Community invited to join Seventh annual Seersucker Ride on Saturday
It’s the weekend, time to sleep in and enjoy an unhurried cup of coffee before easing into the day. Maybe a pleasant bike ride around the neighborhood beckons. For kicks, you could don that new Hawaiian shirt, pair it with those birthday madras shorts from your Aunt Blanche, and roll over to Forsyth Farmers Market to snag a bag of cinnamon sugar pecans. If laid-back Saturday morning rides make you smile, but wearing neon spandex makes you cringe, the annual Seersucker Bike Ride might be the exact balance of leisure, fashion and fun you’re looking for.
On August 26, Bike Walk Savannah hosts its Seventh Annual Seersucker Ride. Starting 9:30 a.m. at Tiedeman Park on Washington Avenue, the ride cruises through the streets and shady trees of Ardsley Park and Habersham Village. The 7.5-mile jaunt is free to join, family-friendly and paced to include young riders and slow rollers. Seersucker suits not required, but participants are encouraged to dress in fun, bright and comfortable clothing. Helmets are advised.
Savannah’s Seersucker Ride pays homage to London’s 2009 inaugural Tweed Run, that city’s now yearly event celebrating vintage bikes and all things woolen. Traditionally held in January, densely woven trousers and suit jackets might be fitting for London drizzle, but for the Hostess City, not so much.
Current Bike Walk Savannah volunteer and former executive director, John R. Bennett, knows well Savannah’s weather challenges and shaped them to advantage when he and his team pioneered the city’s first Seersucker in 2014.
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“Most of the time it’s just too warm for tweed. In fact, we never have difficulty finding warm weather,” chuckled Bennett. “We came up with a warm weather bicycling analog to accommodate temperatures and humidity in Savannah. And really, seersucker is a stand-in for any warm weather fabric such as linen, madras, or chambray. The idea is that you don’t have to wear lycra to ride your bike. You can dress how you want, and people in Savannah love dressing up. This ride encourages that.”
The goal is to be comfortable, if not fashion forward, to gain new perspectives about the neighborhoods where Savannahians live.
In her more than 10 years with the organization, current Executive Director Caila Brown has seen the ride grow and transform the lives of riders. She especially considers it a creative opportunity for families and a range of residents to get out and get biking.
“First, the event is a great way to spend time with neighbors and meet new people in the community,” emphasized Brown. “And it’s a fun way to get a group of people out seeing their neighborhoods from behind handlebars instead of windshields. You see so much more from a bike and that gives you a very different vantage compared to driving a car. But what I enjoy most is watching children graduate from their parents’ bike trailer and learning to ride their own bikes.”
Before it all kicks off, participants are invited to share free iced coffee, pastries and fresh fruit in Tiedeman Park at 9:30 a.m. The ride officially begins at 10:00 a.m. and concludes around 11:30 a.m. back at Tiedman. Riders are encouraged to bring picnic lunches and join lawn games after the event wraps up.
For Bennett, the ride reinforces the notion that riding a bicycle is a viable way to experience much of what the Hostess City has to offer, that though bikes are enjoyable, they are for more than just recreation.
“With this ride, we try to encourage the idea that a bicycle is transportation, that you can wear nice summer attire and go out for dinner, or ride your bike to see music or watch a theater production,” mused Bennett. “Once events like Seersucker get on people’s calendars, they really do become things people look forward to. This ride and other rides with Bike Walk Savannah connect people in the community in healthy and fun ways, and these connections strengthen the importance of bikes and biking in Savannah.”
If You Go >>
What: Seventh Annual Seersucker Ride
When: 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., August 26
Where: Tiedeman Park, 502 Washington Ave.
Cost: Free to attend
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Bike Walk Savannah Seersucker Ride August 26 2023
