#1 Re: Other » Stolen Bikes being sold in alley near Capitol » 2009-06-11 11:17:09

There are also a couple other places on the east side that sell stolen bikes. Another spot that seems popular are flea markets in other cities. To illustrate this point, a friend of a friend went down to San Antonio and purchased a very nice bike at a flea market down there at WELL below market value, and it happened to have a sticker from a local shop on it. He brought the bike by the shop and sure enough, they were able to confirm his suspicions that it was stolen! Crazy. We should speak more Leslie. Something needs to be done about the rampant bike theft in this town, and soon before it gets even more out-of-hand. This isn't New York, and I don't want to have to lock my seat and wheels EVERY time I stop for coffee.

#3 Re: Justice Issues / Collisions » Austin police allow bike theft » 2009-02-04 08:49:11

The detectives on the case have been in contact with me regarding all the stolen bikes/frames/components and will be trying to get as much of it back to its' rightful owners as possible. It's going to take a while to sort eveything out but in the meantime the best thing you can do is find any pictures, receipts, serial numbers, or any other identifying marks/characteristics on the frames and either report the bike as stolen to the police, enter it in the UTPD Registry (if you're a UT Student), or post the stolen bike and some details on my Stolen Bike Registry: http://www.atxbs.com/?q=node/407

This is good news, as this guy was wanted on several felony warrants for similar crimes in Arizona, and has (allegedly) victimized quite a few locals before being caught yesterday. I've spoken to the detectives on the case on-and-off for over a month now, as they've been looking for additional victims and any proof against James they could find. I guess yesterday they finally decided they'd seen all the proof they needed and pulled the trigger. Freaking awesome!

#4 Re: Justice Issues / Collisions » Austin police allow bike theft » 2008-12-21 16:03:57

Wow, that sucks. Did you perchance get the officer's name or badge number? What a crummy attitude to have, "public servant" indeed.

#6 Re: Commuting/Routes » East Austin to McKinney Falls State Park » 2008-11-21 15:17:43

Commuterman's path is the exact same route I used to take to work when I was at AMD down off of Burleson and McKinney Falls. It's not too bad besides that short stretch on Riverside and the little climb on Montopolis.

#7 Re: Other » Just fyi on Blog » 2008-11-18 15:16:25

Hell yeah, the more the merrier!

#8 Re: Other » Bike theft » 2008-10-24 10:48:10

Oof, it always sucks to have a bicycle stolen. If you have a moment, please post any details you may have on the bike to my Stolen Bikes registry: http://www.atxbs.com/?q=node/407

It's just starting out but I'm trying to create a persistent location for people to log stolen bike notices, in hopes that other community members happen to see them and can get in touch with the owners. It's worth a shot.

Jason

#9 Re: Justice Issues / Collisions » FYI on APD Forum » 2008-10-15 13:37:56

Wow, that looks like it could be really interesting. I wish I could justify taking another day off of work this month.

#10 Re: Justice Issues / Collisions » KVUE: "Police cracking down on bicyclists who break the law" » 2008-10-14 18:12:23

m1ek wrote:

Here's a hint: if you want better infrastructure, it doesn't hurt to obey the law - there were more than one occasion when a resolution died at the UTC because the chairman was able to complain about how cyclists would just do whatever they hell they wanted anyways, and, of course, he was right.

May we stop building highways due to the overwhelming urge to speed (illegally) that nearly ALL automobile drivers seem to embrace headlong? These days if you're not going at least the speed limit, you're looked at as if something is wrong with you.

It seems that this urge to break the law in an effort to get to a destination faster is human nature, not just cyclist nature. Why does cyclist infrastructure suffer specifically because of it?

#11 Re: Other » Pulling the plug on the Bicycle Austin Blog? » 2008-10-14 10:57:37

damicoaustin wrote:

Jason, please don't insinuate that I'm reputable...you'll ruin my reputation.

Heh, at least you have a webpage title that can be quoted in the public press without asterisks, and compared to those other shady characters I lumped you with, you're practically wearing a white hat and a sheriff's star. ;)

Jason

#12 Re: Other » Pulling the plug on the Bicycle Austin Blog? » 2008-10-14 08:20:39

I'd love to see a bigtime austin cycling blog that's more than a 1 or 2 man show. There are a lot of great voices in town for the cycling community, and a blog seems to be the most popular modern outlet for collecting and disseminating the thoughts of like-minded individuals. Maybe it was due to the advertising, or the lack of frequent updates, but it never seemed that the BA blog took off to be that collection point.

Thanks for the mention Doug. I don't know if Michael left my site off accidentally or intentionally (either way no biggie), but ATXBS.com has been around for longer than the BA blog or either of the other two mentioned, and has been EXTREMELY active (both on my part and the part of commenters/contributors) the entire time. I try to keep abreast of as much local bike news as I can and update very frequently. Maybe even a little too frequently, but no one's complained yet. Likewise I'm constantly having people send me events, reports, pictures, and all sorts of great content relating to the austin bike community, which I repost with credit (vs. allowing other writers). Traffic has been increasing by about 50% month-over-month since February, and I expect it to really see a bump when Thursday's Chronicle hits newsstands. I've been getting lots of great positive feedback both via email and in person. And one guy calling me an a-hole, but I literally asked for that on my site.

BUT, my site is TOTALLY a dictatorship of me. I also swear a lot, hate a lot, and am in no way "reputable". Austin really needs a reputable, informative site, hopefully one that's maintained by multiple intelligent writers. Austinbikeblog is the closest thing I see to what I think Austin needs, and their two writers have been great, but I know there are people out there like Tom Wald, Rob DAmico, Michael Bluejay, Bob Farr, who don't have that outlet, besides the various forums and mailing lists around town. Y'all need a freaking blog! Maybe just not the BA blog.

And stay off of mine. It's mine. ;)

Jason
http://www.ATXBS.com

P.S. I forgot to mention before booking it to work, but there may be dawn on the horizon. Marsha Ungchusri has some interesting ideas for a local bike blog similar to http://www.bikeportland.org, but geared towards the Austin community. If she can get some local talent on-board and crack the whip every once in a while, I see good things coming from her efforts. Time will tell, but she's got a lot of good people behind her, I anticipate greatness.

#13 Rides and Events » Halloween Full Moon Cruise - Tuesday, October 14th @ 11:59PM » 2008-10-13 10:26:30

Jason
Replies: 0

Ok boys and girls, it's that time of year when the weather turns chill, the sun sets early, and all the creatures of the night come out to join us on our spooky after dark bike rides. The spookiest of them all, of course, is the Full Moon Cruise, and as of right now you've got a little over 36 hours to prepare your final will and testament because I don't know if we're all coming back from this one.

Tuesday, October 14th at 11:59 is the time and day, the Lamar Pedestrian Bridge is the place, and as for the route I have not been clued in but if it's anything like last year I guarantee it'll be a frightfully good cruise, full of ghoulish, darkly lit streets and ghastly, overgrown graveyards.

The evenings are getting chillier so wear a few layers (aka. shit you can take off if you get warm), remember your flashy lights, and bring plenty of whatever to drink. Don't want anyone getting dehydrated. Costumes are STRONGLY encouraged, and nudity is always appreciated. Let ALL your friends know about this ride, it's freaking awesome.

If you want to see some pictures from last year's ride and after party for inspiration, check out Jamie's Flickr page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dream0fmirrors/page7/

See y'all there,
Jason

#14 Re: Rides and Events » Critical Mass Ride - This Friday (9/26) - 9PM @ UT West Mall » 2008-09-29 13:15:38

Oh dude just you wait. That picture was from a guy that DIDN'T ride the upper deck. Prepare to have your mind blown, this video is from ME:

http://vimeo.com/1835832

From a long video shot where I counted 91 cyclists entering and leaving the frame I estimate 120+ cyclists took to the highway. We entered northbound I-35 at MLK and exited at Airport.

I mapped out the majority of the last leg of the ride (I can't do the ride to the final park since it's not in google's maps yet) but of this only about 1.75 miles were on the highway:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2300579

Mopac would be interesting, but I think once is enough for a while. I really don't want to get in trouble.

#16 Re: Justice Issues / Collisions » KVUE: "Police cracking down on bicyclists who break the law" » 2008-09-27 12:55:20

I was just thinking that Doug. When I was written a ticket for running a red light on my bicycle about two years ago it would have cost me the full amount and gone against my insurance if I hadn't beat it. It was no different than getting one in a car. Has this changed?

#17 Rides and Events » Critical Mass Ride - This Friday (9/26) - 9PM @ UT West Mall » 2008-09-25 13:59:16

Jason
Replies: 7

That's right, the last Friday of the month is upon us and the time has come for another Critical Mass bike ride. UT West Mall at 5pm this Friday. Bring bikes, friends, music makers, costumes, plenty of beverages, bike-friendly pets, and anything else you can think of to turn this ride into a celebration of biking!

Please stay to the right when possible and try not to antagonize cars. It keep everyone happier and safer. There are already plans for an after-party so stick around after the ride for that!

Jason

#18 Re: Commuting/Routes » North Lamar Transit Center Accessibility » 2008-09-25 13:55:57

It's pretty easy to navigate that intersection, especially during traffic as it's a long light and is easy to get between cars. This is how I'd do it, taking Lane's suggestion and modifying it past Tisdale:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2291498

There's a slightly illegal jog to get from Anderson to the U-turn lane on Research, but it's really not hard to get to and made even easier when the light stops traffic. I live over there and go through that intersection all the time, it's easy.

Jason

#19 Re: Other » Austin News Clips from LOBV » 2008-09-18 11:08:10

Nice, I get mentioned in the last one. Thanks for the info, Rob!

EDIT: No signatures, please.

#20 Justice Issues / Collisions » Stolen Bicycle Registry and Wall of Shame added to ATXBS.com » 2008-09-16 16:23:33

Jason
Replies: 0

There's been a lot of updates on ATXBS today, including the opening of two new sections:

Stolen Bike Registry:
http://www.atxbs.com/?q=node/407

Wall of Shame:
http://www.atxbs.com/?q=node/406

Feel free to post to either if you've had a bicycle stolen recently or have been harassed or injured by a driver.

Jason

#23 Re: Getting started with biking » Most important thing about getting started » 2008-09-16 08:17:55

Lack of car and a ways to go, or a sense of moral superiority. For me it was mostly the latter, with a bit of the former due to being in 2 car crashes in rapid succession and a bout of not really wanting to drive for the following year. Had to get to work somehow, and it feels good to be better than everyone else.

#24 Re: Justice Issues / Collisions » Re: BIKE: Cyclist hit on Parmer » 2008-08-30 19:54:34

I've been looking everywhere for news on this. I try to mention bicycle fatalities and major accidents on my site but there seems to be NOTHING published about this accident. I'm so sorry to hear the cyclist passed away if that is indeed the case.

#25 Rides and Events » Full Moon Cruise tonight, 26th Annual Moonlight Cruze next month » 2008-08-16 21:27:49

Jason
Replies: 2

Tonight, 11:59pm on the Lamar Pedestrian Bridge, and this is coming up next month...

moonlitecruze-poster2008.jpg

I can't wait.

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