No, you didn’t miss six months of what will be an eventful summer! It is still May, but it is time to give thanks to some folks who have influenced us and made a difference in our business and our lives. First of all my wife Lane, who has supported me in spite of some of my wild ideas and actions. Lane is retiring from teaching this year and will be making a difference in other ways, I am sure! Although in Alabama, my Mom, sisters and family continue to show support, and for that I will always be grateful, too! Our Shop Manager, Drez, will be leaving us too soon to pursue a masters degree in Geography in Texas. We will miss the help and support in the shop he has offered for the last two years, and are grateful for the time we have had together. Captain Johnny is still on board, when he is not on a banjo gig somewhere, and we are grateful for the productive shop time and cheer leading support he and Beth continue to provide for RideSouth! We hope he will continue to enjoy working with us! Our newest staff member Elizabeth, has made a difference in the way our shop looks for sure, and we are thankful for her time here. We have many needs, and hope she can find the right formula to help us meet our goals!

Thank you to Doug Morgan, our friend and riding buddy, who is riding the Ride of Love again this year! We are supporting Doug financially and hope you will too! Please get your contributions to him this week, as the ride is Saturday! As Doug pointed out, this is the only charity we know of that the kids with cancer are there waiting for you to finish the tough 150 mile ride to Camp Smile-A-Mile! Thank you to our loyal customers, some of whom have supported us for the fourteen years we have been in business! What a blessing to have so many Friends-of-RideSouth! And, thank you to our first time customers who have begun to trust that we really are looking out for their best interest! We value your trust greatly!

Coming up on Memorial Day, May 28, we are organizing an event to give thanks to the many men and women in uniform who have sacrificed everything for our freedom. What a great Thanksgiving Day in May! Help us honor their memory by riding in the Trike Tribute beginning at RideSouth by 9:00 AM, Monday, May 28! We will have American Flags for you and many are decorating their trikes in red, white and blue! After the ride, join us for some great Natchez BBQ and ping pong action at the shop! Let us know if you are coming and we will be able to prepare better. Thank You!!

Last Thursday evening, RideSouth hosted a gathering of cyclists, city officials, professionals and educators for a great presentation on Bicycle Friendly Urban Design by Dr. Evandro Santos. Some excellent slides, movies and charts helped to make the point that good design begins in the neighborhood. Dr. Santos has had worldwide experience helping other communities develop the vision to plan for the inevitable . . . accepted travel by bicycles. Interest was high in accelerating plans to connect additional areas of our state by bike trails, and discussion about improving bike lanes in our area was on the table. We also presented the group with a new topic for future discussion, bicycle registration. Stay tuned for feedback from all of these topics!

Thanks to everyone who helped to publish this meeting and thanks to the attendees for your interest! A special thanks to Dr. Santos for spending his vacation time with us before going to Brazil for the winter. Everyone loved the Chick-fil-A nuggets and we appreciate the donation by our friends at Chick-fil-A! Please let us know if you would like to see more community events like this.

May 2012 is packed with events that you are sure to be interested in! Here are just a few for your calendars:

Saturday, May 5; Rise and Shine Bread Ride from the shop @ 7:30 AM

Thursday, May 10; Bicycle Friendly Urban Design Presentation by Dr. Evandro Santos at RideSouth @ 6:00 PM

Saturday, May 12; Ridgeland Century Ride at Old Trace Park @ 7:30 AM

Saturday, May 19; Ride of Love for Camp Smile-A-Mile in Alabama (go Doug!) Also Bread Ride at RideSouth @ 7:30 AM

Saturday, May 26; Rise & Shine Bread Ride @ 7:30 AM

Monday, May 28; Trike Tribute @ 9:00 AM from the RideSouth shop. A special Memorial Day tribute ride on local bike trails, including BBQ and Ping Pong!

Here are a few notes about some of the events.

Please invite everyone who is interested in making our community more bicycle friendly to the presentation on the 10th. Dr. Santos is a passionate speaker with tons of information that will improve our community. This is a great opportunity to network and learn!

We are dedicating the Ridgeland Century to our friend Gale Lovelace who recently passed away. In spite of difficulties brought on by diabetes, Gale maintained a wonderful disposition and beautiful smile right up to the end. Her husband, Jim Lovelace will be here from Slidell riding his Bacchetta Bee and we will be riding with him! http://obits.nola.com/obituaries/nola/obituary.aspx?n=gale-t-lovelace&pid=156839561&fhid=14935

We will also be cheering for Doug Morgan and his Ride of Love this year. We hope you will too. You may leave donations to Camp SAM here in the shop. We know Doug and all the kids at Camp SAM will appreciate it!

Ending an eventful month will be our first annual Trike Tribute on Memorial Day. A long line of trikes (and bikes) will leave the shop around 9:00 AM on Monday, with decorations and flags waving! We will make a slow tour of the bike trails in Ridgeland to return to the shop at noon for some excellent Natchez BBQ. Top off the day with some spirited ping pong!! We hope to grow this event in the future, so be in on this inaugural Trike Tribute at RideSouth!

Our shop manager, Andrez Aguilar (Drez), will be leaving us to continue his education in Texas. Drez is a Navy vet and we are happy, as taxpayers, to help him learn more about geology and geography so he can help to make the world a better place. We wish him good luck in pursuing his masters degree, but will miss him in the shop! The Trike Tribute will have a dual purpose as a send-off for Drez & Brandi. We hope all of you can make it. Please RSVP by May 26 so we can have enough food and drink!

If you have questions about these or other events, please call the shop or come by and see us, and remember the Way to Ride . . . RideSouth!

Sponsoring an event requires two very important elements, good people and good weather. First of all, the GREAT team of Lane, Louis, Beth, Johnny and Liz were the best SAG team ever! They were always there, at every turn it seemed, to provide for the riders’ needs with snacks, liquids, transportation, lunch, shuttle service, and motivation! Lane picked up the chicken minis and other items from the store, and Louis was indispensable with providing assistance at the launch, lunch, and reception. Louis also picked up the Chick-Fill-A sandwiches, fruit and brownies that were a big hit. Many thanks to Louis, Chad, Lane and others that provided shuttle service for folks and bikes!

The weather was picture perfect the whole weekend! A recent storm had cleared much of the spring pollen and the temperatures were ideal for shorts. At the RideSouth shop, we made the effort to leave right at 7:00 AM. The fantastic HP motor patrol escort was truly awesome in blocking traffic for us at every intersection and providing a safe event for everyone all the way to Prentiss! Thank you Captain Johnny for organizing, and thank you officers for superior support!! We visited the familiar places on the way down, including the Texaco, Shell and Harrisville Baptist Church. Thank you Pastor David for opening the church for us! This year we added a new stop at Pinola Baptist Church. Thank you Pastor John, Johnny and Beth for organizing another first-rate rest stop before climbing the Pinola hills!

By the time folks got to Sullivan’s Grocery in New Hebron, the group began to separate a bit, but all made it to Prentiss in time for lunch. Thank you to Dudley, the Hattiesburg ride leader for collecting the necessary paperwork and launching a large group of riders on the HB end of the Longleaf Trace! We got over the initial dismay of not having another mass start in Prentiss with the realization that the Signature Ride has evolved. In planning for a possible future event, we are considering organizing the ride a bit differently. If we have an organized start in Hattiesburg, we will move the start time back to the original 10:00 AM. We could just eliminate the mass start in Hattiesburg and have folks leave on their own. We will not plan for a launch in Prentiss. Prentiss will be a lunch stop only with no organized shuttle service. That way, all riders can leave when they are ready and waivers would be required only for the RS launch. The ride fee will increase to help cover costs and we will have some cool new tee shirts.

The reception in HB was a big hit, as usual! Lane and Louis did a great job in refueling the riders with the necessary fluids, cheese, sausages and sandwiches. Everyone enjoyed meeting John Schlitter and Jacquie Hafner while relaxing after an entertaining day of riding! John and Jacquie had been gracious enough to offer some long distance riding tips at the well attended clinic on Thursday. Thank you guys for helping and participating in our event, and thank you Bacchetta Bikes! These guys had no trouble showing off your products and their prowess on them!!

Sunday was another near-perfect weather day! The north wind helped to keep us cool on the climbs and the routes were lightly trafficked. We stopped at Bryant’s Grocery, the Piggly Wiggly, Shell (Magee), and Texaco, with the Johnny & Beth paparacci at every turn! We are sure there will be a full length movie from all the photos and videos taken! Of course Johnny had ridden the full 117 miles on Saturday so he was doing double duty driving the well used SAG vehicle loaded with fluids, bars and extra sunscreen. Way to go Johnny and all those who bettered themselves on Saturday and Sunday! And of course the biggest thanks goes to all you riders who pushed their envelope, even a little bit! We appreciate your support this year and hope you are planning to do even better next year! So now everyone has a jump start on their cycling year and we expect to see more folks figuring out the Way to Ride . . . is RideSouth!

Note: See pics on our photo gallery!

Our favorite ride of the year is this Saturday and Sunday, March 24-25!! Launch time is an early 7:00 AM Saturday from the RideSouth shop. We will not have the Bread Ride this Saturday and the RideSouth shop will be closed for the 2012 Signature Ride. We will have a RideSouth Workshop Clinic on Thursday about Riding Long Distances, including a panel discussion by a number of record breaking cyclists, who are sure to share some of their wisdom with us mere mortals! The workshop begins at 6:00 PM at the shop. Also, we will have a brief Friday meeting at 6:00 PM to finalize shuttle transportation for the ride.

If you haven’t noticed, RideSouth is on YouTube! Check out the “bentbikeman” channel for some informative and fun videos! Special thanks to Captain Johnny for the great persona and music! We have had numerous requests for future episodes, so put in your bid and we will work on it! Check out our Discussions page for a link to the channel. Soon we will have a button on our homepage for a direct link.

There is plenty of time to sign up for the 2012 Signature Ride! This is a great way to begin your year of riding and getting into shape! The weather will be perfect and the roads are all great! Come and join us for all the fun!

It’s time to change gears for the 2012 Signature Ride coming up on March 24-25! The winter parades have been too much fun, but Spring is about here and it is time to put in the long rides to prepare for our favorite ride of the year! Everyone can participate in the RideSouth Signature, multiple option event. You can ride 41-213 miles in the two day event, or you can help us support the riders! Remember, we usually have a workshop clinic on the Thursday before the ride, and we also usually have a Friday meeting at the shop to clear up details. Be sure you are on our email list as we will be posting times and details soon. Here is a link for a sign-in sheet to indicate your preference. We hope you will join us!
Signature Ride Sign-up sheet

Occasionally something comes along that changes everything! The Greenspeed Magnum is the latest game changer! Designed for big folks, this tadpole style trike does it all, yet is light and nimble like the other Greenspeed trikes! The seat height and recline amount is adjustable for high speed road riding or trips through the woods! The versatile Big Apple tires are good for both adventures, as well. The swept forward frame shape makes entering and exiting the trike a breeze, and the aluminum frame makes the trike very light! The strong folding feature and the push-button release wheels means you can pack it in a very small space in seconds! Oh, did we mention the weight capacity is a whopping 400 pounds! Greenspeed’s designer, Ian Sims, has hit a home run with this machine! We have some on the floor, ready for you to test ride!

We are very close to having a REAL BIKE LANE on the lower spillway road connecting Rankin County with Ridgeland and Madison! All that is left is to put the white line down. We have promoted a WHITE LINE ONLY with raised reflective paint that alerts the occasional wandering motorist with a high pitched sound. This safely gets their attention faster than the low pitched, vehicle shaking caused by rumble strips. The shaking associated with rumble strips causes more of a startle reaction than a controlled alert for steering correction, and actually slows down reaction time. Also, we constantly repair flats, broken spokes and wrecks that are caused by cyclists trying to negotiate rumble strips in our area, and most road cyclists fear them, with good reason.

We are asking you to call your contacts today and lobby for a white line only on the low spillway road. We have spoken with a few people to lobby against the rumble strips in this area. Your help is needed, now! Our good customer, Mr. Ralph Barnes with Adcamp is the paving contractor and has done a fantastic job of putting down exceptionally smooth asphalt for the new bike lane. Thank you Ralph! The construction engineer is Neel-Schaffer, we understand. We have put in a call and hope to convince the district to start with a slightly raised white stripe to test the effectiveness. We are convinced this is the best alternative for bike lanes, which are the very best way for cyclists and motorists to safely and efficiently coexist!

As soon as the dividing line is painted, we will plan a grand opening ride to celebrate this important connection. It has been a long time in coming and we thank those who have finally made it happen! It is sure to help cyclists on both sides of the river better enjoy our great roads and trails!

WOW!! The Krewe of Nereids Parade in Waveland, Mississippi was an awesome experience! Twenty trike pilots and two velonauts captured the attention of thousands of parade watchers, and the parade judges, with another First Place Trophy! Way to go everyone!!

The weekend began on Saturday with a cruise around the area led by Cap’n Johnny and Beth. In spite of a cold, stiff, northerly breeze, folks enjoyed the twenty mile tour and especially the hot chocolate afterwards, reports Cap’n Johnny. Lane & I drove down Saturday afternoon to join most of the group at Steve’s Marina in Longbeach for a fantastic seafood dinner and some great fellowship. The place was packed, but we were able to get two large tables for everyone there. We toured some of the area on the way back to the Knight’s Inn before turning in early to prepare for the big day Sunday.

Folks began to arrive around 9:00 AM Sunday to load their trikes with the four cases of black and gold beads, and the 2500 wooden nickels we had ordered with our logo printed on them. It seemed like a lot of throws, but as it turned out, was not nearly enough! Captain Johnny, our personal ride leader for this event, held us all back till everyone was ready. We then pedaled about a mile to the first staging area where we were told to get in close behind last year’s first place float. We found an open area and waited a while, then started moving. The excitement dropped down a notch as we made it about a mile down Hwy 90, crossed over to the eastbound lane, and found we had to wait again! However, here we had a huge float upwind of us with a massive sound system! Acclimating to the earth shaking popular groove sounds blasting from the many speakers on the float, most folks were moving to the music in no time. Some riders left the waiting area to practice drills, and generally warm up in the cold, but tolerable temperatures.

There seemed to be hundreds of floats in the parade, and it took us a while to get going. Parade watchers were asking for beads and tokens, most politely, and just a few, more aggressively. The Waveland folks were all very thankful that we came down for their parade and were really intrigued with our machines. The beads went fast, then the nickels. Beth’s trailer had been loaded with 100 pounds of beads and decorations, but was emptied in the first hour of the parade. The time went fast, even though it took about 1 hour per mile! At the end of the parade, Johnny led us back to the hotel without incident right down Hwy 90. We rode in the right lane because the shoulder was littered with thousands of the cheaper, discarded beads, making for a rough ride.

We cannot say enough good things about Beth and Johnny! What a great team to have on our side! Johnny had everything organized and was a most excellent ride leader! Beth is the best RideSouth cheerleader and decorator in the world! We have some excellent pics and video we will publish soon. Everyone was instrumental in our victory and we thank all of you that participated and helped!! Everyone vowed to return next year with more beads to give out! We were especially glad to provide some publicity and support to a recovering community. We hope to visit the area much more often and hope you will join us soon. Maybe we will convince a few more folks in the area that the folks at RideSouth know the way to have fun, and really do know . . . The Way to Ride!!

Snap up one of the RideSouth Wooden Nickels and bring it into the RideSouth Shop for a Free Test Ride on any of our cool recumbent bikes or trikes! If you purchase one on the day of the test ride, we will give you one of our very cool logo caps! Hope to see you soon!