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NOTE: Go vote for your favorite Pedal Craft poster(s)! Voting will help decide which posters get printed for the show on Sept. 28. You may vote for as few or as many as your heart desires. Deadline: Noon, Friday, Sept. 14, 2012. (Firefox users: fire up another browser to participate in the voting process. UPDATE: Fixed – Firefox away!)

Event Brings Bikes, Art, and Building Community to Downtown Phoenix, Sept. 28

PEDAL CRAFT PHX VOLUME TWO rides into downtown Phoenix to fuse bicycles, art, and community in celebration of the city’s growing urban bike scene. The one night event will feature hundreds of bicyclists, a bicycle-themed poster show, a display of unique bicycle racks, a nationally acclaimed biking advocate and author, and rides to dining “hotspots” in downtown Phoenix. PEDAL CRAFT PHX will take place on Friday, September 28, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., at Kitchen Sink Studios Gallery, 828 North Third Street. Admission is free.

Pedal Craft Volume Two organizers line up their bicycles at Kitchen Sink Studios, site of the September 28 event. Left to right: Nicole Underwood, Cindy Dach, Jess Trounce, Dorina Bustamante, Jonce Walker, Keith Mulvin, and Doug Penick. Photo by Timothy R. Boyd.

Twenty-five local graphic designers will show their original bicycle-themed poster artwork, available for sale for $20 per poster. A percentage of the proceeds from the poster show will be donated to the Rusty Spoke Community Bicycle Collective, a volunteer-run organization situated on Lower Grand Avenue and dedicated to local bicycle advocacy.

SideWalk Phoenix, an advocacy group for walkable, bikeable, and livable communities, will display a dozen one-of-a-kind bicycle racks designed and fabricated by local artists, metal sculptors, and celebrities. The racks will then be offered for sale to local businesses in need of bike parking for their customers.

Throughout the evening, several bike groups will lead rides of various difficulties (from novice to hardcore) to downtown Phoenix restaurants and pubs that have installed bike racks and are offering special menu discounts for PEDAL CRAFT PHX participants.

At 8 p.m., biking advocate Grant Petersen will sign available for sale copies of his new book, Just Ride: A Radically Practical Guide to Riding Your Bike. A former racer who commutes by bike daily, Petersen writes for major bicycling and outdoor magazines, and is founder of Rivendell Bicycle Works. In Just Ride, he shares a lifetime of facts, controversial opinions, expert techniques, and his own maverick philosophy in short chapters that emphasize fun and joy over the grinds of racing.

PEDAL CRAFT PHX is part of Phoenix Design Week, September 24-30. Now in its fourth year, Phoenix Design Week will welcome thousands of designers from across the country to participate in dozens of events and exhibitions, culminating in a two-day conference of inspirational keynotes at the Phoenix Convention Center. In addition to Phoenix Design Week and AIGA, sponsors and community partners of PEDAL CRAFT PHX include: Arizona State University School of Geographic Sciences & Urban Planning, AZ Fixed, AZ Pro, Bicycle Cellar, Changing Hands Bookstore, Continental Shift, Critical Mass, Evans Churchill Community Association, Heavy Pedal, Kitchen Sink Studios, Lost Creature, Momentum Magazine, New Belgium Brewing, PHX Bike, Roosevelt Row CDC, SideWalk Phoenix, Slippery Pig Bike Shop, State Bicycle Co., Synergy Design Lab, Tempe Bicycle Action Group, Urban Initiatives, Valley Metro, and Visionyard Photography.

For more information about PEDAL CRAFT PHX, visit pedalcraftphx.com; for Phoenix Design Week, visit phxdw.com; for SideWalk Phoenix, visit facebook.com/SideWalkPhoenix; and for Rusty Spoke, visit rustyspoke.org