It's 10 a.m. New Year's Day, 40 degrees outside. Time for a 20-mile bike ride.
If you agree, then the Rock Hill Bicycle Club is happy to have you along on Friday for its Chilly Chili Ride. Each Jan. 1, the club jump-starts the new year by cycling around the city.
Afterward, riders gather for a chili lunch and plan the year's club events.
It's free, and anyone can take part. Just bring a bike. Also, organizers ask that those who can share a dish.
“It's about just getting up on Jan. 1 in the cold and riding,” said Craig Butler, who's coordinating the event. “That's fun, and the camaraderie is great.”
The Chilly is a “no drop” ride, which means cyclists travel in groups and stay together, halting if needed to make sure no one drops from the pack.
For newbies and those not up to the 20-mile trek, the club also will lead a 6-mile ride around Winthrop Lake.
During the lunch meeting, club members plan social and charity rides.
On top of raising money for cancer and multiple sclerosis research in 2010, the group plans to pedal for bike racks to install around the Winthrop University campus.
The 29-year-old Rock Hill Bicycle Club has more than 100 members from across the region, some of whom are recreational riders, mountain bikers, racers and former pros.
Its purpose is to “promote the personal enjoyment of bicycling.” The group arranges bike tours, rides, races and other events for skill levels from beginner to expert.
Mike Burgess, 55, brought the New Year's Day ride with him when he moved here from Georgia in 1994.
“It just started off as a bunch of hungry guys,” he said. “It's a get-the-new-year-started-off-right kind of thing — no matter how bad the weather.”
Originally, eight to 10 people would meet at Burgess' house to head out for what he dubbed the “Chilli Ride.” But it quickly grew.
Some years, 80 people showed up.
“We had people sitting all over the backyard,” Burgess said. “I'd make 10 gallons of chili. My wife would bake corn bread after corn bread after corn bread.”
Burgess recalled the first New Year's ride in 1986. The group cycled 30 miles around Stone Mountain in Georgia in heavy sleet.
“We've had some where it was blistering cold,” he said. “We rode from my house down to the stop sign and turned around and came back.”
This year, riders will gather at 10 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church off Main Street.
Although Burgess no longer organizes the ride, he plans to make the trip. And he's bringing chili, “hot” chili.
“Everybody else makes that weak type stuff,” he said.
Shawn Cetrone 803-329-4072
