-organized and run.

We run on DONATIONS of labor and goods. If you would like to donate your labor (volunteer) or goods (gear swap, snack table), please contact us at greaseragmpls at gmail

The gear swap will contain goods donated by community members like you! Bring a sweater you outgrew, studded tires you want to pass on, or base layers you no longer need, for example. There is a craft party where we get together and sew some basic hats and buffs to give away to our community for free. First-time winter bikers are given priority at the swap.

The skill shares are meant to share the basics with you. We encourage you to engage with our social media, make real life connections with people at the skill share, and to attend open shops if you wish to learn more. Because there are so many approaches to biking, like life, it is impossible for us to tell you every detail of everything you might need to know! So be prepared to have some lingering questions- but don’t worry, we have a large community of people who are interested in helping you.
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Check out our Winter Craft Party pre-WSS:
Saturday, November 4
2-5pm
Walker Library, 2880 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis

Organized by Karla and Christina, this is our annual craft party to make warm things for new FTW winter bikers! Bring a sewing machine and supplies, and we have the fabric and patterns. Together, we piece together hats, buffs, and headbands to give away for free. Contact us at greaseragmpls at gmail if you have any questions or want to get involved!
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Check out post WSS:
Hands-on Bike Maintenance
A deeper dive into what kind of maintenance you should do on your bike during the winter. Hosted by Ilse and Helena at Bike MN.

Wednesday, November 15
6-8pm
Bike MN, 3745 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis