Around Austin, on bike trails and protected bikeways, you may have seen groups of yellow, blue, orange, or pink helmets riding around and feeling energized. Who are they? That’s our Cycle Academy, Golden Roller, and City Cyclist riders! All ages, all abilities, all exploring.
Our Cycle Academy youth programs are the core of what we do – teaching kids early on their lives the skills to ride a bike, explore their environments, and navigate where they want to go. Bike Clubs have been riding weekly since January and increasing their stamina. Kealing Middle School Bike Club rode just about 10 miles, experiencing parts of Lady Bird Lake Hike & Bike Trail, Longhorn Dam Bridge, and a big patch of bluebonnets (pictured at top of page).
Perez and Houston Elementary School Bike Clubs started on neighborhood streets, and now have begun touring the dirt trails of Onion Creek Greenbelt and Dove Springs District Park Trails.
Golden Rollers Trike Clubs are also rolling strong. McBeth and Alamo Recreation Center people with differing abilities have been joining us for rides weekly mornings. For some of them, this program is the highlight of their week because they get to be outside, move around, and see different parts of the city, while engaging muscle strength.
Conley-Guerrero Senior Activity Center rides everywhere smiling and embracing the day. We celebrated Black History while touring East Austin. And we went on a biking-kayaking adventure day! See the video below for a recap of the adventure.
Spring is flourishing with City Cyclist community rides for adults to explore gardens and trails. The Ghisallo Community Gardens Bike Ride was a Spring joy! We had 20+ people join us to explore Festival Beach Food Forest, Blackshear Neighborhood Garden, St. David’s Foundation Garden, plus Boggy Creek, EastLink, and the Holly Shores trail segments. Many of these spaces exist because of people in the community sharing their time and energy to care for the land and advocating for growing food within public spaces. And thanks to Outdoor Afro for a great turnout!
We led our first Ride & Thrive Adventure Series Ride – An introduction to mountain biking for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color women. This was a collaborative event by Ghisallo, Yellow Bike Project, Tough Cutie, and WTF Bike. We covered basic bike maintenance for taking tires on/off the bike and repairing tubes, plus trail etiquette and mountain bike handling skills. Can’t wait for the next ride of the series coming up in April.
