“Here, try my dessert, too!” Chances are you might have been directed to do this at least once lately during your holiday festivities. Well, the Christmas Parade this weekend may not burn many of those calories, but it will sure get you in the Christmas spirit! We hope you are busy decorating your trike to join the RideSouth crew in the annual Ridgeland Christmas Parade this Saturday, December 3! It will be one to remember, we are sure! Cap’n Johnny promises to teach us a few parade maneuvers and we have heard about a few of your costumes and themes! Maybe we will get the top honors!

Be sure to be in line by 1:00 PM at the Holmes Community College parking lot in Ridgeland. Remember, no live Santas and no candy throwing, according to the parade officials. The awards will be given out at 3:00 PM, right after the parade. Come ready to have some holiday fun! The Bread Ride is on at 7:30 AM and the shop will be open all day! Find out Saturday why Ride South is still The Way to Ride!

We all have so much to be thankful for! We at Ride South wish you a safe and meaningful holiday! We will re-open on Monday afternoon.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Jim & Lane

Due to interior painting, the Ride South shop will be closed Monday, November 21. We hope to re-open on Tuesday. We will be open through Wednesday before Thanksgiving. We are traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday and plan to be back on November 28.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

One of the many highlights of the Mississippi Coast Ride yesterday was Chelsea’s lemonade stand in Waveland. She managed a smile when posing for us, as we enjoyed her delicious, fresh-squeezed lemonade from some fine lemons she had on her table. Of course, our herd of trikes, and bike, were a bit overwhelming for the cute seven year girl. Her dad even came out and asked if she needed help. She didn’t.

Captain Johnny and Beth put on an awesome tour of Bay Saint Louis, Waveland, and Pass Christian on a gorgeous Sunday! The Captain guided us through downtown areas, residential sites and scenic waterfront vistas. We zigzagged past, now empty lots, overgrown with grass. We also passed new homes, bright and colorful . . . the contrast indicative of the horrific storm devastation, and the powerful will of the affected land owners. Later, dining outside at the Buttercup Cafe was delightful and entertaining. After a great lunch, we crossed over the Bay Bridge on a fantastic, dedicated bike lane, totally isolated from traffic, which allowed us to pause and enjoy the shimmering water view eighty feet below! There was plenty to see on both sides of the bay.

Gregg showed us where he grew up and we all enjoyed seeing the schools and haunts of his youth. We were reminded of the tragedy as we walked through his Mom’s abandoned house that was flooded in the storm. The loss and suffering that still lingers in this area is unimaginable. But now there appears a more powerful aura in these communities . . . resolve! Everyone we met thanked us for being there and asked us to come back again with more folks! The friendliness was contagious! Throughout the 50 miles we traveled from about 9-4, we only encountered friendly drivers everywhere along the all new and smoothly paved roads.

Trikes are the ideal vehicle for touring the roads, piers and trails in this area! They are quick, manuverable, safe and fun! The drive down to the coast was pleasant and well worth the trip. The Knight’s Inn was perfectly located and breakfast at The Waffle house was energizing. A perfect tour! But the most impressive lesson was highlighted by Chelsea, and her lemonade stand, as she doggedly stood by . . . waiting. We hope you will plan to sample the sweetness of the Mississippi coast soon and support the monumental regrowth of an area that has been handed more than its share of lemons.

The 2011 Longleaf Trace Birthday Challenge Ride was outstanding! Ten years ago, this event began with a few folks deciding that the fellowship of a group start was the best way to celebrate this wonderful event on the best Rails-to-Trails project in the country. We have had good weather, bad weather, support from many nice folks, ceremony, fun and even exhaustion through the years! We have had bike suppliers show up with tents and new models to test ride, and we have even given away some very nice bikes and prizes over the years! The common denominator for all the rides has been a vow from all participants to return and do a little bit better the next year! This year, we saw many folks doing just that, and many riders experiencing the fabulous LongLeaf Trace for the very first time.

The early morning weather was cool and invigorating, prompting many riders who arrived early to launch before the official start time and get their heaters working. We are sorry those folks missed out on the ceremony of the Color Guard, the prayer, the announcements, the photo, and the great feeling of being a part of such a large group event like a mass start! A special thank you to the wonderful folks on the Birthday Challenge Committee for making our participation in their event memorable! The fruit, snacks and fluids all along the trail were well received and appreciated by all! Thank you to the volunteers at the registration desk and at all the rest stops! There was even a big party in Sumrall, with a mule driven syrup mill, crafts, burgers and drinks! Lots of nostalgia, with photos of old time sawmill action, were also interesting at the Sumrall Gateway. The presentations were displayed and narrated by the town mayor even!

By midday, the weather dictated shorts and short sleeves. A perfect, sunny Mississippi fall day! It was great seeing so many of you out on the trail, working to improve your fitness and having fun in the bargain! We hope you were able to meet your challenge this year and will keep riding, so next year will be even easier for you. We would like to believe you would be here even without the great prizes given away, but the drawing was fun and profitable for the folks who hung around. Congratulations to Don Gould for winning the Electra bike giveaway! Sometime today we will post some photos on our website. If you have pics of the event, please send them to us!

Thanks for your support of our events and our shop. We enjoy organizing these events because it helps us to see how much the products we provide are being used. We think it helps you to meet new folks, too. Please stay tuned for other events coming very soon . . . events that will continue to show that Ride South is The Way to Ride!

Check out our Discussions page in the upper menu bar on our site! We are testing this forum out for our customers to communicate their ride plans so others can join in. We hope you find this useful! Sign up and find a riding partner for your next ride!

This Saturday, November 5, 2011, will be the biggest Birthday Challenge Ride ever on the Longleaf Trace! Hundreds of our friends plan to take advantage of this perfect riding weather to challenge themselves to do a little bit better than they did last year. Many newbies will be taking their bikes and trikes out for the first time on the LLT, and most are apprehensive about their performance . . . for no reason! The only people who fail at this event are those who choose not to show up because of that anxiety!! This is a fun event put on by the LLT Birthday Challenge Committee to challenge folks to keep getting better as we get older. We all want that!

So, plan to arrive with your bike, helmet and a bit of water at 8:30 in Prentiss, MS. Register with the nice folks at the trail head, make a fair contribution to the cause, get yourself a red ticket for the give-a-ways at the 3:00 PM drawing (including a bicycle from Ride South!) and line up for the massive 9:00 Launch. There will be some ceremony, a few announcements, photos and a grand launch on the best Rails-to-Trails project in the country! Seek your own pace and visit with folks along the way. There will be plenty of stops for you, including fluids, snacks and restrooms. Take your time, enjoy the fellowship, and before you know it you will be half way! Then the question is “Do I continue for some more miles, or kilometers, to grow on, or head back for the festivities?” Whatever your choice, the support will be all along the trail and the awards will be yours when you return! Please let the folks know you have finished and be rewarded with a cool medal! The event coordinator says there will be red beans and rice available when you finish.

We would like to thank the Birthday Challenge committee and all the folks who will volunteer along the way to make this the great event it is! We have had folks from as far away as Canada come down to ride their challenge in past years! We at Ride South enjoy offering this mass start to everyone to help grow the sport of cycling, and provide motivation for us all to never be satisfied with mediocrity. Hope to see you all on Saturday!!

You can also register online at mylongleaftrace.com

The toughness of Mississippi folks is evident in the restoration of the coastline and coastal cities after devastating attacks from mother nature. There is no better way to see the new beauty of this area than laying back on your recumbent trike, or bike, and having Captain Johnny be your tour guide! We will have rooms reserved at the Knight’s Inn in Bay St. Louis for $49.95 for Saturday and Sunday nights. Arrive Saturday evening and get a good night’s sleep in preparation for riding all day Sunday. After breakfast at the Waffle House next door, we will be escorted by Captain Johnny and Beth Rawls through city streets and bay vistas. We will ride along the ocean front, cross bridges, stop at popular spots and return to the hotel by dark . . . maybe, for some great mexican food nearby. If you can spare some of the day Monday, stay and get in some more miles on the bikes before re-joining the rat race.

There will be no cost for the ride, but we need a commitment to reserve the hotel rooms on the selected dates. The stopping points will be announced and riders can stray from the group to rendezvous later. We will all stay in touch by phone to assure everyone makes it back safely. If this sounds like your cup of tea, please respond by e-mail as soon as possible. We have discussed a scouting tour for this ride on Sunday, November 13. If you are interested in the ride concept and/or the scouting tour, let us know. This will be a laid back ride for sure! If you live in the area and want us to drop by for dessert, we would welcome the opportunity :-). As there are many competing events taking shape during this time of year, we would like to hear from you of your plans to attend any of the rides we offer.

On another related issue, our new website look was designed to offer a place for a rider forum to communicate better information about impromptu rides of our customers. We are testing the feature and working on the details. We hope to activate this week. You will be able to post your ride plans for others to see and respond to. We are offering this as a customer service for our customers to make it easier to find a riding partner. Keep checking our site for the unveiling!

Sometimes you really miss stretching out on your comfortable recumbent bike, especially when your legs are folded up between extremely cramped airline seats for hours at a time! That is the going rate for attending the first ever recumbent cycle convention in progressive California, when you live in Mississippi. At least we got to ride many new machines from almost all the recumbent makers, gathered from all over the world, and had some excellent presentations from folks wanting to grow the recumbent market. A banquet last evening prompted some discussion about many aspects of our business, and got the juices flowing of over 70 enthusiasts. Everyone there vowed to come back next year!
Hopefully we will have some exciting new products to show you very soon. There is a quad kit for the Anura and the new Magnum, by Greenspeed. We also noted lots of adaptive cycles and accessories that are sure to help those who have special needs do more with their cycling time. We even hope to have some representation from RANS, Bacchetta, Hase and Greenspeed at the upcoming Birthday Challenge on November 5 this year! All of these folks know of your passion about recumbents and want to be a part of our growth! So put the Birthday Challenge on top of your list this year! We will be back at the shop Monday to stretch out a bit and help you do the same. Thank you for your patience while we were gone!