October is fast becoming Arizona’s second bike month. The weather is getting nice and it’s the beginning of our long cycling season. To celebrate, there are some big events in October, rides, raffles, and sponsored events, all centered around the Tour de Fat on October 15th!

Check out all the details: http://www.biketempe.org/events/bike-events-oct-2011/

Click here to view and print the flier:

Saturday April 23rd – Steele Indian School Park in Downtown Phoenix. TBAG is sponsoring a new bike and beer festival to benefit our non-profit partners in Phoenix. Come down and have a beer to support local bike advocacy, and bring all of your friends too!

RSVP:

On the main Facebook event:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=198355436849933

Ride from Tempe to the event with State Bicycle Co:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=121691557908860

Ride in the bike parade:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=209279869099628

Enter you custom Cruiser, Chopper, Lowrider or Freak Bike in the bike show:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=122004684544651

Getting there:

There are a couple good bike routes from Tempe to Steele Indian School Park:

Along the Grand Canal: http://bit.ly/tempestwjbikeroute

Washington and 5th/4th/3rd: http://bit.ly/tempestwjbikeroute2

If you take the lightrail, get off at the Indian School stop and go north on Central. The park entrance will be on your right. Cross through the park towards the northeast to find the event.

Lightrail from Tempe: http://bit.ly/stwjlightrail

 

Introduction by Ashley “Chain Whip” Lanoue

What a whopper of a month for TBAG and all you great people! Start filling up your calendars with all the fun Bike Month events! Tell your friends, your friends friends, and your friends friends friends about the “Call to artists” for bike culture related art in the Mitchell Park area! Get in on some advoacy action with several on-going projects!

 
Upcoming Events and Rides by Ryan “Tire Lever” Guzy and Jeremy “Multi-tool” Deatherage.
Calendar of upcoming events, and special notes about weekly rides in Tempe

SanTan Wheelie Jam - Saturday April 23rd – Steele Indian School Park in Downtown Phoenix TBAG is sponsoring a new bike and beer festival to benefit our non-profit partners in Phoenix. Come down and have a beer to support local bike advocacy, and bring all of your friends too! If you would like to volunteer to help run this event, please sign up here: http://bit.ly/stwjvolunteer

RSVP on the main Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=198355436849933

Ride from Tempe to the event with State Bicycle Co: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=121691557908860

Ride in the bike parade: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=209279869099628

Enter you custom Cruiser, Chopper, Lowrider or Freak Bike in the bike show: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=122004684544651

More Bike Month Activities-:To help TBAG at any of the following events, please signup here: http://bit.ly/2011bikemonthsignup

The Great Bike Chase – Sunday April 17th – Chase Field Ride your bike to the ballpark to watch the game. Valley Metro has discounted tickets and a bike expo outside the ballpark. TBAG is providing staffed bike parking at the event. Rides to the event start valley wide, click on the group rides button here: http://www.valleymetro.org/be_bright/events_detail/great_bike_chase/

Bike to Work Day – Wednesday April 20th – Tempe and other valley cities Ride your bike to work, this day and every day! The City of Tempe and local businesses will be providing free breakfast and t-shirts at 7 locations around Tempe. TBAG volunteers will be at each location to talk to people about bike advocacy, and will lead rides from each location to the Center Bistro near City Hall. See http://www.tempe.gov/tim/events/BiketoWork.htm for the list of locations. Gilbert, Glendale, Mesa, Phoenix, Scottsdale are also participating in Bike to Work Day Check out: http://www.valleymetro.org/bikemonth/bike_work_school_day for more details.

TBAG Third Fridays presents The WRITE-OFF Ride, Friday, April 15. It’s Tax Day, USA. Get to the bank early and cash that check – this Friday we RIDE. Meet up at the entrance to Tempe Beach Park, Rio Salado and Mill in Tempe at 7:30pm and we’ll roll out to destinations around Tempe and So Scottsdale. RSVP on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=205359309487714 and be sure to invite your friends.

Advocacy Updates by Aaron “Spoke Wrench” Golub.
Updates on local, regional, and federal advocacy topics

There are several on-going advocacy projects, such the work on the Alameda St. bike/ped bridge and the recent bike count. TBAG is represented on several transportation planning committees – do let us know if you want to help out and represent TBAG. For more details, see our recent blog post at: http://www.biketempe.org/april-2011-advocacy-update/. If you have other ideas about what TBAG should be working on – please email us or come to the upcoming advocacy meeting on Monday, April 25th, at 7pm at Boulders on Broadway.

Bike Culture by Eric “Headset Wrench” Iwersen
Sharing the love of bicycles

Bicycle Public Art:   TBAG is seeking to commission an artist (or artists team) to work with to create a permanent public art piece in Tempe, in the Mitchell Park Neighborhoods area.  The project commission is for $15K and is inclusive of all design and fabrication costs associated with the project.   TBAG, the neighborhoods, and the City of Tempe will work with the artist to see the project through to construction.  The intention of the project is to create a local landmark that supports bicycle culture in Tempe.  Artists of all skill levels are encouraged to apply.  Check out http://www.biketempe.org/public-art-project/ for more information.

Youth Education by Sam “Pin Spanner” Bollinger
Information on upcoming classes and online resources

TBAG is teaming-up with friends, some new & some old. WeCycle USA (www.wecycleusa.org) & the Rusty Spoke will help run the kids activities at the San Tan Wheelie Jam on 4/23. Features: Helmet & bike decorating, bike games & an Easter Egg Hunt.

Get Involved by Sam “Pin Spanner ” Bollinger.
Volunteer for upcoming events and join our planning committees

Tempe Bike Count: Initial results from the first Tempe Bike Count will be released on 4/20 @ Bike to School & Work http://www.valleymetro.org/bikemonth/bike_work_school_day We’ll also post them on our blog www.biketempe.org.

Have suggestions or contributions for future newsletters, or commentary on stories? E-mail them to ash...@biketempe.org

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Saturday April 2nd, Recycle that old bike! Volunteers from Bike Saviours, Rusty Spoke, and Tempe Bicycle Action Group will be accepting donations of used bikes and bike parts. Anyone who donates will receive a thank-you gift courtesy of REI. Volunteers will be collecting donations at both Valley REI locations: 1405 West Southern Avenue, Tempe or 12634 N Paradise Village Pkwy, Phoenix from 9am to 4pm on Saturday.

Late breaking news: Valley Metro has supplied Valley Bike Month t-shirts to give away to people who donate bikes. Supplies are limited so bring your donation down early!

The posters are printed for the SanTan Wheelie Jam, and they’re starting to go up all over the place. The event is at Steele Indian School Park in Phoenix on Saturday April 23rd. TBAG is working with local cycling advocacy groups and sponsors from Phoenix and around the Valley, and all proceeds will benefit the non-profit groups.

RSVP on Facebook here: http://on.fb.me/santanwheeliejam

And sign up here if you’d like to volunteer: http://bit.ly/stwjvolunteer

The training sessions for our first Tempe Bike Count are Wednesday 3/23 at 7:00pm and Saturday 3/26 at 10:00am at the Tempe Transit Center 200 E. Fifth Street (near Forest and College avenues near the light rail station) in the Cassano Room on the second floor.

If you’ve already signed up for the bike count, thanks! it’s great to see everyone involved in bicycle advocacy in Tempe. If you haven’t signed up yet and would like to, please go here for more information and the signup form: http://www.biketempe.org/events/bike-count/

Get ready for a new bike and beer festival on April 23rd at Steele Indian School Park in downtown Phoenix, the SanTan Wheelie Jam. EVERYONE should be there, and bring all your friends too (oh and make sure everyone buys a few beers).

This is an all local festival, local bike groups, local beer (SanTan brewing), local food, local bands, local bike shops. TBAG is getting it going, and all beer sales proceeds will go to Phoenix groups like Rusty Spoke, AZ Bike Polo etc.

Right now we need to line up sponsors and bike activities. We can do roller wars, mini/tall bike rides and races, riding contests, fixie trick demos, bike build offs, giveaways etc. Contact r...@biketempe.org if you know someone who wants to sponsor the event, or can help provide some kind of bike related fun. Also let me know if you can help plan the event or would like to volunteer at the event.

Any non-profit or club that wants to get the word out about their group is welcome at the event. There will be table space, you can do fliers, stickers, or sell merch.

This festival is for and by the local bike community. It’s all new so it’s a great place to try new ideas and get people excited about riding bikes and being involved in their local community.

Thanks to all of the volunteers that helped with April Bike Month. We had five successful events thanks to all of your help: Bike Saviours/REI Bike Drive, Mariposa Elementary Bike Rodeo, 1st Annual TBAG Bike to BBQ, Bike to Work and School Day, and the Great Bike Chase. We also saw the launch of PHXBAG(or BikePHX, or PHXBike, help decide the name!) with a First Fridays Bike Valet at the beginning of the month, and Bicycle Awareness Party at the end of the month.

Bike Saviours and Rusty Spoke collected over 75 used bikes with the help of both Valley REI locations. Both organizations would like to thank those who donated, and REI for supporting and hosting the event.

The Mariposa Elementary Bike Rodeo was also a big success with lots of kids in attendance learning to ride safely. Click here for a full recap.

It was great seeing everyone at the BBQ, we had a great turnout for our first event of this kind. We had families riding around the town lake in the morning, mountain bike rides throughout the day, and then the bike polo crew showed up in the afternoon to help us finish off the burgers and kegs. This event replaced Tempe’s Bike-a-Palooza event that was canceled due to budget cuts. TBAG will be taking a larger role hosting grassroots cycling events like this to get people to come out and have fun on their bikes.

Bike to Work and School Day gets better every year. This year we had volunteers at 7 free breakfast locations around Tempe talking to fellow bike commuters. The volunteers from each location also led rides to the Tempe Transit Center. Mariposa Elementary also promoted bike to school day for their students, there were over 100 kids that biked to school that day and we had volunteers on hand to promote cycling, safety, and fun.

The Great Bike Chase is a long standing Valley Metro event, but budget cuts increase the need for volunteer help. TBAG volunteers set up a DIY screen printing booth at Hance Park and helped people print their own bike and bike month t-shirts. Volunteers also helped with ride marshaling and bike valet parking at a Diamondbacks game. You’ll see the DIY screen printing at many of our upcoming events.

Thanks again to the volunteers, you are what makes TBAG a successful organization helping to promote cycling in Tempe and around the Valley.

Sun 4/25: The Great Bike Chase
4.3 mile ride from Hance Park (3rd Ave. & Culver in Central Phx to the D’backs game at Chase Field. Free Bike Parking provided at Jefferson ST. Garage (Jefferson & 1st Ave., just south of Chase Field).
Pre-Event @ Hance Park (9-11a) features DIY silkscreen t-shirts, so remember to bring an old shirt to print on.
We still need volunteers for this event.
- GBC Ride Leaders (10:30a – 1:15pm)
- Bike Valet (12-4pm)
- Bike Valet Set-up (9a-12noon)
Event Info, Ticket Pricing & Route Map:
Or volunteer with us & get in to see the D’backs game for FREE.

Bike Month Continues…..
4/16 This Friday is TBAG’s monthly 3rd Fridays Ride. April’s theme is awesome local hotel bars. We meet at Tempe TownLake (Mill & Rio Salado) @ 7p. Additional details will be added to the blog soon. For questions or comments contact jer...@biketempe.org
4/18 Sun: Bike2BBQ @ Papago Park. Registration starts 11a. Event times 12-sundown (approx 7p). Details will be posted on the blog very soon. Questions or comments please contact: s...@biketempe.org
to volunteer, check-out or Bike Month Volunteer Opportunities pg.