Austin Bike Culture
Over the past week of Jaredlessness I have been scoping out and partaking in the bike community here..mostly just by riding around in Austin. It’s been really fun. A few things I have noticed that I will inevitably compare with Tucson:
Bike Friendliness/Carheadedness:
The situation riding around town isn’t too different from Tucson. For the most part people tend to avoid running you over. Most drivers have been pretty decent to me. However, there’s always that asshole who decides he would like to get as close as possible to you so that he can get around you while another car is passing in the opposite direction.
As with Tucson, this is a town where a whole lotta people ride bikes exclusively as transportation all year round. It is evident that the drivers are accustomed to sharing the road with cyclists….some of them are just more happy to oblige than others. It seems like the town could use a few more bike lanes, but I feel pretty comfortable riding a bike around here. Austin, I like you! What else have I noticed?:
Fixies!:
Lots. Lots and lots. I don’t know how they make it up some of these hills…
Cargobikes and Xtracycles:
Lots. Big Dummies, Kona Utes….people with kid trailers…all sorts of stuff.
Tallbikes and crazy frame concoctions:
Quite a few.
Here are a few of the resources this town has to offer cyclists:
Yellow Bike Project:
It is Austin’s bike collective. I remember reading about Yellow Bikes human powered move last year and thinking “right on.” Currently they are working out of a storage unit, so it’s a limited resource operation as far as the amount of tools and experienced mechanics on-hand. They are in a transitional period and are about to move into a more accommodating space. Nonetheless I met a lot of friendly people here who seem to love bikes just about as much as me. Of course, I miss all the smiling faces at BICAS so much that it’s hard to compare the two.
Frankenbike:
A bike swap every month! Yowzas! Unfortunately my preconceptions of bike swaps are based on the Tucson biannual swap meet extravaganzas, so I was a little disappointed when I realized that Frankenbike takes place in the Austin Bike Zoo backyard. It is hard to top a swap that spans 3 city blocks and into the alleyways as well. The atmosphere here was way relaxed. People just kind of rolled in between the hours of 12 and 4 and plopped a bunch of bike stuff down on the ground or tables.
It was a little different than the Tucson swap where people show up at 4 a.m. to stake out their spots on 4th Ave. I remember how exhausted Jar and I were after the swap meet last fall when we used the cargo bike to get 4 of my bikes to the Ave. to sell. Very worthwhile considering I made about $1300. Then at the end of the day we scored a 1983 Fuji tandem for $250 (btw Ignacio how is she?) Anyways I didn’t end up finding anything that I needed at Frankenbike, but it was a good time and I talked to some rad people.
Oh Mercurio…where did you go? I miss my Mexican cargo bike!!!
Parting with my first road bike at the Tucson bike swap…I got some good miles out of those rims and even toured down the west coast before throwing them back on this bike to sell:
Good Bike Shops:
I have been to a few Austin shops and had good experiences. Brian, the mechanic at East Side Pedal Pushers helped me solved the problem with my handlebars. Since leaving Tucson my wrists have been in extreme pain. I tried repositioning the bars, saddle height, seat angle, etc., but nothing seemed to work. I hadn’t even thought about moving the brake levers themselves, but it has been a tremendous relief on my hands. It turns out that the levers weren’t positioned quite right on the bars, so no matter how I angled the bars I was still having the same problems. Thanks Brian!
I also picked up a really cheap pair of gloves at Lance Armstrong’s (you know- the guy who makes all those yellow wrist things) Bikemart Mellow Johnny’s, which was having a big sale…wtf. They were cheap. Really really cheap.
Some photos from around town:
The finishing point of an alley cat called Drop Dead was at East Side Pedal Pushers. The race was pretty cool because the objective was to bring back a bunch of canned food that later went to the local food bank…good idea! I think I could have wrecked shop on the xtracycle because I might have been able to get about 200 cans and you got bonus points for more than 2 cans per checkpoint:
Went riding with some cool people who meet at East Side Pedal Pushers on Sunday afternoons:
Checked out an amazing BMX park:
Went to a kickball game only to find myself in the midst of a skid contest which I did not photograph, but kickball and bikes seem to go together:
So basically…Austin is a great place to ride a bike.
<3 Lar
his is my first time i visit here. I found so many interesting stuff in your blog especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! keep up the good work.
Someday Rocky’s jumps will be that developed!
We used his jumps as a checkpoint for the last race and i was fun having all those fixterzzz ride to the jumps. ha.
Those BMX ramps are next door neighbors with Carla’s boy friend’s house. When I would hang out there I would see some really insane stuff. Glad you’re enjoying the riding out there. I certainly liked being able to ride on actual hills…
hi erin!
woah- i might know which house you are talking about. do they have a beautiful garden?
yeah i guess it is one of the premier urban bmx parks in the country.
the hills do make things fun out here. tucson is pretty much A mtn. or Mt. Lemmon.
thanks for checking out the blog. say hello to all the folks back in tucson for me.
Hooray! I am glad to hear that an out of town cyclist approves of Austin! It definitely has it’s flaws and needs an urban planning and cycling safety makeover, but that is coming.
Way to rock Austin while you’ve been here! (glad to make your acquaintance at the Fast Folks shop(ladies racing team photo shoot!)on Tuesday.
hey mo!
it was awesome meeting you as well! andrew told me that you are a super strong racer. i could tell because you have legs of steel!
oh man…i was at eastside pedal pushers today and overheard brian asking someone if you are ok. i guess you posted photos of a crash??!!! news travels fast…i told brian i saw you earlier and you were unscathed… did that happen last night??? he was concerned…hope everything is alright mo!
if you are interested brian and i are meeting up tomorrow at eastside pedal pushers sometime in the late afternoon to ride out to the driveway to watch the crit.
Yeah for Lauren. Glad to hear you are having so much fun. Your tandem is fine and getting new wheels and brakes. El Grupo is kicking ass and has won every race we have entered so far. Daniela is huge and we only have about 1 month to go. Just giving you a great reason to come home when, or just pass through.
Safe riding
Ignacio
Hi Ignacio! Hearing from you just made my day! I had no idea you were looking at our blog.
Wow the tandem is getting a serious upgrade!!! I might have to give you money for it to get it back…wtf!!! New wheels and brakes…you mean you are actually going to make it safe to ride??!!!
Wow go Daniela and baby! 1 month away…that is amaaazing! Time has flown by.
I am so glad to here El Grupo is kicking ass. I heard about the Loft fundraiser…cool stuff wish I could be there.
Don’t worry…Tucson will always be a home for me. I realize now how much I miss all the wonderful people there.
Oh by the way I love the roadkill Section you should make a collage and use it as yer bloody background mate. You should have kept that owl head there worth a fortune in Sedona.
i think you are one of the few who appreciates it. the owls are the only ones that i have a hard time hacking up…for some reason i just can’t bring myself to do it. they are such beautiful creatures…and they look really peaceful when they are dead. so i usually just pluck some feathers and leave them alone.
Wait, so you guys hack them up in addition to taking pictures of the dead animal carcasses? I thought it was just that squirrel once…
false. we hack them up.
This website is fun! It makes me even more vicarious, and pathetic. love ya guys!
we love you! come touring with us! nomadic bicycle commune ’09!