The 2016 Bike Fun Calendar is available for Poky Pedalers to view and make their plans for the months ahead. We’ve already shared Bike Fun on the kickoff event, Shop & Donate by Bike (read the Bike Fun Report here), but there are six more Poky Pedals to come.

The Tiny Museum Ride returns as part of the 2016 Bike Fun Calendar

All of the Poky Pedals on the 2016 Bike Fun Calendar are free, and all Poky Pedalers are welcome. If riding slowly while sharing Bike Fun sounds like a great way to spend some time, then you are a Poky Pedaler.

We always ride in one contiguous group on calm streets and non-motorized paths. See the Are Poky Pedals Family Friendly? webpage to get a better idea of what takes place on a Poky Pedal.

Read on to discover all the Bike Fun you’ll be sharing between now and September.

Weekday Evening Rides
Two popular weekday evening rides, the Poky Pedaling Potluck Picnic and the Poky Pizza Pedal, are back for 2016. The Poky Pedaling Potluck Picnic will be on Tuesday June 14, and the Poky Pizza Pedal will be on Wednesday August 24. Each of these rides will start fifteen minutes later than in past years, meeting at 5:30 PM and riding at 5:45 PM.

A picturesque view of the Wisconsin River during one of last year’s Poky Pedaling Potluck Picnics

The Poky Pedaling Potluck Picnic will meet at Goerke Park. From there, we’ll ride between 3 and 5 miles to a mystery park location that is different from each of the 15 Poky Pedaling Potluck Picnics from past years. Poky Pedalers should bring to the start location food or drink (no alcohol) for sharing at the potluck picnic. We’ll be carrying all the picnic goodies by bicycle to our mystery park location – don’t sweat it if you don’t have a good way to carry your picnic contribution by bike, as we’ll simply find room on someone else’s bike to carry it.

Upon arriving at our mystery park location, we’ll spread out all of the picnic contributions and enjoy a marvelous potluck feast. Once our picnic is complete, we’ll pack everything up and return to Goerke Park. More info about what to expect on a Poky Pedaling Potluck Picnic can be found on this webpage.

The Poky Pizza Pedal meets at Point Area Bicycle Service (1311 Strongs Ave). We will cruise through scenic neighborhoods on a 4-mile loop ride ending at a downtown pizza place close to our start where we can enjoy food, drink, and socializing with Poky Pedalers. Bike Fun can be as simple as that. See this webpage to read more about Poky Pizza Pedals.

We’ll be looking for “Maples” again this year on the Maple Ride

Old Favorites
As always, our final Poky Pedal will be the Maple Ride, an opportunity to enjoy a nice bike ride on a colorful fall day while seeking out streets named “Maple” (in whole or in part). This year, the Maple Ride will have us bicycle an 8-mile loop through the Village of Plover. The Maple Ride will take place on Saturday September 24, meeting at 12:45 PM in Little Plover River Park.

The Tiny Museum Ride is back for 2016. We’ve shared Bike Fun on the Tiny Museum Ride in 2012 and 2014, visiting six different tiny museums in Stevens Point over those two Poky Pedals. This year’s Tiny Museum Ride will be on Saturday June 25, meeting at 12:45 PM in Goerke Park. We will visit a few tiny museums over the course of an 8-mile loop bicycle ride, spending 20-30 minutes at each depending on the interests of our group. If you are curious which museums we’ll be visiting…well, I always keep that a secret, but Poky Pedalers can count on being enlightened and amused at our museum stops.

New Poky Pedals
On Saturday July 23, we will share Bike Fun on the “P”-Street Bellringer Ride. We had a bellringer ride with a different theme a few years ago where Poky Pedalers learned that riding around ringing your bike bell is just plain fun. This year, we will meet at 12:45 PM in Iverson Park and head off ding-dinging our bike bells on a completely pointless 12-mile loop ride to visit streets whose names start with the letter “P”.

Poky Pedaling Stevens Point has a particular affinity for the letter “P” – in fact, it might be the most fun letter of the alphabet. Therefore, on the “P”-Street Bellringer Ride, every time we encounter a street whose name begins with “P”, we’ll all ring our bike bells in celebration. Poky Pedalers will discover that there are surprisingly many streets in Stevens Point that begin with “P”. So make sure your bike bell is working, or go purchase one if you don’t have one (they’re also handy for alerting others to your presence on streets and paths), and be prepared for some bike-bell-inspired Bike Fun.

Although every Poky Pedal tends to be unusual in its own special way, the other new Poky Pedal for 2016 is even more unusual than…er…usual. The Pokiest Pedaler in Stevens Point challenge and tournament will take place on Sunday August 28. This will be just one small piece of the 3rd annual Bicycle Adventure Extravaganza organized by Point Area Bicycle Service. The BAE is a friendly team competition where points are earned for activities such as successfully completing challenges at checkpoints (how good are you at tossing a bicycle saddle through a suspended bicycle rim?), locating clued objects around the city (do you know where to find an orange-colored slide?), and more. You can read my report on the 2014 BAE here.

The scene at the start of the 2014 Bicycle Adventure Extravaganza. This year, the BAE includes the Pokiest Pedaler in Stevens Point challenge and tournament. Everyone else will be taking part, so you don’t want to miss out.

This year, Poky Pedaling Stevens Point will organize one of the BAE checkpoint challenges, which will involve riding your bicycle as slowly as you can in a straight line between two points. The basic rules are that you must be on a bike that is naturally inclined to fall over from an upright position (meaning no trikes unless your three wheels are linearly aligned), you must keep making forward progress over the route (track stands are not allowed), and you can’t let your feet, any other body part, or any other object you are controlling touch the ground. The longer you take to complete the route, the more BAE points you earn.

At the BAE finish event, the slowest from among all those completing the slow ride checkpoint challenge will face off in a slow race tournament. PPSP will crown the winner of that tournament as the 2016 Pokiest Pedaler in Stevens Point.

PPSP is thrilled and honored to be collaborating with PABS on this year’s BAE via the Pokiest Pedaler in Stevens Point challenge and tournament. PABS will post more information about the BAE, including start time and place, closer to the event. Visit PointAreaBicycleService.com and click on the ‘Community’ link to learn more about the BAE and all the other great events PABS is organizing this year.

Now go ride your bike
There is obviously a whole lotta Bike Fun to share over the next several months. The full 2016 Bike Fun Calendar with all the meeting times and places can be seen here. Keep returning to the PPSP website for information about upcoming rides, including a blog post for each Poky Pedal a few days in advance. I look forward to sharing Bike Fun with all Poky Pedalers throughout the 2016 Bike Fun Calendar.