News / Articles

Where in the World … (are our SPBC members now?)

Submit a photo of you on your bike in a faraway location (domestic or international) - preferably wearing the latest Club jersey.

Include a one- or two-line description of your location, send to Jacques at jacmid96@yahoo.com, and your photo may be among the next ones highlighted in an upcoming Club newsletter!

On Sunday, December 4, SPBC Friends gathered for Holiday Cheer and Glad Tidings at our Holiday Party in the historic downtown St. Petersburg Yacht Club, which was decked out with 30 stunning Holiday Trees for the Season.

After a 2-year Covid hiatus, we all deserved this party!

We celebrated Friends, Food, Festivities

This was such a fun – and hugely successful event - with109 attendees. The food was terrific and we raised $2,000 for Charlies Champs!

St. Petersburg Bicycle Club Makes Donation To Charlie’s Champs Charity
by John Sinibaldi, President

The St. Petersburg Bicycle Club’s Holiday Party was a huge success! Over 100 club members and their guests enjoyed a fabulous meal and atmosphere at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club, as well as the DJ and dancing afterward.

Several club members stepped up with gifts for our raffle. Margaret and David Joffe and their daughter Julia donated an awesome basket of exotic coffees and related items.

Russ Clifford donated gift certificates for physical therapy at AllCare Physical Therapy (he’s an amazing therapist, I know from personal experience!).

Don and Jacqueline Middleton donated gift certificates to the always wonderful Middleton’s Auto Repair. And The Bikery donated a gift bag of goodies and a gift certificate from their shop. Please let them know how much you appreciate their generosity when you see them.

A very special thanks goes out to Brian and Awilda Harrington, who donated the grand prize for our raffle - a beautiful Electra Townie bicycle!

The raffle was very well received with the prizes eagerly snapped up, and Glenn Warr held the winning raffle ticket for the bicycle.

But wait! It got even better – as Glenn immediately turned around and donated the bicycle back for an impromptu auction! The bidding was hot and heavy, the atmosphere electric (just like the bike), and in the end, Paul Norris placed the winning bid for the Townie.

Editor's Note: A pause in our publication schedule resulted in the delay of this Tampa Bay Times article written by Bob Griendling. But the content remains timely and critical to our cycling community.Please note: Pinellas County’s 2023 World Day of Remembrance will take place on November 19. For more information, contact Bob Griendling,bob@griendling.com.

Florida shouldn’t tolerate the killing of so many pedestrians.
by Bob Griendling

World Day of Remembrance honors those killed or seriously injured due to traffic violence. World Day of Remembrance events will again be held in St. Petersburg – and in communities across the globe - on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023.

I awake about 3 most mornings. I don’t want to, but I can’t sleep with thoughts I can’t unthink.

Read more

Why do the WALK lights turn before the traffic signal?The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) says that traffic signals that provide a "Leading Pedestrian Interval(LPI)" give pedestrians and cyclists an opportunity to establish a presence in the crosswalk before vehicles are given a green indication.Whenproperly implemented,they can lead to a 13% reduction in pedestrian / vehicle crashes at intersections. The FHWA recommends giving walkers a 3-7 secondhead start, but St Pete uses a much shorter period (1-2 seconds). If you are on a bike, use it cautiously, knowing that the LPI might conflict with motorists tendency to run red lights. To see how it's supposed to work,watch this :57 FDOT video.

SunRunnerserves about 2500-2600 riders each day:Usage as been steady and trending up since Pinellas County’s'burg to the beachBus Rapid Transit (BRT) service debuted on Oct 21. PSTA says there were 73,000 trips in November and more than 81,000 in December. Acting like an above ground subway with a dedicated lane in most places, SunRunner operates every 15 minutes from 6a - 8p and every 30 minutes after that until midnight. The Westbound route follows 1st Ave N from DTSP to Pasadena / St Pete Beach with the return Eastbound route following 1st Ave S.

Why you should say nice things about the SunRunner even though you ride a bike: 1) There are three bike racks inside each bus (which get a lot of use!). 2) You can use your bike to dine downtown and return after dark on SunRunner (alternatively catch a sunset and dinner at the beach and bus back home). 3) Every Sunrunner rider is one less person in a car creating congestion and pollution. 4) It'sa cheapdate because you can ride for free until April 30!

Build It And They Will Come (and Ride!):Pinellas Park has added bike lanes on 52nd Street from 78th Avenue to 94th Avenue. (Source: Peter Wray's Dec 2022 report to the SPBC Board).

Drive/Bike Like Your Family Lives...Here: Pinellas County reports 576 crashes involving bikes last year with 13 fatalities resulting in 552 injuries. That's 30 more crashes reported in Pinellas than in 2020.

Statewide, there were 7,040 bike crashes which was 10% more crashes than 2021 causing6,582 injuries and 198 fatalities last year. (Source:FLHSMV.govCrash Dashboard

We all know there are increasingly frequent crashes resulting in injury to our fellow cyclists. In my experience as a trial attorney specializing in the representation of cyclists when such injuries occur, I can tell you that the one piece of equipment all cyclists should have on their bike that can be the difference between winning or losing their claim is a camera, such as a GoPro, Garmin, or Cycliq. In our club, I have represented several members in just the past year where having a video of the crash made a dramatic difference in obtaining maximum available coverages.

Cameras both front and rear are preferred. You can purchase both for under $500; they are usually rechargeable, with automatic overwriting once your SIM card is full (meaning that the camera always retains the last few hours of the last ride undertaken), making them ultra easy to use. Most also have auto save features when they sense a crash (permanently capturing the period preceding the crash, the crash itself, and the period after the crash). If you ever ride alone, the camera can prove the driver was at fault, not you.

Equally as important, it gives you something to use with law enforcement to keep them fair minded. NEWS FLASH: the majority of law enforcement on the road will favor the driver over the cyclist if there is any room for interpretation. The camera doesn’t lie nor exaggerate like most drivers. If struck from behind while riding alone, you may not even know exactly what happened; you just know one moment you’re enjoying your ride, the next you’re in an ER.

Please build into your budget the funds for cameras, and treat their importance like you should your helmet: Never leave home on your bike without both.

I am not an insurance agent. I am an attorney with over four decades of experience specializing in representing those injured by negligent drivers, including cyclists hurt while trying to enjoy our Florida weather. Should you have any questions about the importance of video evidence in the event of an accident, please feel free to call me at 727.515.9397 or email me atBch8@verizon.net.

Brian Harrington is an attorney and cyclist for 40+ years, and long-time St. Petersburg Bicycle Club member and supporter

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

The St. Petersburg Bicycle Club is participating in the worldwide Ride of Silence for 2023. Mark your calendars for Wednesday, May 17 - and please wear a helmet.

This will be a short (7-mile) slow and silent funeral-style processional that we hope will attract cyclists from all corners of our community.

We ride for those who cannot. Every one of us knows someone who’s been injured while cycling - sometimes with critical, life-changing injuries. We’ve all heard of people who have been killed while cycling, through no fault of their own.

This event is in their honor and in their memory. The Ride of Silence was created to raise awareness that cyclists, too, have a legal right to the road. It’s also a potent visual reminder to local motorists and citizens that cyclists share the road with motorists - and we all need to look out for each other.

Please take time to join us on this important ride, May 17th.
Details to follow.

As we see the utter mess that is Florida’s insurance system, you may be tempted to juggle some of your automobile insurance coverages to try to save some money. It would seem that one area to make an adjustment would be for your optional coverages, such as uninsured motorists coverage. I mean, if it’s optional, it can’t be that important to you, right?

WRONG! If you are going to take risks like me and insist on riding your bicycle on some of our nation’s most clogged roadways, you MUST carry the best/highest limits of UM/UIM (uninsured/underinsured) you can afford. Why? Because any time you are injured while riding as the result of a motorist’s negligence, your automobile insurance provides you protection even though you are not in a motor vehicle. Your Personal Injury Protection coverage pays your initial medical bills, regardless of the driver’s negligence, and if that driver hits and runs, or has no liability insurance, or has insufficient coverage for your injury, your UM/UIM acts as additional liability insurance for the driver, giving you a place to recover your loss.

Even better, if you have more than one motor vehicle on your insurance, you can combine your UM/UIM coverage times the number of vehicles, (this is called Stacking), giving you even better coverage. Is it cheap? No. Is it necessary? ABSOLUTELY! Why would we assume a negligent driver who hurts us will be responsible about having adequate insurance?

I am not an insurance agent. I am an attorney with over four decades of experience specializing in representing those injured by negligent drivers, including cyclists hurt while trying to enjoy our Florida weather. Should you have any questions about how UM/UIM works, please feel free to call me at 727.515.9397, or email me at Bch8@verizon.net .

Brian Harrington is an attorney and cyclist for 40+ years, and long-time St. Petersburg Bicycle Club member and supporter

In honor of our longtime SPBC member Tony McCoy: February 27, 1942 - January 31, 2023

What an awesome time at SPBC bowling! Some strikes and gutters but a good time had by all! Thanks to Andy Meng for putting it all together!