Reminder: Pedal for Prizes is tomorrow!

Old Brooklyn Pedal for Prizes
Saturday, May 21, 2011 noon-4pm
Loew Park, 3121 Oak Park Avenue (directions)

Ride your bike.  Explore Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood.  Win great prizes.

Registration will begin at 11:30am, and riders will be sent off with their maps and stamp cards in tow at 12:30pm sharp.  Ride your bike to as many of our twenty-two destinations as you’d like until 3pm.  Make your way back to Loew Park by 3:30pm to turn in your card for raffle tickets that you can put towards any of seventy-five prizes valued anywhere between $10 and $625 that will be displayed on a table.

Please read this blog post with more helpful information on how to prepare for and what to expect at Pedal for Prizes.

Happy riding, and good luck!

Helpful info for preparing for Pedal

Pedal for Prizes is only a few days away. Here’s some additional information about how to prepare for Pedal for Prizes, what to expect, and helpful tips.

Weather. Pedal for Prizes will happen regardless of weather.  So rain or shine, we’re giving over $3,000 worth of prizes away!  The forecast is calling for absolutely beautiful weather — mostly sunny with temperatures in the low 70s — for Saturday.

Arrival. We’ll begin registering bicyclists at 11:30am, but everyone will be sent off promptly at 12:30pm. The best time to arrive would be around noon. That way, you can register and have time to plot out your route around Old Brooklyn. We will continue to register those who come after 12:30pm.

Parking.  For those of you that drive in with bikes in tow, there’s parking both at Loew Park and the lot connected to William Cullen Bryant School.  If both lots happen to be full, the streets around the park offer on-street parking.  Just leave your vehicle and ride over to the park entrance off of Oak Park Avenue.

Cost.  Pedal for Prizes costs absolutely nothing and is completely free.

Registration. The registration process is simple. You review, sign, and return a release form, then we’ll provide you a map and card to be stamped by individuals staffing our destinations. Everyone that participates in the event must first register at Loew Park.

Minors. A parent or guardian must sign a release form for a minor under the age of 18 to participate in Pedal for Prizes.

Destinations. You won’t know where the twenty-two destinations are until you receive your map. But if you’re really curious, you can look for clues in our press, sponsors, and Facebook pages.

Navigation. We recommend you have someone in your group that either can read a map well or knows Old Brooklyn. Maps will have addresses of the destinations, and you’re free to use a GPS. However, if you do, remember to be cautious on the road while listening to your turn-by-turn directions.

Guided Rides.  Experienced ride leaders will guide two groups of bicyclists.  There will be a group for intermediate/advanced riders and one for families.  Click here for a blog post about the advantages and disadvantages of riding with a guided group.  Ride leaders reserve the right to limit the number of bicyclists joining the guided rides for safety.

Bicycles. Each participant must have his/her own set of pedals on a human-powered bicycle and use it to travel between destinations.  Road bikes, mountain bikes, hybrids, commuter bikes, tandems, electric bikes, recumbents, and tall bikes are all welcome.

Bike rentals. A limited number of bicycles will be available for rent from BikeCLE for $10.  Contact them here for more details.

Safety. Helmets are encouraged. We also suggest that you bring a lock, or at the very least, a partner who can watch your bike while you stop into destinations. Please practice bicycle safety and obey all traffic laws when out riding in the neighborhood.

Timing.  The average bicyclist should be able to comfortably visit all twenty-two destinations between 12:30 and 3pm, so take a few minutes to take in and enjoy the destinations you’ll be visiting.

Perks.  Some destinations will have special perks for bicyclists that stop.  Staffers at one destination will provide an extra stamp for completing a challenge.  Others may offer free food and swag, but you won’t know until you visit.

Raffle.  Staffers at destinations will stamp cards until 3pm.  Return to Loew Park by 3:30pm to exchange your card for raffle tickets.  You’ll write your first, middle, and last initial on each raffle ticket, then drop as many as you’d like in the buckets next to the prizes you’d like to win.  So figuratively, if you visit twenty-two destinations and want to put all twenty-two tickets towards a brand new Trek 7000, you can do that!  To win prizes, you must be present for the raffle.

If you have questions, please post below and we’ll do our best to answer them quickly.  And please feel free to check back because we may add info as Pedal for Prizes approaches.

Prizes!

We’ve been posting some of the prizes we’ve received on Facebook over the last couple of weeks.  But here’s a list of businesses that have donated items we’ll be giving away completely free at Old Brooklyn Pedal for Prizes next weekend.  Please note that this list is subject to additions.

Guided or not?

Pedal for Prizes offers a few options to participants: ride with a group led by an experienced guide or take your bike out on your own.

Of course, there are distinct advantages and disadvantages to the guided rides.

We’ll start with the advantages:

+  Our ride leaders know Old Brooklyn extremely well, so you can enjoy and take in the scenery without fear of losing your way or following a map.

+  Ride leaders are experienced in guiding large groups, and they know how to deal with traffic and asserting the group’s right to the road.

+  There’s no need to lock your ride at destinations because there will be someone watching your bike while you run into shops.  (Still bring a lock, though!)

+ It’s always fun riding with and meeting new people!

Now the negatives:

– If you’re aiming to hit all twenty-two destinations, joining the intermediate/advanced guided ride is probably not your way to go.  The ride leader will wait for all members to collect a raffle ticket at a particular destination, so you may spend a little extra time idle.  Also, a few of the destinations may offer a challenge in which participants will be awarded an extra raffle ticket for attempting it.  The group will wait for everyone to complete the challenge before departing.

– Riding with the guided group will not give you as much of an opportunity to explore stores and shops at your own pace, explore around Pop UP Pearl and enjoy the entertainment there, grab something to eat, or partake in a quick game of bicycle polo with the Pedal Republik of Cleveland.

– The larger group may create bottlenecks, so it will not be as easy to pop in and out of a shop really quickly and trek on to the next destination like if you were on your own.

We’ll have more information on an upcoming blog post about how to prepare for the event and things you can expect there.

At last year’s Pedal for Prizes, the majority of participants went off on their own.  What are you planning to do?

Social Media & Other Stuff

We’ve been posting a lot on our social media pages much more so than blogging, and our goal is to try to blast something interesting about Old Brooklyn Pedal for Prizes every day.

Some of the things we’ve written about on our social media include prizes participants can win, press we’ve received, special happenings during Pedal for Prizes, and helpful information the day of the event.  So if you don’t like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, you’re missing out!

Our website is always a work in progress.  We just finished a press page, and next we’re working on creating a page with information for you for the day of the event and develop our sponsors/supporters page.

If you and/or your business would like to donate prizes to raffle at Pedal for Prizes, please let us know by emailing us at pedalforprizes@gmail.com.  We’ll reciprocate by providing you advertising.

Lastly, please check out Old Brooklyn CDC’s new Pop UP Pearl website.  Pop UP Pearl will be happening at the same time as Pedal for Prizes, and some of our destinations will be in and around Downtown Old Brooklyn where it is set up.

Questions?  Feel free to comment below or email us at pedalforprizes@gmail.com.  Happy riding!