SWFBUD -- South West Florida Bicyclists United With Dealers: Bicycle Bash Press Release

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Bicycle Bash Press Release

TAMPA -- SWFBUD, the alliance of Tampa Bay bicycle stores, is proud to put on the 2011 SWFBUD Bicycle Bash Festival to celebrate bicycling in the Tampa Bay market at Flatwoods Park on Nov. 6 from 10 am to 4 pm.

The Bicycle Bash is Tampa Bay's bicycle festival and SWFBUD's 12 retail bicycle shops hosts the bicycle festival to bring Tampa Bay's bicycle community together and promote bicycling as a healthy lifestyle, effective transportation and asset to the region.

The 5th Annual Bicycle Bash will feature:

-- Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn leading a bike ride called the Buckhorn Bash Ride around the Flatwoods 7-mile loop at 11:15 AM.

-- The SWFBUDDY Awards given to local Tampa Bay residents and officials who have worked to make the area a more bicycle-friendly community.

-- A Swap Meet where people can buy used bike gear; food provided by the famed Taco Bus Food Truck; and music.

-- Guest announcers Skip Mahaffey and Brendan McLaughlin of Channel 28 Action News.

-- Free bike gear giveaway drawings; an artist doing creating live bicycle painting;

-- SWFBUD lawyers will be on hand to offer free legal advice regarding bicycle issues.

-- Tampa BayCycle will provide a free BikeSmart bike education class and Tampa Bay's bicycle clubs will be on hand to talk about bike rides throughout the region. Bikes Belong from Boulder, Colo. and the Florida Bicycle Association will also be participating. HART and the MPO will be on hand, too.

-- The Bicycle Bash is FREE.

-- The Cure on Wheels charity bike ride (www.cureonwheels.org) is the Bicycle Bash presenting sponsor and Hillsborough County is a co-sponsor.
SWFBUD is a nationally-recognized, award-winning alliance of 12 Tampa Bay bicycle stores: Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium, Oliver's Cycle Sports, Bicycle Outfitters, Just Ride Bicycles, Chainwheel Drive, ABC Bicycles, Trek Bicycle Store of Tampa and Clearwater, Street Fit 360, University Bicycle Center, Trek Bicycle Store of St. Petersburg, The Ironman Store and Velo Champ. SWFBUD also includes three lawyer members: Tom Singletary, J. Steele Olmstead and the Mark Roman Law Group.

SWFBUD's achievements include prompting Hillsborough County to initiate a bicycle safety action plan in response to local bicyclist deaths and also prompting local officials to consider a regional paved trail system called the BAM (Bicycle Area Mobility) Network.

Please log on to www.bicyclebash.com and www.bicyclebash.blogspot.com for more information.

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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