The Suwannee Bicycle Association was founded in 1989 by Lys Burden and a handful of other cycling and outdoor enthusiasts and incorporated as a non-profit, educational organization in the same year. The organization continued a strong tradition of bicycling and canoeing trips in the region that were promoted by two bicycle touring companies, Suwannee River Bicycle Tours, then Suwannee Country Tours, which were managed consecutively by Herb Hiller, David Bearl and Dave Pierce, over about a ten-year period. The tour companies were essentially defunct for various reasons by the late eighties. But the superb setting for bicycling and canoeing inspired the formation of a new organization to continue the work of promoting the activities and the region; thus, SBA was formed. The organization’s articles and by-laws were written with strong educational purposes to qualify the non-profit corporation as a charitable organization.