Austin's bike community is going places...

We've had 17 events on the calendar this month. October already has about a dozen and I know of at least 2 more I haven't posted yet because they're near the end of the month and I don't want to crowd everything else out right now. There are 2 races, a handful of bike-in movies, a brand new pub crawl (on top of the two regular ones), and of course the usual rides, swap meets, and other events that pepper the monthly bicycle landscape in Austin. Shit's blowing up, and I'm not doing any of it! This is all you guys. Hell yeah y'all!

Beyond the mess of events coming up, there are a lot of other exciting things on the horizon. Marsha Ungchusri is hard at work on releasing the Cute Commute Calendar (aka "Hot Chicks who Ride Bikes" according to DCM Photography). Here's a sample of their work:

I must say I agree with their renaming of Marsha's calendar. Being a woman of many talents, Marsha is also writing magazine articles about Austin cycling culture (that mention this site!), and working on a similar project to BikePortland, called (suprise, suprise) BikeAustin Bike+Austin (thanks for the correction, Marsha). Great stuff!

Another big thing that's been happening in Austin is the increase in bicycle-related blogs and websites. I'd like to think that I had a little part to play in all that with the founding of this site a year ago, but that's probably because I'm an egotistical asshole who likes to toot his own horn. To keep from doing that, I wanted to highlight the one site that's been standing out to me from the rest: Austin Bike Blog. Run by a two-man team of bike nerds (sound familiar?), they manage to cover both local and national news with an emphasis on commuter and utility cycling. They have a comprehensive links section, including everything from other local bike blogs (thanks for the reciprocal, fellas!), all the awesome bicycle advocacy groups that call Austin home, and a huge number of other great sites from all over the world. They also hold awesome contests, and in the few months that they've been in existence they've really managed to grab my attention. Keep an eye on this blog. They're doing good things.

Oh hell with it, I'm gonna toot my own horn. In the year (as of yesterday) that Austin Texas Bike Shit's been online I've seen a HUGE increase in both site traffic and external involvement. Even though I'm the main contributor to the site in the form of articles/posting I've had LOTS of organizers email me about their events, generate flyers and propaganda for their rides, and actually give me more than a few days notice of when shit's going down! Hundreds of people are consistently showing up for the monthly group rides, many of whom found out about them via ATXBS. The site's been mentioned in the Austin Chronicle, a bicycle magazine, several other blogs, and just this month we had over 6,200 UNIQUE visitors who hit the site a combined total of over 300,000 times. What?!? That's over a 300% increase from just 6 months ago! I had no idea when I got drunk at last year's September Critical Mass ride that this is where we'd be a year later.

Beyond the internet, beyond the rides, beyond political advocacy, every single day I see more and more people on the streets, riding their bikes. Daily commuters, spandex-clad recreational cyclists, radical moms and their kids, crusty freegan travellers, all riding on their bikes. There's been a lot of debate as to the merits of things like Critical Mass in altering people's perception of bikers, but one thing no one can deny is that the number one force for change in the attitudes of drivers towards cyclists (and vice versa) is seeing asses on bike seats every single day. Cyclists running errands, riding to work, picking up groceries, dropping off kids, those are the true revolutionaries of the Austin cycling community. Not the guy in the anarchist t-shirt from The Gap who rides a half dozen times a month on the group rides and pub crawls. Fuck that guy.

Ok enough rambling. There's a beautiful day outside and my BMX is sitting next to my desk, calling to me. I'm gonna go practice what I preach. All in all I've gotta say, the Austin bike community is not only alive and kicking, it's kicking ass!

Go ride your bike!