|
Capital City Cyclists | |
| TOSRV & the Big Bend Cycling Festival |
| by Mark Koch, CCC President, January 22, 2008 |
 There is a lot of momentum currently underway with TOSRV and the new Big Bend Cycling FestivalIt comes out of the current partnership between the local political leadership and merchants as it relates to cyclists and cycling events. As a result, rather than feeling as if fun rides and races must be held out of the way, the new feeling is just the opposite. We are now encouraged to feature these events For cyclists it means that the top leadership assists us with facilities such as schools, state parks, and tons of free media. It means permission to close of many streets of downtown Tallahassee ALL DAY on a Saturday, in order to host criterium races, to provide other cycling events such as safety demonstrations, a free fun ride, and a BMX demonstration. It means that when TOSRV cyclists return from a new route, they can come back to a festival, rather than just a hotel. It means that they can visit a booth set up by the Department of Health that promotes cycling as an exercise, or maybe see a StarMetro representative demonstrate how a bike gets set on the front of a bus. It means having diner at a local restaurant and seeing the racers fly by; it means having a beer at Andrews or Clyde’s and being part of a local event that simply celebrates all things cycling For the downtown merchants it means business. Restaurants get to see that cyclists are not just people that wear funny clothes, that we are real people that simply like to live healthy lifestyles. It means that the following years they could invite us back again and again. Our Festival would be a calendar event on par with Springtime Tallahassee and it would grow and grow and grow For the local political leadership it means something else. For the current mayor it helps his new regional support agreement for Tallahassee and the whole Big Bend. Because TOSRV can touch, in a 100-mile route, many Big Bend counties, we the TOSRV cyclists symbolize this new agreement. We bring in eco-tourism and rather than show these out-of-area cyclists pecan trees and Albany, we show them our area cities, canopy roads, state parks, and campuses It also means that we the cyclists can show the local leadership just how popular cycling really has become. It’s not just for kids, and bikes are not just for sale at Wal Mart. We get to show the local leadership hundreds of colorfully dressed cyclists using publicly funded and designed streets. They get to see whether we have to ride on streets without bike lanes, and sit at red lights that are not triggered to change by our lack of weight. They get to see the difficulties we have getting around Tallahassee, and we will make sure they see this because we are inviting them into the cycling events themselves. Dignitaries, on bikes, doing fun crit laps; riding from one TOSRV food stop to another, feeling the surge and displacement when a big trucks sneaks by too close. Local EMS on bikes, local police and deputy sheriffs. Commissioners and representatives. But the Festival can only be what we the local cycling community make it to be. We need help in every area that you can imagine, and with all these events happening on the same weekend we will be stretched thin. But you can also volunteer your time and still participate in an event. You can help out in one, yet ride in another. So far the Festival will include TOSRV and the Atomic races. Bike safety specialists are also on board. We are talking with BMXer, off-roaders, and even some college students that can direct a Little 500 relay race, such as seen in the movie Breaking Away. Unicyclists? Yep, those as well. |
|