Tune In WED At 10 AM For the WFLA-TV/Channel 8 Daytime Show

Tune in WEDNESDAY at 10 AM for the Channel 8/WFLA-TV "Daytime" morning show when Brian Eckman, owner of SWFBUD member store Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium, and I appear on the TV show to talk bicycling trends. I will be biking my commuter errand bike right into the studio and Brian will be there with the latest in bicycles and gear. We filmed the segments this morning and was told it will run during Wednesday's 10 am show. Daytime is nationally syndicated so it will run in 100 cities across the country, such as West Palm Beach.

Also, the St. Pete Times ran a short story last week on SWFBUD asking the city of Tampa to think of bicycles as transportation, not just recreation, at a Feb. 26 city meeting. Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena wrote a memo out of that meeting. Read Saul-Sena's memo on the topic.

Getting High On Sugarloaf Mountain

Today I renewed one of the great Florida bicycle rites -- cycling the hills in the Clermont area 30 miles northwest of Orlando.

It was a 40-mile route that included Sugarloaf Mountain and five-hill Buckhill Roads with my bicycling pal Ellen -- local Tampa ringleader of the Police Unity Tour bike ride. I don't anyone more committed to a cause like Ellen is with the Unity Tour, which raises money for a police memorial in Washington, DC.

Here's Ellen taking on Sugarloaf Mountain. I wrote about the "Florida Alps" when I worked at the Tampa Tribune and it was fun to see the familiar sights -- the two water coolers at the top of Sugarloaf Mountain Road end of a driveway; the Lake County visitors center on US 27 a mile north of the Turnpike and the history marker in the old Villa City area that mentioned the Big Freeze of 1894-95 that caused orange trees to "explode."

The Pen of Long-Distance Cycling

On Thursday afternoon, I stole a few hours to bike 40 miles on a hilly route outside San Antonio and I bumped into this fella on State Road 50 near the Withlacoochee Trail trailhead.

His name is Tirash and he was biking from Miami to New York, I suppose taking the scenic western Florida route up north. He has quite the relaxed Rivendell Bicycle Works look, down to the pen in his shirt pocket and the knapsack as handlebar bag. He's on a two-year journey that has included pit stops in Central America.

Safe travels to you Tirash.

City Bans Bikers At New Tampa Park -- Here's Another View

SWFBUD got an explanation from the city of Tampa as to why bikers are excluded from a new skateboard park in New Tampa and posted it this week. Another blogger read that city explanation and responded with this post on his blog:

NO BIKES ALLOWED!!!

It has happened again. NO BIKES ALLOWED says the Department of Recreation in Tampa, FL. Brad Suder is the Superintendent in charge of the cities recreational facilities. I spoke with him over the phone to find out the real reasons this park is not allowing bikes. He first spoke about the facility. He stated the park is a small park of only 15,000 sq/ft. Although that is not exactly what most riders may refer to as small, it may be smaller than most other parks in Florida. He said the park is going to be under supervision, but would not have the staff to monitor skateboarders and bicycles. He then mentioned the increased damage pegs would cause to the concrete park. Also cited was the advantage a bike rider has on a skateboard in the event of a collision. Lets address each issue here.

1. If the staff is incapable of handling bikes and skateboards, how about considering a bike only session? This is something that as ridiculous as it is, is a thoughtful and fair compromise.
2. If pegs really are a concern, and the city can not afford reinforced, wider coping, how about a no peg rule? Just outside of the city of Pittsburgh, there is a fully unsupervised concrete skatepark that allows bikes under the rule of no pegs. Although this does limit the bike rider's ability to perform certain tricks, this is a fair compromise.
3. If bicycles are truly a danger to skateboarders, than there should be skate only times? Or most of the time bike riders get the short end of the stick here with 2 maybe 3 sessions out of the week. As much as this is unfair, bike riders will take advantage of this. Especially in the case of an area such as Tampa where a higher quality park is being constructed.

This issue are far more prevalent than just in the Tampa area. The number of parks that do not allow bikes unknown, but far too high. Lets all work together with this issue and establish a fair way to give action sports enthusiasts a safe place to go. To read more about Tampa's skatepark, click here or click the title of this blog.

If you have questions, contact:
Brad Suder
Superintendent
Planning, Design, and Natural Resources
Parks and Recreation Department
City of Tampa
(813) 231-1336
Brad.Suder@Tampagov.net

God Bless.

Nathan Smoyer

Tampa Says No To Bikers At Skate Park In New Tampa

Mike, an employee at Oliver's Cycle Sports, and Chad at Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium told me the city of Tampa is excluding BMX bicycles at a new Skate Park in New Tampa. I looked into the matter on behalf of SWFBUD and this is what a city of Tampa official had to say:

Dear Mr. Snel,

The message you sent to the City’s Messaging System has been forwarded to my attention. The idea of a Skate Park in New Tampa originated from parents of local skateboarders. As the initial conceptual plans were being developed it was considered to have skateboarders and BMX bikes utilize the skatepark. As we moved forward with our analysis, several issues affected our ultimate decision to not allow BMX bikes at this particular facility. They included increased construction costs to protect every edge with oversized rails, the types of damage bikes and their pegs cause, safety issues, maintenance issues, and decreased ability to provide adequate staff to allow both kinds of users. The decision was presented and discussed at a series of public meetings while we were developing the final design of the skatepark and transitioning from conceptual plans to construction documents.

The timing of the design of the skate park was at a time when prices were soaring. Hitting a budget was a difficult task. Seeing and realizing the amount of damage BMX bikes cause coupled with the associative costs of attempting to fortify the park we realized we could not afford to build a park to withstand bike use. We also realized high maintenance costs would be associated with properly repairing the concrete where pegs literally explode and crater the concrete, along with other documented, typical bike damage.

Another huge factor were the safety concerns of biker-skateboarder collisions. The speed and mass of the biker far outweigh that of a skateboarder. Arguments can be made about different sessions to avoid this, but even if we were able to pay for the construction and repairs, we do not have the money for additional staff to constantly manage Skatepark sessions. The decrease in available operating funding over the past few years has affected how the Parks and Recreation Department can construct and operate facilities.

Our Department has two other sites where skateboarding and bike use are permitted. One is the DeSoto Park Skatepark and the other is located at Perry Harvey Sr. Park. DeSoto has appropriate pre-fab ramps and half-pipes constructed to withstand bikes. Perry Harvey has gentle rounded edges where pegs are not utilized to grind along them. Perry Harvey is open during daylight hours. The DeSoto Skatepark has particular hours of operation. Please contact them at DeSotoCenter.FRC1PO.COTFR@ci.tampa.fl.us.

Please contact me should you have any other questions.
Brad Suder
Superintendent
Planning, Design, and Natural Resources
Parks and Recreation Department
City of Tampa
(813) 231-1336
Brad.Suder@Tampagov.net

Bicycling -- Transportation, not Just Recreation, In Tampa

Last Thursday, I attended a city meeting on behalf of SWFBUD to lobby for a bicycle street program in Tampa. The meeting was held by City Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena and I'm passing along her memo:


Date: March 3, 2009

To: Chairman Scott & Members of City Council

From: Linda Saul-Sena, Council Member

Re: Bicycle Friendly Communities Special Discussion

I chaired the Special Discussion meeting about making Tampa a bicycle friendly city at 1:30pm on Thursday, February 26th which was attended by Mary Mulhern, Steve Daignault, Karla Price, Alan Snel, Gena Torres, Chip Thomas, Karen Kress, Kenneth Sturrock & Marty Shelby.

We discussed the shift of bicycling in Tampa from being a mode of recreation to a mode of transportation. The current status of bicycling as recreation was demonstrated by the role of a Parks & Recreation staff member as the spokesperson for the City’s bicycle plans, as compared to the Transportation Department staff taking the lead. The Committee requested that the Administration identify a Transportation Department staff member as the point person/advocate for bicycle planning/implementation in Tampa.

The discussion identified opportunities to improve the safety of bicycling by creating a safe network, citywide, for bicycle transportation. This plan would identify existing bicycle lanes and trails and needed connections. The plan could then be prioritized and budgeted as part of our Public Works budget over the next decade. Every road improvement, widening or resurfacing project should be viewed as an opportunity to improve bicycling opportunities. Council Member Mulhern said that she would act in her capacity as an MPO member to integrate bicycle facility improvements into MPO planning and funding recommendations.

Finally, the group suggested that the Administration identify City owned buildings, which could have bicycle racks and encourage private sector installation of bike racks as a tradeoff for parking spaces.

LSS/rs

SWFBUD Gets Two New Bike Store Members

SWFBUD (South West Florida Bicycle United Dealers) is proud to announce that two more retail bicycle stores are joining SWFBUD.

They are:

The Trek Bicycle Store. Tampa Bay -- Clearwater

Just Ride Bicycles in Fish Hawk Ranch.

They join: Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium, Oliver's Cycle Sports, Chainwheel Drive, Revolution Bicycles, Bicycle Outfitters, University Bicycle Center, Suncoast Trailside Bicycles, and Tampa lawyer Thomas Singletary as SWFBUD members.

SWFBUD lobbies for improved bicycle conditions in the Tampa Bay region and puts on the Bicycle Bash by the Bay. SWFBUD is open to all businesses and individuals. Contact Alan Snel if you want to join SWFBUD at alansnel@yahoo.com