This document summarizes a study on cycling media and community engagement in Austin, Texas. It found that local bike blogs like ATXBS play a role in organizing large casual bike rides by publicizing ride details, but that most riders learn about rides through word-of-mouth from friends. The weekly Thursday Night Social Ride and monthly Critical Mass ride are two of the largest rides. Rides are motivated more by socializing and identity than overt politics, though riders support advocacy issues like more bike lanes. While media informs about rides, riders said they were not as interested in online cycling information generally.

1. Off the Computer and Into the Saddle:
Austin Cycling Media and Community
Engagement
Chris McConnell
University of Texas at Austin
IAMCR, Braga, July 2010

2. The Project
• Austin has seen the emergence of a
few large casual bicycle rides in recent
years
• Participation in bicycle-advocacy has
increased
• What role have local cycling-oriented
media such as blogs and ‘zines played
in this?

3. The Study
• Semi-structured interviews with 25
cyclists
• Approached at two large rides, Critical
Mass and Thursday Night Social ride
• Subjects were queried about media
use, social ties, participation in lobbying
or advocacy
• Additional 18 months of participant
observation

4. Bicycles
• Low-cost form of transportation
• Minimal environmental impact
• Lack of enclosure improves sociality
• Sometimes difficult to integrate into
motorized transport infrastructure
• US is particularly bike-hostile

5. Austin, Texas
• State Capital of Texas
• Home to University of Texas
• 786,382 population, 1,705,075 metro
• Doubled in size in approx. 25 years
• About 118,000 university-level students
• Youthful population
• Faces substantial transportation and
planning problems

6. Cycling in Austin
• Long home to a transportation cycling
community
• Lance Armstrong is a local hero
• >1% of commutes are done by bike, about
twice US average
• Silver-level rating from League of American
Bicyclists
• Many streets have bike lanes or other
accommodations, but no integrated network

7. A typology of Cycling
• Sport
– Rides for exercise, competition
• Transportation
– Commuting, shopping, utility
• Casual
– Rides for fun, some exercise or utility
This paper is primarily interested in
Transportation and Casual cyclists

8. Austin Cycling Media
• ATXBS.com: blog listing casual rides with
some commentary
• BicycleAustin.info: advocacy site with forum
and email list
• Social Cycling ATX: spread across social
media platforms like Facebook, Tumblr, and
Twitter
• The Dropout: print ‘zine on bike culture
• Variety of personal blogs, organizations

9. Critical Mass
• Monthly civil disobedience ride in rush-
hour, performed in cities worldwide
• Performed since 1991
• Attracts about 75-80 cyclists in Austin
• Furness (2009) performative/embodied
communication practice.
• “It’s kind of an outlaw ride,” Al, 60

10. “There’s something really empowering about
riding with a big group of people. It’s a thrill
you can’t get anywhere else.” -Melissa, 19
Critical Mass

11. Thursday Night Social Ride
• Weekly casual ride, ends at bars
• Began in 2008 by Social Cycling ATX
• Organized and promoted through Facebook
• Participants are expected to follow traffic
laws, stop at red lights.
• Draws as many as 300 riders in nice weather
• Not overtly political, but engages in some
advocacy

12. Thursday Night Social Ride
• “The more rides like this, the better image we
have. The more rides like this the safer it will
be for everyone.”
– Keith, TNSR organizer

13. Other Rides in Austin
• Midnite Ridazz
• Skellies
• Tuesday Night Yoga
Ride
• World Naked Bike
Ride
• Full Moon Cruise

14. Information about Rides
• Although SCATX and ATXBS broadcast ride
announcements, most subjects indicated that
they knew where and when rides started
• New riders said they discovered rides through
these sites.
• Many riders said they learned of rides through
friends.

15. Subjects on ATXBS
• ATXBS was almost the only blog
mentioned by subjects.
• “It’s definitely created a sense of
community.” - Sara, 28
• “There’s always a different ride.” -
Joseph, 28
• Enjoy irreverent tone, presence of editor
on rides

16. Bike Media
• “Biking is kind of like an outdoor thing while
the Internet is kind of a sit-on-your-ass thing.”
Melissa, 19, “addict”
• Most subjects said they did not go online to
learn about cycling or bikes.
• In fact, many subjects just thought this was
strange
• Few reported going online for information
about bicycle advocacy

17. Motivations for Participation
• Social Capital/Community
– Participants go to rides to see friends meet
new people, be around other cyclists
– “I just like the social aspect of cycling; it’s
just a real positive vibe.” - Troy, 60
• Identity
– “Everyone doesn’t have to be the power-
bar eating, spandex kind of biker.” -
Rachel, 28

18. Politics and Advocacy
• Few subjects reported the desire to
make a political statement as a reason
for participating, even in Critical Mass
• Few subjects claimed to have an
interest in bike advocacy, although they
would like to see more bike lanes,
better police treatment, etc.
• Still bike-related political events see
good turnout

19. Conclusions
• The regular casual rides seem to be mostly
about the formation and maintenance of
social capital
• Batterbury (2003) advocacy as social network
rather than social movement, single-issue
emphasis
• Influential bike blogs like ATXBS can use
their social captial to deploy cyclists for
advocacy purposes

20. Further Directions and
Questions
• Conduct interviews at city forums and
advocacy events
• More interviews with media producers.
• The local bike media does seem to
have an influence over this bike
community, yet the bikers don’t talk
about it.
• How is it that they influence this group?