Bicycle Bash Update

The Bicycle Bash Festival on NOV 6 at Flatwoods is Tampa Bay's bicycle festival and I am happy to release an early program:
10 AM -- BASH starts
10:30 AM -- Bicycle yoga with Michelle Cherry
11:15 AM -- Buckhorn Bash Ride with Mayor Bob Buckhorn around the 7-mile loop
12 Noon -- SWFBUDDY Awards Ceremony
1 PM -- BikeSmart bike education program
2:30 PM -- Free bike gear drawings
4 PM -- BASH ends

If you want to be an exhibitor/vendor, log onto www.bicyclebash.com to get a form or contact alansnel@yahoo.com.

We also have the swap meet, the Taco Bus food truck, guest announcers Skip Mahaffey and Brendan Mclaughlin and our SWFBUD bicycle shops and lawyers: Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium, Olivers's Cycle Sportsm Just Ride Bicycles, Chainwheel Drive, Univerfsity Bicycle Center, Bicycle Outfitters, ABC Bicycles, Trek Store of Tampa and Clearwater, Street Fit 360, The Ironman Store, Trek Store of St. Petersburg, Tom Singletary, Mark Roman Law Group and J. Steele Olmstead.

Thank you sponsors -- Cure on Wheels, our presenting sponsor; Hillsborough County, our co-sponsor; American Traffic Solutions, a sponsor.

We also have incredible bicycle groups coming -- Tampa BayCycle, the St. Petersburg Bicycle Club, Suncoast Cycling Club, SWAMP, Seminole Heights Bicycle Club, the Florida Bicycle Association, Bikes Belong and the Tampa Bay Bicycle Co-op.

Organizations and agencies in attendance include -- the Sierra Club, HART, Hillsborough County MPO/Planning; Hillsborough parks and recreation.

Please support the Cure on Wheels bike ride on NOV 5 from Flatwoods. Cure on Wheels helps out on the Bicycle Bash and raises money locally for the families of cancer patients going through treatment. Their 350 riders raised $165,000 last year! Log onto www.cureonwheels.org to sign up.

Sun Comes Out and Bicycling At Flatwoods Is Back

Sun came out this morning and I was able to squeeze in my 41-miler before work. But there was some water out in Flatwoods.

Steel is Real -- My Steel Specialized Sirrus Is For Sale

I am selling my Specialized Sirrus road bike. It's a classic -- a 1991 steel road bike that gives you a rock-solid ride. The frame is just too big for me. Ideal for someone in the 5'6" - 5'10" foot range.

I'm selling it for only $200 because there's a small crack in the rear rim, so the rim or rear wheel will have to be replaced.

Bike comes with odometer, Armadillo tires, two water cages and two new Polar Bottles.

First $200 gets the bike. Contact me at alansnel@yahoo.com.

Look For The Bicycle Bash Signs and Banners

The Bicycle Bash signs are out -- you'll see them around Flatwoods and SWFBUD shops.

And the Bicycle Banners are up, too.

Rick Fidanzato's crew at Trek Store of St. Petersburg put up a Bicycle Bash banner in front of their store on Fourth Street in St. Petersburg. This will be their first Bicycle Bash.


SWFBUD's newest bike shop is Velo Champ in Seminole Heights. Jordan Miller plus dad Doug and mom Sue make Velo Champ a family-run busines. They strung up the Bicycle Bash banner on their storefront on Central Avenue.

SWFBUD Names SWFBUDDY Award Winners -- They Will Be Honored at the Bicycle Bash Nov 6

SWFBUD (South West Florida Bicycle United Dealers), the alliance of 12 Tampa Bay retail bicycle shops, is proud to announce this year's SWFBUDDY Award winners who will be honored during the SWFBUD Bicycle Bash Festival at Flatwoods Park on Nov. 6.

SWFBUD gives the SWFBUDDY Award to Tampa Bay residents who have made our community a more bicycle-friendly place. The SWFBUDDY Award honorees are:

-- Tampa City Councilwoman Yolin Capin, for her support of shared road markings ("Sharrows") that have been placed on various streets in the city of Tampa. Councilwoman Capin also delivered a stirring speech at the Hub Grub Bicycle Ride in Seminole Heights in April.

-- Zachary Taylor, wellness specialist for the city of Clearwater's parks and recreation who started a bicycle sharing program.

-- Tampa Bay Rays Manager Joe Maddon, for showing his love for bicycling during various media reports and doing a bicycle safety PSA.

-- Alicia Zicchino, Catherine Fritchman and Dan Magazu, for reaching out to the bicycle community and holding a bicycle memorial event to honor the life of bicyclist Dr. Robert Niedbalec, who was killed by a speeding motorist while cycling on Fletcher Avenue in Tampa in February.

-- Tampa Police Department, for applying Share the Road decals across the entire width of the rear window of its police cruisers.

-- St. Petersburg Councilwoman Leslie Curran, for her courage to return to bicycling after suffering a serious head injury from a bicycle crash.

-- Doreen Jesseph of Seminole Heights, for her generous contributions to donating many bicycle event fliers and supporting Seminole Heights bicycle club activities in Tampa.

SWFBUD holds the Bicycle Bash Festival to promote and celebrate bicycling in Tampa Bay. The Bicycle Bash will be 10 am to 4 pm at Flatwoods Park on Nov 6 and will include Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn leading a bicycle ride, bike vendors and exhibitors, a swap meet, music and food led by the Taco Bus food truck. Check out www.bicyclebash.com and the Bicycle Bash blog at www.bicyclebash.blogspot.com

Support SWFBUD Bicycle Shops and Lawyers

It's Sunday October 2 and only five weeks to the Bicycle Bash Festival to celebrate cycling in Tampa Bay.

I'm proud to work on behalf of 15 SWFBUD members -- 12 bike shops and three lawyers -- who enlist me to increase the profile of bicycling in Tampa Bay, get more people on bikes and show our elected leaders that bicycling enhances our local communities through economic development, tourism, fitness, transportation, healthy lifetsyle and quality of life.

SWFBUD prompted Hillsborough County to initiate and pass a bicycle safety action plan, has represented the voices of bicyclists before many local agency boards and elected panels and puts on the Bicycle Bash every year to celebrate and promote bicycling in Tampa Bay.

I'm lucky to work for 12 amazing bike shops and three lawyers who believe in the SWFBUD mission.

Please shop at these bike shops and use these lawyers. They enlist me to collectively represent their bicycle voices and I urge you to support them. Here they are:

Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium

Oliver's Cycle Sports

Just Ride Bicycles

Bicycle Outfitters

Chainwheel Drive

University Bicycle Center

Street Fit 360

Trek Bicycle Store of Tampa and Clearwater

ABC Bicycles

Trek Store of St. Petersburg

The Ironman Store

Velo Champ

Tom Singletary

J. Steele Olmstead

Mark Roman Law Group

SHBC Easy Ride Enjoys The Autumn Weather Today

The Seminole Heights Bicycle Club's Easy Ride drew about 10 cyclists this morning. Here is Eddie, pedaling along. He started on training wheels in the club.




Good to see Margaret back in the saddle after an ankle injury.