Bicycling opportunities abound, especially in autumn
Bicycling can bring joy – as exercise for the body and mind, especially to free up and calm one’s mind – and living in the Grand Strand affords this luxury pretty much year round.
With the onset of autumn, what better time to hop on two wheels and take in some sights, sounds and aromas of the season? The city of Myrtle Beach has bike lanes and off-road bike paths in several spots, including The Market Common across the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, and they’re in the works for other communities across Horry County as well.
In Georgetown County, the Waccamaw Neck Bikeway spans several miles, heading south from Murrells Inlet, by the western fringe of Huntington Beach State Park, down to Litchfield Beach, west on Willbrook Boulevard, and south on Kings River Road and Waverly Road into Pawleys Island.
Four months ago, Jim Whitmore moved from Charleston and opened Pee Dee Bicycle Company, a Trek brand dealer in downtown Myrtle Beach, where group rides depart regularly. The Citadel graduate and military veteran said he loves road bicycling and mountain biking, and that on pavement, he loves pedaling Ocean Boulevard north to the Grand Dunes area and over to Marina Parkway, along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.
The Market Common area and Myrtle Beach State Park also beckon “for a casual, relaxing ride” from his neighborhood on the city’s sound end, and day trips to the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge, off U.S. 701 midway between Conway and Georgetown, also provide delight, but be sure to bring Skin So Soft or other insect repellant in summer.
For off-road bicycling, Whitmore sets his pace with fellow members of the Waccamaw Trail Blazers club on such courses as the A-10 Mountain Bike Trail, in back of Food Lion, off Mallard Lake Drive in Myrtle Beach, near The Market Common; and “The Hulk” Horry County Bike and Run Park in Carolina Forest.
Wildlife-wise, foxes, deer, osprey, bald eagles and swan families have given Whitmore visual perks on his rides.
For safety, no element outweighs the importance of wearing a helmet, he stressed.
A blinking red tail light, which can be seen by a motorist from a few hundred feet, fulfills another critical component for Whitmore even in broad daylight, because with many easily distracted drivers – perhaps tourists looking for a destination – cyclists need to do “anything you can to make yourself” more obvious and visible, including bright color shirts.
Circle Nov. 1 for ‘Cyclovia’
Whitmore’s shop is one of about 25 participants, including numerous health and fitness entities, helping coordinate the inaugural Cyclovia (www.cycloviamb.org), 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Nov. 1 at The Market Common. Rich Griffith, an event planner, said this might be the first-ever such event in South Carolina, with an accent on various physical activities outside on a cluster of closed streets, and hopes are high to have one every fall and spring.
Cyclovia, which Griffith said originated with a weekly closing of 70 miles of streets in Bogota, Colombia, and has been a hit in other cities stateside, also will entail guided bike rides across the old airbase.
Accruing about 7,000 miles pedaled a year, at least 1,000 less than his wife’s annual tally, Griffith said even if somebody doesn’t have the urge to go bicycling, they should “come out and enjoy the streets,” where they can “stroll, skip or hop” or try a group fitness class, “fun runs,” a scavenger hunt, and geocaching. A “Respect Ride” in silence, to honor cyclists who died or were injured in crashes with cars and to increase awareness about bicycle safety, will close the day.
Griffith, a member of the Myrtle Beach Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Committee, also encouraged the public to check out www.myrtlebeachcycling.com for coordinated rides all year long, with a choice of routes every week “for all levels” of cyclists.
Whitmore, citing youth who pursue skateboarding, said Cyclovia really centers on “family fitness and fun” and that this trend begun in South America of “bringing people together … is starting to take hold up here.”
He also thinks “people are rediscovering bicycles,” because it was an activity that so many did for fun in childhood, only to get passed by with school, careers and the demands of parenthood.
This newfound focus on fitness, especially for retired and semi-retired individuals, might spur incentives along the lines of “I want to do something fun and just be a kid again,” Whitmore said.
Envisioning more happy future trails
Long-term planning continues in other locales such as a community on the south side of Horry County.
Al Jordan, president of the Greater Burgess Community Association (greaterburgesscommunity.org), said the group welcomed personnel Sept. 24 from the Horry County Planning & Zoning Department to present a draft Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan for Burgess. He called the feedback since then “very positive” and that county planners made “most, if not all of the changes” about which residents voiced concerns.
For instance, the original plan called for a multipurpose rec trail paralleling the south side of Holmestown Road, Jordan said, but a sidewalk was requested for the north side as well.
Reminders go out to citizens that although “no monster wholesale changes” were made to the county plan, this is “a long-range plan” and that it’s the association’s responsibility “to plan to next 30 years or beyond,” but the timetable to begin and enact improvements is pending funding availability at each interval.
Jordan also spoke of another long-range county plan, although no exact dates are proposed yet, to expand Scipio Lane – a main, but dead-end artery that includes the South Strand Recreation Center, other county offices and a solid waste recycling center, and Burgess Elementary School – perhaps to connect with Big Block Road and S.C. 544 in the neighboring Socastee community.
“Someday, that whole area will get developed,” Jordan said.
This process also goes beyond envisioning benefits for one community such as Burgess, but reaches into Socastee, making this overall picture bigger and more inclusive.
That’s why a multipurpose recreation path plan reaching in that direction matters, Jordan said, “to make connections for circulation,” so this kind of planning by Horry County and the Greater Burgess Community Association “provides opportunities that you might not have otherwise, and it’s our job to do that.”
Contact STEVE PALISIN at 843-444-1764.
If you go
WHAT: “Cyclovia,” a festival celebrating healthy activity and open streets
WHEN: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Nov. 1
WHERE: The Market Common, on Farrow Parkway in Myrtle Beach
HOW MUCH: Free
EVENTS INCLUDE:
▪ Fitness demonstrations such as with CrossFit, TRX, resistance bands and kettle bells.
▪ Fitness classes such as Zumba and Piloxing.
▪ Yoga and Pilates.
▪ Guided bicycle tours of The Market Common-area bike paths and mountain bike trails on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base.
▪ 5K Family Fun Run, with three loops around the lake at Myrtle Beach’s Grand Park, also with a Youth Run (one lap) and Tot Trot.
▪ Geocaching, by foot and on bicycle.
▪ A “Respect Ride” in silence, to honor cyclists who died or were injured in crashes with cars and to increase awareness about bicycle safety.
ALSO: Portions of Howard Avenue, and Nevers, Hackler, Reed and DeVille streets, will be closed to vehicular traffic.
INFORMATION:
▪ Email info@cycloviamb.org
Take an almost-10-mile trek
WHERE: About 9.8 miles counterclockwise on, across and around the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, between U.S. 17 Business and U.S. 17 Bypass.
FOR: A leisurely pace, away from heavy traffic and on some nooks and crannies not seen by folks driving through on Farrow Parkway, but with plenty of points to stop to rest and take in scenery and wildlife viewing, learn some local and national history, and three spots for refueling on food and liquids. The whole circuit might take an hour or two, but it’s pretty flat terrain.
COURSE: Park for free on a street near Toffino’s Italian Bakery and Deli, 550 Farrow Parkway, Myrtle Beach.
▪ Head north on Shine Avenue, and right on Mustang Street. At that corner, a series of historical markers tout the still standing “Parachute Shop” building, where Air Force crews repaired, cleaned, inspected and repacked chutes for the F-100 Super Sabre jetsSuch signs packed with tidbits are posted across various points across the old airbase; they also explain the namesakes for many of the avenues.
▪ Left on Airdrome Avenue, going by the General Aviation terminal, on the right.
▪ Left on Phillis Boulevard, by the back of Barnes & Noble Booksellers and Piggly Wiggly at The Market Common.
▪ Right on Howard Avenue, which turns into Howard Parkway, along a meadow where meadowlarks sing every spring, and where kildeers were heard this past weekend. This also affords a great vantage point to watch takeoffs and landings of planes – especially Spirit Airlines’ large Airbus 320 craft – from Myrtle Beach International Airport.
▪ Left on Airpark Drive, crossing over a culvert for retention pond on both sides.
▪ Left at second crosswalk on newly opened, curvy, paved pedestrian path, crossing two wooded areas (watch your speed and balance, especially on pine needles and other natural debris which could be slippery when wet) and two open spaces along the rear of two new residential developments. Look for a swan pair with two fully, grown, but still brown and gray cygnets, in this part of the pond, where they shared a nest earlier this year.
▪ Right onto sidewalk along Farrow Parkway, by Market Common Dentistry.
▪ Left on crosswalk at traffic light from Cottage Drive onto wide sidewalk of Meyers Avenue, going by some soccer and baseball fields.
▪ Right on Yorkshire Drive, winding by two Emmens Preserve neighborhood pools.
▪ Right on Coventry Boulevard.
▪ Left on Oxford Street, and at the curve, proceed – veering right – onto path, and when that ends, veer left onto sidewalk of Silver Springs Lane a short distance to its end.
▪ Left on Crow Lane, around bend, past Alexan Withers Preserve condo welcome center.
▪ Left on Brewster Drive (a blue sign, for it’s not a city dedicated street) into condo complex.
▪ Follow road back, passing garages on right, as it curves left, then right, reaching a woods on the left.
▪ Left on sidewalk by 2181 building onto wooden boardwalk for brief passagethrough woods, and right onto path, which turns into Oxford Street.
▪ Right on Coventry Boulevard.
▪ Left on Berkshire Avenue (second left from Coventry), by Doolittle Lake, which also had a swan pair with two cygnets this past spring.
▪ Right on Beaumont Avenue (watch for stop sign at Culbertson Avenue) back to cul-de-sac.
▪ Right on access to paved pedestrian trail, and left by sign reminding everyone that no motor vehicles, including golf carts, are allowed on such paths.
▪ Follow that path along the southern fringe of Emmens Preserve – where sometimes a rufous-sided towhee might be heard whistling from deep in the brush – and later, Seagate Village, for about 1.65 miles to U.S. 17 Business (Kings Highway).
▪ Follow the path left (north) along the highway, past entrance to Myrtle Beach State Park and main gateway to Seagate Village, past the Glenmark Center, anchored by Food Lion and the Grand Strand (formerly Myrtle Beach Indoor) Flea Market, to traffic light at Farrow Parkway.
▪ Cross set of crosswalks to other side of Farrow Parkway, and go left (west), passing Myrtle Beach’s Warbird Park – a moving memorial site that never seems without visitors – and return to the Toffino’s corner.
This story was originally published October 17, 2015 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Bicycling opportunities abound, especially in autumn."