For parents preparing to give their kids a bit more independence on the way to school, Parque Zaragoza in East Austin now offers a scaled-down street network where children and new riders can practice biking and road safety in a low-risk setting....

https://communityimpact.com/austin/nort … -zaragoza/

I understand that some adult-sized balance bikes are available to Bike Austin instructors.

https://hilltopperbikes.com/

I find a lot of new cyclists, even the enthusiastic ones, stymied by traffic situations a little training helps to overcome.

Just a little bit of bubble gum pop inspiration, "Bikes Are Freedom" showcases footage over bicycling in over 30 diverse cities around the globe and over a dozen quotes of inspiration of how biking and freedom intermingle for world transportation leaders.

If you are ever feeling sad and blue about the world being dominated by the automobile, this is the pick me up you've dreamed about. At the very least will make you happy for two minutes before pessimism consumes you again. Bikes are rising. Carry on.

(Oh and make sure to watch in High Def for the best swell feeling experience.)

Clarence Eckerson Jr. has been making fantastical transportation media in NYC since the late 1990s. He's never had a driver's license and never will.

.....

What Would Yoda Ride ?

Statistics back me up. Cyclists have a longer lifespan than drivers. Drivers are more likely to be obese and die of heart disease. Cyclists are leaner, but more likely to suffer broken collarbones. Broken collarbones, though, aren’t usually lethal.

From a certain point of view, commuting by bike is as deliberate as Luke Skywalker choosing the Light Side over the Dark Side. I’m choosing to see my fellow citizens as worthy of trust. I’m choosing to believe that we can all share the same road. Driving a two-ton SUV through a school zone is as much of an anti-social, selfish act as carrying a loaded gun to the grocery store. It says, “Never mind you. Never mind us. Me and mine come first.”

If I use Jedi mind tricks to take the lane, and generate good karma by smiling at drivers and yielding to pedestrians, then it begs the question: What would Yoda drive? Would Yoda drive a Prius, or a VW Beetle? Perhaps, but I think Yoda would be more at home on a Brompton or a fat bike.

But as for Yoda’s former apprentice Darth Vader, we all know what he would drive…a truck as big as his ego that will never, ever be driven off-road where the custom paint job could ever be scratched.....

I used this when researching a decent road bike and found it very helpful.

Wes Robinson

Jack, rather than consistently taking potshots at every idea and effort to make cycling safer and more attractive, do you think you might be constructive by offering some alternatives?  That is, what would you think we should actually *do* to make cycling safer and more attractive?  We've heard your constant criticism, ad nauseum.  Where's your plan?  Because I strongly suspect there isn't one, that Effective Cyclist enthusiasts just think cyclists should just pretend they're little cars and then everything will be fine.

You critiques might actually be correct, but the constant negativity is so tiring it's hard to sympathize with that position.  Especially when it's never accompanied by a constructive alternative.

Negativity? Well, it is a matter of perspective. I, for one, find getting around by my bicycle safe and pleasant enough to largely forego getting around by the convenient and somewhat safer (though pedestrian-killing and polluting) car. I also have had some success getting others to overcome fears and uncertainties so they too cycle instead of drive.  I'm a posititve guy with a positive approach.

And because of that, I find it amazing that amateurs and professionals alike find it so necessary to try to improve things (1) by means that have been repeatedly proven not only not to help but to make things worse besides and (2) making cycling seem far more dangerous than it really is to drive up demand for the non-improvement improvements.  Hence the focus on the negative.  Should I start in on mandatory helmet laws?  Would it bum you out if I posted that they might do more harm than good?  I have little reason to bring up for this forum things done right; you'll catch them as soon as I will, no?

You seem to be saying that this forum has no room for the positive suggestion that we don't spend our efforts and money making things worse instead of better.  In this instance, the rose-colored glasses point of view presented in the first post doesn't cut it and I replied with some of the things it falls short by.  Sorry if that's a downer. The American perspective looks for the short easy answer rather than the real answer. If we want European cycling participation & safety, we need European cultural supports--which include marvels like education in the public schools on how bicycles should operate as vehicles (even a child can learn easily how to the ride safely in the streets) and marvels like separate signal phases for cycle track users and motorists at intersections to reduce the hazards created by the segregation and marvels like (as you'll find in the link above) liability laws favoring cyclists and peds over motorists when things go wrong.  Work toward those things, I say.

Kudos to the city program for putting bike lane striping to the left of right- turning traffic at intersections (like on east bound Barton Springs east of S. 1st). That is 1st rate infrastructure. It helps cyclists and motorists understand the proper road positioning that helps to avoid collisions that occur with poor positioning. I would love to see more of that. More kudos for the MOPAC bridge access project. It isn't all we might hope for as "operators of vehicles," but it removes a very significant barrier for getting around by bike and the cost for what all we'd hope for would be truly astronomical.  These make cycling more attractive and safer and I support.  "Put up some protected bike lanes to attract new riders," I say and have said; but don't lead the newbies (or me, even) into danger unnecessarily--like don't put them where there are lots of intersections without doing something to prevent the hazards--stop signs, prohibited right turns, separate signals, routing cyclists back to the street before the intersection, something that has been shown to work!
 
Putting "cycling facilities"-- protected or unprotected-- to the right of right turning traffic violates the fine advice for making riding safer and more attractive found here:  http://bicyclesafe.com/  That advice is a good nutshell version of what you just described as pretending to be a little car.  But that phrasing is roughly just trolling, isn't it?  Just like saying I take "potshots" at "every idea and effort" and that I've nothing to offer in the alternative. Not all is negative; some nice things are being done.  I do post critiques of ideas and efforts against the interests of cyclists and wannabe cyclists and I try to support the critiques with research or expert opinion rather than rely on my own thinking, wishful or otherwise.  Compare this illustration http://www.austintexas.gov/prioritylanes  with this illustration http://bicyclesafe.com/ (collision type 5, red light of death) and explain to me why the striping directing cyclists to stay to the right of turning traffic at an intersection is better than simply having the bus, bikes, and right turns only share a single lane (which works well in San Antonio among many other places).  Was that a "potshot" just then?  Or did I suggest a positive way to improve the plan?

Positively, I endorse this approach -- http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/200 … community/ and this approach http://bicyclesafe.com/  and this approach http://ohiobike.org/obf-cfc.html (may we get such a program here!) .  They are grounded in the real world experience of cyclists all over the world.  See http://cyclingsavvy.org/2012/05/couch-p … -0-months/ .  German urban biking is way up while barrier-separated infrastructure projects are way down (Munich 1996 at 6%; 2011 at 17%).  http://bikeportland.org/2013/05/16/jan- … ways-86843 It worked in Davis, CA, where there's a 19.1% bike commuting percentage (compare Portland at 6%).  Davis does the infrastructure largely right.  The new German approach works well.  Why wouldn't we emulate that instead of the current "protected cycle track" craze in US? Why would any of that be some sort of buzzkill for you?

BikeTexas and TxDOT Safe Routes to School present Jenny’s Neighborhood, a fun & educational game that teaches basic bicycle safety skills to prepare kids for a safe and active summer!

Jenny’s Neighborhood is part of the pilot program Texas in Motion that offers digital bike safety education for kids.

Texas in Motion is a suite of digital learning tools for 4th-6th grade, created with funding from the Safe Routes to School program of the Texas Department of Transportation. Texas in Motion satisfies T.E.K.S. for  Technology Applications, Texas History, and Contemporary Social Issues combined with key bicycle safety skills and education.

For more information contact Jack Sanford, BikeTexas Program Manager at [email=education /at/ biketexas.org]email here[/email] or 512-476-7433

Project Description

The goal of the Austin Bike Explorers project is to begin to develop youths into well-rounded lifestyle and recreational cyclists. Our aim is to create cyclists who have the skills and ability to not only use their bicycle for fun and recreation but to develop the qualities needed to use it safely for transportation and to teach others to do so as well. Active transportation can also help fight obesity by making the exercise part of an activity which can rather than just exercising which can feel like a chore. Encouraging bicycle transportation also has a beneficial impact on the environment in that it reduces carbon emissions produced by motor vehicles, resulting in improved air quality and reduced resource utilization.

The program is built on top of Cycle Academy material which is a structured educational program geared toward youth cyclists concentrating on bicycle riding, safety, and maintenance skills. It focuses on learning by doing, self-sufficiency, developing a healthy lifestyle by integrating bicycling into daily activities, and community service. The curriculum is split into discrete education modules so we can track individual student achievement and measure their progress in becoming subject material experts. The long-term goal is to develop youth cyclists who can be teachers within their own peer groups and families.

This program provides a high-volume introduction to cycling and cycling skills through bike rodeos and also provides in-depth instruction through smaller group instruction. Classroom instruction is paired with group rides where learned skills can be further refined, knowledge reinforced, and Austin’s parks experienced first-hand. We aim to create awareness of the various on-road and off-road bicycle facilities and accessible green spaces in East and Central Austin while also helping students develop safe riding skills and bicycle maintenance skills so they and their families can properly utilize the network of routes to reach their desired destinations. Students who do not own a bicycle can use one from our lending library or build their own in our free earn-a-bike program.

PROJECT GOALS

What do you want to do?
Help kids earn bikes, learn to ride them safely and responsibly and explore their community and parkland. Their city, active transportation and the environment.

How will you spend the $10k
Instructor wages for direct services, tools and spare parts to fix the kids’ bikes, incentives they can earn through skills development. Teaching materials.

What impact do you hope to make?
To develop youth riders into cycling experts who integrate bicycling into their daily lives while actively discovering their city and green spaces by bike.

WEBSITE

http://ghisallo.org