It all started as a group of friends who wanted to get together and work off all the Thanksgiving Dinner they had devoured little could that small group have realized on that first Thanksgiving weekend, eight years ago, just how popular this ride would become and just how many cyclists would want to take part!
By the year 2000 this group of friends had grown to become the Rural Ride Round the Islands and the ride was moved to the first weekend in December in order to absorb all the marvelous holiday events taking place in the Charleston area. Wadmalaw Isl and served as the home base and center of activity for the first three years.
As the Islands gradually became less and less rural, the event was moved to the City of Charleston and in 2004 became known as FestiVELO de Charleston: The Holiday Festival of Bicycles for Families. Since that time, FestiVELO has hosted cyclists from 34 states and 8 foreign countries!
Charles Fox has faithfully served as both Ride and Event Director since he first founded the event in 1999 and the entire Fox family has donated countless hours to making this one of Bicycling Magazines "can't miss Winter rides"!!!!
The Story
So how did we come up with the name FestiVELO. It started with a long car ride, just me and my dad. he was telling me about how he was trying to change the "Rural Ride Round the Islands," it was just too hard to say. So we played the name game--came up with a bunch of acronyms, ideas like festiavl of bikes, Tour de Charleston (Lance was making it big in 2000). Nothing was sticking. So I thought about the big idea---this was a festival--a time to meet new people, explore new things and relax with your family. FESTIVAL was a party we had in middle school, VELO is the French word for bicycle---marry the two and you get FestiVELO--a fun filled fitness weekend.
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