BRAG 5th ANNUAL WinterRide
(Ride/Hike/Boat Adventure)
February 18 - February 23, 2014
BRAG's fifth annual WinterRide will start in beautiful St. Marys, Georgia. The dates are Tuesday, February 18, 2014, through Sunday, February 23, 2014. The average high temperature that week in St. Marys is 65ºF. St. Marys is 350 miles from Atlanta and takes about 6 hours to drive.
This is a great late-Winter escape, a relaxed multisport event suitable for all levels of bicycling. Non-riders are welcomed also.
Tuesday, Feb. 18. Arrive at St. Marys, GA. Arrive early enough and bike 3 miles to the St. Marys Submarine Museum, the Cumberland Island Museum, and the Film Museum in downtown St. Marys. There is an optional 1-hour trolley tour of St. Mary's leaving at 2 pm.
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. 19. 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 Kings Bay Submarine Base, including the
USS Bancroft Memorial, the Sugar Mill tabby ruins, and Crooked River State Park. Come back to St. Marys for Happy Hour at the CVB and optional dinner together.
Thursday, Feb. 20. 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
along the beach.
You may take the 9 am ferry if you want to spend the day on the island, rent bikes, or take the optional motorized tour to see the northern end of Cumberland, including the little church where JFK, Jr. was married. Or take the 11:45 am ferry and take the guided tour to the Dungeness ruins, have a picnic lunch, and enjoy the 5-mile hike along the beach.
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. 21. Ride your bike to downtown St. Marys. Then take our private ferry,
The USS BRAG, 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. Total mileage is 33 miles.
Saturday, Feb. 22. 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 and lookout
tower by bike or car. 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 Hampton Inn, Waycross GA.
Happy Hour at the hotel and optional dinner together.
Sunday, Feb. 23. After breakfast at the Hampton Inn, check out and head home to BRAG about your week's winter adventure in Georgia.
For more information or to register, visit
brag.org/winterride.
Congratulations to Cecilia Luther, Don Blodgett, Gary Blodgett, Jim Parkerson, and Ed Schevey!
Team BRAG is headed back to old Mexico after an absence of a few years. BRAG's Riviera Maya Bicycle Adventure (RMBA) will be January 6 - 13, 2014, hosted by our buen amigo, Kenneth Johnson of EcoColors Tours in Cancun. Bicycle through the Yucatan Peninsula from the jungle to the thatched-roof villages of the modern Mayan world. Discover the archaeological sites of Tulum, Chichen Itza, Muyil, and Coba'. There are many cenotes (fresh water holes) along your daily route for swimming. Explore the Sian Ka'an Biosphere National Park and snorkel in the world's second largest coral reef. Enjoy Xcaret ecological theme park and amazing folkloric show - it's everything Disney should be but isn't.
We have space for a single female to book our summer international bike trip that is planned for July 28 - August 7. Our total group size is 20. We will tour the three countries that make up the Baltic States, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, by bike, mini-bus, a boat ride across the Curonian Lagoon, 2 ferries, and 1 train. The cost is $2300, all inclusive with 3 and 4-star hotels, a layover in the same hotel for 3 nights, most meals, a bicycle guide, rental bicycle, support van, entrances fees to parks and famous sights each day and guided city tours. 
Airfare is not included. The tour starts in Vilnius, Lithuania and ends in Tallinn, Estonia. If you like to explore new places, experience the history of 3 interesting bike-friendly countries and enjoy beautiful coastal scenery along the Baltic Sea, this tour is for you. 
For all the details see 