Cranksgiving Nov 12th at 2 pm at Sip City, 917 Central Ave.
Full Moon Ride Nov 27th at 8 pm at Cheat’s Cheesesteak, 913 Pecan Ave.
CyclingSavvy Dec 1-3
PMTNR Christmas Lights ride Dec 19
As always PMTNR every Tues at 8 pm from Common Market, 2007 Commonwealth Ave.
Come ride with me!
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
This is the 3 part workshop that includes 9 hours of bike fun!
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
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
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
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
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
April 26 – May 31
Bike Benefits Bingo
Time: Check participating businesses for hours of operation
Who Participates: everyone
Participation Cost: $2/card, $1/card with Bike Benefits sticker
Event Link: https://cltspokespeople.org/bike-benefits-bingo/
Contact: Pamela Murray @ pamlikestobike@gmail.com or https://cltspokespeople.org/
April 28
Sunday Slow Riders ride
The Sunday Slow Riders is a chill 15 mile ride. We meet weekly at 1:45pm at Legion Brewing in Plaza-Midwood to ride at 2 pm. Safety is no accident, so please wear your helmet. We’ll be stopping at a Bike Benefits location so remember to bring your helmet and sticker.
Location: 1906 Commonwealth Ave, Charlotte, North Carolina 28205
Time: 1:45 meet, leave at 2:00 pm (about 2 ½ hours)
Cost: FREE!
Who Participates: Everyone
Contact: Pamela Murray @ pamlikestobike@gmail.com or https://cltspokespeople.org/
April 29
Route Planning Workshop
Learn how to plan a comfortable, low stress route using Ride with GPS, Google Maps, the Virtual Charlotte Map and the Charlotte Bike Map. This will be an interactive workshop. Need a route? We’ll figure one out.
Location: Advent Coworking, 933 Louise Ave.
Time: 6 pm
Cost: FREE!
Who Participates: Everyone
Contact: Pamela Murray @ pamlikestobike@gmail.com or https://cltspokespeople.org/
April 30
Plaza Midwood Tuesday Night 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 8:00 PM until 10:30 PM and usually covers 15 miles. Expect a crowd! Lights and helmet required. This ride is NEVER cancelled. We’ll be stopping at Bike Gallery which is a Bike Benefits location so remember to bring your helmet and sticker for 10% off accessories.
Location: Common Market, 2007 Commonwealth Ave., 28205
Time: 7:45 pm meet time, leave at 8 pm.
Cost: FREE!
Who Participates: Open to Everyone
Contact: Pamela Murray @ pamlikestobike@gmail.com or https://cltspokespeople.org/
May 3-5
Cycling Savvy 3 part course
The full CyclingSavvy Course INCLUDES Truth & Techniques (classroom session), Train Your Bike (bike handling) session, and our signature on-road experience — Tour of Charlotte. https://cyclingsavvy.org/in-person-courses/
Cost: $95 for the full course. Scholarships available.
Who Participates: Open to Everyone
Contact: Pamela Murray @ pamlikestobike@gmail.com or https://cltspokespeople.org/
May 5
Sunday Slow Riders ride
The Sunday Slow Riders is a chill 15 mile ride. We meet weekly at 1:45pm at Legion Brewing in Plaza-Midwood to ride at 2 pm. Safety is no accident, so please wear your helmet. We’ll be stopping at a Bike Benefits location so remember to bring your helmet and sticker.
Location: 1906 Commonwealth Ave, Charlotte, North Carolina 28205
Time: 1:45 meet, leave at 2:00 pm (about 2 ½ hours)
Cost: FREE!
Who Participates: Everyone
Contact: Pamela Murray @ pamlikestobike@gmail.com or https://cltspokespeople.org/
May 7
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 7:30 PM every Tuesday night. The ride is from 8:00 PM until 10:30 PM and usually covers 15 miles. Expect a crowd! Lights and helmet required. This ride is NEVER cancelled. We’ll be stopping at a Bike Benefits location so remember to bring your helmet and sticker.
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.
Location: Common Market, 2007 Commonwealth Ave., 28205
Time: 7:45 pm meet time, leave at 8 pm.
Cost: FREE!
Who Participates: Open to Everyone
Contact: Pamela Murray @ pamlikestobike@gmail.com or https://cltspokespeople.org/
May 8
Ride with a Cycling Savvy Instructor – Plaza Midwood to Campbell Creek Park
Experience riding with a Cycling Savvy Instructor using lane control and release. Experience cooperative and mindful bicycling while operating your bicycle as a vehicle. You’ll have 2 hours to either explore the park or join me for yoga at Charlotte East (Y facility) before returning. (Y members free, limited guests spots available) Bring a snack and water bottle. Ride out is 6 miles out and 6 miles back.
Location: Krazy Fish, 2501 Central Ave.
Time: 9:45 am meet, leave at 10 am, arrive at Campbell Creek Park at 10:30, will depart at 12:30.
Cost: FREE!
Who Participates: Everyone
Contact: Pamela Murray @ pamlikestobike@gmail.com or https://cltspokespeople.org/
May 10
Bike Benefits ride to lunch
Ride to lunch and use your Bike Benefits sticker. The group will decide which Bike Benefits business to go to. There are about 200 to choose from. http://cltspok.es/CLTpocketList Need a sticker? Advent has them. $5 each. Stickers never expire and can be used at over 2000 participating locations nationwide.
Location: Advent Coworking, 933 Louise Ave.
Time: 6 pm
Cost: FREE!
Who Participates: Everyone
Contact: Pamela Murray @ pamlikestobike@gmail.com or https://cltspokespeople.org/
May 12
Sunday Slow Riders ride – Mother’s Day
The Sunday Slow Riders is a chill 15 mile ride to the McGill Rose Garden, a Charlotte tradition. We meet weekly at 1:45pm at Gumbo in Plaza-Midwood to ride at 2pm. Safety is no accident, so please wear your helmet.
Location: 1916 Commonwealth Ave.
Time: 1:45 meet, leave at 2:00 pm (about 2 ½ hours)
Cost: FREE!
Who Participates: EveryoneContact: Pamela Murray @ pamlikestobike@gmail.com or https://cltspokespeople.org/
My mileage goal was to ride 100 miles/week. I don’t think that’s too hard. Most people can ride lots more than that in a given week. And some people ride 100 miles/day. The challenge really is to be consistent. To ride that much every week. Week after week.
Last year I didn’t really have a mileage goal other than to ride more than drive. I did that but when I looked at my mileage last year it was 5,169. And then I thought, I could have easily ridden 31 more miles to make it 5,200 miles which would be 100 miles/week. So there was my goal for this year. This year I got to 5200 miles but then I looked at my cyclometer.
And I thought, I only need 48 more miles to round it up to 31,000 accumulated bike riding miles. (When I got an adult bike in 2006.) To give you an idea, in 2011, out of the 2673 miles, 1818 were on the Betty Foy from May through Dec. The other 855 were on my old bike in the first 4 months of the year. It took me 4 1/2 years to ride 5,855 miles on my first bike. I almost ride that in a year now.
Based on purchase price, I’ve averaged my price on my Betty Foy down to about 10 cents a mile. (Have you noticed that the cents symbol isn’t on a keyboard anymore? Everything is in dollars because everything is that expensive. But not my Betty Foy cost per mile.)
Below is the mileage since I’ve been riding my Rivendell Betty Foy:
2011 2,673
2012 3,756
2013 4,294
2014 4,669
2015 5,169
2016 5,439
I usually don’t like goals but they are useful to track progress. My real goal is to just ride wherever I want to go. But it needs to be quantifiable. And so you actually have a way to measure how close or far away you are.
If you want to track your progress:
You can manually add miles to Strava which will be the connected to the National Bike Challenge. You can join our team, Charlotte Spokes People. Most people who do, are amazed at how tracking and seeing other people’s mileage encourages them to keep riding. And join us on some rides. Tues. at 10 am (when it’s hot) or 2 pm otherwise. This ride leaves from Advent Coworking on corner of Louise/Otts one block from Central Coffee. Tues at 8 pm is PMTNR (Plaza Midwood Tues Night Ride) from Common Market Plaza Midwood. Sunday Slow Riders leaves from Legion Brewing at 2 pm or 8 pm when it’s hot. All rides are on the calendar and each ride has a facebook page.
Bottom line:
Next year my goal will be 5,500 miles courtesy of the monkey on my back from Douglas Welton. He planted the seed of the idea and now I’m so close. Maybe I’ll need to ride a little faster so it won’t take me so long. I’m the turtle that will get there at some point.
Thanks for everyone who has ridden with me. You all helped me get to my goal. There’s a saying that if you want to go fast, go alone but if you want to go far, go together. We’ll get you to your first 1,000 miles then 3,000 then 5,000…
Come ride with us.
PMTNR 5/12/15
Credit – Kaitlyn Akers
Yes, but let me know a day ahead of time so I can remember to bring it. Bring $5 as a deposit. You’ll get your money back when I get the borrowed light or helmet back.
Both of our rides, PMTNR and Sunday Slow Ride, are meant to be beginner rides. And we have new people riding with us all the time. Still, there's a few things I'd suggest.
One of the most fun things about PMTNR is the people you meet when you come ride. Bethanie is one of those people. I think she's awesome because she is always willing to help, give an opinion and is always so positive. She also happens to be an armed forces veteran, a single mom, a raft guide, works with children and is a great writer. And since she's competitive, I'm sure she'll be the top ranked female in the Charlotte, NC National Bike Challenge before it ends. Right now she's #2. Right behind the girl who rode across the country. But Bethanie is just a few points behind.
Here's a post from her blog about PMTNR. She gets what the ride is all about.
And a big thanks to all the people who make PMTNR possible.
Ryan – tech support, maps
Marley – leading the ride, and for bringing Henry
Matt – map support
Mark – supplying people with bikes
Ride leaders – Bethanie, Scott, Tate, Grace, Tony, Miguel, Zeke, Jonathon, Leisure, Yamo, Liz
And most important – Pel – for riding sweep and being the most supportive patient person on the planet
Thanks for riding with us. Invite your friends.
I hope to ride with you soon.
You can take a look at all my routes. These are on Map My Ride. I need to get better about naming and tagging them so I can tell where they go. But anyway, here's how to find my route on Map My Ride. Type in PMTNR and Charlotte NC and they should come up. If I can figure out how to post a link, I'll edit this and insert it in this article. I'm not good at this stuff. [Try http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/my_routes/15069594/ (requires login, free) -RS]
Warning: I know these routes may not be the shortest, most direct routes but are mostly low traffic, fun to ride (that is, not hilly) streets. '
Some people have said they'd like to learn to get around better by bike. I've just ridden around on all the roads to see which ones I like. I use a map book – the ADC Street Atlas so i can see all the streets. Then I take a look at Google Maps and Map My Ride. I can click on roads I want to be on Map My Ride but sometimes I plug in a destination on Google Maps and use the Bike option to see what it would propose. Some paths and parking lot cut throughs aren't on Google and it won't allow me to add these on Map Maker since they dont' qualify as bike paths. Most streets in Charlotte are very rideable. The exception is the arterial roads. Sometimes these can't be avoided since they are sometimes the only way to cross a RR track, creek, etc.
Just ride.
One night after Critical Mass, the group who ride suggested we should ride more than once a month. I think it was Erik, Beth, Amy, Adam, Randy. We agreed to meet on Tuesday night at 8 pm. And so it began.
Like most people, I loved to ride with others so that I could discover new routes, go different places, be more visible. But most importantly, I just wanted to ride. And like most people, between working, family commitments, etc. night time is the best time to consistently make time to ride. Especially after daylight savings time when it's generally dark after work. And I didn't want to ride alone as a female.
Around this same time I was reading "On Bicycles." The book mentioned Bike Parties such as San Jose Bike Party (SJBP) and it included references and links. SJBP was described as a ride for everyone with a fun, positive vibe. This was the inspiration for PMTNR. I wanted the ride to be called the Tuesday Night Ride so everyone would remember what day it was. We always met at the Common Market and since there are 2 Common Markets we added the PM for Plaza Midwood. Thus, Plaza Midwood Tuesday Night Ride. We chose 8 pm so we'd all have time to get home, have dinner then meet for the ride. We all met and decided where to ride and we each took turns where we were going. It was just a handful of people. But I kept showing up and kept asking everyone to ride with me. EVERY week.
Ryan suggested we make a facebook page so we could get the word out about the ride. He set it up. And we took pictures and then people saw how much we were having and started to come.
We've tried to refine things along the way to try to improve the ride and so people will know what to expect. We always ride 10 miles to a stop then another 5 miles to the beginning. It's always right around 15 miles. And we have a planned route with a leader and a sweep (the person in the back). The sweep makes sure we don't lose anyone. And to help with mechanical issues such as a chain that has fallen off, a flat tire, etc.
And now we consistently have more than 100 riders every week when it's warm and sunny. When it's threatening to rain, we have about 65 people and if it's snowing, we have about 12 people. Amazingly, we all show up at 7:45 every week and we roll out at 8 pm.
If you haven't ridden with us yet, please do come ride. Just once. You'll see how much fun it is.