Students heading back to school this fall have a new option for physical activity: mountain biking. The new team sport is available to Austin Public Schools, Pacelli Catholic Schools and home school students, grades 7-12 and is offered through City of Austin Park and Rec. The sport came to Austin because of the leadership of Dick Schindler and the Vision 2020 Bike Walk Trails committee.

Most people agree offering youth more options for staying physically active has a positive impact. Mountain biking typically attracts students that do not participate in other team sports and builds skills for a life-long sport.

Adding a mountain biking sport in Austin takes on even more impact when viewed as part of the many developments around biking and active living in our city. In addition to more trail construction, smart phone QR codes that show trail users where they are on the system and new signage at key navigation points have been added this summer.

The Mn DOT Safe Routes to Schools plan has been completed for six Austin schools. Implementation of education programs will begin this fall and new safety infrastructure will start appearing next year. Families at the four elementary schools plus Ellis and Holton will see maps outlining the safest routes to bike and walk to school this fall. Austin will start participating in International Bike-Walk to School Day this fall, with more schools added each year.

Bike Safety Day in May provided $5 helmets and safety information to adults and children. The Southern Minnesota Bike Club has been revived and conducts family-friendly rides twice a week this summer. More bike racks are popping up in Austin.

The BAM ride brought hundreds of visitors through Austin last month. Another large ride is scheduled to roll through Austin next summer. Austin will solidify its status as a bicycle tourism hub in the region next summer when the Shooting Star Trail is completed between Rose Creek and Austin. Connecting to Blazing Star Trail to the west is the next goal.

All of these small improvements add up to a transformation of Austin— creating a community where it is safe and easy to use trails for bicycle and pedestrian travel. Ultimately, Austin becomes greener, our residents are healthier and additional visitors improve the local economy.

Vision 2020 aims to create that transformational change across all ten of the vision areas, moving the community norm away from incremental change and into transformational change. This kind of transformational change requires new levels of community cooperation. I know this type of cooperation is possible because all of these organizations were involved in the accomplishments listed above: Austin Public Schools, City of Austin, Mower County, Mn DOT, YMCA of Austin, Austin Police Department, Mayo Clinic Health System Albert Lea Austin, SHIP of Mower County, Mower Refreshed, Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau, Rydjor Bike, Southern Minnesota Bike Club, Prairie Visions. We are working together, building a better Austin.