The 18th Annual Armadillo Hill Country Classic
Austin Cycling Association
The ACA needs you! Be sure to join us and volunteer for the 18th annual Armadillo Hill Country Classic ride on May 12th from Liberty Hill High School!

The Armadillo Hill Country Classic is a multi-distance, fully supported bike course that depends on 100+ volunteers for it’s success.

Volunteers are the heart and soul of the…

El Paso Bicycle Club Ride
Caterpillar Crawl Sunday, April 22
Description:     Meet at Rio Plaza for a very moderate climb over Transmountain then back via Anthony Gap. 45 miles. Larry Reid, 915-241-7160.

Zavala Elementary: Model of a Successful Elementary School Bike Club
www.biketexas.org
The success of the Zavala Elementary School bike club, The Freewheelin’ Mustangs, is a model for increasing biking and walking. The National Center for Safe Routes to School (SRTS) releases new travel mode report on characteristics called Shifting Modes: A comparative Analysis of SRTS Program Elements and Travel Mode Outcomes that identify the following four key factors that make a SRTS program…

Houston bicyclist aims to ride 24 hours, 500 miles, with no brakes.
Houston Chronicle

Cyclist willing to ride in circles for his cause While thousands prepare for the two-day MS 150 ride from Houston to Austin, Walter Dawes, a local bike mechanic, is readying himself for something more daunting and solitary. The disease primarily strikes children, and can cause cancer-like damage to the body. The feat, billed as “Big Fix 24,” is a throwback to tough times generations ago when people held 24-hour dance-a-thons and sat on flag poles, he said. In 2008, he was on his way to a similar goal at the track, which is owned by the city and run by the Greater Houston Cycling Foundation, when a fellow cyclist, riding nearby to encourage him, slid on dew…

Let’s Talk About Riding at Different Times of Day
by Darryl            lovingthebike.com
What is your ideal time of day to ride your bike, and why?

I spent a couple days on Lake Dunlap (outside of New Braunfels, Texas) last week and in the video below I throw out this question based on riding at different times of the day.  As with all our “Let’s Talk” posts, this one will be created by you.  Give us your comments, tips, and ideas on riding at different times of the day and let’s build this post up.

Have a look at the short video below to get you in the Let’s Talk spirit, and then let your comments fly. …

Lancaster Country Ride in Lancaster, TX
by WB admin            The Wheel Brothers – Cycling in Texas
The 15th annual Lancaster Country Ride benefiting various charities and the local communities invites you to join their ride happening on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at Town Square Lancaster, TX

We were lucky enough to be granted an interview with Mike Eipper of Lancaster Country Ride to ask some questions about their upcoming ride.

1. Why participate in the Lancaster County Ride?
The Lancaster Country (not ‘County’) Ride is the prettiest lil’ ride in Texas….! It has wildflowers, rides on part of the Bluebonnet Trail near Ennis, and other scenic wonders, like several exotic animal farms…Keep your eyes peeled, and you’re likely to see Zebras, Camels, and other animals that make you smile on the route! Our route was mentioned as ‘…One of the 10 Best Rides in Texas’ in Texas Monthly, Oct, 2004, and we’re still riding the…

Great job to all the Brain & Spiners who raced Come and Take It!
Austin Cycling Association
Day 1 Crit:
Women’s Open:  Jenny Park – 5th, Kim Ciolli – 16th, Rheannon Cunningham – 21st, Lindy Alton – 25th.
Women’s Cat 4:  Kristen Kjellberg – 4th, Allison Floyd – 6th, Kelley Martin – 8th, Kelly Martinez – 10th.
Mens 40+:  James Murff – 8th, Larry Blanchard – 22nd, Gary Obernolte – 34th

Day 2 Road Race:…

LOBV endorsements, Political Pedal this Friday
by elliott            Austin on Two Wheels
This week the League of Bicycling Voters released their endorsements for the Saturday, May 12 City Council election:
Mayor: Both Lee Leffingwell and Brigid Shea
Place 2: Mike Martinez
Place 5: Bill Spelman
Place 6: Sheryl Cole

Visit their site for a full list of reasons behind the endorsements. If you want to vote in the May 12 election you have until this Thursday, April 12 to register with the Tax Assessor’s office.

The 16th annual Political Pedal this Friday
Since 1997 each year we help connect the Austin City Council candidates, the Travis County candidates and other candidates with the cycling community while riding on the common…

National Bike Challenge Starts May 1st!
by marc@mcmumby.com         BikeDFW
Ride your bike, challenge yourself, compete for your team, compete for Texas, save the planet!

BikeDFW is the regional host organization for The National Bike Challenge, sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists, the Bikes Belong Coalition, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, and powered by Endomondo. The Challenge is designed to inspire Americans to get up and ride bicycles more often.

Record your bike rides online and you’ll automatically see the miles you’ve ridden, the calories you’ve burned, and the gas money you’ve saved.  You can connect and share stories with other riders and follow The Challenge…

Opportunity to discuss Anthills with Mayor Parker this Sat. April 14
GHORBA
Who: Mayor Annise Parker
What: Three Minutes with the Mayor (Neighborhood Office Hours)
When: 1 p.m. – 4 p.m., Saturday, April 14, 2012
Where: Hillendahl Neighborhood Library, 2436 Gessner Rd, Houston, Texas 77080

Notes: Mayor Parker is taking her Three Minutes with the Mayor neighborhood office hours on the road again. This time the destination is Spring Branch. The mayor is traveling to a different neighborhood once every quarter because she knows many Houstonians are unable to bring their questions and concerns to her at city hall. Three Minutes with the…

Auto-bicycle accident injures Blanton Elementary Student
Eric Williams            www.thenewsconnection.com
Early morning accident at busy school crossing strikes nerve of school officials and residents.

A Lantana eight-year-old whose bicycle was struck by an automobile was resting comfortably Wednesday afternoon with an icepack on her ankle after being rushed to the hospital because of an accident near the intersection of Lantana Trail and Stacee Lane. The girl was one her way to Blanton Elementary School at about 7:30 a.m.

“She had her helmet on,” said Cathi Ledet, mother of Abbey Spencer, the second grader who sustained a few bruises and scrapes when her bicycle was struck by an automobile crossing…

Cycling efforts of other colleges
By Pete Shannon                www.richlandchronicle.com
The League of American Bicyclists has a longstanding program called The Bicycle Friendly University.  It recognizes institutions of higher education for promoting and providing a more bicycle-friendly campus for students, staff and visitors.

The BFU program provides a roadmap and other technical assistance to create great campuses for cycling through an extensive checklist and a formal application process.  The second round of recognition for Bicycle Friendly Universities was recently announced and 26 schools were given Platinum, Gold and Silver Awards.  Fourteen more earned Honorable Mentions.

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, based in Lexington, Ky., also lists 61 free…

Veterans cycle cross country for a cause (Video)
Author: Julie Parr            www.ktbs.com
Texarkana, TX – Two Iraq war veterans, bicycling across the country to raise awareness for veteran issues, made a stop in Texarkana.

The pair is half way through their 100 day cross-country “Wall-to-Wall” bike ride. Jeremy Staat is an Iraq veteran and a former NFL player.

He says they hope their journey will spotlight issues such as veteran suicide and childhood obesity, as well as, support…

San Marcos to welcome returning wounded vets
by PAT MURDOCK            smmercury.com
More than 200 wounded U.S. veterans and support personnel participating in the Ride 2 Recovery Texas Challenge will come rolling into San Marcos between 2 and 3 p.m. Monday, April 16, for the first top on their six-day trek to Arlington.

For the fourth consecutive year, the San Marcos community will welcome the heroes participating in the cycling program that is presented by…

Courage, Humility and the Fundraising “Ask”
Written by Yijiao Zhuang      www.nonprofitquarterly.org
Greens. Banknotes. Moolah. No matter what you call it, dollars lie at the heart of every nonprofit organization. And if “money” were the noun in this old school SAT analogy, then “fundraising” would most certainly be the verb. While the big, national nonprofit organizations have the resources and the luxury to create fancy, media-driven fundraising campaigns, when I was working with my first nonprofit in college, we were a small, local organization and about as grassroots as it got.

Texas 4000 is an Austin, Texas-based nonprofit committed to spreading hope, knowledge, and charity about cancer. Our cornerstone event is a 4,500-mile bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska undertaken by 50 University of Texas students every summer. Each rider had to raise a minimum of $4,500, a meaningful…

Bike Guru Gil Penalosa: Striped Bike Lanes Aren’t Enough to Make Dallas a Cycling City
By Patrick Williams                blogs.dallasobserver.com

The City Hall staffers who last year tried to toss road blocks in the path of a City Council plan to stripe 840 miles of bike lanes in Dallas — that’s 840 miles more than what the city has now — might be pleasantly surprised by part of what Gil Penalosa will have to say at his “Urban Bike Systems” presentation at 6 p.m. today at 1500 Marilla. (UPDATE: Everyone’s invited.) Turns out that Penalosa, an internationally renowned advocate for making cities…