WinterRide 2012

February 21-26, 2012
St. Mary's, GA

For Those Who Love to Ride.

BRAG's third annual WinterRide will start in beautiful St. Mary's, Georgia. The dates are Tuesday, February 21, 2011, through Sunday, February 26, 2012.

This would make a great Valentine's Day present for the sweetie cyclist in your life. Non-riders are welcomed also.

The schedule is subject to change due to availability of venues. 

Tuesday, Feb. 21:

Arrive at Cumberland Inn and Suites, 2710 Osborne Rd., St. Mary's, GA. Arrive early enough and bike 3 miles to the St. Mary's Submarine Museum, the Cumberland Island Museum, and the new Film museum in downtown St. Mary's.

There is an optional 1-hour trolley tour of St. Mary's leaving at 4 p.m.

Bring a bottle or two of your favority wine or beer for our nightly happy hour. Optional dinner together at a local restaurant.

Wednesday, Feb. 22:

Ride the 33-mile St. Marys Loop Ride, led by local cyclists. Visit the oldest church in Georgia, a War of 1812 site, the U.S. Navy Submarine Base, including the USS Bancroft Memorial, the Sugar Mill tabby ruins, and Crooked River State Park. Come back to St. Mary's for happy hour at the CVB and optional dinner together. After dinner, we'll go next door to the general store deli for sandwiches for tomorrow's adventure (the hotel rooms have refrigerators).

We will take the ferry to Cumberland Island. Bikes are not allowed on the ferry, but you can rent one on the island if you want to. Or just plan to walk the 5-mile recommended leisurely hike on the island.

You may take the 9 am ferry if you want to spend the day on the island, rent bikes and see the northern end of Cumberland, including the little church where JFK, Jr. was married.

Or take the 11:45 am ferry, have a picnic lunch, tour the Dungeness ruins, and have a 5-mile hike along the beach. Either way, the ferry leaves Cumberland Island at 4:45 pm. Don't miss it!

Cumberland Island is one of the most beautiful places on earth and is a photographer's paradise. February is the time to see it, without the heat and the bugs. Back at St. Mary's, we'll have happy hour downtown, then optional dinner together.

Friday, Feb. 24:

Ride your bike to downtown St. Marys. Then take the ferry fo Fernandina, FL, another photographer's paradise. Bikes are allowed on this ferry. At Fernandina, we will have optional lunch at the Gourmet Gourmet restaurant, then head out to visit Ft. Clinch. There are small fees to enter the park and the fort.

After Ft. Clinch, we will bike to the Atlantic Ocean for a beachfront snack. We will then regroup at The Palace Saloon, Florida's oldest saloon. Then make our way back to the ferry for our return trip to St. Marys for happy hour and optional dinner together.

Total mileage today is 33 miles.

Saturday, Feb. 25:

We pack up this morning and head by car to the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge and Okefenokee Adventures. We will tour the historic homeplace, the walking trails, lookout tower, and boardwalk by bike. Then it's time for lunch, included in the fee, and an overview of the swamp by Okefenokee Adventures' owners Chip and Joy Campbell. Then we start paddling the swamp by canoe or kayak on our guided tour of this third photographer's paradise of the week.

After our tour, we will continue by car to Waycross, GA, where we will spend the night at the Jameson Inn, 950 City Blvd., Waycross, GA, one of BRAG's sponsors. Happy hour and optional dinner together.

Sunday, Feb. 26:

After breakfast at the Jameson Inn, check out and head home to BRAG about your week's winter adventure in Georgia.

For more information, including cost and directions, email Jerry Colley.