by 
I have a couple events to tell you about. If you are not in Arizona, feel free to stop reading now.
It looks like the lovely boys and girls over at T.B.A.G. are planning another bike party. This one involves a city park, local beer, local music, local food (I’m sensing a theme here), and BIKES! This is a pretty big event for our community, and really something new and progressive for the giant urban sprawl disaster that is the Phoenix valley. So mark your calendars for April 23rd, come on out to ride and smile in the sunshine.
Get ready for a new bike and beer festival on Saturday 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 area cycling non-profits, groups like Rusty Spoke, AZ Bike Polo etc.
Right now we need to line up sponsors, vendors, and bike activities. Sponsors can be for the whole event, or an activity or contest. We can do roller wars, mini/tall bike rides and races, riding contests, fixie trick demos, bike build offs, giveaways etc. Contact ryan@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
The other event is going down this Saturday morning at everybody’s favorite bike friendly pub, Boulders on Broadway. Come down to buy and sell some of you old stuff, have a kick ass breakfast, and drink a beer with me at 9am. It should be a good time.
by 
Shit like this makes me wish I lived in Az. All we get over here in Athens, Ga is a once a year crit race called the “Twilight”. Bad thing is they won’t let you drink while watching unless you pay to stand in a fenced in area like a bunch of fuckin livestock. WTF! Guess I need to start planning a trip out west….
Keep posting the goods dirty, love to see what’s happening on the other side.
looks like you will have a Tour De Fat in Nashville and in Durham, NC this year. Both are probably about 5 hr drives for you (or maybe a 2 day bike tour?) but might be worth making the road trip for. I say go down to Terrapin there in Athens and get them to help you make your own fun. I know for a fact that they are bike riders that make beer!
You say San Tan. I say Satan’s Master Planned Community. Keep up the good fight for two wheeled culture.
whoa, that B&B deal looks chock full o’ awesome!
Thanks for the heads up, Durham is an easy 2.5 hrs from my house. Just marked it on the calendar.
i’d rather eat glass than go to anything in Kleenex. and local beer and food doesn’t really mean much when it comes from such a metropolis. nuke phx!
All the proceeds from this are going to local cycling advocacy non-profits and co-ops who are working hard every day to change the culture here and make the Phoenix area a livable place.
Come out drink some beer, goof around on your bike with like minded friends, support local businesses, and check out some independent local bands. It’ll be a great time and maybe quite possibly a small step towards improving the sense of community here in the Valley.
This festival is a new more local compliment to the Tour de Fat. We’re also hosting the Tempe edition of the Tour de Fat on October 15th at Tempe Beach Park. It is only because of New Belgium’s extremely generous donation every year that we can host more events to benefit local groups throughout the Valley.
@Townie: It is a shame that attitude still exists. Some of the reasons you probably hate PHX are that the air is dirty, the traffic is horrible, and there is no sense of community in such an urban sprawl wasteland. It is events such at this that taking a brave step to improve such problems.
Phoenix is the 5th biggest city in America and with that comes all the negative. To be able to make a living practicing my trade and have really good mountain biking 1.5 miles from my front door is ok with me…I could go on for days why Tempe is the right place for ME to live, and you could as well for why it should be nuked. not everybody can/wants to live in a mountain town and that is a very good thing. it keeps the back country alot less crowded. At the end of the day, these are some good people that are trying (and succeeding) every day to make a difference on our streets. on top of that..Can you even believe that there is a bar in the phoenix valley that has a designated bike rack indoors? Its the 21st century and cities seem to be here to stay. What we do to make them better can only help us all. I have alot of respect for what both of these guys do for the cycling community on a daily basis and I will keep promoting them any way I can. Cheers! to getting more people to ride bikes and keeping the attitude positive..
Dirty Biker +1.
The Phoenix cycling subculture deserves mad respect on all accounts. Their fight against the status quo is both daunting and noble.
Give respect where respect is due.
Dirty Biker +1 also (uh, is that +2?)
PHX is a good candidate for the type of cycling advocacy D.B cites. Read David Byrne, _The_Bicycle_Diaries_ for more of the same, also well-said. PHX is pancake flat and dry— efficient cycling. By contrast, up here in Pugetropolis, many communities will rot back into the mud before cycling ever takes hold— steep hills and constant rain.
So why does a city have to have ‘all the negative’ just because it is big? What’s wrong with humans that our largest communities are so dysfunctional? And with some exaggerated features of ‘Is it the corrupt government? (check yes if you are in Arizona) Is it capitalizm gone awry in stolen Valley of the Sun? Or is it that the people that choose to live there are comfortable with the life in a box, behind a wall, with dust storms, and comfortable with the idea that the main goal in life is to be conspicuous in consumption, and to look ‘professional’ always.
No, not every American city is as bad as Phoenix. But it’s sad to say, the best city is probably still at least 55% as bad. Tucson is just Phoenix-lite. That’s what I’ve called it for years.
But in your neighborhood,
in your neighborhood,
in your neighhhh bor hood (Tom Waits song)
There might just be a glimmer of community in those little neighborhoods that the main artery driver does not get to see
where that little chihuahua that runs around in the street
will never get run over, and people hang up their clothes to dry
in 20 minutes flat. Yes, there’s hell and evil and strangers everywhere in the Big Bad City.
I’ve been here in Phoenix coming on three years now. The riding here is great, no doubt about it. There is probably more road and mountain cycling in this city than many others in the US. That said, I’ve move outta here in a hot minute!
So why does a city have to have ‘all the negative’ just because it is big?
YO DIPSHIT LITTERJAR – IT’S A FUCKING DESERT (READ NO WATER). ENOUGH SAID. AND G-NOMER, I LIKE YOU BUT HONESTLY FLAGSTAFFTOWN WAS COOL BEFORE YOU ARRIVED IN DA HIGHLAND. yep, back when thunderbird was cool at joe’s place (on the corner).
we don’t want to hate, but check yourself at the door. where were you in 1984?
actually phoenix had a river running through it and that is why the original residents, Hohokam, thought it was a pretty cool place to live and build canals to irrigate their crops. then “progress” came and the Salt river was damed.. I’m pretty sure there was water running through those hills in Flagtown before all the springs were plumed to provide water for 60,000 thirsty people.
I remember the porch on Alpine on Thursdays…
Locals Only! No one is ever allowed to move anywhere. My town was cooler before you moved here. Suck it Alpine.
well I heard that down in southern Arizona, if you have brown skin you must produce the proper documents or the constabulary will drive you ass down to the border fence and throw you over. So I bet that helps.
I think large cities do have problems, but are still great places to live, and at this point in my life I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I live in Tempe and work 6 miles away in South Scottsdale, so I ride the lake path and the greenbelt to work 365 days a year. The weather is always great for riding here (no ice or snow). So you sweat a little more in the summer, I can think of worse situations.
The State Legislature looks like it’s off it’s rocker most of the time, but the city governments in the Valley are very supportive of cycling. Contrast that with supposedly bike friendly places like New York and San Francisco where there have been recent wars over bike lanes.
Yes littlejar, people do become complacent living in their suburban boxes and driving 45 minutes into the city to work everyday. But we’re here in Tempe with more than one organized bike ride every night of the week year round, drinking great craft beer at (4 now!) places within 5 miles, teaching people how to work on bikes for free, organizing two massive local bike and beer festivals per year, etc.
I find that as people realize that this local culture exists they wake up and start to think about their actions and their community and start to work on fixing some of the problems you mention. Cities can be vibrant, collaborative, green, livable places, but it’s only through the grassroots efforts of people, that instead of complaining, stand up and get involved and make things happen.
well, I’m glad the personal attacks on me are still happening and even now come from someone who “likes me” but that’s not what this thread nor the original post is about. This is about Phoenix Cycling and everything therein is alright by me and alright by all of the contributors to DC>
Keep up the good work Guz and all the heads of T.B.A.G. and beyond. y’all are undoubtedly making the situation better for cyclists in the city! Props to ya.
justsaying@14… check your science son because the Hohokam culture grew too big and took too many liberties with water and desert living. Modern-day Kleenix will invariably meet the same fate, yet this time the consequences will be far more dramatic. I hear so many people say that they “love living in the desert” when in fact, what they love is air conditioning, swimming pools, golf courses, refrigeration, a baseball stadium with a fucking swimming pool in centerfield, and a football stadium with a retractable roof! It’s all just plain wrong and those who live there are simply part of the problem and perpetuate the MIRAGE…
@Gnome: They might like you, but you’ll never be one of them (even though the only claim they have is that they got there first). Small-ball bullshit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qCPpS7e9l0
el jefe, i have known so many dudes over the years who claim this exact moniker and i am sure that you are not one of them. all previous incarnations of the boss were solid guys. and yes, they were here before you too.
Talking for both my New Zealand & Australian brothers & sisters. all I can say is:
WANKERS
Fucking get over yourselves!
So you’re all coming out on April 23rd to have a beer with me right? Find me and mention this thread and I’ll get you one on me :-)
Actually, as an old guy, I can tell you that outliving the so-called locals— because they got there before you— works pretty well. But you all knew that, didn’t you? Keep the rubber side down.
Many were “here” before me. I was “here” before many others to come. We mostly go where we need to go.
i think Hurben raises a good point…
Yeah. So anyway, I’ll be at BOB tomorrow morning we have two bikes to sell and a few other random things hopefully somebody will find useful.
Really looking forward to breakfast and beer. Nice.
Staying optimistic about making it to the Wheelie festival. I sure would take Guz up on that offer. San Tan beer is delicious. The best part is they make it in cans, so I pack it all the time. Hmmmm…Hop Shock…
I’m hopeful they’ll have it on tap for the festival because that’s even better.
Cheers.
Ok just to clarify: rose, I was agreeing with you. No sarcasm there.
And, it’s the Wheelie Jam not the Wheelie festival. I want one of those posters.
That is all.
Good night.
Nice article, are you seling links from your website? I’m interested…