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Laid-back is how this bike club rolls

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By KATHY STEELE

ksteele@tampatrib.com

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 the bungalow-lined neighborhood onto asphalt roadways leading to other neighborhoods and communities such as Davis Islands and Temple Terrace.

At heart the group is a grassroots, family-friendly riding club that welcomes everyone.

All it takes is a bicycle, no matter what kind. 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."

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 director of Southwest Florida Bicycle United Dealers, a consortium of Tampa Bay area retailers that lobbies governments to include bicycling interests in transportation plans.

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 homegrown bicycle club, one without a formal organization, dues or officers. 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.

"The commonality is just people who love bicycling," Snel said. "That's kind of the beautiful thing about it."

The club's next event is The Thanksgiving Leftovers Ride on Nov. 28. It will be a slow ride to 22nd Street Park for a lunch of Thanksgiving Day leftovers.

For information, visit www.seminoleheightsbicycleclub.com.

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

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