ACA Cycling Classes

Traffic Skills 101
Traffic Skills 101 will help you ride safely and effectively — to work, to the store, around your neighborhood or around the state. Most of us were taught to ride a bike by a parent when we were very small, and our bike education ended at that time. In fact, we were simply taught how to ride without falling down too often; but few of us were ever taught how to drive our bicycle in traffic. Traffic Skills 101 fills that gap. It is Driver’s Ed for cyclists. Traffic Skills 101 is taught by League-certified instructors, and the comprehensive curriculum covers everything, including bike selection and fit, simple maintenance, fixing a flat, and strategies for riding a bike safely and confidently in all traffic situations.
 
The Austin Cycling Association offers one of the nation's first defensive cycling courses. If referred by the court to take a defensive cycling course, the Austin Municipal Court will accept the course certificate as part of a deferral for dismissal of certain bicycle citations. You may only complete this course once every 12 months.
Become certified to teach the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) Bicycle Skills 123 Clinic curriculum so you can organize and administer children’s cycling skills clinics (aka bike rodeos). The course includes detailed diagrams for laying out a child safety clinic. Certified Youth Instructors also have access to ACA's helmet grant program as well as use of ACA's bicycle rodeo materials.
If you have been riding your bike around Austin for any time at all, you have probably realized that major highways like 360, 620, and Parmer Lane can all be vital parts of any bicycle route. But are you frustrated or intimidated by the concept of riding on the shoulders with high speed traffic a few feet away? Or have you wished you could ride up and down Highway 360, only to give up the first time you encountered those frightening on/off ramps at 2222 and 2244? If this sounds all too familiar, this class is for you!
…at any age! Many of us never learned to ride when we were kids. Now's a good time. Treat yourself by adding this fun, healthy activity to the long list of things you can do.

If you are planning on riding the 2012 BPMS150 from Houston to Austin or any of the other mass rides coming up as temperatures cool, you should enjoy our Group Riding Skills class.  The class will help you become comfortable riding for two days with 13,000 of your closest friends…and the emphasis is on close. 
Taught by nationally-certified League Cycling Instructors, these sessions offer a wealth of techniques taught in cycling courses throughout North America. The most popular format is the lunchtime session, which allows your employees to attend interesting, lively and very useful interactive training during their lunch break on a wide variety of cycling topics. (This can be held at any time of the day or evening to suit your staff's schedule.)
 
Community Bike Rodeos
Help your group's or neighborhood's kids learn practical skills in handling their bikes — starting, stopping, riding in a straight line while scanning and signaling — and operating their bike like a vehicle in a controlled (off-street) traffic simulation. You provide the venue, volunteers and tables/chairs/shade/refreshments/restroom facilities, and we can provide a nationally-certified instructor to lay out the skills courses, oversee the event, and conduct the training.