Many of you campaigners will remember that it was early in 2008 that this group of bike-minded folks began to organize, and the first major project we organized was the Earth Day Wheelie. Well, here we are in 2011 preparing to celebrate the 4th Annual Earth Day Wheelie!

We are bringing back all the fun, music, and street empowerment that goes with a free police escorted ride through downtown Savannah. Ride starts at Park and Bull at the south end of Forsyth Park at 4pm. We will finish with the Post Wheelie Dealie at Blowin’ Smoke where we invite you to partake of some refreshments and to join or renew as a donor-member of this movement! With your help, we’ll keep pedaling toward our goal of bike enlightenment as we usher in the Age of Bicycles in Chatham County. Don’t miss it!

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What a great spring, Campaigners!

All of our pedal powered friends are invited to join us for the April edition of Greendrinks.  We’ll be there to promote the Earth Day Wheelie and mixing up treats with our pedal-powered blender. C’mon out and see us!

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What: Greendrinks with Savannah Bicycle Campaign’s CycloConcoctions blending!
Where: Cha Bella at E Broad and E Broughton
When: Tues 4/12, 5:30-7:30pm
Why: Going by bike is sustainable transportation. Sustainability is good. Cocktails are good. Sustainability + Cocktails = Better

Details will be up very soon on the 4th Annual Earth Day Savannah Wheelie set for Saturday, 4/23 at 4pm. It’s hard to believe this will be the fourth time around, but there it is. The free pedal party through downtown starts at the close of the Earth Day Festival in Forsyth Park and finishes with the Post Wheelie Dealie party, our annual membership drive. Mark your calendar!

Tonight only, the Savannah Music Festival brings the rambunctious pop-Americana of the Avett Brothers to the Savannah Civic Center’s Johnny Mercer Theater. Showtime is 9pm, and we will have volunteers on hand starting at 8:30 to secure your bike for the show at the east entrance to the Civic Center (the side facing Orleans Square and Oglethorpe House). We’ll be there until 30 minutes after the show.

If you are watching updates from the National Weather Service, you may note that it is likely to be raining at showtime. We are aware of this prognostication and say the show (and valet!) must go on — if it’s raining we will be under cover. See y’all there!

As we’ve been saying, tomorrow (Thursday, March 24) is opening night for the Savannah Music Festival.  Join us at Ellis Square for a cruise around downtown finishing at the opening night show, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings at Trustees Theater.  The ride leaves Ellis Square at 7:30 pm.You might even get a chance to do it on the Savannah Slow Ride if you call for a reservation…

And, if you can’t make the ride, at least ride to the show and we’ll park it for you in a jiffy at our spiffy bike valet!  We’ll be hosting bike valet at this show and 5 others, so check out the schedule and bike to the Savannah Music Festival with us!

St. Patrick’s Day and the parade are upon us next week! A green deluge of marching bands, elected officials, local businesses, and folks of Irish and every other decent will flood downtown Savannah on Thursday morning. It’s a sight to behold, and one of the most sociable dates on the Savannah calendar.  Still, the crowds can be difficult to navigate, and parking a car anywhere near the parade route can prove time consuming and expensive.

So, what’s a campaigner to do? Ride a bike to the parade! Throw your picnic in a backpack (or a trailer) and pedal to the route! Keep in mind, however, that barricades prevent your crossing the parade route pretty much everywhere, so it makes good sense to plan your route in advance, which is why we’re sharing the full parade route with you here (below). If you’ll be watching in a square, take a look at the list below for your entry side, and remember that Drayton Street is full of floats and other parade accoutrement next to Forsyth Park, but is wide open to bicycles (and closed to cars) north of Gaston for access into the interior of the parade route (in yellow).

As always, give yourself extra time, be courteous to your fellow road users on foot and in cars, and make sure you lock your bike securely.

Squares for parade viewing:

• Calhoun: open side is west, take Drayton to Wayne or Gordon
• Lafayette: open side is east, take Lincoln to Macon or Harris
• Colonial Park Cemetery/Davant Park: open side is east, take Lincoln to Perry Ln
• Oglethorpe: open side is west, take Drayton to York or President
• Johnson: open side is east, take Drayton to St. Julian or Bryan
• Wright: open side is west, take Barnard to York
• Chippewa: open side is east; use Drayton to McDonough or Hull

Not sure about you, but this Canadian air in Savannah is getting a little old…

We do, however, have the cure: bike caroling next Tuesday. It is the third Tuesday, our usual meeting time, and for the December social we’ve planned a treat: we’ll ride and sing the songs of the season starting at around 5:45pm. Ride and caroling will begin from Tiedelman Park (Atlantic and Washington Ave, across from Savannah Arts Academy). Please remember lights (holiday displays are appropriate, too!) as it will be dark.

Join us after carols to warm up at the home of Exec Dir Frank McIntosh and Board member Patty McIntosh to celebrate the season and another great year for the Campaign, our first holiday member appreciation party! Wassail, Yule viands (i.e., good food) and other cheer provided for carolers and other congregants.

We look forward to seeing you for another chance to appreciate what a fine group of people we have building a better world through bicycling. Automobile parking is a little limited on E 50th St, so please bike if possible. Back yard bike racks will be available for two wheelers.

Happy Yule, Y’all.
Tues., Dec 21, 2010
Tiedelmann Park (Atlantic and Washington Ave) 5:45-7pm – Neighborhood caroling by bike: come one and all!
The McIntoshes, 205 E. 50th St. – Holiday Member Appreciation Party 7-9pm: RSVP to frank[at]bicyclecampaign[dot]org or 912-228-3096.

December Two Wheels to Work (2W2W)
The happy gang that joined us for the November 2W2W (thanks again to Mayor Johnson and Healthy Savannah for being there) all reported some trepidation at braving the 30-something degree weather that greeted that morning’s ride. When we gathered at ride’s end at Jittery Joe’s Coffee (also the December ride’s destination—located in Ex Libris Bookstore at 228 Martin Luther King Blvd just north of Liberty St.) it was all smiles among the rosy-cheeked participants.

So, do yourself a favor and roll out in time to ride through the crackling clear morning over to Jittery Joe’s and join other Savannah bike commuters for a free cup of joe from 8 – 9 am. You can either ride “free range” (just show up at Jittery Joe’s to meet the gang) or join a group launching from the usual Habersham Village beginning point. The group ride will launch no later than 7:45 am.

We like to try to involve other groups as official partners in 2W2W rides. We hope that if we introduce enough people to the joys of a nice morning ride, more people will start to take their bike to work now and then if not always. If we all rode a bike to work one day a month, we would roughly quintuple the mode share for bicycling—it stands at about 1% right now. (We can do better than that, right?)

If you are a member of a group, organization, business, or other pack of people who might be interested in a pleasant morning group ride and maybe the beginning of a career as a bike commuter, please send an email to frank@bicyclecampaign.org to discuss what’s involved. (It’s not complicated.)

Please excuse this non-commercial interruption to your CyberMonday for an announcement on one of our most popular rides, less than a week away!

Coming this Sunday December 5 is the Jerry Jaycox Fort Pulaski Wheelie.  We’ll start at 2pm at the Fort Pulaski picnic pavilions, ride around the trails both on Cockspur Island (including the dikes around the fort) and the McQueen’s Island Rail Trail that runs along the south channel of the Savannah River.  The ride itself is free, but adults 16 and older will owe $3 each for entry to to Fort Pulaski. Kids are welcome and get free entry to the Fort. Lots of the ride is off-road, so fat tires are recommended.  You’ll have options for around 10, 6 or 2 miles.

Then, if the ride wasn’t enough, we’ll wrap it all up with a cookout — we’ll supply burgers and dogs and just ask you to bring a dish to share and BYOB.

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Jerry Jaycox moved to Savannah in 2005. He was an active and accomplished cyclist who rode with both the Coastal Bicycle Touring Club and the Savannah Wheelman. He was a very enthusiastic cyclist who shared and promoted his love of cycling with all he came in contact with. He was a founding member and very active in the Savannah Bicycle Campaign back in 2008 and helped put together the original Fort Pulaski Wheelie in November of 2008. It was one of his favorite rides.

Jerry passed away unexpectedly in January 2009 while doing what he loved most, riding a bike.

Third Tuesday is upon us. For the monthly Bike to Beer social, we’ll hit the fun running at 7pm (this is a little later than our usual 6:30) at Moon River Brewing Company on W. Bay. Join us in the basement for beer, an SBC update, socializing and usually a giveaway or two…