MAJOR BICYCLE FESTIVAL SET FOR NOVEMBER 2010 IN HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY

TAMPA, Fla. — A nationally-recognized alliance of Tampa Bay retail bicycle dealers called SWFBUD is teaming up with Hillsborough County and the Tampa Bay Sports Commission to stage a major bicycle festival event on Nov. 7, 2010 outside Tampa to energize people about all forms of bicycling.

SWFBUD (South West Florida Bicycle United Dealers) held the Bicycle Bash festival in downtown St. Petersburg the past three years to celebrate bicycling in the Tampa Bay area and is now moving the event across the Bay to Hillsborough County’s Flatwoods Park, a scenic venue that is perfect to showcase the many forms of bicycling in the Tampa Bay region.

The event will be re-branded as the Bicycle Bash Classic and also be home to the Cure on Wheels charity bike ride, which will raise money for local cancer research.

Besides the Cure on Wheels ride at Flatwoods, the Bicycle Bash Classic will invite bicyclists to enjoy cycling the seven-mile loop amid the high pines and low palmettos, biking the off-road trails and pedaling longer distances from the park to scenic roads in south Pasco County.

The Bicycle Bash Classic is designed to celebrate bicycling by getting people on all types of bikes, offer a slew of bicycle and health exhibitors and show how bicycling can be an effective form of transportation.

“The Bicycle Bash has been a popular event in an exhibitor village setting in downtown St. Petersburg and we have drawn great crowds in past years. But now we’re ready to take the Bicycle Bash to the next level by retaining the exhibitor village feel and surrounding it with multiple bicycle activities at a terrific and beautiful park,” said Alan Snel, director of SWFBUD.

Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe reached out to SWFBUD about moving the Bicycle Bash to Hillsborough County to show the benefits of bicycling as a way of life and as part of a transportation scheme.

In past years, the Bicycle Bash drew one-day crowds of more than 3,000 people of all different bicycle backgrounds.

The Bicycle Bash Classic will continue to have its popular swap meet where bicyclists can buy used bike gear and clothing, its bicycle advocacy and bike club tables and demonstrations by SWFBUD bike shops on everything from bike repairs to mountain biking.

SWFBUD is an award-winning alliance of nine Tampa Bay shops and two lawyers committed to growing bicycling as a healthy lifestyle and effective mode of transportation. Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, the national trade publication that covers the bicycle industry, gave SWFBUD its national retail advocacy award in 2009. SWFBUD also won the leadership advocacy award from Trek Bicycle Company for its advocacy work this year. And the Florida Bicycle Association gave its Florida Event of the Year Award to SWFBUD in 2007 for holding the Bicycle Bash.

For more information, contact SWFBUD Director Alan Snel at 813-468-0064 or alansnel@yahoo.com