From The Blog

Biker Babes and More: 11 Teams and Counting

CONTRIBUTED BY SUE SCHAFFER

In 2005, Edna Roberds organized a small group of women to meet monthly and enjoy a bike ride and a meal together. Three years later, full time Kiawah resident Beth Driskell wanted to join the group, but it didn’t want to expand. Edna suggested that Beth start another group. Her effort snowballed and quickly, several more groups formed. Today, eleven teams, most of about two dozen women, meet monthly for biking and/or social activities. Team members get to know each other well. Beth says the goal is “to have fun, build friendships and enjoy quality experiences.”

The teams choose their own clever biking-related names, set their own agendas and schedules and all meet together once annually, for the Christmas Parade on the first Saturday of December. Each team has a leader who schedules bikers to plan activities and handles administrative tasks. All teams have a mix of distance ability and speed levels and not everyone always bikes. “For some, the biking part is biking to the event,” said Beth. As people leave groups, perhaps because of moving away, teams can choose whether to fill empty spots.

Team members come from all Kiawah demographic groups: club members and not, multi-family and private homes, and all areas of the island. Occasionally a Seabrook resident has asked to join a group. Women interested in joining contact Beth, and when she has five or six names, she asks one of them to be a leader and form a new group. The Wheel Deals is the most recent group to form.

Team members take turns planning and hosting monthly activities, and some get quite creative. The program has no dues or fees. Members pay for materials when activities require them, and at wine-enhanced events, members will usually bring their own. Bowling, kayaking, playing golf, walking, playing badminton or croquet (all dressed in white) at Night Heron Park, home-cooked and served dinners, picnicking at Cinder Creek, and Halloween pumpkin carving are some of the long list of activities. One hostess who lives in Charleston has had her team come to the city for a walking tour and lunch. One team went to Middleton Place and Magnolia Plantation. Another drove to Edisto Island and rented bikes there. Yet another chartered a boat and invited their husbands or partners along for a dolphin cruise. On some teams, the spouses and partners have become friends and get together for a restaurant meal while the women do their biking and social activity.

Beth knows Kiawah well. She has lived on the island for 30 years and during that time has lived in three villas, a cottage, and two houses as well as owning two homesites. When not biking or organizing groups, she is a procurement agent for Boeing. She attends as many team activities as she can; many groups invite her along. She urges anyone interested in joining a group to contact her. “You can never have too many good friends,” she says.

The 11 Biking Teams

• Biker Babes-the original group
• Easy Riders
• Coastal Cruisers
• Gorgeous Gliders
• Outspokens
• Water Wheels
• The Chain Gang
• Spirits in Motion
• Sprockettes
• Tour de Friends
• The Wheel Deals

Biker Babes Christmas Parade – Dec. 4, 2021

Want to support the Biker Babes? Come out to the 2021 Biker Babes Christmas parade on Saturday, Dec. 4! Bikers will dress up, decorate their bikes and ride the Kiawah bike trail, passing out candy and holiday cheer.

Bikers should meet on Rhetts Bluff Blvd. at 10:30 am at the entrance to Indigo Park, across from the gate to the River Course. Biker Team Captains: Please send your full team email list to Beth at [email protected] so that she can notify bikers individually about the Christmas Parade.

Save the Dates: 2022 Biker Babe Parades

Easter Parade – April 2, 2022
Halloween Parade – Oct. 1, 2022
Christmas Parade – Dec. 3, 2022

Bikers will meet at entrance to Indigo Park across from the River Course gates at 10:30 am. Bikers are asked to dress up and decorate their bicycles for the occasion, as well as bring a picnic lunch/beverage.