City Bike Tampa Offers Tours, Promotes Urban Living

City Bike Tampa, a bicycle shop in downtown, hosts a successful monthly event called the Urban Restaurant Tour. The monthly event offers partisans an opportunity to try out downtown restaurant fare through an environmentally friendly mode of transportation: bicycles.

Kellie Cyr, co-owner of City Bike Tampa and event organizer says the tours are a way people can enjoy downtown. "We live downtown, and we play downtown," Cyr says. "The tours are good for the area and good for small businesses."

Cyr and her husband Jason opened the store in 2009 in an effort to promote urban living and sustainability. "We are a specialty bicycle shop that focuses on the urban lifestyle of downtown," Cyr says. "We have a lot of hybrid and commuter bikes for residents living in the surrounding areas that are equipped to transport groceries or computers for work."

City Bike Tampa also offers rentals. "We have a satellite rental hut at the Marriott Waterside," she says. "We do rentals from that location as well as history tours and scavenger hunts by appointment."

The monthly restaurant tour is the most popular with 100+ participants. The event starts out at the Sono Café, an event sponsor, where everyone registers. There is a cost of $7.50. After registration, the group sets out for the evening visiting five restaurants. At the last stop, there is a raffle drawing for various prizes.

"The Urban Restaurant Tour gives restaurants an opportunity to shine," Cyr says. "We go to different restaurants each month. Being a small business ourselves, we focus on helping other businesses by including them in our tour."

Writer: Kimberly Patterson
Source: Kellie Cyr, co-owner of City Bike Tampa