The status of this site

  • The web forum is live, you can still post and read (and you can sign up for the email list to get a daily digest of posts to the web forum).
  • Other content might be dated.  I don't have time to update the site any more, but I'll update items in the sidebar (only) if you want to report updates or corrections.
  • This site could be yours.  I'll give this site for free to any local bike activist with a good plan.  For example, you can run it as a blog, as the site for a nonprofit, or promote the forum.  You wouldn't have to keep the existing content.

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Reach archives:
Recent | Prior to 10/03

Web Forum & Email List

Discuss transportation (not sport) biking on the web forum..  You'll probably also want to sign up for the email list (see the box at right), so you can get all the web posts from each day sent to you in a single email message.  So, in practice, it's post to the web, read on the list.


Current discussions

$500 Reward - LOST SURLY STRAGGLER last post: 11/9 @ 19:38        I am sorry to hear that. Nice looking bike, I hope you succeed in getting it back! I've made a big list of things to do regarding bike...

28yo driver gets 80yrs for killing 14yo ped on 7/31/22 in Round Rock last post: 10/9 @ 19:15        28-year-old Leandro Brito-Martinez received a whopping 80-year sentence for killing 14 year-old pedestrian Tobias Soto. The extenuating...

42nd Annual Moonlight Cruze Bike Ride Satu night, 2024-09-14 2:00am last post: 9/7 @ 23:53        It's that time of year again, and the ride you've been waiting for is coming ... the 42nd Annual Full Moon Cruze Bicycle Ride! This...

Part of the Shoal Creek GB Trail is to be renamed "Chris Riley Bend" last post: 7/30 @ 0:14        I'm at a loss for...

Ghost bikes disappearing last post: 7/22 @ 12:28        "'A person died here, for heaven's sake. Can you just let it be?' | Austin ghost bikes are disappearing, and volunteers don't know...

Zero penalty for driver who t-boned cyclist on Shoal Creek Blvd. 3/17 last post: 7/18 @ 13:28        [quote]It still doesn't answer one big question for Carlson: why when a car hits another car, a ticket is issued?[/quote] That's it right...

Revoking driver licenses for killers, for longer periods last post: 7/11 @ 15:12        For years I've opined here that drivers who kill other people through recklessness should lose their driver licenses permanently. Because...

Speeding doesn't affect anyone?! last post: 7/5 @ 19:26        Wow, that was an eye-opening article, chavela. Thank you for sharing it. My son almost became a firefighter. It would have been awkward...

CA woman speeds through crosswalk, kills 2 kids, gets 15 to life last post: 6/12 @ 21:46        Hard to count this one as progress. Until the end she was protesting her innocence merely because she "didn't see them". In fact, she...

International Ride of Silence 2024 - Wed 05/15 -- Austin City Hall last post: 5/15 @ 11:59        Join bicyclists worldwide in a *silent,* slow-paced bike ride to HONOR those who have been injured or killed, to: RAISE AWARENESS that we...

About the Bicycle Austin forum last post: 4/15 @ 16:08        Well, FluxBB is no longer supported and traffic is low, so I'd probably shut the forum down. If there's a good migration path to phpBB or...

Questions on Travis Country Circle to Barton Skyway route last post: 4/8 @ 19:19        [quote=dougmc]The City of Austin has talked about adding a pedestrian bridge over the greenbelt, but so far that hasn't happened. There's...

The Bluejays will buy a car and give up bicycling last post: 4/5 @ 23:56        I just came across this again, from the 6/16/2006 Austin Chronicle. I would give up bicycling 7 years later, for similar...

Cyclist intentionally hit by car at 45th & Guadalupe, 4/2/24 last post: 4/4 @ 0:53        [quote=Olivia Stradtner via Nextdoor]Tonight while driving home from the Walgreens on 45th and Guadalupe I came upon a person who had just...

Bike lanes are good for business, but business owners oppose them last post: 3/10 @ 12:03        Studies show that bike lanes result in more sales for the businesses around them, but business owners' perception is that they hurt...

Parisians Vote to Triple Parking Fees for Big SUVs and Cars last post: 2/10 @ 21:04        https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/05/world/europe/paris-vote-suvs-parking.html This is what I'm talking about when I refer to differences ...

Cyclist sued by the company whose van nearly killed him last post: 1/11 @ 11:51        That's definitely not how trademarks work in the US, but this was the UK, so things [i]could[/i] be different. That said, from what I've...

Go car-free and save $1.5 million last post: 12/24 @ 0:54        The financial case for going car-free has gotten even stronger. AAA reports that the cost of car ownership went up a whopping 14% from...

Person alleges cyclist intentionally hit their dog on off-leash trail last post: 12/21 @ 9:56        [quote]I suspect this is not the first time he has intentionally targeted a dog to "teach the owner a lesson."[/quote] I guess this is ...

U.S. considers making automakers install anti-drunk-checking devices last post: 12/15 @ 23:00        https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/12/drunk-driving-technology-cars-safety What if people were just decent and didn't drive...

Drivers are at fault in over 90% of car-bike collisions (source) and 90% of pedestrian deaths (source).


Upcoming rides & events

Want to get your event listed below? Just post it on the web forum and it will show up here automatically 30 minutes later. Be sure to include the exact date & time of your event in the title, so that shows up too. Do NOT use relative dates like "This Saturday" or "tonight" because your post will still be here weeks from now, and at that time the reader won't know which day you're referring to. (i.e., Do not write your post as though everyone who reads it is reading it today. )

42nd Annual Moonlight Cruze Bike Ride Satu night, 2024-09-14 2:00am (posted 9/7)

International Ride of Silence 2024 - Wed 05/15 -- Austin City Hall (posted 5/15)

Tour das Hugel Nov 11th, 2023 7am under Mopac at Stratford Drive (posted 11/6)

National Walk/Bike to School Day is Oct 4th (posted 9/25)

2023 ATX Naked Bike Ride 09/30 7:15pm Pease Park (posted 9/21)

41st annual "Moonlight Cruze" bicycle ride Sat night, 09/24 2am (posted 9/16)

Violet Crown Trail - North Community Celebration (Sat 07/29 9am) (posted 7/29)

Breast Cancer Charity ride in Austin - October 7 & 8, 2023 (posted 6/19)

World Naked Bike Ride 2023 (posted 6/11)

Austin Cargo Bike Festival (posted 6/3)


Bicyclists cheated out of bond money from 2000 transportation bonds

Voters passed $150 million in transportation bonds in 2000 (Proposition 1), which was supposed to be spent at $15M per year for ten years, and was supposed to include bike projects.  In March 2006, Councilmember Raul Alvarez asked the city to reveal how the money had been spent so far.  The answer was that the first $67.2 million ALL went for SH 130 right of way, and not a penny for any of the the other things promised to the bond voters on the ballot, including bike projects!  As a result of Alvarez' request, $10 million was proposed (with about $5 million so far for sidewalks). If you read the Chronicle article, you will see that $20 million was being promised for bike and ped projects just before the election. (info courtesy of Roger Baker, May 6, 2005)

The City now has a Bond Oversight Committee which is an important check on the system.  It makes the above kind of bait-and-switch a lot harder to pull off.






Another site by Michael Bluejay...

Michael Bluejay explains slot machines.  I know about more stuff than just bikes.  My explanation about how slot machines work is probably the best you're gonna find anywhere.'

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