Off-season riding

Bring tools, flat repair, chain repair, etc. You don't have coaches to count on, you're your only mechanic. Bring enough water and snacks to keep you alive in the event you break your bike and have to hike out. 

Always have a form of ID on you so rescue personnel can notify your guardians if you're unconscious. Road ID offers a good solution.

Again, you don't have CPR and First Aid trained coaching with you. Keep your rides to trails you already know when possible. 

Take another team athlete with you, things are more fun and if one of you gets hurt the other will be there to help guide the helicopter in ;) 

You need to have a GPS tracker and something with a data connection on you at all times. Get a Garmin (or Wahoo) watch or device and a cellular phone for the required data connection. Use Garmin Connect (or the Wahoo alternative) to send emails to your guardians and use Strava to send SMS as well. 

Unfortunately, too many of our coaches know multiple riders personally who have been caught out in the Green Belt with mechanicals or accidents that required medical assistance. The risks are real. All our coaches ride with GPS trackers visible to 3rd-party/emergency contacts at all times. 

There are great group rides around Austin. These group rides come with a list of very important caveats: 

• These are NOT NICA rides, they are community rides put on by adults from the community. 

• These rides have listserves you can get on that will post details about upcoming rides including maps. Download the map, put it on a device, potentially pre-ride the ride in the days before. 

• You MUST be able to wayfind to attend these rides in case you get lost or separated from the group. 

• These are not put on by coaches, there are no coaches at these rides. 

• There are no coaches, no support, and you should have no expectation of support at these rides. 

• All riders are expected to be able to repair their own bicycles. Do not expect to be able to borrow a tube, pump, patch, plug, etc. You must be self-sufficient 100% to attend. See our essentials and equipment list to know what you might need. 

• These rides cover the entire city. There are sketchy areas that these rides go through including homeless encampments. 

• Most of these rides end with parking lot beers, so parents should know that and plan to extract their children promptly at the ride's end.