Pam’s Blog


Summer Events

CyclingSavvy workshop – June 23-25

Note: new date on bike overnight – 9/16

Full Moon Ride – July 3rd – 8 pm from Cheat’s Cheesesteak

Fancy Women’s Bike Ride – Sept 17 – 2 pm from Moxie Mercantile

Photo: Jeff Cravotta

Sub 24 Hour Overnight – Sept 16 – 2 pm

What is it? Here is the link to the Fall 2022 trip to Copperhead Island. This time we’ll camp at McDowell Nature Preserve since Copperhead isn’t available. Let me know if you’re interested and reserve your spot today.


2023 Bike!Charlotte

May is Bike month. Here are the events I have planned. Come join me for any or all of them! Contact me at pamlikestobike at gmail for any questions.

Tuesday, May 2

Plaza Midwood Tuesday Night Ride

PMTNR is a fun bicycle ride for everyone!  Riders meet at the Plaza Midwood Common Market at 7:45 PM every Tuesday night.  The ride is from 8:00PM until 9:30PM and usually covers 15 miles. Lights and helmet required.  This ride is NEVER canceled. 

Location: Common Market, 2007 Commonwealth Ave., 28205

Time: 7:45 pm meet time, leave at 8 pm.

Cost: FREE!

Who Participates: Open to Everyone

May 3

CyclingSavvy Ride Awesome : Live Discussion

Join Ride Awesome.

Ride Anywhere. Ride Awesome!

This premium membership provides lifetime access to all current and future online courses (excluding professional certification courses). 

Benefits include:

Instant Access to Premiere Online Content: CyclingSavvy Basic & Mastery

Lifetime Access to All Online Content

Smart Moves Content

CyclingSavvy Essentials Short Courses

Savvy Cyclist Newsletter

Our Gratitude

Join CyclingSavvy Instructor, Pamela Murray, discuss Modules 1 and 2 via Zoom.  Link will be sent the prior day.  Sign up here.

Time: 7 pm

Cost: FREE! with Ride Awesome Membership ($100)

Who Participates: Ride Awesome Members

May 5

Full Moon Ride

Route will be about 20 miles.  Lights and helmet required.  Rain or shine.

Location: Zada Jane’s, 1601 Central Ave, Charlotte, NC 28205

Time: 8 – 10 pm

Cost: FREE!

Who Participates: Open to Everyone

Tuesday, May 9

Plaza Midwood Tuesday Night Ride : Bikes on a Train ride

PMTNR is a fun bicycle ride for everyone!  Riders meet at the Plaza Midwood Common Market at 7:30PM every Tuesday night.  The ride is from 8:00PM until 10:30PM and usually covers 15 miles. Lights and helmet required.  This ride is NEVER cancelled. 

This week only.  Bikes on CATS is free.  10 and 20 mile ride options this week.  You can ride both ways or opt to put your bike on the light rail for one way.  Get on at the JW Clay station and get off at the Sugar Creek Station. Or you can choose to ride the whole way.

Location: Common Market, 2007 Commonwealth Ave., 28205

Time: 7:45 pm meet time, leave at 8 pm.

Cost: FREE!

Who Participates: Open to Everyone

May 12 – 14

3-Part Workshop – Charlotte NC, May 12-14

This is the 3 part workshop that includes 9 hours of bike fun!

Enhance your cycling experience!

What makes CyclingSavvy different from any other course is our deep dive into unique strategies for mastering even the most intimidating and complicated scenarios. You’ll be blown away by the places you can ride a bike without being a road warrior!

Truth & techniques is a virtual classroom session offered over Zoom. Train Your Bike is a bike handling skills class taught in a parking lot. The tour is an experiential on-road session where it all comes together. The classroom and bike handling sessions are required for participation in the tour.

On the Tour of Charlotte, we’ll travel as a group, stopping to survey and discuss each exercise location. After observing the feature, discussing the traffic dynamics and the best strategies for safe and easy passage, participants ride through individually and regroup at a nearby location.

Location: various

Time: Fri 4-7 pm, Sat and Sun 2 – 5 pm

Cost: $95 for all 3 sessions (scholarships available)

Who Participates: Open to Everyone

Contact: Pamela Murray @ pamlikestobike@gmail.com or  https://cltspokespeople.org/

May 12

Truth and Techniques – Zoom Virtual Classroom, May 12

This is the classroom presentation only. Attend from anywhere on Zoom. I promise the time will fly by.

https://cyclingsavvy.org/event/truth-and-techniques-zoom-virtual-classroom/

Truth & techniques is a virtual classroom session offered over Zoom. This class is a pre-requisite to taking the on-bike sessions (Train Your Bike and Tour). 

You can take this class now and choose to take the on-bike sessions at a later date.

Location: Virtual via Zoom (a link will be emailed to attendees)

Time: 4-7 PM

Cost: $45

Who Participates: Open to Everyone

May 13

Train Your Bike, Charlotte NC

This is the skills session held in a parking lot. We will practice and sharpen your bike handling skills.

https://cyclingsavvy.org/event/train-your-bike-charlotte-nc-may-13/

Learn & Enhance Bike Handling Skills

Hone your bike handling skills by joining our Train your Bike class on May 13 in Charlotte NC. This on-bike class is taught in a parking lot. Even experienced riders always learn something new.

Location: Midwood Baptist Church, 2029 Mecklenburg Ave., Charlotte NC 28205

Time: 2 – 5 pm

Cost: $45

Who Participates: Open to Everyone

May 16

Plaza Midwood Tuesday Night Ride

PMTNR is a fun bicycle ride for everyone!  Riders meet at the Plaza Midwood Common Market at 7:45 PM every Tuesday night.  The ride is from 8:00PM until 9:30PM and usually covers 15 miles. Lights and helmet required.  This ride is NEVER canceled. 

Location: Common Market, 2007 Commonwealth Ave., 28205

Time: 7:45 pm meet time, leave at 8 pm.

Cost: FREE!

Who Participates: Open to Everyone

May 18 

Route Planning Workshop

Learn how to plan a comfortable route using Ride with GPS, Google Maps, and the Explore Charlotte GIS Map.  Learn how I can ride anywhere in Charlotte and anywhere I travel. This will be an interactive workshop.  Need a route?  We’ll figure one out.  Email pam for link.

Location: Virtual via Zoom

Time: 6 – 7 pm

Cost: FREE!

Who Participates: Everyone

May 20

Bicycle Day trip to Greensboro via Amtrak

We’ll ride to the Amtrak station, have lunch and a bike ride in Greensboro then return to Charlotte. Add your bicycle reservation when purchasing your train ticket. There is no additional bike fee between Charlotte and Raleigh. Only 4 more spots available. Make your bike reservation when you book your train ticket.

Location: Moxie Mercantile,  2008 Commonwealth Ave, Charlotte, NC 28205

9 am – 6 pm

Cost: your Amtrak ticket

Who Participates: Open to Everyone

May 21

Ride with a Cycling Savvy Instructor  – Plaza Midwood & Elizabeth History Bike Tour Historic Landmarks ride

Discover historic landmarks in the Plaza Midwood, Elizabeth, Belmont neighborhoods using cooperative and mindful bicycling and strategic route planning riding with a Cycling Savvy Instructor.  This will be about 15 miles with over 15 historic landmarks.

Location: Betty by Moxie,  1219 Thomas Ave, Charlotte, NC 28205

Time: 2 pm

Cost: FREE!

Who Participates: Open to Everyone

May 23

Plaza Midwood Tuesday Night Ride

PMTNR is a fun bicycle ride for everyone!  Riders meet at the Plaza Midwood Common Market at 7:45 PM every Tuesday night.  The ride is from 8:00PM until 9:30PM and usually covers 15 miles. Expect a crowd! Lights and helmet required.  This ride is NEVER canceled. 

Location: Common Market, 2007 Commonwealth Ave., 28205

Time: 7:45 pm meet time, leave at 8 pm.

Cost: FREE!

Who Participates: Open to Everyone

May 30

Plaza Midwood Tuesday Night Ride

PMTNR is a fun bicycle ride for everyone!  Riders meet at the Plaza Midwood Common Market at 7:45 PM every Tuesday night.  The ride is from 8:00PM until 9:30PM and usually covers 15 miles. Lights and helmet required.  This ride is NEVER canceled. 

Location: Common Market, 2007 Commonwealth Ave., 28205

Time: 7:45 pm meet time, leave at 8 pm.

Cost: FREE!

Who Participates: Open to Everyone

Photo: Olly Yung 050223

Come ride with us!

Send me an email with Subject: Add me to your email list and I’ll send you an email of upcoming events. Here are some ideas for future events. Let me know if you have other suggestions or would be able to help me bring these things to life.

Meet a Bike Tourist (Bikepacker)

Loaded Bike Ride

September

Fancy Womens Ride

September

Fancy Women’s ride

Fall S24O

October

Cycle NC Mountains to Coast ride

November

Cranksgiving

December

Christmas Lights Ride

March

PBE

Spring S24O


Fall 2022 S24O

Copperhead Island at McDowell Nature Preserve on Lake Wylie.

Sept, 24, 2022

I used this trip as my shakedown ride for the Cycle NC Mountains to Coast ride since it was the preceding weekend. The weather was perfect. Not too hot and cool at night so I slept well. I always enjoy this trip to introduce people to bikecamping. It’s good to see that you can easily live off your bike. And you realize you really don’t need much to have a really good time. Photos: Eric Supil

The next trip will be Spring 2023. March 25, 2023. Mark your calendar and save the date. We leave Sat at 2 pm, bike out 19 miles then stop to buy food for dinner then set up camp, eat dinner and hang out til we burn all the wood. $20 per person or $15 with your Bike Benefits sticker. Email me with any answers or to reserve your spot.

L-R: Monica, Charlie, Paul, Pam, Tabia, Ehab.

Philly Bike Expo 2022

Saturday:

Philly Art Museum: Tim, Ashly, Pam, David. Nicole, Leah, Melanie, John, Roberta. Shreve, Ben.

Ride to PBE22

Riding Philly Streets Presented by John Allen, CyclingSavvy, Room 124

Party Pace ride to the Keystone Bike Party

Route https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41005336 

Demo:  How to strap stuff on the bicycle.

Everyday carry — what to take with you. Tools, straps etc. Packing to travel what to take on the train, 24 hour tour, lights, self-supported tour

I attended the Philly Bike Expo this year with Tim Cherry and John Allen, 2 fellow CyclingSavvy Instructors. We teamed up with the Coalition of Appropriate Transportation. Scott Slingerland who is an integral part of CAT is also a CyclingSavvy instructor. Our goal was to build some awareness and interest for CyclingSavvy. John hosted a ride to the Expo Saturday morning, presented a seminar on riding Philly streets using CyclingSavvy strategies and techniques. I gave a demonstration and introduction to my Rivendell Betty Foy. I discussed items I carry everyday to make her bike more practical. I pulled everything out of my bags and purse. My bike is over 10 years old and has over 68,000 miles on it. It’s set up as a do it all bike. I ride daily. Later I hosted a Party Pace ride to the Keystone Bike Party. We had the distinct pleasure of riding with about 25 people to the party. Notably Leah Petersen on her raspberry Platypus and Will and James from Rivendell among others. Keystone threw a great party and had raffle prizes. I won a sweet Reload BRAAP bag. Thanks to everyone for such a fun weekend connecting with all the fun bike people.


How Cycling Savvy Helps

Here’s a 9 second video of how Cycling Savvy improves my riding safety and enhances my riding experience. This is on S. Tryon heading south. We are crossing I77 approaching Woodlawn Ave. Notice we are in the rightmost through lane. There is a right turn only lane to our right which leads to the on ramp for I77. We do not need to merge left for a lane change. We are riding 2 abreast and traffic can easily change lanes to pass. Since we are 2 abreast motorists can more easily pass since we are shorter in length than if we were riding single file. Listen for the honks. There are none. There is no traffic passing us because we are in the gap which the traffic light at Pressley/Tryon has created for us. We turned left onto Tryon from the parking lot across from Pressley. We also pressed the pedestrian button since the signal did not actuate for us. It may have given us additional pedestrian timing creating a longer gap in traffic for us.

If some of this terminology is foreign to you, please join me in my next Cycling Savvy course. We cover all these strategies and techniques.


Bikecamping Spring 2022

Although every year everyone is excited about the trip. We generally only have a handful of people. This trip we had eight riders to Copperhead Island at Lake Wylie, South Carolina. We rode about 20 miles with 25 mph gusts. It was windy and cold on the way out but had perfect weather at 61 degrees for the ride. We stopped at the Publix as usual and picked up dinner. Then got to camp. Set up our tents and ate dinner. There was a burn ban in effect till 8pm. Then we all sat around the campfire. It’s always a good time. Join us next time. Video and pictures by Cary Gavin.


10 years of beausage on my Betty Foy

May 2021

I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since I unboxed my Betty Foy from Rivendell. My Betty is my daily ride and was my only bike til recently. I have an old Schwinn Mesa Runner that I use when I’m out of town on the weekends. I set it up like my Betty and like that it basically the same and I can always pull the parts if I’m desperate.

I do ride my Betty daily – about 360 days/year. I use it for all my errands and wherever I want to go. I did travel by Amtrak pre-COVID. And I’ve flown it boxed on American since it’s only a normal bag fee (no oversize charge anymore). I’ve done S24O trips and am slowly using it more for longer trips. I’m up to 2 nights camping and would like to go for 3 or more soon. Maybe this year.

I’m not sorry about all the scratches and beausage.  I remember every one. Each time I locked at a bad bike rack or street sign and it shifted and scraped the paint off the top tube. When I was adjusting my seat and the hex wrench slipped. When I parked on some cart return because there’s no bike rack… I ride daily and I always lock up. I never leave it unlocked.

I keep track of the mileage for maintenance purposes and I like to try to get full utility out of all my components. I had been trying to get more chains per cassette but I’m so bad about it that I think I’ve given up and will just wear them out together. I think I’ll try to get 5,000 out of them. I’ll see how that goes. I’ve used Schwalbe Marathon Supremes and usually get about 12,000 miles without a flat. They have wear indicators now which are helpful.

Miles : 58,529
Highest annual mileage : 9,000
Most daily miles: 80

Riding in NC

  • Charlotte (Amtrak roll on service)
  • Raleigh (Amtrak roll on service)
  • Apex
  • Cary (Amtrak roll on service)
  • Durham (Amtrak roll on service)
  • Asheville 
  • Belmont
  • Pinnacle
  • Greensboro (Amtrak roll on service) to Apex
  • Newton to Lake James
  • Rocky Mount (Amtrak roll on service) to Elizabeth City
  • Cycle NC ride 2019 from Clayton (Amtrak roll on service) to Atlantic Beach
  • Rodanthe to Ocracoke

Outside of NC:

  • Philadelphia, PA (Amtrak roll on service)
  • Glacier National Park (Amtrak roll on service)
  • Portland, OR (checked in box on American)
  • Seattle, WA (Amtrak roll on service)
  • Washington, DC (Amtrak roll on service)
  • Orlando, FL (Amtrak roll on service)

Annual mileage

  • 2011 : 1,818* (May -Dec)
  • 2012 : 3,756
  • 2013 : 4,294
  • 2014 : 4,669
  • 2015 : 5,169
  • 2016 : 5,439
  • 2017 : 5,064
  • 2018 : 5,251
  • 2019 : 9,014
  • 2020 : 6,613
  • 2021 : 2,008* (Jan- Apr)
  • *partial year

Original equipment:

  • handlebars
  • stem
  • cranks
  • seatpost (weird size 26.6)
  • saddle
  • middle and small chain rings
  • brake levers
  • Shimano XT rapid rise rear derailleur
  • Nitto campee rear rack
  • headset
  • frame
  • fork
  • Brooks B68S
  • Middle and small chainrings
  • headset

My Betty and I have gone so many places together and made so many friends and have had so many good times.  And we’ll have many more miles and trips and meet so many people. Bikes are made for riding. Go ride!

p.s. I matched some nail polish to the paint but since it doesn’t have a UV coating, it fades out. So some of the touch ups look white. I’m switching to clear nail polish now.

p.p.s. Plan all routes with Ride With GPS, write route on a 3×5 index card. No cell phone.


The best time to ride is… N O W!

How to sign up and use Ride with GPS

With everything going on, it really is the best time to ride. I hope you are taking the COVID situation seriously. What does that mean: stay at home, go ride your bike, stay at least 6 ft away from anyone, only go to the grocery store once a week and don’t go anywhere else. But you can always ride your bike!

And the streets are basically empty. So it’s great riding conditions. N O W!!! Not confident? Take the online Cycling Savvy class. The online course is more than the classroom presentation since we are limited to a 3 hr format for the in person session. The online classroom material is expanded and you’ll have lifetime access to it. So when any updates are made or new material is added, you get that too. Plus, you can come to the on bike sessions and have fulfilled the classroom prerequisite. In addition, you can attend the in person classroom session since you’ve already taken the online. Why would you do that? Just in case you have some questions to ask or to make sure you comprehend all of it. It’s a lot of material. Even for me and I’ve taught the course about 30 times.

I’m ready to ride. Where to?

Use Ride With GPS. Charlotte Spokes People has a club account so you can use all the premium features for free. If we have enough members, we’ll continue to fund this. We just want to make sure it’s worth paying. Let us know what you think. (Send us an email to pamlikestobike@gmail)

How?

Step 1: Sign up for Ride With GPS. You’ll need to set up an account for yourself.

Step 2: Join the Club account with this link. After you’ve joined, you should get this message.

Step 3: Choose a route. All the PMTNR (Plaza Midwood Tues Night Ride) and SSR (Sunday Slow Ride) routes are there. I’m not great at tagging them but some are. You can search by date or a name. I usually add the name of the Bike Benefit business we stop at in the description. So if you want to ride to Sabor, search for that. You can download the route and use voice navigation with the Club account. When you download the route, you can use it offline so you won’t use data. You only use GPS. It’s different. When using voice navigation, use a speaker or just one earbud so you can maintain your situational awareness.

The confusing thing is that the routes have to be on the Club account to use the voice navigation. All the recent routes (about 80 or so) are on both the Club account and the old Charlotte Spokes People non club account. (When you are on the Club account the background will be yellow.)

Click on the orange rectangle that says “Sign into the Club” on the right.
The yellow band at the top means you are on the Club account.

In the screenshot below, I searched for PMTNR.

From any route, you can click on Charlotte Spokes People to see all the routes. There are over 300 routes over 7 years.

From your account, you can copy any public route to the Club account. All the Charlotte Spokes People routes are there (from 2013 forward). There are more than 300 routes. And all are public.

EDIT: if you want to save a route to the Club acct, you’ll need to be a route manager. Send us an email to make the request. (pamlikestobike@gmail)

I searhced on “Greensboro” using the top right Search bar. I don’t know whose route this is.

After you copy the route, choose Save.

The option to view the route will come up. View it then and then you can save to the Club account.

Step 4: Ride.


Bike Bingo Tips

Pedal to Play!

Plan ahead and try to get the full card prizes.  Prizes are available for Row and Full cards. You MUST ride your bike to earn stamps and redeem prizes.  No purchase necessary but show your Bike Benefis sticker – especially if you make a purchase to get your Bike Benefit.  Post pictures of your adventures. Have fun, be respectful and engage others.

You remember how to play Bingo, right?  You have to get the full row for a row prize.  Horizontal, vertical or diagonal. Then you get a row prize.  6 row prizes max.

Bike!Charlotte event – get your card stamped at the Mayor’s ride or Open Streets 704. At the Mayor’s ride – look for the Bike Advisory Committee members at the tshirt table. They’ll have Bingo cards and you can get it stamped. At Open Streets – look for the Trips for Kids tent or the Trike races. Both tents will have cards and either can stamp it.

Want the full card prize?  Redeem for up to 6 prizes. Make sure you look for times/dates of events.  For example, Cycling Savvy is May 3-5. You’ll need to be there before class starts to get your card stamped.  Plan accordingly. Use the Bike Benefits website on (your laptop or computer) to look up hours for each business.  From the bicyclebenefits.org enter the city: Charlotte, then the business name – it will have a pull down menu and you can see a link to the business website.

Find Pam – you’ll need to find Pam riding her bike around Charlotte.  Where? She rides all around mostly to Bike Benefits businesses. Sun and Tues excluded.  Tip: She’s hosting lots of events on the Bike!Charlotte website – like ride to yoga on Wed. Or you can look on the CSP calendar.

CSP event – This is any event put on by Charlotte Spokes People.  Look at the calendar for details.  Examples include the Mother’s Day ride on May 12th and the Tour de Sabor on May 19.  Show up before the start and get your stamp.

Volunteer at a Bike ride, event or bike shop – Mark a turn, count, make the safety speech at PMTNR or Sunday Ride, volunteer at a bike event during May (Take a picture and post it on fb Charlotte Bicycle Benefits or instagram #bikebenefits, #bikebingo) or volunteer at Trips for Kids or teach someone how to ride a bike.  Let’s share the love of biking with someone.

Need a card?  They should be at all the spots on the card.  If someone runs out, email pamlikestobike@gmail.com and you can have one for free.  Thanks for letting me know.

p.s.  Remember: You MUST ride your bike to earn stamps and redeem prizes.