OSP Savannah Wheelmen Ride

Our local racing contingent, the Savannah Wheelmen, are hosting a ride for the whole cycling community this Saturday at 9am leaving from Oglethorpe Speedway off US80 in Pooler. The slow paced 30 mile ride will be a chance for local cyclists to socialize, and will be followed by lunch back at OSP. If you’re up for a few more miles, you can also leave from Gallery Espresso at 8. Should be a nice event, so I hope everyone turns out — you’ll be better off on a road bike, and helmets are required.

While we’re talking about OSP, congrats to Bryan Schoeffler and the Savannah Wheelmen for a successful event on Sunday at OSP. Cyclocross, the closest thing out there to a bike steeplechase, hit Savannah yesterday with the first Savannah Superprestige Cyclocross Race. We were there, too, and watched the racers jump over fences and ride and run through mud and singletrack on a wide array of different bike setups. The circuit nature of the race and the obstacles make for an interesting viewing experience.

A less daring few of us took a leisurely ride through neighboring Tom Triplett Park for October’s Wheelie, and also did a little goofing on the course with our Bike Safety Czarina, Eve Seibert.

OSP Cyclocross Wheelie

Before I tell you about the Wheelie, here is a reminder about the upcoming County Commission Candidate Forum, co-hosted by Georgia Conservancy and Savannah Bicycle Campaign tomorrow night (Tuesday 10/14) at 7:30pm at the Coastal Georgia Center on Fahm Street.  There was a nice writeup in today’s Savannah Morning News, so I hope you have it on our calendar.

Also for your calendar coming up this weekend:

Savannah Wheelie Flyer — OSP Cyclocross 10/19

What do bike racers do when fall comes?  Apparently, cyclocross—a weird mashup of road and mountain biking, running and jumping over obstacles while carrying a bike. So, grab your friends, your family and your bikes, and come out to watch the Savannah Wheelmen’s Cyclocross Race at Oglethorpe Speedway (off Dean Forest Road in Pooler) before our free casual ride at 3:30 p.m. around the speedway and adjacent Tom Triplett Park.  The cyclocross races run from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Make a day of it—watch the races, enjoy the belgian waffle stand, and try a little xtracycle surfing. We’ll have some giveaways at the start and finish of our ride.  As always, all are welcome and bring the kids!

Thanks to our sponsors, Big H little h, Georgia Bike Law and Quality Bike Shop!

Transportation Fringe Benefit to Bicycle Commuters

Rejoice!  If you are a bicycle commuter for a substantial part of your monthly commute, your employer may now provide an up to $20 tax free reimbursement for costs related to your commute — the Transportation Fringe Benefit to Bicycle Commuters was passed as a part of the bailout package.  When you think about it, that has to be a lot cheaper than giving you free parking, especially downtown, so it’s in their interest to provide it.

Earl BlumenauerObviously, this is mostly symbolic, but it certainly a nice thing to do from a policy standpoint, allowing a tax benefit for people trying to encourage healthier behavior that decreases traffic and pollution.  Kudos to Oregon Representative Earl Blumenauer for his work in finally getting this passed after multiple previous attempts for initially introducing and promoting this idea, though he ultimately voted against the overall bailout plan as noted in this NYT article.

From Cyclelicio.us

The benefit — up to $20 per month — begins with the new year in 2009. Employers may reimburse employees, tax free, for “reasonable” expenses related to their bike commute, including equipment purchases, bike purchases, repairs, and storage if the bicycle is used as a “substantial part” of the commuter’s trip to work for the month. If you already receive another commuter tax-free fringe benefit, you don’t qualify, so multimodal commuters are out of luck.

Finally! Safe Routes to School Grants in Georgia!

Well, if the recent #49 ranking of Georgia for bike friendliness by the League of American Bicyclists does not highlight the lack of priority our state has placed on bicycling, the fact that we are the last state in the union to award federal Safe Routes to School funding clearly should.

Compounding matters, the state did not come through with its Safe Routes to School resource center as promised this summer, which would have provided schools with assistance to develop SRTS programs that address Enforcement, Education, Encouragement, Engineering, and Evaluation.  A formal SRTS program is required for the grant application (Due December 12), and unless we in Chatham County stand up and demand immediate action by our schools (public and private schools are eligible), these federal dollars — up to $500,000 per school, not requiring any local matching funds — will not reach our communities, but rather flow to Atlanta and Athens where some of these programs are already in place.

Sick of the cost of having to drive your kids to school?  Tired of waiting for school buses and in the carpool lane?  Think your kids would benefit from the opportunity for a little physical activity getting back and forth to school?  If so, then contact your local school board member or your school principal and let them know that you want kids to walk and bicycle to school, and you want the facilities in place to make that safe again — demand a Safe Routes to School program for your school.  The National Center for Safe Routes to School and the Georgia DOT SRTS Guidebook are good places to look for some more information.  GDOT is having a local application workshop for the grants at 10am-noon on Monday, October 27 at the MPC on State Street in Savannah.  This is vitally important to our kids’ health and our local bicycling infrastructure, so we need your help!  Leave us a comment and we’ll help any way we can.

Pump Dumping News

Kudos again to Mayor Otis Johnson, Aldermen Larry Stuber and Mary Ellen Sprague, City Manger Michael Brown and dozens of others for joining our Dump the Pump Convoy on Friday as covered on the front page in today’s SMN.  We had close to 50 on the short ride from Baldwin Park and Habersham Village, punctuated by the dedication of on street bike racks at Bull and Broughton. As I mentioned at the press conference, the situation for bikes is good and getting better, though we have much still to do — specifically our highest priority, a southbound marked route out of downtown.  We also need to start thinking about reconnecting the Savannah to Tybee rail corridor by a complete multi-use path.  We will of course be addressing these issues when we get together with the city and the League of American Bicyclists at our upcoming (but not yet scheduled) BFC Workshop.

Lt. Governor Casey Cagle Transportation Forum

On the heels of  GDOT Commissioner Gena Evans, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle is coming to the Coastal Georgia Center on Fahm Street tomorrow (Wed, Oct 1) to discuss state transportation issues.  If you want more alternatives in the mix like better facilities for bikes, please come out and let your voice be heard.  It should be noted that Mr. Cagle as Chairman of Tour de Georgia understands the economic development benefits of increasing bicycling, so these comments will likely be welcomed.

From the Chamber:

Please plan to attend an important meeting with Lt. Governor Casey Cagle on Wednesday, October 1 from 11 a.m.-Noon in the auditorium at the Coastal Georgia Center. The purpose of this meeting is to hear from Lt. Gov. Cagle as he addresses statewide transportation issues. This is also a great opportunity to learn more about other issues important to our region and the rest of the state. The Coastal Georgia Center is located at 305 Fahm Street in Savannah’s Historic District. For more information, please contact Trip Tollison at 912.644.6422 or ttollison@savannahchamber.com or the Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Planning Commission at 912.651.1440.

Chatham County Commission Candidate Forum

Great news to the local political process.  Savannah Bicycle Campaign is partnering with Georgia Conservancy to host a Chatham County Commission Candidate forum on October 14 at 7:30 at the Coastal Georgia Center on Fahm Street.

Panelists Orlando Montoya of GPB, Jim Morekis of Connect Savannah, and Dionne Hoskins of Chatham County’s Resource Protection Commission will be asking the Chatham County Commission candidates questions regarding growth, transportation, land use and conservation.  Please join us to hear from the people who will set policy for the county in the coming years and to prepare yourself for November 4.

SBC Board Meeting

Open to all, our next meeting of the Board of Directors is Monday, September 29 at 6pm at the American Legion on Bull Street.

The agenda is available here.  We will be discussing the October 3 Dump the Pump Convoys, the Chatham County Commission candidate forum we are co-hosting with the Georgia Conservancy on October 14.

Dump the Pump Convoys

As we mentioned recently, the City of Savannah is opening new bike racks all over downtown; the centerpiece is a set of racks on Bull Street at the intersection with Broughton in front of Panera Bread.

Mayor JohnsonMayor Otis Johnson, in his support for helping Savannah become a more Bicycle Friendly Community, is joining our first Dump the Pump Convoy, a group bike commute the morning of Friday, October 3, leading up to a 9am press conference to open the new bike racks.  The mayor’s group will meet in Baldwin Park at 8:15am and depart shortly after to meet up with a group meeting at 8am at Habersham Village.  The Habersham Village location is a good place to gather for people riding in from the south, and also for anyone who wants to drive part of the way and bike the rest.

Baldwin Park Convoy Route: 2.5 miles

Habersham Village Convoy Route: 3.3 miles

These first two convoys will be a way to introduce commuting by bike to people who might be interested but intimidated about riding to work, providing the opportunity to ride as a group and share the experience of more experienced riders.  We plan on organizing additional convoys for future Dump the Pump events.

The press event at 9am in front of Panera Bread will include coffee and light breakfast for bike commuters.

We’ll see you there!