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Header Photos Courtesy of Milesphotos Natural Light Photography
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BRAG 'N Writes
Ride It. Love It. BRAG About It.
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Happy Holidays
On behalf of the BRAG staff and volunteers, we wish you and your family a Very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a Happy New Year.
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Deal of the Month
 You better check twice to make sure you have a gift for everyone on your list! If not, you can purchase that special someone or yourself a BRAG rain jacket at 20% off. The yellow rain jacket has the BRAG logo. Original price is $30. Get it for $24 plus $5 for shipping. Price includes Georgia sales tax when applicable. Download an order form from the web site and mail it with your check or fax it with your credit card number.
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Holiday Gift Basket - Cafe Campesino & BRAG
 A great gift for the cyclist in any home, the 2011 BRAG Gift Box includes one pound of BRAG Brew gourmet coffee, a 14 oz. BRAG travel mug, a 4oz. package of Bean Bark (a Fair Trade dark chocolate bar with espresso made especially for Café Campesino by Koinonia), a BRAG 2012 decal and a gift card. Plus, Café Campesino will donate 10% of the purchase of this gift box to the BRAG Dream Team that helps low-income middle school-aged children become cyclists. Want to up the ante? Register your loved one for the 2012 Bicycle Ride Across Georgia that will travel through northern Georgia June 2-9. Mug colors may vary. Price: $29.95. To order call 888-532-4728.
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BRAG 2012
 BRAG 2012 will be June 2 - 9. The tentative, unconfirmed route is to begin in Chattanooga, TN, with overnight stops in Dalton, Cartersville, Roswell (layover day), Winder, Cornelia, and end in Clayton. Once all overnight sites have been confirmed, we will announce the route as soon as possible. You can download an Early Bird Registration Form and mail it in or register through Active.com. The Early Bird Registration is valid until December 31, 2011. Don't procrastinate. Mail your Early Bird registration now.
(Photo courtesy of Miles McClelland) |
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BRAG 2012 Decals
 Come ride BRAG 2012 with us and BRAG a little by placing a BRAG 2012 decal on your car. If you want one for your car(s), please send an email to Vicki@brag.org. Include your mailing address in your email. If you want more than one, be sure to tell us how many you want. Get enough for everybody in your bike club.
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The BRAG Centurion Club
New Year's Resolution. We know it is cold and windy outside and riding your bicycle is not top priority, but go ahead and start thinking about becoming a member of the coveted BRAG Centurion Club. You can do so by riding the three century rides during the Spring Tune-Up Ride in April, BRAG in June, and the Georgia BikeFest in October. Make plans now to earn your Centurion Hat in 2012.
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BRAG WinterRide 2012
St. Mary's WinterRide (Ride/Hike/Boat Adventure) February 21 - 26, 2012 BRAG's third annual WinterRide will start in beautiful St. Marys, Georgia. The dates are Tuesday, February 21, 2012, through Sunday, February 26, 2012. The average high temperature this week in St. Marys is 65ºF. St. Marys is 350 miles from Atlanta and takes about 5 hours to drive.
This would make a great Valentine's Day present for the sweetie cyclist in your life. Non-riders are welcomed also.
Here's the schedule, subject to change due to availability of venues.
Tuesday, Feb. 21. Arrive at Cumberland Inn and Suites. Arrive early enough and bike 3 miles to the St. Marys Submarine Museum and the Cumberland Island Museum in downtown St. Marys.
Bring a bottle or two of your favorite 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. Marys for the nightly happy hour and optional dinner together. After dinner, we'll go next door to the general store deli for sandwiches for tomorrow's adventure (the hotel room will have refrigerators).
Thursday, Feb. 23. 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. Marys, we'll have happy hour downtown, then optional dinner together.
Friday, Feb. 24. Ride your bike to downtown St. Marys. Then take the ferry to 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, one of BRAG's sponsors. Happy hour and optional dinner together.
Sunday, February 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 at Jerry@brag.org.
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Spring Tune-Up Ride
Mark your calendar now for the 19th annual Spring Tune-Up Ride, April 20 - 22, 2012. Again, the ride will be in Madison, Georgia, at Heritage Park. There will be various mileage options each day with a fully-supported Century Ride on Saturday. The shower truck we had at Georgia BikeFest in Columbus will be at the Spring Tune-Up Ride. More details to follow. |
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BRAG in Puglia - September 13-22, 2012, Southern Italy - The Heel of the Boot
  We invite you to join Team BRAG for a spectacular bicycle ride in Puglia, Italy's southeastern coast along the Adriatic Sea. This is a 9 night/10 day guided bicycle tour. The tour cost is about $2,300, depending on the exchange rate, which includes unique 4-star hotels, most meals, a cookery class, wine-tasting, guided walking tour of the Sassi di Matera (ancient district) and a day of mountain biking and the bike rental. Well-equipped hybrid bicycles are provided for the week. Daily mileages are 28 to 35 miles with options.
 Briefly, the itinerary is Matera for 4 nights in a 17th Century hotel with a view of the Sassi, and Alberobello for 2 nights in a restored trullo, a traditional stone hut restored to a comfortable B&B with all the modern conveniences! We bike along the Adriatic through olive trees, vineyards, whitewashed towns, Baroque towns, and bike through a forest to Ostuni to enjoy a farmhouse for one night, then pedal on to Otranto where we stay 2 nights in a Mediterranean-style hotel. Both Matera and Alberobello are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
 The tour starts and ends in Bari with van transportation to Matera and the return from Otranto included in the cost. Bari is a short flight or 3.5 hour train ride from Rome. Optional days in a Rome hotel are available to book on the website. The Brag-in-Puglia website will be ready in early January with a complete itinerary and how to book. A $200 deposit will hold your place. We are limited to 18 riders.
For more information, email Gloria at gloria@brag.org or Jerry at jerry@brag.org.
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Southern Bicycle League Winter Party
Come celebrate after the holidays at the SBL Winter Party, January 28, 2012. The party will be held at the Red Brick Brewery from 7pm - Midnight. There will be a rocking live band and appetizers. Beer, wine, and soft drinks. Cost is $20 for SBL members who register early and $30 for non-members. For more information, visit www.bikesbl.org.
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Connect With BRAG
BRAG has a Facebook page. Get in on the action now. Join other cycling enthusiasts and veteran BRAG riders as they discuss the upcoming BRAG events. See what you have been missing by not riding BRAG.
Click here to go to THE BRAG Page on Facebook.
If these links do not work for you, please log onto Facebook and search for "Bicycle Ride Across Georgia."
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| Questions? Please contact us at news@brag.org or 770-498-5153 |
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