If you’ve never participated in the Santa Ride, I highly recommend it. See the above video and the article “Why Ride in the Santa Cycle Rampage,” which I penned for the Bike Fed a few years back, as published in Urban Milwaukee (complete with 10 “can’t miss” holiday dad jokes).
The Santa Ride is a joyous and silly way to get in the holiday mood, and it’s the gateway drug of winter biking. It also helps raise money for the Bike Fed, so it can continue to do its crucial and important work. Riders are encouraged to dress as Santa, or to wear some other creative holiday-themed costume (complete Santa costumes start as low as about $16 on Amazon).
Those of you who are doing the Ride from Shorewood, Glendale, Whitefish Bay or other points North, are invited to gather at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday December 2nd at Three Lions Pub in Shorewood on Oakland Avenue (they are expecting us, and they are an official sponsor of the Ride this year). The plan is to gather there, then ride over together to Café Hollander (leaving Three Lions at 9:30 sharp, so we get to Café Hollander before the “Southern Wave of Santas” gets there around 10:30).
The ride will occur come rain, shine, blizzard, hell, or high water. (Your bike has no need to hibernate during the winter months, nor do you.) The ride (especially from Three Lions to Cafe Hollander) is a family-friendly, costumed, leisurely roll of holiday good cheer of less than 3 miles, generally occuring on low-traffic volume streets. (The full MKE ride is much longer, and will have a lot more Santas than our segment will.)
If you can't ride that day for whatever reason, but still are interested in biking issues in Shorewood and MKE, I encourage you to stop by at Three Lions or Cafe Hollander, to have a beer or a cup of coffee with us, to talk (plot?) about biking and better streets in our area. Just watching the river of Santas that will go by Cafe Hollander is an amazing sight to see.
Riders starting at Three Lions are highly encouraged (but not required) to support the Wisconsin Bike Fed by formally signing up for the full Santa Rampage Ride at this link. I recommend the event (or whatever portion thereof you can participate in or watch). Individual results may vary, but I’ve heard more than one person described participating in the full Santa Ride as a mind-expanding, life-changing experience.
Three Lions serves wonderful breakfast food, has a wide selection of beers, and they are offering drink specials to all riders that day. Convince yourself and your friends this is the year you are all going to ride a part of the Rampage. Hope to see you at Three Lions on the 3rd. Cheers!
Please note: on the day of the Ride, each participant in the Shorewood Santa Ride will be asked to agree to a Waiver of Liability Agreement.
