SWFBUD -- South West Florida Bicyclists United With Dealers: SWFBUD Names SWFBUDDY Winners for 2011

Monday, October 3, 2011

SWFBUD Names SWFBUDDY Winners for 2011

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

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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