SWFBUD -- South West Florida Bicyclists United With Dealers: SWFBUD Visits Pinellas County's MPO Bicycle Advisory Committee Today

Monday, November 23, 2009

SWFBUD Visits Pinellas County's MPO Bicycle Advisory Committee Today

This morning I represented SWFBUD in front of the Pinellas County MPO's Bicycle advisory Committee to explain that SWFBUD is working to love the Bicycle Bash festival event from downtown St. Petersburg to Flatwoods County Park in Hillsborough County in 2010.

The day is set for Nov. 10.

SWFBUD has enjoyed working with the coty of St. Petersburg to hold the Bicycle bash the past three years, but now we are looking to grow and expand the event by having live multiple bicycle events and activitoes going on while we also have a thriving exhibitor village.

County Commissioner Mark Sharpe of Hillsborough County made a bid on behalf of the county to host the Bicycle Bash.

We will call our 2010 event the "Bicycle Bash Classic" and Hillsborough County will be a co-sponsor.

Other features include:

-- The event will be FREE as usual, but attendees will have to pay the county's $2 parking charge for its regional parks at remote park lots about 2 miles away, then will take a shuttle to Flatwoods. Or they can bike in. I hope they take the bike.

-- The event will be the base for the Cure on Wheels charity bike ride.

-- The Tampa Bay Sports Commission will help market and promote the Bicycle Bash Classic statewide.

-- SWFBUD is looking to showcase all types of cycling at Flatwoods and market Tampa Bay as a great place to cycle.

More details to follow. SWFBUD hopes to reach a final agreement with Hillsborough County in December and have a press conference with the county and other partners in January.

It was great to see Laura Hallam, executive director of the Florida Bicycle Association, at the Pinellas Bicycle Advisory Commission. Laura gave a legislative update on FBA's bicycle agenda.

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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