Ride Report: Yellow Bike Project’s Ride and Thrive event

Austin Yellow Bike Project and Tough Cutie produced a really nice bike giveaway, mechanics workshop, and social ride for 15 women who needed bikes! All the bikes were donated mountain bikes restored by volunteers at Austin Yellow Bike Project. The workshop was lead by two mechanics from Cycleast. The ride was led by Team Snacks. Austin Capitol Metro provided a budget for snacks, water, and other essentials, and REI donated gift cards so the new riders could buy flat fix kits and whatever else they need. Latino Oudoors and Dear Diary Coffee were present too. Overall, I was so happy to be part of this event. It was a very happy day, and it was so cool to see all the bike recipients get a feel for their new bikes so quickly! Planning a bike for people who are new to riding or getting back into riding is very, very different than planning rides for "beginner-mediates." You have to assume at least some people are going to be scared to reach down for their water bottle or go down even the mildest hill. That doesn't mean they aren't having fun; you just have to work frequent water stops into your ride, break on hills so you don't create a huge gap, and have someone ready with a SAG car. Overall, I'm really looking forward to participating in more rides like this. I think it's so needed. We have a huge bike community in Austin, and lots of clubs say they want to be inclusive, but including new rides is so very different, most of us aren't actually providing that kind of ride. This was an educational experience for all of us, I think.