By Alexander "Sheboygan Santa" Pendleton (President, Greater Shorewood Bikers)
If you love a good party, you’re in luck as the Wisconsin Bike Fed is holding its annual and truly epic Santa Cycle Rampage Ride on Saturday, December 7th. That morning, interested Shorewood riders and their festive Northshore friends will be gathering starting at 8:30 a.m. at Three Lions Pub, to gear up, carbo load, and head out on the Shorewood Santa Ride to join with the Rampage.
If you’ve
never participated in the Bike Fed’s Rampage 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).
Santa Rides
are a joyous and silly way to get in the holiday mood, and it’s a gateway drug to
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 $19 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 7th
at Three Lions Pub in Shorewood on Oakland Avenue (they
are expecting us). The plan is to gather there, then ride over together to Café
Hollander (leaving Three Lions at 9:30 a.m. 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 Café Hollander) is a family-friendly, costumed, leisurely
roll of holiday good cheer of less than 3 miles, generally occurring on
low-traffic volume streets. (The full MKE ride is much longer, and will have a
lot more Santas—approximately 1500—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 Café
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 Café Hollander is an amazing and entertaining 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. Or, if you
are a holiday procrastinator, you can still register for the ride and get your “GOOD
SANTA” sticker in-person on Saturday morning at Café Hollander.
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 (I recommend the Scotch Eggs), has a wide
selection of beers, and its offering drink specials to all riders that morning.
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 7th. Cheers!
P.S.: Buried in all of the frivolity of Santa Rides is a serious issue too, as it helps spread the message—in a fun and positive way—that our streets should be for everyone, not just cars.
Please note: the Shorewood Santa Ride is organized by Greater Shorewood Bikers, Inc. and the Shorewood Complete Streets Coalition (not the Bike Fed), so on the day of the Ride, each participant in the Shorewood Santa Ride will be asked to agree to a short waiver of liability agreement.