A Great Day for Riding a Bicycle

This past Sunday, we held our annual Please BE KIND to Cyclists Ride. It was our fourth year of holding the event which is intended to promote bicycles on the road, safe riding, and to celebrate the bike.

It was a fantastic morning in Austin and the riders who participated enjoyed some beautiful weather as they embarked on the 20 Mile and 40 Mile (well actually about 35 mile) routes.
When everyone got back to the parking lot at Pure Austin Fitness, we had a huge array of food and drinks for everyone.  Breads, pastry's, Beanitos, Coffee, and Sweet Leaf Tea....and enough of it to feed an army.

We have a whole bunch of pictures posted on Flikr from the ride so please click this link to view them and see if we were able to capture you in a few.

https://picasaweb.google.com/108554922973800131727/2011PBK2CRIDE?feat=email

Please also check out this link with the news story on the ride covered by KEYE TV:

http://weareaustin.com/fulltext?nxd_id=179687

Thanks again to everyone who participated in this year's ride and we hope to see you again next time.  A big thank you also goes out to our sponsors for the event: Pure Austin Fitness, Beanitos, Sweet Leaf Tea, Bicycle Sport Shop, Jack and Adams, Taco Deli, Whole Foods, and Central Market.

SafeLanes

We are very fortunate and extremely happy about the support that www.safelanes.com has provided to Please Be Kind to Cyclists.  With a mission statement like this, how can we not be:

Our mission is to promote bicycle awareness, safety and education for all people. Our goal is to raise $50,000 to help Please BE KIND to Cyclists and BikeTexas in their campaigns.

So far they have raised over $16,000 which will be split between our organization and Bike Texas.  We are so very thankful for all that has come in so far and look forward to them reaching their goal of $50,000.  This funding will be extremely helpful as our organization moves forward and begins to implement all the programs and ideas that we have in order to help create harmony on the roads.

We will not rest until our mission has been fulfilled.

Barton Hills Elementary Bike Rodeo

The City of Austin, Bicycle Sport Shop, and Please BE KIND to Cyclists are joining together to put on a Bike Rodeo at Barton HIlls Elementary School on Friday, September 9, from 3 to 5 pm. The Bike Rodeo will teach students about bike mechanics and will promote safe cycling, community, an active lifestyle, and overall benefits of riding a bike to school. The leaders hope that this event will inspire other Austin schools to promote bicycling to their students and to host more Bike Rodeos.

At this event, Please BE KIND to Cyclists will also launch a citywide campaign for schools called Cyclist VIP. This educational campaign will help prevent deadly crashes by teaching students to ride their bikes with awareness and common sense. In light of recent accidents between bikes and cars in Austin, students especially need to learn how to best protect themselves on their bikes. Cyclist VIP will play an important role in educating young people about riding safely.

Event: Bike Rodeo
Where: Barton Hills Elementary School, 2108 Barton Hills Drive, 78704
Time: Friday, Sept 9, 3 to 5 pm
Contact: Al Bastidas, al@bekindtocyclists.com

The Please BE KIND to Cyclists RIDE

On Sunday September 18th, we'll be hosting our Fourth Annual Please BE KIND to Cyclists ride.  This has become an Austin tradition and local cyclists have come out in numbers to help us raise awareness and celebrate bicycles.
We look forward to all of you joining us on September 18th as we head out on three different ride options. Choose from a 20 mile, 40 mile, and family ride and then meet us back at Pure Austin Fitness for some good food and celebration.
This is a FREE ride and no registration is necessary.  Simple show up at the Pure Austin Fitness parking lot prior to our 8:30 departure time and take part in all the fun.
See you on the 18th.

Volunteers

If you’ve always wanted to get involved in bicycle advocacy, but just didn’t know where to start….we’re here to provide a wonderful opportunity for you.

Over the past six years, we’ve done a lot in our field of interest and we’ve now set forth some massive goals to take things ever further.

We need your help to make it happen.

Please join us by volunteering your time and expertise to our bicycle advocacy organization.  Whether you have a lot of time, or just a little…it all counts and we’d love to have you on board.

Volunteer Meeting:

Thursday, September 1, 2011

6:00PM

Jack and Adams Bike Shop (1210 Barton Springs Road)

FREE FOOD and Information on Volunteer Opportunities

Danny Macaskill

As our mission over here at Please Be Kind to Cyclists states, we're all about raising awareness and increasing the harmony and tolerance between drivers and cyclists.  We are truly passionate about this, but we also like to have fun.

To celebrate the fun (and exciting and dangerous) side of cycling we wanted to post a couple videos by an incredible cyclist known as Danny Macaskill.  If you haven't seen what this guy can do on a bike, it's definitely worth checking out.

Of course we don't recommend you trying any of this on your own, but we hope you enjoy watching his amazing skills.

Danny's latest video, Industrial Revolutions:

An earlier video by Danny, Way Back Home:

Cycling Kit Winner

We were pleased to present Michael Glasgow with one of our new Please Be Kind to Cyclists kits over the weekend.  Michael received the kit for participating in our Round Rock Ride.  We entered everyone who registered for the ride in April and then picked a winner as the recipient of our kit.

Congratulations again to Michael and thanks to all of you who participated in the ride.  If you'd like to get a Please BE KIND to Cyclists kit of your own, please visit Jack and Adams bike shop in Austin or contact us to purchase online.