Now you have a great excuse to check out our new and improved office -
at the Texas Bicycle Coalition Annual Membership
Meeting! It's the perfect opportunity not only to see the space, but to
meet our dedicated staff and board and connect with other cyclists. A reception will follow afterward, so we'll
have the opportunity to catch up with old friends and get acquainted with new
ones.
If you can't make it here in person, you can join the meeting by teleconference. Look for
details on how to call in on the newsletter next
month.
Though we won't be holding our annual meeting there as we did in years past
(see above article), we definitely wouldn't miss the Hotter'n Hell Hundred. If you're
attending, please stop by our booth and say
hello. We'll see you there, and good luck to all the
participants!
Texas Bicycle Coalition Board Meets With DFW Cycling Advocates
Texas Bicycle Coalition Board Members from around the state gathered in Dallas on Saturday, July 19 to sit down with DFW-area advocates and leaders of member clubs of BikeDFW. The meeting was a wonderful opportunity to exchange ideas and share the incredible progress recently made in the North Central Texas region: thanks to their recent petition efforts, DFW-area cyclists have gotten media attention and raised considerable awareness of the need to improve cycling accommodation here.
Cyclist and SuperCyclist-Certified PE teacher Oscar Torres noticed something very fundamental missing from the Annual Track and Field Day at Williams Elementary School in Pasadena. Bicycling!
So Oscar and fellow PE teacher David Garza fixed that problem this past May 12th when they organized the first annual Williams Track and Field Day Bike Ride. But first, they prepped the students with three weeks of bicycle safety lessons, using the 15-unit SuperCyclist curriculum. By the day of the ride, the kids knew their hand signals and the seven bike laws cold!
Helmet fitting was especially emphasized in the three weeks prior to the event. Assistant principals, Linda Flores and Wendy Wiseburn, also did a helmet fitting check just before the kids mounted up for to the ride.
"I feel that now it is up to us to really beat the bushes, so to speak, and get that average non cyclist to pay attention and help with our cause," says BikeDFW president Eric Jackson. "If we can get the average person to accept cycling in greater DFW as a good thing and a viable means of transportation, we will have accomplished more than enough to say this organization matters." Luckily, we've had the assistance of several local news stations who have covered our petition in light of the recent string of cyclist-related crashes in the past few months, including Channel 11 KTVT, CW33, and at least two articles in the Dallas Morning News.
While this has made quite impact on our petition, word of mouth will continue to be our greatest ally towards gaining signatures. This means metroplex cyclists need to make sure that friends, family, and other acquaintances know what riding a bike means to us, and why we want to keep it safe.
Forty-three pumped-up elementary school PE teachers gathered at Ramona Bang Elementary School in the Cypress-Fairbanks (Cy-Fair) ISD on June 4 for the Texas SuperCyclist Curriculum certification training. Up to 11,094 Cy-Fair elementary and middle school students stand to receive bike safety education in the coming school year, based on 2007 SuperCyclist survey results of average number of students taught by PE teachers actively implementing SuperCyclist lessons. (258 students per active teacher.)
The larger-than-usual size of enrollment in the SuperCyclist training was not a problem as Texas Bicycle Coalition contract SuperCyclist instructors, Regina Garza and KC Jones, moved through the classroom and active portions of the six-hour training, guiding the teachers through the key aspects of the 15-unit curriculum.
Texas Bicycle Coalition staff members Brenda Chuleewah and Mark Stine and Cy-Fair ISD PE Coordinator Loretta Bourn managed the logistics to keep the training on a smooth course.
The teachers jumped into the Hang-Tag, Seven-Rules, Decision Course,
and Skills Course gym exercises, truly enjoying the rare chance to all
come together from their schools and have a great time before heading
off to their summer lives. With their SuperCyclist certification, they
also carry off six continuing-education credits for their professional
development.
TBC
