It’s springtime and time to ride!

Once again we at Flagstaff Biking Organization have been busy through the winter planning our schedule of advocacy events for the spring, summer and fall! Here’s an overview of some of what we have going on…

Bike to Work Week has new dates!

Flagstaff Bike to Work Week is scheduled for Sunday, June 3rd through Friday, June 8th! We had so many years of crappy weather, we figured that moving to a little later in the year would give us a better chance that it would be warm, dry and less windy. We will have a similar schedule to previous years, with some new variations on some old themes.

Some highlights:

  • Bike Parade Float Contest! If at least 5 pedal powered floats are entered into our Bike Bazaar Parade on Sunday, the best 2 will win $250 and $150 cash respectively, courtesy of New Belgium Brewing! Start drawing your plans now!
  • Enter your workplace in the Worksite Challenge! Registering your workplace makes you and you coworkers eligible to win a commuter bike! Logging your commutes enters you into the daily raffles to win fabulous prizes!
  • Bike to School Day is Tuesday, June 5th! The top participating schools will win the Golden Sprocket Awards! All you kids have to do to compete is ride your bikes to school!
  • Bike-In Movie! Meet for a “Kid-i-cal” Mass Ride or the Jack and Martin’s Big Adventure Ride and wind up at an outdoor movie!
  • Bike to Breakfast! Breakfast stops throughout Flagstaff for folks riding their bicycles to work.

Click here to see the full schedule and to register your Worksites now!

The 2012 Trail Days Schedule is Live!

We have 8 dates scheduled this year to build and maintain trails! We will be working towards closing some of the Flagstaff Loop Trail Gaps, maintaining some old favorites and even helping to re-open Little Bear Trail by mid-summer!

Our first trail work event is May 5th and is sponsored by Run Flagstaff, Fratellis Pizza and Kickstand Kafe!

Click here to see this years Trail Work Day Schedule and save a couple of dates!

Check out the 2012 Flagstaff Loop Trail interactive map!

Thank you to Aaron Seifert for building and maintaining this map!

Helping Keep Kids Safe with Bike Rodeos and helmets.

Flagstaff Biking Organization will be working with the Coconino County Safe Kids Coalition and Health Department to staff bicycle safety rodeos t 5 local schools, including DiMiguel, Mountain School and Killip Elementary. Our efforts over the past decade have helped train thousands of kids in proper bicycle riding, traffic safety and road rules. We are also helping to fulfill discounted helmet sales order also through the local schools!

Making sure mountain bikers have a voice in local trails planning efforts.

There are several trails planning NEPA projects starting and progressing on the Coconino National Forest. Flagstaff Biking Organization has been, and will continue to be, engaged in these projects to make sure we all have some awesome trails to ride. These projects will encompass a wide range of opportunities, from beginner through freeride/downhill…yup, we’re probably gonna have some legal downhill trails soon! Stay tuned here and to our Facebook page for calls for letter writing! We’ll need your voices to show that these opportunities are important to cyclists!

Bike Parks are on the Horizon.

We are working with both the City of Flagstaff and Coconino County Parks and Recreation towards finding appropriate places for mountain bike skills parks. Some of these processes take a good deal of time to work through, but all signs point towards the need for these facilities in Flagstaff. The Flagstaff City Council should be voting on the new City Parks and Recreation Master Plan, which includes specific language that will help us to pursue building a mountain bike skills park with the City. We are also part of the stakeholders group for the Ft. Tuthill Master Plan revision process, where we are advocating for a mountain bike skills park in addition to other cycling oriented interests. There is a public meeting for input on the Ft. Tuthill Master Plan that we need some folks to attend to show support for bicycling facilities! Please make time on Thursday, May 3rd, 5:30 pm, to attend at the Coconino County Administration Building at 219 E. Cherry Ave. Stay tuned for more info on this throughout the season!

Trail Ambassadors are on Patrol.

Keep a look-out for our new Trail Ambassadors! We have partnered with the Friends of Northern Arizona Forests and the Coconino National Forest to get some folks out on the trail to assist Forest users, report trail conditions and be otherwise helpful. Some of these folks might be doing some light trail maintenance as well!