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Bicyclists of varied skills roll with informal club

'It's just fun,' says co-founder of Seminole Heights Bicycle Club

Staff photo by KATHY STEELE

Members of the Seminole Heights Bicycle Club prepare to pedal away on a recent Saturday morning ride through the neighborhood.

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By KATHY STEELE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 16, 2009

TAMPA - The wheels are turning for a bicycle club that rolls among the street grids and tree-canopied byways of Seminole Heights.

Those byways often thread their way outside the cozy familiarity of this old-fashioned, bungalow-lined neighborhood onto asphalt roadways leading to other Central Tampa neighborhoods and beyond to Davis Islands and Temple Terrace.

At heart the group is a grass-roots, family-friendly riding club that welcomes all comers.

All it takes is a bicycle, no matter what kind — from traditional, road, mountain or whatever style suits the rider's fancy. For safety, everyone who rides must have a helmet. That's the only rule.

"It's not intimidating to bike with us," said Alan Snel, co-founder of the Seminole Heights Bicycle Club. "It's just fun, and you get to know the neighborhood."

About 20 of Snel's neighbors met on a recent Saturday for a five-mile easy ride — the "Tour de Brisket" — along streets skirting the Hillsborough River and circling Lake Roberta. It began at Snel's front yard and regrouped in the evening in his back yard for a potluck dinner, with a brisket main course and a bike-themed movie, "El Amateur."

"You get out and see your neighborhood; such a pretty neighborhood," said Laura Starkey. She and her 9-year-old daughter, Sofia, took the neighborhood spin to enjoy the clear skies and a bit of exercise.

On her first ride a few months ago, Sofia said she felt a bit "wobbly" in the legs afterward. But her mom said, "Now she likes racing to the front."

The family-friendly ride is one of three Saturday rides each month. The easy ride begins at Snel's house on Powhatan Avenue. Two others offer 10- and 20-mile plus rides at varying speeds through the neighborhood or downtown and on to Davis Islands or Temple Terrace. Those rides start at the Seminole Heights Garden Center on Central Avenue.

The club recently has drawn national attention. An urban ride that followed Florida Avenue into downtown is featured in the November issue of Bicycling Magazine.

Snel, a former Tampa Tribune reporter, is an avid biker with a blog, Alan Snel's Bicycle Stories and Other Misadventures on the Road of Life at http://alansnel.blogspot.com. He is director of Southwest Florida Bicycle United Dealers, a consortium of Tampa Bay retailers that lobbies governments to include bicycling interests in transportation plans. The group recently won a national retailers award for its advocacy.

From his home in Seminole Heights, Snel began organizing weekend bike rides with his neighbors. "It was just me having a little bike ride," Snel said. But he caught the attention of Mike and Yvon Limerick one day as riders passed by the Limericks' home on 10th Street.

Snel, the Limericks and Steve Swiger began talking about a home-grown bicycle club, one without a formal organization, dues or officers. They set up a meeting in early 2008 on Snel's front porch and spread the word to three neighborhood and civic associations in Old Seminole Heights, Southeast Seminole Heights and South Seminole Heights. About 25 people showed up.

The inaugural ride on Feb. 16, 2008, had about 60 bicyclists, including Mayor Pam Iorio. A core group of about a dozen bicyclists, including Rick and Lisa Hickman and Ken Sturrock help organize rides and set up movie nights.

"The commonality is just people who love bicycling," Snel said. "That's kind of the beautiful thing about it. It wasn't a clique of neighbors who said, 'Let's have a club.'"

The skill levels are as varied as the bicycles.

Eddie Wedemeyer, 6, started on a bike with training wheels but recently unhooked them. That was a first for a club member, Snel said.

Swiger often leads the longer rides to Davis Islands or Temple Terrace. The club is unique, he said, in offering bicyclists the different levels of rides to match their skills. "We're giving them rides that they can move up to," he said.

Though the rides originate in Seminole Heights, the club is not exclusive. "We're very open to everyone," Swiger said.

David Wolf was on his third family-friendly Saturday ride with daughter Maya, 3, seated behind him. "It gets me going in the morning. It's a little bonding time with her and exposes her to doing exercise."

Some club members are lobbying for city recognition of a stretch of 12th Street as a bicycle trail. "It's a symbolic designation," Snel said, but in keeping with the club's effort to "celebrate Seminole Heights. It's just so scenic."

The club's next event is The Thanksgiving Leftovers Ride which begins at 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 28 from Snel's house, 1203 E. Powhatan Ave. It will be a slow ride to 22nd Street Park for a leftovers lunch.

For information, visit the club's website at www.seminoleheightsbicycleclub.com.

Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 259-7652.

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