Getting started!

Hi y’all! I’m super excited to get things up and running here at Ride Robins. But first, I’d like to share a little backstory!

I’ve been commuting to work on my bicycle since the summer began last year. It’s not the first time I’ve commuted by bicycle. I lived in the Atlanta metro back in the ‘aughts and found myself taking advantage of some of the bicycle infrastructure up there. The Atlanta BeltLine was a fledgling idea back then, but there were a few bike lanes that I was able to take advantage of.

Long story short is that I was able to get physically active while only adding a few minutes to my commute. Instead of sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic, I was getting a good workout in and smiling the whole while!

After waxing poetic about my younger bicycle commuting days to a coworker, she suggested I try it again here in Warner Robins. At first, I thought that a foolish idea. Watson Boulevard and Russell Parkway are terrible places to try to ride your bike. Still, the gears were turning. It turns out that if I added a mile to my commute, I could stick to slower, safer residential streets in the heart of the city.

I got my rusty old commuter bicycle fixed up at one of our local bike shops and gave it a spin. It’s been an amazing journey ever since.

The foundation of “Ride Robins.”

Tim and I met at one of the Warner Robins Area Transportation Study Citizens Advisory Committee meetings late last year. We stayed late after the meeting wrapped up and everyone went home. We’re both very interested in seeing better cycling and pedestrian infrastructure here in the city.

We went back and forth geeking out about transportation, covering everything from Strong Towns to the Not Just Bikes YouTube channel.

Since we met last year, we decided that creating an advocacy organization was the best way we could get involved in how Warner Robins meets the needs of those outside of the automobile. We came up with the name Ride Robins and decided to focus our mission on cycling and micromobility.

We’ve been attending nearly every city council meeting since and have been pleasantly surprised with how supportive the city government has been. Plans are in the works to connect the local parks via a system of bicycle trails, for instance! That’s fantastic news in my book.

What next?

Tim and I plan on keeping up with all the latest transportation and urban development news in the city by attending council and committee meetings. We plan on sharing any relevant news here, of course!

We also plan on getting folks involved. I’m planning on talking with anyone that might be interested in this sort of thing and handing out business cards to get folks to sign up for this website’s newsletter.

Next up: start scheduling meetups! At first, there will only be a few of us, but I hope that we’ll start snowballing into an organization big enough to organize group rides, host cycling safety and maintenance classes, and all sorts of neat things.

Finally, Visit Warner Robins is planning on hosting a cycling and motorcycle event on May 4th, 2024. Details are currently up in the air. We’re hoping that there’ll be a big group ride, bike checks, giveaways, and all sorts of cycling camaraderie for the whole family. Stay tuned!

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