SWFBUD -- South West Florida Bicyclists United With Dealers: SWFBUD Hits Sea Otter For A Day Of Bicycle Culture

Saturday, April 18, 2009

SWFBUD Hits Sea Otter For A Day Of Bicycle Culture

This morning it's cloudy to start but I suspect it will burn off when bicycle fans from across California and the country descend on the big hills outside Monterey for the Sea Otter Classic.

I will be in and out at the Just Ride Bicycles tent, manned by SWFBUD member David Luppino and Tammy of SWFBUD member store Suncoast Trailside Bicycles. Stop by and say hi. I have talked to many vendors at Sea Otter about attending the Bicycle Bash by the Bay, www.bicyclebash.com. It's Oct. 11 and I hope these company reps can make it to the Bicycle Bash, which is put on annually by SWFBUD.

I plan to test ride some bicycles in the morning and hopefully my legs and lungs will be up to pedaling some bikes in the hilly terrain that includes some rather daunting steep climbs for a guy used to cycling the flats of Flatwooods county park and Morris Bridge Road. It's basically Sugarloaf Mountain Road climbs all around here.

The bicycle culture is amazing here and at Sea Otter bicyclists ride bikes alongside pedestrians who stroll the many dirt aisles of the exhibitor rows. There are literally hundreds of vendors and commercial tents, including all the big names of the bicycle industry.

I'll be sharing photos when I return to Tampa Bay early Monday morning.

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WHAT IS SWFBUD and HOW DID IT START?

SWFBUD (South West Florida Bicycle United Dealers) is a Tampa Bay bicycle advocacy alliance of 12 bicycle store dealers and four law firms committed to raising the profile of bicycling in the Tampa Bay market, getting more people on bicycles and drawing more public resources for bicycling.

The 12 bike shops are: ABC Bicycles, Bicycle Outfitters, Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium, Chainwheel Drive, Just Ride Bicycles, Oliver's Cycle Sports, Street Fit 360, Trek Bicycle Store of Tampa and Clearwater, Trek Bicycle Store of St. Petersburg, The Ironman Store, University Bicycle Center and Velo Champ. The four law firms are Tom Singletary, J. Steele Olmstead and the Mark Roman Law Group.

The SWFBUD members enlist Alan Snel, a bicycle advocate and former metro newspaper reporter, to lobby local governments to provide more bicycle resources and to put on the Bicycle Bash festival.

SWFBUD is a play on words of Swiftmud, the Tampa Bay water district agency.

SWFBUD traces its roots to the summer of 2006, when then-Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium owner David Luppino (who now owns Just Ride Bicycles) hired Snel for promotions, marketing and to help put on the Bicycle Bash festival. At the start of 2007, Luppino believed it was appropriate that other Tampa Bay bike stores get involved in promoting bicycling, so Snel recruited other store dealers to get involved.

The Bicycle Bash was first held in October 2006 on the St. Pete Times Forum plaza before a Tampa Bay Lightning afternoon hockey game before SWFBUD moved the Bicycle Bash to St. Petersburg's Vinoy Park in 2007 and 2008 and to North Straub Park in downtown St. Petersburg in 2009. In 2010, the Bicycle Bash was moved into Hillsborough County's Flatwoods Park on Nov. 7 so that bicyclists can enjoy the Bash's exhibitor village and also have fun doing live biking in the park. In 2011, the Bicycle Bash will be held again at Flatwoods Park on NOV 6.

SWFBUD won national retail bicycle advocacy awards in 2009 from the Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (BRAIN) and the Trek Bicycle Corporation. The Bicycle Bash won the Florida Event of the Year in 2007 from the Florida Bicycle Association.

SWFBUD's Snel attends many public meetings in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, plus the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. to lobby political leaders and governing agencies to commit more resources to bicycling. SWFBUD believes communities that embrace and invest in bicycling become more successful and sustainable.

Flatwoods Park Ranger Thanks SWFBUD For Saving Park and Jobs

SWFBUD Wins National Bicycle Advocacy Award

The national magazine that covers the bicycle industry in this country honored SWFBUD with the 2009 Bicycle Retail Advocacy Award at the Bicycle Leadership Conference in Monterey, Calif. SWFBUD is deeply honored by this national recognition and I received the award from Megan Tompkins, editor of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, and Tim Blumenthal, executive editor of Bikes Belong Coalition. Click photo for more info and check SP Times story, too: http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article996595.ece