SWFBUD -- South West Florida Bicyclists United With Dealers: SWFBUD's Bicycle Bash 2010 Brings Smiles And Bikes To Flatwoods Today

Sunday, November 7, 2010

SWFBUD's Bicycle Bash 2010 Brings Smiles And Bikes To Flatwoods Today

So many warm memories from SWFBUD's Bicycle Bash 2010 today.

There was retailer David Luppino, who has sold more bicycles than just about anyone in this town, giving people rides on his highwheeler bicycle, And Michael Ploch selling his cute pink "I love my bicycle" T-shirts. And the little girl who biked around Flatwoods' paved seven-mile loop and asked with a smile, "Can I have a prize?" (I gave her an orange-and-black bicycle cap and she responded, "It's Halloween colors."

And Karla Price with city of Tampa trails and Tina Russo from Hillsborough County parks and the rest of the SWFBUD store owners and the SWAMP club and All Children's Hospital doling out free helmets to the kids and Tampa police on bicycles and Clay at American Classic and the SWFBUDDY Awards and a whole day of bicycle purity under a cloudless sky at Flatwoods Park. So many great exhibitors and velo lovers.

I was proud to hold the Bicycle Bash today at Flatwoods Park and I congratulate our presenting sponsor, Cure on Wheels, for holding a successful bike ride for 325 riders also staged in Flatwoods Park. They will present huge checks to Moffit Cancer Center and All Children's Hospital.

The smiles of kids riding bicycles and young adults with tires slung over their shoulder and middle-aged adults testing road bikes and people of all ages relishing a bright sun and crisp feel to the air.

It was a wonderful selling the beauty of bicycling -- in all its forms -- during the first weekend of legitimate fall weather in Tampa Bay.

Thank you to all my volunteers who made the Bicycle Bash 2010 possible -- Margaret, Kate, Donny, Doreen, Michelle, Bill, Jim, Jared, Tanja, Lee and the incomprable Bridget. You all made it possible for the Bicycle Bash to make so many people happy about bicycling today.

Here are some of my favorite photos from today's wonderful day.

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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