Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

MichaelBluejay · 2013-02-20 13:34:12

I'd like to resurrect the Austin Bike Calendar that Elliott used to manage. I imagine the reason he quit was because it's too big a job for one person. So my idea is to create a Google Calendar, where the coordinators of various rides and volunteers/staff at the various orgs can all add their rides events. With each group adding their own events, it ought to be a lot easier to manage, and we'll have our dream of a unified bike calendar that has all the city's bike rides & events in one place.

So this is my public invitation to anybody who wants to be a part of this effort! I'll also be reaching out to leaders who are not on this forum.

AusTexMurf · 2013-02-20 14:42:46

I am in. I will do my best to update w/ rides and events not already covered, new to the forum, or resurrected from days gone by.

Larry Murphy

MichaelBluejay · 2013-02-22 15:56:23

Thanks, AusTexMurf!

Doug, Tom, and Tlep, are you in?

dougmc · 2013-02-22 16:04:57

Of course. I've never mucked with Google Calendar, but if you can delegate updates to many different people, that sounds like the key to making it work (i.e. having it kept up to date.)

AusTexMurf · 2013-04-29 08:59:57

Michael,

Are you still kicking around the idea of reviving the austin bicycle calendar via google ?

Thanks and best......

MichaelBluejay · 2013-05-02 12:30:02

Yes, AusTexMurf, thanks for the kick in the pants! I just set up the calendar, set up you, Doug, and the various cycling groups with edit-access, and sent out an invitation email message about it. If you didn't get the invite, and you'd like to be able to add your events to the Austin Bicycle Calendar, just let me know.

I started by adding the weekly social rides. Once there's an appreciable number of events on the calendar, I'll post the calendar address here. Anyone with a website will be able to embed the calendar into their site.

MichaelBluejay · 2013-05-04 11:12:45

I heard back from Nadia from the City, who said she'll participate. I haven't heard back from YBP, ACA, BA, Social Cycling Austin, Fast Folks, or some individual advocates I mailed, and nobody besides me has posted a single event to the calendar yet. I'm still hopeful this can work, though. If we need an example that different parts of the cycling community can work together on something, then here's a good, easy opportunity.

damicoaustin · 2013-05-04 13:51:16

I've been out of the bike world for awhile, with the exception of riding one. But I got the invite and probably will be paying attention and contributing starting in late June or July. Thanks MBJ!

MichaelBluejay · 2013-05-05 16:16:29

Thanks, damicoaustin! YBP also wrote and said they're in. Nadia also posted a new event (Bike to Work Day), so it looks like the ball is rolling.

Editors, here are tips for including a web page link in your listings:

(1) You can add links to the "Description" field, but not to the "Where" field.
(2) Here's the format for a link: <a href=http://biketoworkaustin.org>see the website</a>

BTW, the "www." is almost never necessary, in Google Calendars or anywhere else.

dougmc · 2013-05-07 00:00:21

I'll add some stuff to it too.

MichaelBluejay · 2013-05-13 13:33:51

Well, there aren't as many events listed as I'd hoped, but being as Bike to Work Day is this Friday, I don't want to delay the release of the calendar any more, so... presenting the Austin Bicycle Rides & Events calendar!

* You can see it on the bottom every page of Bicycle Austin.

* To link to the calendar from a web page, just link to http://BicycleAustin.info/calendar

* To embed the calendar into your own web page, use the following code:

* Everyone who's an editor who hasn't added events...please add them!

Runzilla · 2013-05-13 18:21:43

Queer Ride is shown on Thursday on the calendar. Side bar shows Queer Ride on Wednesday. I believe Wednesday is correct.
Rico T.

MichaelBluejay · 2013-05-13 18:46:04

Thanks for letting me know! I fixed it.

While I'm at it, I'll mention that I see BikeTexas added the Ride of Silence for this Wednesday -- which I wouldn't have known about if not for the calendar.

MichaelBluejay · 2013-05-23 10:57:39

Thanks to everyone who's been adding events to the calendar. I added the embed code right below the calendar at the bottom of every page on Bicycle Austin, so no one has to go hunting for the code to add the calendar to their website.

Confirmed editors are the YBP, BikeTexas, the City's Bicycle Program, dougmc, AusTexMurf, and damicoaustin. I never heard back from ACA or Bike Austin.

owlman · 2013-05-23 15:37:07

North Austin Social Bicycling has a ride Tuesdays @ 7:30
https://www.facebook.com/groups/343782445699081/

North Austin Social Bicycling offers cyclists of all types and skill levels a way to meet others who love to ride bikes.
Our events cater to cyclists in North Austin while promoting social time on two wheels.
We currently have one regular ride on Tuesday nights meeting 7:30 p.m. at Balcones District Park (Duval at Amherst), departing at 8 p.m. with one park stop and a final stop at a nearby bar or restaurant.

MichaelBluejay · 2013-06-05 19:17:44

Thanks for letting me know, owlman! I added it to the sidebar on this site, and to the calendar.

MichaelBluejay · 2013-07-05 10:34:08

Someone apparently deleted all the weekly rides (the same ones that are listed in the sidebar). Before I add them back, does anybody know anything about this?

MichaelBluejay · 2013-07-19 09:06:38

I was about to add back the weekly rides, but their absence caused me to notice that there are nearly no events in the calendar. Two for July, three for August. Is that the best we can do? This calendar was my attempt to get the fractured local bike community to work together on a resource that everyone could use, that would take only a piddling amount of time for each group to be involved with. So the question is, should I pull the plug now, or give it another month to see if we can pull it together?

I'll send this message by email directly to the editors, also.

Donald Lewis · 2013-07-19 21:16:54

Austin Cyclist Meetup is my resource for rides. It works well, but, of course, there are many more rides. If there was a working central database there would probably be a half dozen or dozen rides per day on it.

Don

dougmc · 2013-07-20 12:53:50

Obviously this is not the best we can do, because it was a whole lot fuller before whatever happened happened.

Ultimately, most of the rides are weekly. Why/how they were deleted, I don't know. But once they're back, the calendar will be quite full again.

I would have fixed them myself, but -

Someone apparently deleted all the weekly rides (the same ones that are listed in the sidebar). Before I add them back, does anybody know anything about this?

... made me think that you were doing it, and were waiting for some reason.

In any event, I'm now slowly adding stuff back.

Now, Austin Cyclist Meetup is an idea. There's a certain crowd of people that go to the rides that we've included in the calendar, and there's not a lot of overlap with the Austin Cyclist Meetup folk, but we could start listing rides there rather than this calendar. Of course, that's a lot more "structured" than what we've got here, and that's both good and bad. I'll keep adding stuff to this calendar.

Donald Lewis · 2013-07-20 16:06:16

dougmc wrote:

Obviously this is not the best we can do, because it was a whole lot fuller before whatever happened happened.
Ultimately, most of the rides are weekly. Why/how they were deleted, I don't know. But once they're back, the calendar will be quite full again.

I would have fixed them myself, but -
Someone apparently deleted all the weekly rides (the same ones that are listed in the sidebar). Before I add them back, does anybody know anything about this?
... made me think that you were doing it, and were waiting for some reason.
In any event, I'm now slowly adding stuff back.
Now, Austin Cyclist Meetup is an idea. There's a certain crowd of people that go to the rides that we've included in the calendar, and there's not a lot of overlap with the Austin Cyclist Meetup folk, but we could start listing rides there rather than this calendar. Of course, that's a lot more "structured" than what we've got here, and that's both good and bad. I'll keep adding stuff to this calendar.

You have to be an approved organizer to put a ride on Austin Cyclist Meetup.

Don

MichaelBluejay · 2013-07-24 15:21:51

Okay, I added back some of the weekly rides. I didn't add back (and I removed from the sidebar) Fast Folks' ride, the Saturday Caffeine Cruise, and Bike Curious, because I couldn't find any documentation about them.

I've put in my to-do list to create a home-grown calendar system so users can choose to show only the kinds of events they're interested in (e.g., weekly rides, one-off rides, YBP shop hours, charity events, etc.). But there are lots of things on my to-do list that I never get around to, and this will probably be one of them.

MichaelBluejay · 2013-09-22 15:11:24

I'd like to ask for a volunteer to take one-off events posted to this forum, and post them on the Bicycle Calendar. For example, someone recently posted about a benefit for an injured cyclist. It would be nice to have events like that copied to the Calendar, but I don't have time to do it myself, and in any event I've always hoped that the Bicycle Austin site would be more of a collaborative effort.

By the way, to let you know some of the work that I've been doing here myself, last week I spent a couple of hours hacking the forum code to thwart some spam attacks we were getting. This forum actually gets a lot of spam that you never see, because I and other volunteers delete it manually. But now much of it is deleted automatically, thanks to the new code I wrote.

But anyway, back to the point, who would like to volunteer to copy events to the Bicycle Calendar? It should take all of a couple minutes a week, and with hundreds of members here, surely we'll have at least one taker....

MichaelBluejay · 2013-09-24 16:16:32

With hundreds of people here, can I get *one* volunteer to help a minute or two per week? Please?

tom doerr · 2013-09-24 18:56:03

I volunteer
It can't be that difficult
Then I can find rides!!!!!!

If I dont get a message in my inbox I will check in to this forum for posts
THX

Bicycle Austin forum

#1 2013-02-20 13:34:12

Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#2 2013-02-20 14:42:46

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#3 2013-02-22 15:56:23

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#4 2013-02-22 16:04:57

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#5 2013-04-29 08:59:57

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#6 2013-05-02 12:30:02

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#7 2013-05-04 11:12:45

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#8 2013-05-04 13:51:16

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#9 2013-05-05 16:16:29

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#10 2013-05-07 00:00:21

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#11 2013-05-13 13:33:51

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#12 2013-05-13 18:21:43

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#13 2013-05-13 18:46:04

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#14 2013-05-23 10:57:39

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#15 2013-05-23 15:37:07

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#16 2013-06-05 19:17:44

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#17 2013-07-05 10:34:08

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#18 2013-07-19 09:06:38

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#19 2013-07-19 21:16:54

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#20 2013-07-20 12:53:50

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#21 2013-07-20 16:06:16

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#22 2013-07-24 15:21:51

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#23 2013-09-22 15:11:24

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#24 2013-09-24 16:16:32

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

#25 2013-09-24 18:56:03

Re: Resurrecting the Austin Bicycle Calendar

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