Holidays are on the way. Kick yours off to a fun start down in Jekyll with the Jingle Bell Ride, organized by our Glynn County friends with the Coastal Georgia Greenway:

What better way to experience Jekyll Island’s Christmas celebration than to be cruising through the historic neighborhoods on your own “clean green machine,” namely, your bicycle. No combustible engines. No rolled up windows, isolating you from experiencing the celebration of the season. No, just you, your family, and your closest friends, pedaling peacefully through our colorful history, illuminated with the brilliant colors of the season.

The Jingle Bell Ride, scheduled for Saturday, November 28th at 9:30am, is an eighteen mile, casual, family friendly ride around Jekyll Island. The one to three hour ride will be held in conjunction with the Jekyll Island Christmas Tree lighting Festival. The festival includes a tree-lighting in front of the historic Jekyll island club hotel, holiday crafts, family fun, delicious food, and outstanding Christmas decorations.

The ride is being held to offer a fun family activity, and to promote not only Jekyll Island, but also the Coastal Georgia Greenway, which when complete, will offer pedalers and hikers in Georgia paved paths from south in St. Marys north to Savannah, ultimately part of the East Coast Greenway connecting 3000 miles between Maine and Key West.

Online preregistration is available here!

First, campaigners, a reminder on your weekend plans — the Jerry Jaycox Fort Pulaski Wheelie begins from the picnic area at Fort Pulaski Sunday 11/15 at 2pm, cookout to follow.  Great scenery, great weather, great fun!  Bring a dish and BYOB.

Next, the following weekend, Saturday Nov 21, the fastest folks on two wheels here in SAV, the Savannah Wheelmen, will hold their annual banquet.  Not just for racers, all bike lovers are welcome to join in the fun:

The banquet is open to all cyclists and cycling fans – you don’t have to be a Wheelman to attend.  Please join us for some good food at a great location with good friends.

This year our guest speaker is Savannah’s own Ken Laidlaw.  Ken won the Tour of Scotland in 1957.  He competed in the 1960 Olympics.  During the 1961 Tour de France, after an attack on the final climb of the 19th stage, Ken was named most aggressive rider for the stage.

What: Savannah Wheelmen Banquet
When: November 21st at 6:00 PM
Where: DeSoto Hilton Hotel – Harbor View room on the 14th floor (great view)

Finally, and this is really exciting for fans of music and bikes.  Ben Sollee, a renowned cellist and singer-songwriter is taking his act on the road down the coast and is coming to play Savannah on Thursday, Dec 10.  Ben was here as part of the Sparrow Quartet (Bela Fleck, Abigail Washburn) during the 2008 Savannah Music Festival.

Before you say, “Wait, since when was this organization about music,” what’s amazing is that Ben is bringing this show from Louisville, Kentucky down the coast on bikes.  More to come on this show, but I must say we’re pretty excited.  Look for an announcement of our plans for his visit next week.

Campaigners —

In memory of our friend Jerry Jaycox, SBC will lead a guided bicycle tour of the McQueen’s Island Rail Trail, Cockspur Island and the dikes surrounding Ft Pulaski, so be sure to bring a bike with fat tires. Jerry was a force to be reckoned with, and this was his favorite Wheelie, so of course we named it for him.

We’ll start and finish at the Fort Pulaski picnic pavilions. Fort Pulaski has generously offered free entrance to Wheelie participants — just let them know at the gate you have come for the ride! This is a unique opportunity to experience the fort’s history from a new perspective. The ride is approximately 10 miles, though there are opportunities to make it shorter (2 or 6 mile options). It’s a really fun ride, and as always, kids are welcome. Please plan to stick around after for the cookout in Fort Pulaski’s picnic area—burgers and dogs will be provided. Please bring a dish to share and BYOB. The more the merrier!

Campaigners!

If you want the lowest price on the Tybee-Savannah Trailblazers’ Ride Sunday Nov 8, today is your day! Save yourself a little green and get out for the Greenway. The goal of this 23 mile ride is to raise awareness on the need for safe nonmotorized access between Tybee and Savannah, and proceeds benefit the Coastal Georgia Greenway’s efforts to build trails in the coast, so it’s a win-win!

Did we say 3pm?  We meant 4pm this Sunday October 4 for the ride starting and finishing at Forsyth Park in advance of the judging for Picnic in the Park which begins at 5pm.  Remember that SBC members who come by the ride or the bike valet will get a free entry to the Dutch Utopia exhibit at the Telfair!  We’ll have also have some of Leopold’s new Dutch chocolate ice cream created for the exhibit to give out starting at around 5pm during our ride stop at the Jepson Center!

Bring your friends!  Bring your neighbors!  Bring your kids!  Bring a picnic, but by all means, bring your bike so we can park it for you at our bike valet, even if you don’t do the ride.  Our valet attendants will keep a close eye on your ride until the music is done.

We have it up on facebook too, so this seems as good a time as any to suggest becoming our fan!

Earlier this year, League of American Bicyclists President Andy Clarke testified before the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming of the U.S. Congress and presented this compelling fact, gleaned from the Department of Transportation’s National Household Travel Survey:

“In our metropolitan areas, more than 40 percent of all trips are two miles or less – a very manageable bike ride – and more than one-quarter are just one mile or less.”

How many such trips are made in Savannah every day? Thousands? Easily. Tens of thousands? Probably. And, with Savannah’s flat terrain and the coming cooler weather, what counts as “a very manageable bike ride” is surely more than two miles. Imagine the positive impact on our community if more of these trips — including commutes — could be made by bicycle instead of by car!

On Oct. 2, Savannahians don’t have to settle for imagining this scenario, they can be a part of it. The SBC’s monthly 2 Wheels 2 Work commuting convoy will depart from Habersham Village Shopping Center at 7:30 a.m., bound for SCAD’s Ex Libris bookstore, where bicycle commuters will enjoy free coffee courtesy of Jittery Joe’s. As always, helmets are strongly encouraged. In the event of heavy rain, the ride will be rescheduled for Oct. 9.