There's a bike lane all the way to the marshes at the end of the city. Most people, including Savannah cyclists, don't know about it. It avoids high-traffic areas by taking the longer way around some intersections, and crosses Savannah's commercial strip instead of running along it. This makes the bike lane slightly slower but many times safer than riding along Abercorn's rough, barely existent shoulder and much faster than cutting across parking lots and medians.

The goal of the O2FC's October 1st ride is to change the perception of biking -and driving- across Savannah by pedaling a car to Target in a time comparable to driving. Of course it isn't as fast as driving a car to Target, but not nearly as slow or implausible as most drivers would think.

Eight people were on the crew with the O2FC and six regular bikes. The crew would take turns pedaling the car to distribute the extra load of pushing a real car the 25.0 miles to Target and back.

The ride started at Johnson Square. Johnson Square is the heart of downtown Savannah's financial district, on Bull Street between Congress and Bryan. Almost all downtown banks are located along the Square. It's where politicians speak, corporate parties are held, weddings take place, protests form and ghost tours assemble.

The O2FC left the Square as the bells of Christ Church were ringing noon. Everybody hopped on (or in) a bike and headed South on Bull Street.

The ride went smoothly until Habersham and Washington Avenue, outside of the Historic District. The team split up for a few minutes for some last-minute forgotten items like sunscreen and for Falynn to change into shorts. The O2FC crew parked at the ??? convenience store and loaded up on Gatorade, water, and some snacks.

After a good rest and reorganizing, the crew took off again. Down Habersham to Stephenson, then Hodgeson Memorial Drive.

Hodgeson is a busy street that also happens to be a bike route, signed but with no actual painted lane. The street seems to be wide enough for one, but it's just not there. Traffic can be a little rough here: if you're going to be yelled at, honked at, or get into a confrontation with a driver, it's probably going to be on this stretch of road. A nice white line would be benifcial. Or a bike the size of a car....

There were no instances of road rage on Hodgeson. The weirder the bike, the less problems you seem to have.

After Montgomery Crossroads, a bike lane continues through various little suburban streets. The houses are well kept, and are on neighborhood watches (even the ones without front windows). There's some shortcuts to take, but Stephen wanted the O2FC to stay on the bike lane on the way there to illustrate the peacefulness and relative speed of taking the bike lane all the way. Plus, if the trip ran late, shortcuts could keep those who had to work from being late.

Everyone on this trip was an exprienced Southside cyclist, and knew how to get across these streets, even with a car-bike. At busy intersections, a couple of bikes would be in front of the O2FC. The rest would be behind. When there was a reasonable window to get across, the scout cyclists roll into the intersection and block lanes for safety. The car bike gets rolling and passes the scouts with the tailing bikes riding close behind. The scouts cross last, catch up to the O2FC, and get back in front for the next intersection. Tim loves to scout; even when no one's coming, it's a good feeling to block traffic for everyone's safety.

The O2FC crew pedaled a car to Target in 1 hour 52 minutes including the break, arriving at 1:55 (the Christ Church bells were three minutes late by Stephen's watch). There happened to be a close parking spot right in front, so the O2FC took it and everyone else locked their bikes to the car.

Once at the Savannah Mall Target, the crew wandered around and bought a few things. Tim needed shoe laces and found a cool shirt. Everyone decided on pizza for lunch inside the Savannah Mall.

Tim scouts again

Once done with lunch and a few other mall errands, the crew decided to get going again. The trip back included a stop at Star Bike, the favorite bike shop of just about everybody. Leah fixed the pedal on her cool old bike, Chito bought a brass bell, Tim bought a new light for his rides home from Armstrong to downtown, and everybody refilled their water bottles with some vitamin powder, complimentary of Star Bike. It rained a little while the crew was there, but once it was time to go, the sky was clear again.

Andrew and Mae had to be at work soon, and Leah and Chito had things to do as well. The crew switched out at Habersham Village, almost home for nearly everybody on the crew. Stephen, Tim, Falynn and Primo continued on the car, and met up with Rachell soon after.

Once the crew was back downtown, they decided to celebrate a Target trip by pedal-powered car without incident with ice cream and root beer floats from Leopold's on Broughton Street. Again, parking luck is improved when you're pedaling. There was a space almost directly in front of Leopold's.

Back to Johnson Square where the group split up. Stephen and Primo met again at 8:15 for a little nighttime ride. They were going to cruise on River Street for Octoberfest, and rolled down the ramp on MLK jr only to see police cars blocking the river off to automobiles because of the crowds. So, they shifted into low gear on both bikes and preceded to pedal back up the ramp. It was tough, and the bicycle drive tires slipped a little on the wet asphalt, but up they went.

The O2FC parked in Franklin Square for a little while, and Primo and Stephen talked to people while waiting for some food from Vinnie's. Afterwards, the O2FC went to Parkers Market for some beer, and then to Tim and Rachell's house for a party.