Whether driving, biking or walking, traversing the hills of San Marcos can be a difficult task. However, if you happen to get around by bike, there’s good news for you.
Bike owners and riders appreciate the rare commodity that is free bike repair. Not many people know how to do all of their repairs themselves.
We have resources available to us, like the internet, that can assist us in doing our repairs on our own, but often times the internet can take away from our sense of local community.
The Bike Cave in San Marcos is a cooperative offering free bike repairs. The cave has a shop located in room 100 of the Colorado building, located on the north side of Pleasant Street, across from the Agriculture Building.
It was established in 2007 with a mission to get people out of cars and onto bikes. By doing this, people who ride their bikes would be reducing the demand for parking and alleviating traffic.
The shop offers much more than just repairs. There are plenty of classes and events held at the cave as well as social rides that have spurred from the cave.
Take for example the Re-Build A Bike class. Instructor Sean Welch has taught these classes each semester for a few years now. They are very informative and are at a very low cost to the public, not just students of Texas State.
“It’s important to know how to re-build your bike just incase anything happens. If you’re on a long ride and something goes wrong with your bike, you’ll be thankful you took my class,” said Welch with a bike tool in hand.
Another bike cave spawned idea is Flow Riders, an all-female social ride group that tries to have rides once a month. A member of the group even hosts a potluck post-ride.
Erin Cooper, creator of the group, said “Our goal is to empower women to feel safe on the road and confident in the shop.”
The cave also receives donated bikes and campus police deliver bikes that are left on campus unattended for a prolonged period of time. So if you wish to be a bike owner the cave has made it affordable for you to do so.
The Bike cave has thrived in the past several years and has done a great job at shaping the bike culture in San Marcos.
For more information on The Bike Cave call (512) 245-4567, email thebikecave@yahoo.com or stop by their website http://www.thebikecave.org.
The Art of Cycling 