Wheelie Weekend

Here’s little reminder about the Savannah Wheelie at Hutchinson Island, 5:30pm THIS Sunday August 17.  It’s not too often you get to ride on a real racetrack!

Racetrack
Savannah Wheelie

Sunday’s forecasted high is a sunny, unseasonably cool 89 with a gentle breeze, so I hope everyone can make it.  Unlike these intrepid racers of yore, we’re not out for speed, and we wear our helmets!  Join us, won’t you?  We start in the roundabout between the Westin and the Trade Center.  Cross back over the river on the ferry afterwards as we gather for food and drinks at Moon River, a bike friendly establishment if there ever was one.

Thanks again to our sponsors: Georgia Bike Law, Bicycle Link, and Big H little h design and illustration!

Savannah Century

Formerly the Historic Savannah Bikefest, the Savannah Century will be a weekend of fun for the local cycling world.  With many ride options, this is a showcase of rides here in the Coastal Empire for bike tourists far and wide.

Savannah Century

Saturday’s ride starts at 9am in Black Creek and is a 31 mile loop.  Sunday start is 8am from Savannah Station. and includes 25, 37, 56, 69, and 103 mile options.

If you would like to ride, check out their active.com registration page.  If you would like to volunteer, drop us a line here at the SBC with a comment.

Bike to Beer Night at Moon River Brewing Company

Beginning on Aug. 19, the third Tuesday of each month is Bike to Beer Night at Moon River Brewing Company. Customers, who arrive by bicycle, qualify for the following deals from 4-7 p.m. at the brew pub on image.pngBay Street:

  • $3 draft beers
  • $1 off sandwiches and
  • $3 off entrees

What’s more, Moon River is offering its cycling patrons the rarest (at least locally) of accommodations: indoor bike parking! That’s right, you can bring your bicycle inside and park it in back, near the cigarette machine.

Moon River Brewing Company is located at 21 W. Bay St. in downtown Savannah.

Streets as temporary public spaces

Streets as we know them are not fully public spaces. High priority is given to cars and little to any other potential users, generally in the interest of maximum speed. New York City has taken a page from other cities by giving temporary priority to nonmotorized street use with its first successful Summer Streets event on Saturday.

We posted a poll on the idea of doing a similar event in Savannah a while back, and the highest vote getter (45% of our voters) was right down the middle of the Landmark Historic District — Bull Street north of Forsyth Park. That makes good sense since it is a route already travelled by tourists on foot, in trolleys and horse and buggy, other pedestrians and bicyclists, and very little local car traffic, which tend to use streets without squares to head north and south (Price, Drayton, Whitaker, Montgomery).

We ask again, therefore, why not Savannah?

Hutchinson Island Savannah Wheelie

Hutchinson Wheelie

Join Savannah Bicycle Campaign for the first downtown Wheelie since April with a spin around Hutchinson Island. We’ll ride the famed Hutchinson Island racetrack, and some dirt roads too, so think about riding some fat tires! If you can’t stand the dirt, the ride allows for a second spin around the racetrack. The ride is free, and anyone who can ride a few miles is welcome. As always, bring the kids! Meet in the roundabout between the Savannah Trade Center and the Westin Savannah Harbor. Park at the trade center or take the Belles Ferry from River Street (visit CAT for a schedule). The ferry is free and bikes are welcome.

The more the merrier!

Many thanks to our sponsors Georgia Bike Law/Attorney Joe Steffen, Bicycle Link and Big H little h design and illustration.

Project DeRenne Workshop

Project DeRenne
Join your fellow citizens at the JEA (corner of DeRenne & Abercorn) for a workshop to provide input on future development of the DeRenne Avenue corridor.  The current first phase of the project is a 9 month long public input process to get ideas. Each participant will be assigned to a table, and each table will have a facilitator.

As many of you know, previous attempts have been made to clarify public opinion on DeRenne — this is an opportunity to add facilities for bikes and pedestrians — the more advocates and the more vocal they are, the better.  Please come out and show your support!

Project DeRenne

SMN on Bike Commuting (again)

Today’s Savannah Morning News has another article on commuting to work on a bike.  This story covers two north Georgia bicycle commuters, though everything except the hills has also been noted previously about locals.

The focus, as it tends to be of late in these stories, is on gas prices, though they do give a shout to fun and health benefits of riding a bike to work — one rider, when talking about whether bicycling to work is worth the trouble, notes

If you were looking at someone who was doing it for shear economics, it won’t be. But I enjoy bicycling anyways, so it’s a double benefit.

So true for everyone who does it — at least double if not more.  If only everyone in a car knew how great it could be.

Savannah Wheelie rides Skidaway Island

Skidaway Island Wheelie
Many thanks to SBC board member Eric Breen (above)  and his family for organizing the July Savannah Wheelie! We were joined on Sunday by County Commissioner Pat Farrell (his second Wheelie!) on a ride through Skidaway Island starting and ending at the state park with a great cookout there following. We had our second largest turnout to date, at somewhere around 70 riding.  As usual, we have SBC board member Lee Burbage to thank for the great photos!

SBC Board Meeting

All are welcome.  We will discuss Wheelie schedule for the year, goals for the year.

Agenda will be posted soon.  Location is the American Legion Post 135 at 1108 Bull Street (around the corner from Sentient Bean).