Who's Who in Austin Biking

This list grows as I add to it -- it's not intended to be a comprehensive list of all the people who do important bicycle work in Austin. If you know of someone who should be included (especially if that person is you), then let me know about it.

Please also remember those we've lost.
Amy Babich: A car-free cyclist, Amy is somewhat of a celebrity. In 1995, she started writing letters to the Austin Chronicle complaining about the lack of safe roadways, and the danger and environmental destructiveness of automobiles. Her letters have been published in the Chronicle at least monthly (often weekly), and her example has brought other cyclists out of the woodwork to write in as well -- as well as inciting the ire of angry car-loving letter-writers. Amy's suggestions are sometimes bizarre (movable parking garages?!), but she's living her vision of a car-free lifestyle. She deserves a lot of credit for keeping the issue of cycling in the forefront by her tireless submissions to our local weekly paper. Amy lost her bid for a seat on the Austin City Council in the May 2000 election. Amy is co-owner of Easy Street Recumbents along with Mike Librik.

Bobby Sledge: Bobby was a driving force behind the League of Bicycling Voters (LBV), a group initially established to fight the local helmet ordinance, and which went beyond that by making bicyclists an important political constituency in the 1996 City Council elections. (Bobby is no longer active with LBV.)

Dave Dobbs contact info for media inquiries: Perhaps nobody, with the possible exception of Roger Baker, is as knowledgeable about the politics of local transportation planning as Dave Dobbs. He's been following these issues for decades, and he knows all about broken promises and the money trail. Dobbs is the Executive Director of the Texas Association for Public Transportation, and is the Democratic Party Precinct Judge for Travis County Precinct 323. (4-00)

David Baker: Dave is one of the original founders of the Yellow Bike Project (YBP). He helped start the YBP while he was the manager of Bikes Not Bombs (BnB). Shortly after launching the YBP, Dave left BnB to devote more time to the YBP. Around 2004, he moved out of Austin.

David Sully: David has been very active in bicycle advocacy work in Austin, and served on the City Planning Commission from 1994-99. Some of his bike-related accomplishments on the commission are listed below. He currently (1-00) serves on the Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee (along with cyclist Chris Riley),which monitors how the City spends the Nov. 1998 bond money, and will be pushing for trails, sidewalks, and parks. Dave also keeps cyclists apprised of important public hearings (by posting to the email discussion list and by contributing to Cycling News), and he speaks frequently at those hearings himself.

Helped stop the routine granting of variances for sidewalks and street connections.
Drafted much, if not most, of the commission's Smart Growth suggestions that new subdivisions follow grid pattern streets with bike/ped connections wherever streets don't connect, with explicit verbage on subdivision plans stating how bike & pedestrian travel would be carried out within the development.
Sent the Bicycle Plan back to City Staff to have them add text to describe how destinations can be approached from north, east, south, and west, and what barriers existed if approach is not possible.
Helped shape attitudes and perceptions in the development and planning community by riding his bike to almost every meeting he attended. (If he didn't ride, he walked or car-pooled.)



Doug Ballew: Doug Ballew is controversial since he was the person chiefly responsible for pushing Austin's widely unpopular helmet ordinance through the City Council. Ballew also lobbied the local daily newspaper to mention whether cyclists were wearing helmets in articles about cyclist injuries. This angered many local cyclists who were trying to get the Statesman to do the opposite, since media harping on whether the cyclists' had helmets on gives the impression that unhelmeted cyclists are to blame when they get hit, even if motorists are really at fault. Ballew also got the city to censor their link to this website, ostensibly on the grounds that we advocate illegal activity (we don't), but more likely because he's upset about the fact that we've pointed out in this section some of his controversial actions in this paragraph. Ballew is currently a Public Health Educator for the Travis County SuperCyclist Project, a part of the Health and Human Services Department. In this position he educates the public (mostly or primarily children) about bicycle safety and organizes programs to distribute free or low-cost helmets. (10-00)

Eric Anderson: Eric is a founding member of the Yellow Bike Project and has been active in Critical Mass. He came up with the idea for the Crosstown Bikeway and lobbied for it extensively, resulting in approval by the City and funding support from the federal government. He helped organize the 2-01 Austin Bike Summit. He's also been critical of our website, and took himself off our bicycle email forum.

Fred Meredith contact info for media inquiries: As editor of Southwest Cycling News print newspaper, Fred Meredith is the person chiefly responsible for informing the public about local cycling news. [Although we hope to rival him with this web page and our email newsletter. :-) ] Fred is involved with cycling across a wide spectrum, including being an Effective Cycling instructor, a former participant in Critical Mass (it got too lawless for him), a commuter riding for alternative transportation, and a member of organized rides. The state of Austin cycling would be in a sorry state were in not for Fred.

Gayle Cummins.: Gayle is the former director of the Texas Bicycle Coalition, a group which works to promote cycling through advocacy and education, and works for cyclists' rights. When she took over TBC, she made a strong effort to refocus and revitalize the organization.

Jeremy Rosen: Jeremy is the local funky bike builder. He builds longjohns, dump trikes, high bikes, recumbents, and more. He also offers used bikes and inexpensive repairs. (479-0420)

Keith Snodgrass: Keith is the former director of the city's Bicycle & Pedestrian Program, from 1997-1998. He left the position in Oct. 1998 for personal reasons. During his tenure, his program won City Council approval of Part II of The Bicycle Plan (the first effort to improve cycling in the city since the early 80's), and began work on implementing the plan. Most of the plan calls for new bikelanes and other roadway improvements. He was replaced by Linda DuPriest (see below).

Linda DuPriest: Moved to Austin in Feb. '99 to take the job of Austin's Bicycle Coordinator, overseeing the city's Bicycle Program. She succeeds Keith Snodgrass (97-98), who succeeded Rick Waring (95-97). DuPriest kept a low profile, refusing to communicate with the cycling community by posting to the local bike email list, writing a short monthly column for Cycling News, or appearing on The Bicycle Lane Radio program (all things her predecessors found time to do). She left the position in Feb. 2004, with an impressive list of improved roadways to her credit.

Michael Bluejay contact info for media inquiries: Michael Bluejay maintains this website and the web forum, and hosts the email discussion list. He hosted The Bicycle Lane radio program from 1996-1999 and published the Car-Free World newsletter until around 2003. He doesn't doesn't own a car and doesn't even have a driver's license. (9-08)

Michael Zakes: Michael Zakes owns Waterloo Cycles (2815 Fruth, 512-47-CYCLE) (which provides "tickets" at his shop to put on cars parked in bike lanes), and served on the City's Urban Transportation Commission from 1998-2000.

Mike Dahmus contact info for media inquiries: Mike Dahmus was appointed to the Urban Transportation Commission in March 2000 by Councilmember Daryl Slusher, then removed by Slusher in Feb. 2005, probably because Dahmus was critical of the commuter rail proposal for being overhyped. Mike has very informative and well-informed transportation blog. Fellow UTC member Patrick Goetz said of his efforts, "As far as concrete action goes, Tommy [Eden] and Mike have done more to further bicycle transportation issues in the last couple of years than everyone else in Austin combined times 4." (more...) (2-05)

Mike Librik: Mike Librik is an adamant cycle commuter (doesn't own a car), and a driving force behind the Bicycle Advisory Council. He also sits on the City's Parks and Recreation board. He owns Easy Street Recumbents along with Amy Babich, and hosts "The Right of Way", a radio program about car-free lifestyles on KOOP 91.7fm (every other Monday at 6:45pm). (3-00)

Patrick Goetz contact info for media inquiries: Served on the City's Urban Transportation Commission as a consensus appointee, until being replaced by the City Council in July 2008. Served on the Triangle Traffic Committee in '98, and organized to repeal the helmet ordinance with the League of Bicycling Voters in '96-'97. (9-08)

Preston Tyree: Preston is past president of the Austin C ycling Association, a staff member of the Texas Bicycle Coalition, a certified Effective Cycling Instructor, and a participant in a government-funded program to develop a nation-wide bicycle safety education curriculum for the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration.

Rick Waring: Rick was the first director of the city's Bicycle & Pedestrian Program, from around 1995-1997. During his tenure, the program got Part I of the Bicycle Plan passed by the Austin City Council.

Rob D'Amico: The driving force behind the 2006 resurrection of the League of Bicycling Voters.
Roger Baker contact info for media inquiries: Perhaps nobody, with the possible exception of Dave Dobbs, is as knowledeable about the politics of local transportation planning as Roger Baker. He's been following these issues for decades, and he knows all about broken promises and the money trail. Roger's so important we have a separate page about him here.

Tommy Eden: Tommy, a dedicated cycle commuter, has been a driving force behind promoting biking in Austin. He sat on the city's Urban Transportation Commission for over five years, ending circa 2005. He was one of the original riders on Critical Mass, and helped started a "lite" version of Critical Mass to appeal to riders who wouldn't ride on Critical Mass otherwise. (That ride is no longer around.) He founded the Bicycle Lane radio program, has been active in the Bicycle Advisory Council and the UTC Bicycle Subcommittee, and writes regularly for Austin's Cycling News. Of his efforts fellow UTC member Patrick Goetz said "As far as concrete action goes, Tommy and Mike have done more to further bicycle transportation issues in the last couple of years than everyone else in Austin combined times 4." (more...) (2-05)

Another site by Michael Bluejay...

Pagan Products from Natural Magick Shop. I'm not pagan myself, but I set up this site for a friend, trying to make it exceptionally easy to use. I aggressively minimized the amount of clicking and scrolling it takes to get around the site, and to check out. If you want magic oils, deity oils, incense, dream pillows, massage oils, and the like, this is the place.