On Saturday, the site Tasty Touring organized the Tasty Up Trailer Tour, a self paced tour of many of the trailer eateries that have become so popular in Austin as of late. Biking was encouraged in these tours, but because the geographic distance covered between all points, the tour organizers conceded that those wanting to make every stop would probably not be up to biking it all.

My wife and I loaded our kids on our cargo bikes and headed out midday on Saturday to the first stop of the tour, the coffee and pastry La Boite on South Lamar. We arrived about 30 minutes after the “start” of the tour, yet nearly 100 people were there enjoying the day and tasting the offerings. At La Boite, good French press coffee was complemented with excellent mini Mexican-style pastries with none of the dryness I normally associate with these type of treats. While there, we also sampled a 1/4 Texas Cuban sandwich with plantain chips at the Texas Cuban trailer in the same lot. These eateries were on a large grassy area which was good as we waited nearly an hour for our sliver of a sandwich due to the large number of people at the start. The field allow my children to run and play catch while we waited. The plantains were great and the sandwich well done but not worthy of the wait. Fidgety kids in tow we headed to the next stop.

When I RSVP’d for the tour, I misunderstood and thought there would be a map or stop list at the beginning. This was truly self paced with name tags the only tour supplied equipment. Luckily, my wife was much more prepared and had printed the list so off we went off to the trio of trailers on South Lamar next door to Genie carwash. One thing that struck me about the stops were how bicycle hostile they were. Located sensibly enough by busy thoroughfares, getting from stop to stop included crossing busy multiple lane roads with no bike lanes, creative route selection or riding on sidewalks. When traveling with our children, this was doubly noticeable. I do not fault the organizers as this is where these places are, but a map of suggested bike friendly routes might have been helpful. I found this bike/ped hostile environment more an indictment of our car centric city and was encouraged by the number of people I saw participating in the face of this. Just think how many people would be riding bicycles if we actually built the roads to accommodate these users. But I digress. Continue reading →

Here’s is the week that was in cycling via the abridged version of Austin on Two Wheel’s Twitter feed.

This gives those not on Twitter or who missed our Tweets a chance to check out interesting bike related articles, photos, and videos from the week that might not warrant a full post on our site. If you want more up to the minute info, you can follow us on Twitter by adding us to your following list here or by adding “austinon2wheels.”

1. “Does sexism exist in the bicycling world?” An Interview with Bike Portland’s Elly Blue. http://tiny.cc/jU3S2
2. Help injured cyclist Mariel Mentink at benefit party tonight! http://tiny.cc/Z5LEw
3. Friday Film Fun: Strict Liability http://tiny.cc/e0Pij
4. RT @AustinCycling Armadillo Hill Country Classic – May 8 – Registration open! http://www.RidetheArmadillo.org
5. RT @BSS_Austin SELF TREATMENT & INJURY PREVENTION SEMINAR, February 20th – 11 a.m. – Noon, Bicycle Sport Shop, http://schmap.it/sd9p37
6. CapMetro gets $24m to put #rapidbustransit where light rail should have gone. Transit where people live & work? Radical http://tiny.cc/CZw7z
7. In 3 months of the 3 ft passing rule, APD has ticketed 0 drivers. Are we really educated or is someone not doing a job? http://tiny.cc/TVWfe

8. Austin Bike Culture Calendar Events: 2/4- 2/10/10 http://tiny.cc/yo0Is
9. Great Southwest Bike Swap in Ft Worth this weekend http://tiny.cc/mfVfp
10. Sweet! Looking forward to SXSW mobile social RT @bikehugger Hed Wheels is back at the Mobile Socials with us this year. Win a set of wheels. Continue reading →

Social Cycling ATX is pulling out all the stops to help Mariel Mentink, a cyclist put in ICU by a hit and run driver early on New Year’s Day. They are organizing a Friday night version of their social ride with the final stop being a benefit for Mariel’s medical fund.

The Benefit Ride and Party for Mariel Mentink
Friday, February 5
Meet at 7:30 PM @ the Lamar Blvd Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge

A nice long cruise around the city ending at Red 7, 611 E. 7th St. There will be live music from Broken Gold, Tia Carrerra, and Black Panda, a dj dance party, Mediterranean food and raffles every 30 minutes or so starting at 11pm. There is a suggested donation of $5 at the door which gives you a raffle ticket. Additional tickets are available for $2 each.

Raffle Prizes include: Gift certificates from local bike shops, complimentary tabs at local drinking establishments, dinner for two catered to your home by Xen Kitchen, a year subscription to The Dropout bike zine and cycling caps handmade by Mariel herself.

If you can’t make it or want to help more, you can donate to Mariel’s medical fund at http://www.supportmarielmentink.com/.

OK, many of you may not find talking about the assignment of liability particularly fun, but it is more relevant considering the recent report that three months after the passage of Austin’s 3 foot safe passing ordinance, APD has issued no tickets under the new law. For those of us riding on the streets, we know that there was not a sudden outbreak of courteous driving and whether APD considers this a priority or not, the police simply cannot be all places at all times.

Copenhagenize had a post this week with this video about the concept of strict liability which has been widely adopted in Europe and may account for the reason bikes, pedestrians, and cars interact more harmoniously in these countries.

Essentially, strict liability says that since a car is many times more powerful than cyclists and pedestrians and that the consequences of car accidents with this group are so deadly, the default assignment of liability in these accidents falls with the motorist.

Some find this concept radical, but I think it would go a long way towards dispelling the cavalier attitude may drivers have about speed and attentiveness. Continue reading →

This week is a great one for social riding in Austin. In addition to Tasty Touring’s Trailer Tour on Saturday, Social Cycling ATX has really stepped up with not only their regular Thursday Night Ride but volunteering at a Kids Bike Rodeo and ride to the Benefit Party for Mariel Mentink on Friday.

Here’s a quick run down of recommended events for the coming week from our comprehensive calendar of all cycling events. Thanks to Jason at ATXBS for letting us know about some events we couldn’t find elsewhere. As always, if there is an event you know about that’s not on our calendar contact us, and we’ll add your event on and possibly add it to the weekly round up.

Thursday, February 4

Thursday Night Bike Polo
5:30 PM, Eastwoods Park, 3001 Harris Park Ave
The Austin Bike Polo Club’s weekday match. All bikes and skill levels are welcome and spare mallets and balls are available if you don’t have any. Check out our recent article on bike polo for more info.

Thursday Night Social Ride
7:30 PM, The Scoot Inn, 1308 E. 4th St. (Corner of 4th and Navasota
A ride from the Facebook group Social Cycling ATX. that has gotten so big it had to abandon the Pfluger Bridge start location. Meet  at 7:30 p.m. leave at 8 p.m. Details on this week’s ride: “his is a busy week for Social Cycling ATX. On Friday we are working the Kids Bike Rodeo as well as throwing a benefit for Mariel, but first we have to attend to the business of the Thursday Night Social Ride. This week we are taking our usual ride around, with a short stop at a park, some fun, a game of footdown and some more riding. After we are done riding we are heading to a new club for our afterparty this week. Encore on Red River has invited the Social Ride this week for our traditional beering and specials. Encore is the former location of Spiros, but don’t worry about any shootouts (google “Spiro’s guns”), guns are getting checked at the door” Read our recent article on the popular weekly ride.

Friday, February 5

Kids Bike Rodeo
Noon, Bicycle Sport Shop, 517 S. Lamar Blvd
Here is a great opportunity for you to do something fun and help out with a great biking event FOR KIDS. We are going to provide volunteers for the Patsy Sommer Elementary School Bike Rodeo that kicks off a program to promote biking to school. We are going to help over 1000 kids get fitted with helmets, make sure their bikes are in good working order and run a few safety courses to teach the kids how to safely bike to school. The whole event is going down to kick off the Freiker program at the school. It’s a high tech version of the commuter challenge that will track each kid’s trips to school and let them see their results on the internet. More here: http://www.freiker.org/bp/How_It_Works. Meet at Bicycle Sport Shop to carpool to Patsy Sommer Elementary.

Fabulous Fixed First Friday
6 PM, Capitol Grounds
The first friday of the month means Fabulous Fixed First Friday alleycat races. Bring $5, a bag and a fixed gear bike to race. This month’s theme is Art Bike Grimes with an art show and after party at Uncle Billy’s starting at 7 PM.

The Benefit Party for Mariel Mentink
7:30 PM, Lamar Blvd Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge
This Friday Social Cycling ATX is putting on a very special event. Most of you have heard about Mariel’s biking story of being the victim of a hit and run on New Years Eve. She has been in the ICU for a month now, has had numerous operations and is now facing lots of rehab. Her family is terrific. They remain very pro-cycling and very supportive of our community we have here. They are facing a large amount of medical bills. So this Friday night, we are having a special ride/event to raise some money to help Mariel and her family out and do what we do best… ride around and have fun. A nice long cruise around the city ending at Red 7. There we will have bands, a dj dance party, mediterranean food and raffles every 30 minutes or so starting at 11pm. There is a suggested donation of $5 at the door, but feel free to give more as your money will go towards helping Mariel return to good health. For your donation you will get one free raffle ticket. Additional tickets are available for a suggested $2 donation.

Saturday, February 6

The Belterra Romantico Classico Road Race
8 AM- 5 PM, 1001 Belterra Drive
A 2-mile circuit w/ 3-turns, 1-long gradual grade, and 1-short slightly steep hill that can be ridden up in the big ring. Smooth asphalt. Roads are closed to normal traffic. Warm up area provided. Break in the new Texas State Cup season with $8,000 CASH in Austin, Texas.

The Dirty Dozen 12 Hour & Super Six 6 Hour Mountain Bike Race
8 AM, Bluff Creek Ranch, Warda, TX
This race is a 12 and 6 Hour mountain bike relay race on an 8+ mile single-track course.  Teams try to log as many laps as possible, with only 1 member riding at a time, in the 12 hour time period.  This race may also be done solo.

Tasty Up Trailer Tour
Noon- 6 PM, Start at La Boite (1700 S. Lamar Blvd.) or Trailer Perk (1602 E. Sixth St.)
Local food and eating blog Tasty Touring is at it again organizing what sounds like a really fun bicycle tour of some of the best trailer eateries that have become increasingly popular in Austin in the last few years. They’ll be organizing a self paced trailer tour. At 5 p.m., we’ll start to trickle in to the Liberty Bar (1618 1/2 E 6th St) for drinks and food from East Side King, which is located in the patio of the Liberty and is run by chefs who also work at Uchi. RSVP here.

Grand Opening of Slaughter Creek Trail
1 PM, Slaughter Creek Trail, 9901 FM 1826
The Slaughter Creek Trail was opened to the public but water flow over a section of trail made it necessary to close the trail to users until armoring of the affected section can be completed. Trail Steward Britt Jones has been leading volunteers who have put in countless hours to getting these improvements implemented. The City of Austin Water Utility (City) owns and maintains the Water Quality Protection Lands (WQPL’s) and Slaughter Creek Trail is not a park, but rather a sensitive environmental area that is preserved in order to protect and improve the quality of water entering the aquifer. Please join the City of Austin Water Utility as we celebrate the grand opening of the Slaughter Creek trail! If you will be attending please RSVP. Parking is limited, so please carpool. Event will take place rain or shine. Wear comfortable shoes and clothes.

TXBRA 2009 Awards Party
7 PM, Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop, 400 Nueces St
Super cool awards and a hot new jersey (for the winner) will be awarded to the top 3 in each competition, across ALL cups (Premier, State, and all Regional). While some of the competitions didn’t meet the minimum of 8 events, it was decided for 2009 we would hand out awards for all of them regardless of the number of events. All award winners will be notified by email, if available, as well as posted on the General Forum on TXBRA’s website. Continue reading →

If you haven’t been able to find just the right hub, gruppo, or handlebar while pursuing the monthly Frankenbike or last fall’s Mellow Swap, you might want to make a trip up I-35 this weekend to the Great Southwest Bike Swap.

In its third year, this is a one day event where bicycle shops, frame builders and independent bike geeks can buy, sell, trade and show bicycle stuff from all over Texas. There will be several Texas custom framebuilders in attendance showing off their latest creations.

Admission is free, but there will be a raffle at $2/ticket or $5 for 3 for a chance to win a set of Mavic wheels.

Visit the Great Southwest Bike Swap website for info on reserving a booth for $15 outside or $30 inside.

Great Southwest Bike Swap
Sunday, February 7th
9:00 a.m.– 3:00 p.m.
Tarrant County Resource Connection
1100 Circle Drive – Building 2300
Fort Worth, Texas
Directions here.

After a last minute cancellation last week, Daniel Sato sent out an e-mail confirming this week’s ride is on tonight. With rain projected through the evening, you might want to slap on some fenders if you can.

Cutting it close with the short notice this week, but with rain in the forecast, we have a shot at a seriously epic ride! Lights will be important. For the route, I’m thinking of switching it up and running Old Spicewood – that goes through the woods and basically runs into McNeil. Fun place to ride at night, but totally unlit. Watch out for javelinas!

Wednesday Night Road Ride XXVIII
Wed, Feb 3
7 PM
Drungo Ice House (29th and Rio Grande)

Join the Wednesday Night Road Ride Facebook group to get reminders and last minute updates on this weekly ride.

Member and alternate slots opens up on BAC

This morning, Nadia Barrera from the Bicycle/Pedestrian Program at the City of Austin sent out the update below on upcoming projects for the year including these drawings for the much anticipated completion of the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge extension over Cesar Chavez. In addition to these projects, the City is also moving forward on a Request for Interest on the creation of bicycle safety videos as part of the public education campaign in the Master Bicycle Plan.

Finally, the Bicycle Advisory Council is short a full member and an alternate. Those interested in applying may do so by contacting Nadia at (512) 974-7142 or nadia.barrera@ci.austin.tx.us. If you have recently applied, you may ask her to simply re-submit your earlier application. Voting on new members will occur at the February 18 BAC meeting.

2010 Project Update

So it is a new year, and many of us have put together resolutions, goals and promises for a bright, fit, and fun 2010.  To that end, the Neighborhood Connectivity Division (comprised of the Bicycle, Pedestrian, Child Safety, and Urban Trails Program) wants to help you move around Austin in a healthy, sustainable, fun way.  We have a couple of big projects that we are working on this year that will hopefully bring new bicycle riders to our streets, and help those of you that have been riding for years appreciate the small changes that we make to better accommodate your bicycle riding lifestyle. Continue reading →

Here’s is the week that was in cycling via the abridged version of Austin on Two Wheel’s Twitter feed.

This gives those not on Twitter or who missed our Tweets a chance to check out interesting bike related articles, photos, and videos from the week that might not warrant a full post on our site. If you want more up to the minute info, you can follow us on Twitter by adding us to your following list here or by adding “austinon2wheels.”

1. Gross! Texas police, contrary to law, giving cyclist on 4 lane road ticket for impeding traffic. http://tiny.cc/YCr7I

2. Death of vehicular cycling philosophy?: How an integrationist became a segregationist http://tiny.cc/aA3pd

3. A classic! Friday Film Fun: Computers are like a bicycle for our minds http://tiny.cc/e9Q81

4. Jens … Voigt … is … awesome. RT @GlennGarry No saddle? No problem — for Jens. http://twitpic.com/1092zn /via @BikeCrave

5. RT @FilmedByBike Getting ready for the Tweed Ride on Saturday and found this stylish (albeit staged) tall bike photo. http://ow.ly/11ASk

6. In no way bike related but very, very funny: How To Report The News http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtGSXMuWMR4

7. Heard through the grape vine that there will be a spring @Dirtderby series starting in mid-February. More details as I get them.

8. Austin Bike Culture Calendar Events: 1/28- 2/3/10 http://austinontwowheels.org/2010/01/28/austin-bike-culture-calendar-events-128-2310/

9. Why swapping to hybrid cars will do almost nothing to prepare for the economics of the future: http://bit.ly/9t051q via @AlexSteffen

10. RT @bikeblognyc New post: Tall Bike Joust app is out. http://tr.im/LMoh Continue reading →

With all the hubbub around the release of Apple’s new iPad, it’s only appropriate that we reach way back in the archives to the mid 1980s Steve Jobs for this clip showing the bicycle as the most efficient form of transportation on the planet.