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, July 28

Driveway Crit Series
5 PM, The Driveway, 8400 Delwau Lane
Weekly Thursday night road racing through October that takes place on the closed car-free driving course at the Driveway. Races include Cat 3/4 women’s and juniors race at 5:00, Cat 3/4 Race and Women’s Open at 5:30, Kids Fun Lap at 6:20, Cat 4/5 Race at 6:25, Pro/Cat 1/2/3 at 6:55 and Masters at 7:55. Races registration $20 for Men, $15 for Women, & $10 for Juniors/College Students. Full season passes and discount punch cards available. USA Cycling annual or one day license and helmet required. One days for sale at race.

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 article on bike polo for more info.

Farmers Market Ride hosted by ACA
6 PM, Blockbuster Video, 3563 Far W Blvd
Join the Austin Cycling Association for a 15-20 mile social ride (12 mph pace), with a stop at the Burnet Road Farmers Market. Ride Organizer: Niles Seldon, 512-346-8073, nseldon@ix.netcom.com

Thursday Night Social Ride
7:30 PM, Festival Beach (north side of Lady Bird Lake just east of I-35)
Now winner of two 2010 Best of Austin Awards! “We haven’t spent much time south of the river this summer so this week we’ll be taking a south route and our after party will be hosted by the fine people at Uncle Billy’s on Barton Springs! They’ve been generous enough to provide us with a FREE keg of their fine brew and three dollar pints of the rest of their regular drafts! Don’t forget to try bring some extra loot for some barbecue if you have a hunger. This week will be a blast!!” Meet up at 7:30, ride at 8:00. Read our article on the weekly ride.

Friday, July 29

June Critical Mass Ride
5 PM, West Mall UT Campus
This bike jamming ride is designed to shout to the world that bikes belongs and occurs on the last Friday of the month. You never know what will happen, but don’t miss this foundation of the Austin bike culture we know today.

Saturday, July 30


LIVESTRONG Challenge Austin – Kick Off Party
7 AM, LIVESTRONG HQ, 2201 E. Sixth St.
Looking for a great way to spend a Saturday? Join LIVESTRONG as they kick-off a countdown to the Team LIVESTRONG Challenge Austin by hosting a training ride and run. Free breakfast, product sampling, and apparel clinics will be offered. Afterwards, you can tour LIVESTRONG HQ and learn about great local products to help you on event day. Training Rides are 20 and 40 miles. Training Runs are 3 and 6 miles.

Mellow Johnny’s Scout-A-Ride: Southern Culture (off the grid)
8:30 AM, Mellow Johnny’s, 400 Nueces St
Saturday mornings spent exploring City of Austin bike routes finding new neighborhoods and ways to get around on your bike. This week’s theme: Southern Culture (off the grid). This 18-mile route takes us south of downtown via Bouldin, rolling through the Emerald Forest and returning via Forest Wood and Robert E. Lee. The routes are designed to help riders navigate the city bike routes and other safe bike commuting options. Come by at 8:00 for coffee. Helmets required. If driving to the shop, please park in the street.Contact:Stephanie at Stephanie@mellowjohnnys.com.

Bodhi Electric Bicycle Demo Day
10 AM- 6 PM, Alien Scooters, 1122-B South Lamar Blvd
Ft. Worth based Bodhi Bicycles specializes in a sport and step-through model of electric bikes paired with Austin’s own NuVinci gearless hub. They are new to the Austin market with bikes available to test ride and purchase at Alien Scooters starting with a demo day this Saturday, July 30 from 10-6 PM and special pricing on accessories and tune ups.

Frankenbike #72
10 AM- 4 PM, Tsunami Cycles, 2114 1/2 South Congress Ave
Austin’s monthly free bike swap returns. If you’ve got bike stuff to sell or trade, just show up with a table or blanket to hawk your wares.

Sunday, July 31

AFWC Ladies Ride
7:30 AM, Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop, 400 Nueces St.
Join the women of the Austin Flyers Women’s Cycling Club every Sunday for an intermediate, ladies-only ride. This friendly, 2.5-3 hour ride averages 15-16 mph, with routes varying each week. It is a great opportunity for women looking to continue their fitness, learn new routes and meet new riding partners. Beginner women are encouraged to check out the Saturday Scout-a-Route ride for a shorter, more casual route.

Jack’s Generic Triathlon
8 AM, Texas Ski Ranch, 6700 North Ih 35, New Braunfels, TX
Jack’s Generic Triathlon was founded by Jack Murray in 2003, at a time when he thought many triathlons had forgotten about the participants. Events had become so focused on getting big sponsors, accommodating pro athletes, and trying to look good that they sometimes neglected the actual product – the race. Athletes ended up paying more, but their racing experience was actually less. Jack had the idea to put on a race with very little pomp & circumstance, yet at the core be a great race. The course is short enough for the beginner, and still challenging enough for the experienced athletes to ‘light it up’. The ‘relatively short’ swim is held in the Texas Ski Ranch cable lake, free from any boats. The bike and run are held on back country central Texas roads with little to no traffic. The event concludes with a party with free burgers, beer, and ice cream. Sprint Distance: 500m Swim, 13.8 mile bike, 3 mile run.

Femme Pedále Ride hosted by Social Cycling Austin
7 PM, Festival Beach, 2101 Jesse E Segovia St.
OH YES IT’S LADIES’ NIGHT. Oh, what a night. That’s right, the ride you’ve all been waiting for has reared it’s head full of long, lustrous locks. Come meet us on Sunday for our Ladies’ Night Out. We’ll start at Festival Beach, ride around like we do, then finish off out at the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge (likely around 9-10pm). After-ride funtastic adventures are up for suggestion. This ride aims to promote female butts on bikes via a fun, weekly, ladies-only ride that is geared (pun intended) towards encouraging novice women to feel improvement and ease when riding in groups and to provide more experienced ladies a weekly with our fellow bike sisters. You can expect a pace a little faster than the Thursday Night Social Party Spazztastic Ride, but not quite as fast as the Fast Folks Ladies’ Crazy Haul-Ass Ride. Get there around 7:00 for some happy talky dancey time. We’ll take off around 7:30pm.

Tuesday, August 1

Austin Bike Chix Beginner Ride
6:30 PM, Northwest District Park, 7000 Ardath St.
There is a new series of bike rides in town for those new to cycling or for those that just need to dust off that bike. Austin Bike Chix will be offering a series of rides to Austin Area adults. The rides will start at Northwest Park on March 22 at 6:30 PM and will continue on Tuesdays for 6 weeks. The series of rides will be more like mini clinics (with topics ranging from chains to hills) to give new riders knowledge about the bike and confidence to be able to do the shorter distances on some of the local charity rides and beginner rides in town. These rides are perfect for those wanting to do ride in the Tour de Cure or are a first time triathlete. We will be riding on the road, all bikes are welcome. All rides are free.

Wednesday, August 2


An Evening with Sally Edwards
5:30 PM, Bicycle Sport Shop, 517 S. Lamar Blvd
Join Bicycle Sport Shop for an evening with best-selling author and legendary triathlete Sally Edwards to jump start the Trek Women’s Tri training season. There will be goodie bags from Trek, raffles, tri apparel markdowns, demos and more. Join us and make it a girls night out. RSVP here.

Leander / Cedar Park Social Ride
Meet up at 7 PM, Ride at 7:30 PM, Robin Bledsoe Park, 601 S. Bagdad Rd, Leander, TX
The Leander / Cedar Park Social Ride is held every Wednesday at 7pm at Robin Bledsoe Park at 601 S. Bagdad Rd. In Leander Tx. We usually roll out around 7:30 – 7:45 sharp and welcome and encourage riders of most skill levels no matter what type of bike you ride. I say most skill levels because we do ride at night along streets and usually only go about 10-14 miles and a fairly slow pace. The routes change up sometimes and there are often themes to the rides, just to keep it fun. Drinking usually ensues but not by everyone. We do occasionally have kids that ride with us and we do try to keep to non busy-ish streets and some sidewalks when the streets are busy. We encourage lights and helmets and obeying the law for the most part. We do ride with traffic not against it. I’m sure its pretty obvious that we have pretty much modeled ourselves after the Thursday Nighs Social Ride only in Leander on a different night and a lot smaller.

Restorative Yoga for Cyclists
7:30 PM, Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop, 400 Nueces St
Spend your winter keeping the body warmed and relaxed with Restorative Yoga for Cyclists at Mellow’s Johnny’s. Long miles accompanied by yoga will help you release tension, stay injury-free and set you up for a blazing Spring. Our class is great for non-cyclists, beginners and elite athletes. Join us after a ride, run or long day at work or school. Every Wednesday 7:30-8:30pm (downstairs) Suggested donation of $10 or $5 if you bike ride to class. Mat provided by MJ’s.