Get GEARED UP! Helmets, Bikes, Bells!
Meet up in front of Rosa Parks Elementary School.
This month’s route will be in west Berkeley.
Bring along snacks to share at our mid-route stop, and, of course, we’ll have tunes to pedal to all throughout the ride!
Helmets required for kids.
Be sure to pack snacks, water, and clothing appropriate to weather conditions!
NOTE: Cold wet weather cancels — check Facebook event or website for cancellations.
North Berkeley BART is closest station.
If anyone wants to ride from Albany, put a note and ideas of time and place to meet in the “comments” here.
website: http://geared4kids.org/
Get GEARED UP! Helmets, Bikes, Bells!
This group has been riding for 2 years now and it’s time to celebrate!
There will be a BBQ/Picnic/Potluck after the ride starting around 12:30pm at San Pablo Park. Details for the BBQ can be found on Geared 4 Kids’ Facebook group page.
Meet up for the ride at 10:30am near the playground (Russell & Mabel).
This month’s route will be 4.5 miles long and take us through a bit of Berkeley, Oakland, and Emeryville (a modification of our inaugural route). Bring along snacks to share at our mid-route stop, and, of course, we’ll have tunes to pedal to all throughout the ride!
Helmets required for kids.
Be sure to pack snacks, water, and clothing appropriate to weather conditions!
If anyone wants to ride together from Berkeley, leave a comment on this post and let’s organize something!
http://geared4kids.org/
There are lots of items on the agenda that affect cyclists and pedestrians here in Albany.
Those include the following:
*7-1, City Council Strategic Planning Follow Up
Part of what City Council Members recommended in its recent planning session was an emphasis on parks, including the long-awaited Pierce Street Park, and a more bikeable and walkable Albany.
Please speak in support of these plans and concepts!
*7-2, Update on “Complete Streets” planning for Buchanan Street and San Pablo Avenue to improve safety for walking, biking, and other modes of travel. The Staff recommendation is for Council to provide direction to staff and the Traffic and Safety Commission.
Show up and speak to let Council hear that a more bike and pedestrian friendly San Pablo Avenue should be a priority and a reality!
It may also be a good time to speak about your vision for Bike Boulevards on Kains and Adams, making up for the fact that many people will not feel safe riding on San Pablo in the sections without bike lanes.
*8-1, Albany Wayfinding Plan for Bicyclists and Pedestrians
Whenever I ride around Berkeley I marvel at the signage that directs me to the best and safest roads to cycle. I am also fully convinced that motorists on or crossing roads with signage for bicyclists are more courteous to their two-wheeled friends sharing the road.
Show up and tell Council that we all need wayfinding signage for our convenience and safety!
If you can’t attend, please consider writing a brief letter in support of any of these items to cityhall@albanyca.org requesting specifically that your letter be sent to all the City Council Members.
Thanks! Feel free to email the Discussion List or any of the Core Group with any questions or thoughts.
Join Golden Gate Audubon leaders to visit Berkeley Aquatic Park, then take the multiuser bridge to the Bay Trail toward Emeryville then Richmond. Meet at 9:15 a.m. on Bolivar Drive near the foot of Bancroft Way in Berkeley.
We’ll bird around Aquatic Park, then take the multiuser bridge to the Bay Trail riding first toward Emeryville, then Richmond. Bring binoculars and snacks; wear layers (it can be warm, or cool and windy along the shore). Call Pat if you want to borrow binoculars. This birding ride is co-listed with Golden Gate Audubon.
Jeffrey Black, (510) 526-7068, buffalo1003@aol.com and Pat Greene, (415) 321-9013 (cell),greene@cgl.ucsf.edu
Does anyone want to ride together from anywhere in Albany? Make a proposal for a meeting time and place in “comments” here!
Want to ride more but need more skills and confidence?
Take the East Bay Bicycle Coalition’s FREE bicycle skills class!
Learn basic rules of the road, how to share the road with cars on busy streets, how to equip your bicycle, lock your bike, fit your helmet, and avoid crashes by riding predictably, visibly, and communicating with other road users by your actions and signals. Every workshop has the same content so you only need to attend once.
For adults and teens, no bike needed.
Bring your kids and friends, but please pre-register here.
Extra added bonus: All of the EBBC’s UC Berkeley classes are also part of the BEST (Bicycle Education of Safety Training) program allowing ticketed cyclists to have their fines reduced. Yes, Traffic School for bicyclists!
Come join AS&R at the Chamber of Commerce’s Health & Fitness Fair!
The Albany Chamber or Commerce, of which AS&R is a member, is sponsoring a Health & Wellness Fair for Albany families and residents. This is a free event for the community and there will be vendor tables for healthy eating, exercising, living, healing, as well as demonstrations and speakers.
Of course, AS&R will have a booth so bring your friends
Come on down to pedal-power a delicious smoothie and help others do the same!
and family, come on out and enjoy the fair! We’ll have the always fun, entertaining and delicious “Bicycle Blender” so you and your neighbors can pedal their way to a smoothie.
We have been invited to participate in order to talk to other community members about cycling and walking around town, as well as blend up yummy smoothies. So please, if you have some time to help at our booth for a little while, sharing your ideas while enjoying the food and music, please email Amy Smolens at calamari@alumni.duke.edu – thanks!
Here’s a great family event with our El Cerrito neighbors!
Need a kid’s bike at a great price? Just want to ride around with your family?
They also set up an obstacle course, offer free minor repairs to community members bringing their own bike to the event, have a food truck on site, and generally try to make it a fun celebration of bicycling even for those not coming to buy a used bike. Details are below and at the following link.
The Harding ReCycle is a bicycle festival where you can
- buy a “ReCycled” bicycle refurbished by the Harding Dad’s Club bike mechanics
- get basic repairs on your bike for free
- learn how to make repairs yourself
- bring or borrow a bike and ride our obstacle course
- compete in the “Slowest Bike Race”
- learn how to ride without training wheels
Buy a $2 raffle ticket to be entered in a raffle for a brand new kids bike valued at $350!!
Have a bike to donate? They’ll accept donations of used bicycles up to and including the day of the Harding Recycle. Arrange for your donation to be picked up from your home by emailing hardingrecycle@gmail.com, or bring it to the event on May 21st.
Want more info? Go to their website!
You see Street Level Cycles every year at the Albany Arts & Green Festival when they offer free bike tuneups to you and your family !
You might not know that they’re a full-service community bicycle shop that combines a do-it-yourself studio with a youth education program, creating a space where members of the community can learn to fix their bicycles while supporting local vocational training.
You can always donate bikes, parts and components, which they use to build bikes and sell to support their shop and their programs.
Danny & Sergio from Street Level Cycles tuned up everyone’s bikes at the Arts & Green Festival – now you can give back to them!
But TODAY ONLY – JUNE 4th, Street Level Cycles/Waterside Workshops is holding a “Bike Donation Pick-up Day” for East Bay residents. Before the Pick-up Day, you will be able to call and schedule a pick-up from their home or business.
What are you waiting for? Find your old bike & parts and give them a call at (510) 644-2577!
Live on Kains or Adams?
Go to the YMCA?
Do you and your family want to AVOID bicycling on San Pablo Avenue?
Then you’ll be interested in this site walk focusing on the Kains and Adams Bicycle Boulevard projects.
Walk, talk, and find out about what’s possible to make these streets safer for bicyclists!
I’m sure many of you have ridden the Bicycle Boulevards in Berkeley and seen how more comfortable it is to ride Milvia instead of MLK or Shattuck, Russell instead of Ashby, and 9th instead of San Pablo.
If not, here is info on Berkeley’s Bicycle Boulevard system.
Now imagine if people could avoid San Pablo until a half-block from their destination by riding Kains and Adams!
This is the City page for this event.
More information is below and a link to the Community Meeting on June 15th is here.
Want to test your cycling, running and swimming skills in
a low-key setting, while helping AHS & AMS sports teams in the process?
Come on down to Memorial Park on October 1st for the Albany Community Triathlon!
Come join the fun!
courtesy: Peggy McQuaid
The Albany Community Triathlon emphasizes fitness and fun with a 400m swim, 10k cycle and 3k run.
Registration is available at www.albanytri.com.
Registrants will get a t-shirt and other swag while supplies last!
All proceeds will go to the Albany Athletic Boosters to benefit all High School & Middle School teams. In addition to the fund raising, this event focuses on fitness and fun. If you have always wanted to participate in a triathlon, but felt intimidated at the prospect, this is the one for you.
I’ve taken part in the RELAY – I did the cycling portion, and found friends for the swim and the run! It was fun rooting for my teammate during the swim, riding my bike, then rooting for my other teammate while she ran!
Feel great when you cross that Finish Line!
photo credit Amy Smolens
Again for 2017 – YOUTH DISCOUNTS for anyone under 18!
There is still a FAMILY & FRIENDS HEAT!
Parents, kids, spouses: When you register, you can indicate your desire to be in the same wave as one or more family members or friends. Then you can compete together & keep an eye on each other during the race (but not assist each other, per triathlon rules).
POST-RACE FESTIVITIES – Stick around after the race to recover with some healthy food, finisher awards, raffle prizes, massages, and schmoozing with fellow participants, volunteers, sponsors, and race organizers.
AS&R and Check for Bikes are excited to again be sponsoring the Albany Tri – supplying bike racks for the transition area and swag for the goodie bags. Other sponsors have included the Albany Community Foundation, Albany Lions Club, Blue Heron Bikes, REI, Albany Ford- Subaru and TranSports – we’ll update 2017 sponsors as we have information.
So come on down and get in on the fun!
For more information about the Albany Triathlon and please see the web site, www.albanytri.com. Registration will open at the end of March. This is a great community event and really fun to watch even if you don’t want to participate!
Come on down, have fun and support Albany Middle & High School sports!!
