Nearly upon us is yet another night of the award winning Thursday Night Social Ride, brought to you by Brooks, Keith, Clarence, Chris and the rest of the usual crew. Speaking of, if you'd like to join said crew, they're looking for a few more helpers to assist in shepherding cyclists from the park to the beer. Read on for deets, and for who to contact:

As most of you have probably noticed we are running short on helpers for the ride. If you would like to help out leading TNSR please contact me (there is a link at the bottom of the post or find me before the ride). Also if you are not wanting to "officially" help out but are willing to do what you can...

• for those of you at the front of the ride please stay behind the leader.

• If you see a light turn red please alert the gr...oup to "Stop!"

• the more communication we have out there the better.

• Do NOT cork/block intersections.
** if you see anyone corking/blocking intersections please ask them not to. If there are cars who have the right of way we need to let them pass. **

...we ride bikes

Fiesta Gardens- Just East Of I-35 Bridge, North of the River.

meet up at 7:30pm leave at 8:00pm

How We Do Things:
• Stay Behind The Leader. **Don't Chase The Rabbit!
• Social Cycling Austin rides as traffic, not against it.
• Be kind to you fellow riders and the cars that share the road.
• Don't Run Red Lights, stay in one lane, let cars pass.
• Do Not Cork/Block Intersections
• Have Fun.
• It's not a race, it's a social ride.
• Please remember pick up your trash @ starting & stopping points.

What you need to bring:
• lights(lights, lights, lights)
• a lock
• a valid ID if you are going to the after party and Tip Money.

** TNSR is Rain or Shine **

This week we are heading to Jackalope for the after party! $2 pints all night.

See Everyone Under The Bridge!

-clarence
http://www.facebook.com/clarence.rivera

Expect a big one tonight as everybody and their mothers picks up a copy of the Chronicle and see's Social Cycling ATX's name all over the awards pages...

I'd like to welcome the Thursday Night Social Ride to the "Best of Austin" club:

Best Social Ride: Thursday Night Social Ride

It's said that in order for bikes and cars to coexist, cyclists need to increase their visibility, both in general and in numbers. In Austin, group rides happen almost every day, but one of the biggest is the Thursday night social ride. Around 250 bicyclists, including everyone from kids to seniors on fixies, cruisers, and what-have-you, meet up and ride "as traffic, not against it." This inclusive spirit and a relaxed pace with lots of stops not only helps novices gain confidence but also encourages drivers to acknowledge cyclists as fellow travelers, not adversaries. www.socialcyclingatx.com

Badass y'all! See everybody on the ride tonight. Lets have a beer and celebrate!

Update: Turns out they won TWO awards:

Best Use of a Puffy Water Slide: Social Cycling's Landing at the Scoot

You've just been on an hour-and-a-half ride through East Austin in the middle of summer. You're sweaty, stinky, and surrounded by fellow bicyclists in a similar predicament. What's the solution? Well, how about a giant inflatable water slide set amid East Fifth's Scoot Inn & Biergarten that looks part bouncing tent, part water park, and all fun? Welcome to Social Cycling Austin. Whether it's the Monday Night Heavy Metal Ride, the Thursday Night Social Ride – with trips to Barton Springs, water balloon fights, and lots of beer – or any of their other impromptu events, this group of two-wheeled crazies always puts on a good show.
The Scoot Inn, 1308 E. Fourth, 478-6200 www.socialcyclingatx.com; www.eastinns.com

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!

FRIDAY! FIXED ONLY! FIVE BUCKS!

Capitol. 6:30.

Last night was the last night of Jackelope's "Bike Month". Thank God, my head is killing me. Good to see all y'all die-hards out there.

Leana and Scott are releasing their latest issue of the Dropout THIS Sunday. Party time is 7pm and party place is Fast Folks:

Issue #5, our small bike/talk bike issue, drops this Sunday. Come out to get your own copy, support us as we prepare for interbike, and pretty much rage your socks off. If you've ever been to one before, you know it's always an event. If you've never been, you probably have heard. Don't miss this one.

I just read that Scott's wrangled 30 CASES of Lonestar for us thirsty bikers. What better way to herald cooler climes and a new issue of the Dropout than with a bunch of drunken scumbag cyclists partying it up at a bike shop? I know I'll be there...

Tomorrow. Wednesday. Hump Day. Nooner. Ride.

Where do you want to ride this week? Please comment your suggestions below.

We meet on the ped. bridge at 11:45 am, get to know your fellow riders, ride out at 12:10 pm. Ride up a hill or two and head to get a refreshing beverage and ride to get lunch. Rides are between 5 and 10 miles. The route is determined on the fly.

This is a no-drop ride, with hills. All levels are welcome. I encourage the beginners to push themselves to k...eep up and the faster riders to wait up. If your having trouble with the pace please let me or the group know and we will try to adjust it.

Depart: 12:10 pm.

Bring: WATER, sunblock, a lock, a well tuned bike, also some spare tubes & tools wouldn't hurt.

Photo pulled from Doug http://cycling.frenzied.us/

Share your photos here http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=56122823659&v=photos or http://www.flickr.com/groups/socialcyclingatx/

That's the word.

So I have this old buddy Ralph. Like me he used to be a big fat tattooed guy; then he got on a bike and it changed shit up. NOW he's one of the founders of the Leander/Cedar Park Social Cycling crew! Now all you way north Austinites don't have to come alllllllllll the way downtown to get in on the action. Speaking of, look what those wacky north siders are doing tomorrow night...

Leander / Cedar Park Social Cycling Block House ride!

Wednesday, September 1st 7pm
Park @ Crystal Falls and Bagdad (parking lot behind swimming pool)

And as always the route is subject to switch up a little once we get on it.

This is going to be a bit of a smaller ride, but as always the idea is to hang out while doing something we love. The pace is slow n go to moderate at times.

Nice! It sounds like this is going to be a weekly ride, so keep an eye on the Facebook group if you want to hear about future events.

Not a lot to read around here the past few days. My fault. Fun time stuff with the good people of Austin happening in the real world = me not working on my website, and in fact not even noticing a couple hours of downtime due to a blown PDU or some such, which my partially-cybernetic and wholly silent computer machine administrator Ed was able to fix and get things back up and running.

Something big that has come up in the past several days are a couple interesting petitions being circulated around the local (and beyond) bike community. The first one I head about was a petition from the incredibly hard-working folks at BikeTexas concerning a potential bicycle ban in a town just north of the DFW area called Bartonville. You can read more about the issue on BikeTexas' site.

One of the things I LOVE about the BikeTexas folks is their unflagging support of the rights of cyclists from smaller cities around Texas, as well as some of the larger Red counties that don't necessarily prioritize their bicycling infrastructure as much as Austin does (heh). These guys also do a lot of state-wide advocacy and education, which can be a pretty thankless job a lot of the time. Please take a few moments to read about and if you agree with it sign their petition. I have so many friends touring, returning from tours, or planning tours, and I hate the idea that in the near future towns in Texas on major thoroughfares could deny access, ticket and harass them simply because they choose to ride through rather than drive.

The next petition is a local one that's being spearheaded by Luke Iseman, an outspoken and politically active member of Austin's pedicabbing community. Under the header of "Legalize Pedicab", this petition is trying to bring recognition to pedicabbing and cycling in general as "Austin's only safe, carbon-free, and rock-hard-thighed form of transportation", as well as call attention to the unprecedented number of citations recently for performing job tasks that were until now accepted and approved by the APD.

According to Luke the Austin Police Department will be implementing new rules September 7th on how they deal with pedicabbers and bicyclists in the downtown area, with no public discussion or input from pedicabbers, cyclists or anyone else for that matter. The Department of Ground Transportation has also been discussing changing the rules that regulate pedicabs in Austin, which could potentially put many pedicabbers out of business.

Finally, he's asking for a grocery list of rights and (dare I say) extended privileges for cyclists:

1. Bikes everywhere: Allow pedicabs and all other pedal-powered vehicles to operate in every area of Austin with speed limits up to 35 mph, within areas barricaded to cars, and on all roadways up to special events.

2. Stop as yield: Allow bicycles to treat stop signs as yield signs.

3. Red as stop: Allow bicycles to treat red lights as stop signs.

4. 3-foot passing enforcement: Require Austin Police to enforce and file monthly reports on the 3-foot passing ordinance, which requires motorized vehicles to give bikes at least 3 feet of room when passing.

Honestly I don't like the 35mph wording in that first point, as many of the roads I ride on have higher speed limits than that and this could potentially be used as a loophole to ban cyclists from those roads. The ability to ride on those roads (pretty much every FM/RR in town) is what gets in and out of the cities on bikes. Aside from picking that one nit, I like the other points and totally agree that the APD SHOULD actually enforce the 3-foot passing rule, especially in cases where a motorist strikes a cyclist (who is behaving legally) in a traffic collision. If you want to read more or sign the petition, you can do so right here.

And now back to your regularly scheduled slacking...

Critical Mass. 5pm on the UT West Mall. Tomorrow. It's the beginning of a new semester so welcome the students back in style and wear something snappy. Or just bring water balloons. ;)

I just added a link on the right to a local business called Bicycle Truck. They make and sell cargo trailers that attach to just about any 2-wheeled contraption out there out of a variety of materials. I know a bunch of y'all have mentioned seeing someone down in South Austin cruising around with an upright bass on a cargo trailer, well these guys look like they build just the trailer for it. Check out their blog for pictures and prices.