For your sake, I hope you were there for the first Midnight Garden Ride Saturday night. Just about everything was perfect: the weather with only some wispy clouds occassionally giving the full moon a misty appearance not unlike that demonstrated on our shirts, the crowd which was fun but not overly rowdy, the ride which was pleasant with only an occasional stop to let some stragglers rejoin, and the Good and Evil Party at the Distillery with great costumed antics and prize giveaways.  400 plus riders whooped it up, and we are grateful to our excellent volunteers and the Savannah Chatham Metro Police for making it all run smoothly.

We were very pleased with the outcome of our first try at this. If you missed it, we’ll catch you next year! Thanks to volunteer Susan Laney for lending her photographic skills to the event.  Check out the full photo set on our facebook fan page or flickr.

Dan Burden, a national leader in developing livable communities through his work in the State of Florida and now as director of  the nonprofit Walkable Communities, will be giving a workshop on improving conditions for all road users on Wednesday September 2.  It’s an interesting selection of location for this topic, out near the Savannah Mall, but will undoubtedly be a scintillating discussion of all the topics we campaigners like to hear about.

Thanks to the City of Savannah for bringing him here.  We hope to see you there!

It’s always fun to dress up!  Prizes for the costume contest are confirmed for the Midnight Garden Ride.  We’ll be giving out prizes for the top 2 group themes, and top 3 best individual overall and top 3 individual lighting setups.  You are constrained only by your imagination and good taste.  Top honors will get you some nice gear, so be sure to head over to midnightgardenride.com to check them out!

While you’re there, be sure to register for the ride if you haven’t already — only riders preregistered by August 31 will be guaranteed their own Midnight Garden Ride organic cotton tee.  Prices at late registration go up to $25, so there are at least two great reasons to register now!

After our July break and August retreat, we are back on track for our usual meeting time, 6pm on the third Tuesday at Moon River.

Topics for consideration include Midnight Garden Ride logistics and volunteer opportunities, Coastal Georgia Greenway, and potential grant opportunities from the Alliance for Biking and Walking and the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.  As always, all are welcome to attend, so we hope to see you there!

At our board retreat this weekend, we changed the name of our Dump the Pump bike commuting convoys to 2 Wheels 2 Work! As Dump the Pump is a program of the American Public Transportation Association, we felt it better to let them have their name back and use these monthly first Friday events to focus on those things that make bike commuting a great strategy for job-related mobility:

1. Replace traffic-induced stress with exercise-induced endorphins.
2. Save money.
3. Save time.
4. Save parking for customers and visitors bringing money into our local economy.
5. Save yourself from an inactive lifestyle predisposing to diabetes AND/OR fees to and time spent at a gym.

This coming Friday, August 7 will be the first 2 Wheels 2 Work convoy under the new name. The new setup will be a mass start from Habersham Village at 8am. We will pick up additional riders at their convenience at points on Habersham Street north to Victory Drive from 8am to 8:10, or on Lincoln Street from Victory to Liberty from 8:10 to 8:20. We finish at Ex Libris bookstore on Martin Luther King, Jr Blvd for coffee compliments of our friends at Jittery Joe’s, probably some time just before 8:30.

UPDATE:
Typical hot August morning, good turnout. See the photos below — we’ll catch you all next month on September 4.

We need you again, campaigners!

The next public comment session on the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) update is scheduled for tomorrow, July 21 at 6pm at the MPC at 112 E State Street. The planners need to hear what we have been calling for early and often —

1. Comprehensive Bike Master Plan including targets for completion and identified funding sources. This also needs to include both on road bikeways and off road multi-use paths, enforcement, evaluation, and education.
2. Evaluation and update of bridge access for bicycles including, importantly, a look at safe access between Savannah and the Tybee beaches.

Anything else that needs to be part of the process? Let us know in the comments!

Sample the nocturnal sights and sounds of the streets of Savannah from behind your handlebars on the inaugural Midnight Garden Ride.

The Midnight Garden Ride is a non-competitive, nighttime charity bike ride through Historic Downtown Savannah, a fundraiser for the Savannah Bicycle Campaign! 6 and 12 mile options will wind through historic Savannah under the live oak canopy and a full moon — check out midnightgardenride.com for further details and registration!

Don’t let that be the end of your cycling weekend, either. Join hundreds of others for rides on Saturday morning, September 5 and Sunday morning, September 6 for the Savannah Century.

Start – The Distillery in Historic Downtown Savannah
Our ride begins and ends at the Distillery at W. Liberty St. and Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, a beautifully restored 1904 building opened initially as a whiskey distillery, now home to a new restaurant. The ride will begin at 8:00 p.m.

Goodies
* Shirt – the first Midnight Garden Ride T-shirt.
* Food & Fun – snacks & music at Midnight Snack Stops & the Good & Evil Party!
* Costume contest – prizes for best individual, best group theme, and best lighting.
* Raffle – for some amazing prizes!

So, if you love fun and you love bikes, register today — go to midnightgardenride.com!

Come and revel with the gang in our underground lair at the Moon River Brewing Company at 21 W Bay. Social starts at 5:30, business at 6:30, and we won’t leave until we have elected the 2009-10 board, recounted our first year (perhaps in verse) and peered into the crystal ball bearings to see what the next year may bring.

Bring yourself! Bring a friend! Bring a check if you are inclined to join or renew your membership in our fine organization!  We will cap off the evening with a triumphant night ride down Bull Street.

Casually we suggested to some folks at CAT and the City of Savannah that a cool event might be to have a race from door to door between a bicyclist, a transit rider and an automobilist.  They loved the idea, and so it’s on for next Thursday, June 18 as a component of the local celebration of the national Dump the Pump day from the American Public Transportation Association.  The race will begin around 8:30am and finish at City Hall by 9am with a press conference.

The ground rules:

1. Three will compete:  one is allowed use of CAT, one is allowed use of a bike, and one is allowed use of a car.
2. Race is door to door from the Twelve Oaks Shopping Center to City Hall, approximately 4.2 miles
3. All traffic rules (including the speed limit) must be followed.
4. Car and bike must be parked legally before the finish.

We all know a bike is the healthiest, least polluting and cheapest option, but could it be the fastest as well?  What do you think will happen?

…here comes pride up the backstretch.

Campaigners, come one and all for our annual business meeting on Tuesday, June 23.  Social begins at 5:30pm in our underground lair at Moon  River Brewing Company (21 W Bay St), and the business meeting will follow at 6:30.  We will elect the 2009-10 Board of Directors, and current paid members are eligible to serve and to vote (a great reminder to renew if you have not already).  We will also have a presentation of the year in review and a preview of the year to come.  We hope y’all can join us.

Please note that this represents a departure from our usual third Tuesday meeting schedule — this will be the fourth Tuesday, June 23.  As always, Moon River will let you bring your bike inside.