During this National Bike Month, apart from the events, new facilities and equipment arriving for bicycling here in Savannah, we celebrate new words. Words are as important as all of these other things, as they help us to understand and inspire.

On Friday’s National Bike to Work Day 2Wheels 2Work bike convoy, we were joined by an impassioned public servant in Patrick Shay, who in solidarity delivered a helmeted speech on bicycles and their relationship to spewing gulf oil, and how our small actions can change that situation, the full and slightly shaky version of which is below.

“It’s not about changing the world all at once, it’s about changing our individual actions.”

Campaigners, you are the forefront of at least part of the solution. Join us in celebrating these words and in making them into deeds, each small individual choice putting pressure on the system to change and ultimately creating the transformation we seek: the Age of Bicycles in Savannah.

To usher in that age, and now further armed with staff to carry out this mission, Savannah Bicycle Campaign announces another change. The change is again in words, and in a meaningful way. Our present tagline, Making Savannah Better for Bicycles, while true, focuses too much on us and what we aim to do. Therefore, in a change we think that focuses on the truth of what we hope to accomplish, the truth of our movement, and the transformative power of bicycles, we move to a new tagline, the title of this article: Bicycles Make Savannah Better.

And therefore, during this National Bike Month, ask first what bicycles can do for Savannah.  Ask next what you can do with your Savannah Bicycle Campaign to bring it about.

In celebration of National Bike Month, we have a couple of events for your pedaling pleasure this weekend.

Tomorrow morning, on National Bike to Work Day, your Savannah Bicycle Campaign is hosting a special 2 Wheels 2 Work departing Habersham Village at 7:30 AM for a spin downtown to Ellis Square where we will again be treated to free coffee and breakfast from Jittery Joes and our partner for this month, the Chatham Environmental Forum (CEF). Chatham County Commissioner and CEF Chairman Patrick Shay will join us for the convoy and say a few words at Ellis Square about the CEF and its Join In Plan. We like the way they think, since one of their transportation goals is to increase trips by bicycle in the county to 3% by 2012 and 5% by 2015.

Much ado about the new bike lane on Washington Avenue (see column by Tom Barton in yesterday’s SMN), and it looks as if the striping is nearly complete! Noon to 2 PM on Saturday, ride the brand spankin’ new Washington Avenue bike lane into Tiedeman Park for the Kids’ Ciclovia, where the streets will be opened to bike and pedestrian traffic only (i.e. no cars) in the block surrounding the park. There will be bike games and activities for kids, food, a ribbon cutting for the new Washington Ave bike lane, and giveaways for 2 new bikes from Perry Rubber Bike Shop!

We’ll see you there!

Well, we couldn’t ask for a better day this past Saturday for the third Earth Day Wheelie. Many thanks to Lee Burbage for recording the joy of a beautiful day with bikes filling the streets. See below or this link for a slideshow – if you have photos you’d like to share, add them to our facebook page!

Speaking of campaigners’ photos, many of you may have seen this yesterday on our facebook fan page, and it was gone for a little while but has triumphantly returned. Andy Young (thanks Andy!) did a very cool 2 frame per second capture of Saturday’s Earth Day Wheelie and put it up on vimeo, reproduced for your viewing pleasure here. (Incidentally, he also has an amazing series on the Ellis Square project that comes up right after, so check that out too!)

Our own vimeo page also includes the video board member and Ben Allen took at Saturday’s Wheelie, along with last summer’s PSA he produced along with Eric Breen and Paul Razza. For kicks, both are below. Enjoy!

Hey all. It’s a great time to ride a bike in Savannah, undoubtedly. In the most perfect time of year, by chance we and the City of Savannah are conducting the second annual Savannah Bike Census. It’s happening this Saturday, next Monday and Wednesday, and there are still slots open for volunteers. Like the federal census, this bike census is important to be sure our decision makers understand how many of us are out there! Please, join us if you can… if you play your cards right (join SBC and volunteer), there’s a sweet T-shirt in it for you. Please fill out the form below (or at this link if you can’t see it) if you are interested and we’ll be in touch.