The most important post of the year

Here’s our annual helpful information post for this year’s Pedal for Prizes:

Expedited Registration (important!)

Please do us a huge favor. Print this form and fill it out for each participant before coming to the event. Bring it to the registration table and we’ll check you in quickly.  Save yourself from having to wait in a long line on Saturday and help us keep everything going smoothly!

For registration, you can walk with your bike inside. However, we ask to please be respectful of the property (i.e. do not walk on the gym floor with cycling shoes).

What to Bring

Your bike, helmet, and a lock.  We advise everyone to practice bicycle safety, including obeying local traffic laws.  Helmets are strongly encouraged, but not required.

You may also want to bring money to spend on lunch, a snack, or a drink out in the neighborhood.

Registration

Registration begins at 11am.  We’ve increased the amount of time for participants to try to reach all twenty destinations at an enjoyable pace. We will register participants up until 2pm.

Pedal for Prizes is completely free and open to cyclists of all ages and skill levels.

You’ll sign a release form and receive a map of twenty destinations and a punch card.  Cyclists are free to go on their way to as many destinations as they’d like in any order.  Stay at destinations as long as you’d like.

We reserve the right to request you bring your bicycle to the registration table.

Weather

The event happens on Saturday regardless of the weather.  Right now, the forecast is calling for a chance of rain and temps in the 70’s, but we all know that that can change! Prepare for the weather!

If you’d like to change into dry clothes in the event that it rains, you can feel free to the locker rooms at Estabrook Rec. More on that below.

Parking

There’s limited parking at Estabrook Recreation Center, and it will fill up quickly.  We’ve been given a preliminary approval for you to park in the rear of Memphis-Fulton Shopping Center. Please save the parking in front of the shopping center for patrons.  Please DO NOT park at Drug Mart, as you risk being towed. We ask that you do not park at Dollar Bank, as they need their limited parking for customers. Everywhere else that seems privately owned, park at your own risk.

Another option is that you can park on the street on W 50th, W 49th, etc. Shadyside Avenue connects to the Estabrook Rec campus. Same for W 56th, 57th, etc. We just ask you to please be respectful to our Old Brooklyn neighbors.

Bike Parking

We tentatively will have bike racks courtesy of Ohio City Bike Co-op, so there will be at least one place to lock up when you come in for the raffle.

Cheating

Pedal for Prizes is meant to be a fun event done by bicycle. We have no tolerance for people who use other means of transportation (i.e. motor vehicle) to travel to destinations.  Participants found to be using forms of transportation other than a bicycle will have their punch cards revoked and will be barred from participating in the raffle.

If you observe instances of cheating, please report it to us immediately.  Merchants and people staffing our destinations will be keeping an eye out for foul play as well.

Estabrook Recreation Facilities

This is the first year we’re hosting Pedal at Estabrook Recreation Center.  Participants are free to use the facilities.  There are locker rooms for you to change if you’d like after the ride.  There’s also an indoor swimming pool and playground and ball fields outside. So there’s a lot to do if you finish the ride early.

Destinations

This year’s event will have twenty destinations.  You won’t know the destinations until you register at Estabrook Rec.

We provide you a map and addresses of destinations at which you’ll have your card stamped.  Some participants have had success using GPS or riding in small groups in the past.

Destinations will stop punching cards at 2:45pm.  Return to Estabrook Rec by 3pm and exchange your punch card for raffle tickets.

Raffle

The raffle begins promptly at 3:30pm. We will be raffling approximately four bikes, as well as many other prizes.  In all, we should have between 60 and 70 prizes valued at a minimum of $20. We won’t have a final list until a day or two before the event, as we are receiving and packaging prizes up until the last minute.

Help us move the raffle along by returning punctually and dropping your tickets in the bins of the prizes you’d like to win.

Please remain patient during the raffle and help others be patient as well.  Your cooperation will help it go quickly and smoothly, which everyone would like.

50/50 Raffle

This is the first year we will be hosting a 50/50 raffle as a fundraiser for next year’s event. If you enjoy the event, please consider participating, as every dollar helps us host a first-class event next year. Thanks to the Old Brooklyn Collaborators for their help.

Hot Dogs

The Old Brooklyn Collaborators, a group of business and nonprofit leaders who are active in the neighborhood, will be selling hot dogs at Estabrook. Proceeds benefit them in their future programming efforts, so please support them as well.

Advertisement

---