To all our friends, family, the cycling community and everyone who wants to make Austin a better place, thank you for your generous support of our social ride series pilot. In 7 days, you helped us smash our goal of $5000 with a final amount of $5,808 raised on Kickstarter.

Keith Byrd and I are really looking forward to showing off the best on Austin on two wheels in the coming weeks. We are putting the final touches on our rides today and will send out an e-mail to all our donors in the next 24 hours with a link to register for these great events. Donors will be given a first shot to register before we open up the rides to the general public.

If you still want to help with this project and missed the Kickstarter deadline, we can still take your contribution through the Austin on Two Wheels online store (click the donate button on the right) or by check payable to “Austin on Two Wheels” mailed to:

Austin on Two Wheels
ATTN: Elliott McFadden
4032 S Lamar Ste 500 Box 146
Austin, TX 78704

Any additional funds raised will go to making the events better and promoting them to more of our community.

I am truly humbled by the outpouring of support. Thank you.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

I am working on an exciting new project in Austin that I believe is a piece of the sustainability puzzle and will help put more people on bicycles.

I am working to launch a new kind of bike shop in downtown Austin that is dedicated to the simple pleasure of riding with friends, not competition or workouts. Part of the store will be ongoing social rides and tours in downtown Austin involving shops, restaurants, theater, arts, family, etc. This shop is part of a vision to provide great equipment and friendly, welcoming experiences to get more people riding bikes. With your help, we’ll bring this cool service to Austin.

I have some investors interested in funding the full startup project if we can do a successful pilot example of these events. In April, I am putting on a three ride series called Discover the City on Two Wheels Spring Urban Living Rides:

Ride #1- Taste of Downtown Tour: We’ll be stopping at three great downtown restaurants to sample some of the best locally made food our town has to offer. Scheduled for Saturday, April 10.

Ride #2- Pampered Pedal Ride: Shopping local around downtown followed by a mini-spa stop for relaxation. Scheduled for Saturday, April 17.

Ride #3 – Boggy Creek Farm Picnic: We’ll ride to an organic urban farmer to take in the the finest in locally grown food with local chef who will teach us how to prepare a meal with in-season, local food. We’ll enjoy the dish prepared and have an opportunity to buy the ingredients to cook our selves. Scheduled for Saturday, April 24.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

I would love for all of you to participate in the rides, but to make it happen I need the financial support of my friends. I have launched a funding campaign through the site Kickstarter. I’m asking people to support this project through a contribution pledge of $5, $10, $25, or $100 by noon, April 1. We have met our fundraising goal through Kickstarter but will happily still take contributions to make the events better and promoting them to more of our community.

I believe in a vision for Austin where a majority of Austinites use bikes and view them as legitimate transportation. The shop and rides we are working on are part of reaching that vision. I’ve already put in countless hours and a sizable amount of my own money to make this series work, but I cannot do it alone.

If you share my vision of getting more people on bikes or just think this is neat and want to help me out, please make a contribution today.