Festivello, the multi-day biking event, will return to the roads of the Lowcountry on November 11th to bring cyclists from all over the country together for a weekend of biking, food, and festivities.
We spoke to the Executive Director of the event, Ryan White, about the upcoming tour. White gave a history of the Lowcountry event; he explained, “Festivello is a 30-year-oldcycling event started in Moncks Corner, 30 years ago. We have run 29 events. Traffic squeezed us out of Moncks Corner. Then we went to Santee and finally to Walterboro. For the last nine years, we have enjoyed a tremendous partnership with the city.
Festivello is not a race; it's a cycling tour, White says. “It's a tour; it’s a great big family reunion. We have people that have returned year after year. This year we are going to offer a 30-mile ride. What we're calling an intermediate ride in the 50-mile range, we do a metrics entry being 62 miles or above, and an English century. Along these routes, we offer four routes per day on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and three rides on Sunday.”
The event is well organized and has a great deal of support for the riders. White describes the support for the riders: “The event is fully equipped with supporting gear and operators; in case somebody breaks down, we'll pick them up. We've got motorcycle support to take care of the riders; rest stops are about every 20 miles plus or minus. They can stop and eat and take care of themselves, and it’s just an enjoyable tour kind of ride. We obey the rules of the road, and we're out there just to have a good time. You'll see that weekend packs of riders that are just hopefully enjoying beautiful weather. “We've got motorcycle support, and each route each day has an assigned moto. The motorcycle captain has done this for years, and he moves people around based on the routes. We have what we call SAG support and gear operators. They'll have spare tires and the ability to pick up a rider if a rider gets stranded or something breaks on their bicycle that we can't fix out there on the road, and we'll bring them back.”
The event also has an entertainment atmosphere as well, White says, “Every night is a special theme; Wednesday night is when everybody arrives, so we'll have a Wednesday night wind down. Thursday night we partner with the first Thursday event, so we'll move our supper up to the waterfall and mingle with the shop owners. Friday night we have chocolate obsession, and then Saturday night we do a big oyster roast.”
White says the tour will operate out of the Farmers Market, “The Farmers Market is the headquarters, and then on Saturday, we'll ride out of Crosco in. Green Pond next to Wood Brothers store, and that'll be our headquarters. We'll run to Bennett's Point and then be all over the area. Saturday is a remote start this year, and Sunday is a remote start out at the World Grits headquarters in Saint George.”
White says this year will be well attended, “This year will probably be around 200 cyclists and their families and whoever they bring. A lot of them who spend four days here bring their spouse, or they bring their family and make a weekend of it. There'll be 45 camp spaces over behind the First Baptist Church for tents, and then we'll have pop-up tents and/or pop-up campers and some smaller RVs around the church site as well. Most of the riders have hotels or lodging they work out for themselves.”
White wanted to thank the many supporters of the event: “The City, Eartha Cunningham, Holy City Brewing comes out of Charleston to cater the meals, and then Casey Shoop over at Old House.” He also thanked the volunteers, “We can't do this without the volunteers. We have volunteers that come year after year to help and support. We can't do it without any of those people.”
White says it is very important to remember to watch out for the riders, “Over the last few years, traffic has picked up enormously in Walterboro, so getting out of Walterboro has become more complicated and requires traffic coordination. Getting back into Walterboro, especially for the long riders that are getting back in at two and three and 4 o'clock in the afternoon when traffic starts to pick up, is also more difficult. Just give the riders a little room, give us a little space, give us a little patience. That would be great.”
