All In One Fitness Gym in Albany will be celebrating its third year anniversary with a party and health fair and Albany Strollers & Rollers will be there!
This is a free event for the community and will include booths provided by several local health related businesses including chiropractor, physical therapist, acupuncturist, solar company…and, of course, AS&R.
Come on down to the gym for a day filled with games, food, live dj, membership specials, raffles, prizes, and most importantly fun and great information on how you can lead a healthier lifestyle!
Bring your friends and family! Please RSVP and get more information by giving us a call at the gym at (510) 524-1001. Hope to see you there!
We have been invited to participate in order to talk to other AiOF members about cycling and walking around town. 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!
 Edition 2, courtesy of AS&R member Megan Vieira!Abi wants to take us on a wild adventure this week, so get ready to follow the whims of a 2nd grader as she leads us on an adventure starting in Albany. Bring bikes, bells, helmets (required for kids, recommended for adults) and your favorite kid or kid-at-heart. We will start at the playground in the center of UC Village (Take Monroe off of San Pablo, park there if you’re driving, and bike West through parking lots to the playground officially on Gooding Way between Red Oak Ave and Ohlone Ave). We may not end at our starting point, but we will bike back with you in case you need directions back! Meet at 10 to play. Rolling at 11 sharp. Pack snacks and water for the ride, and a picnic lunch for the end. Rain cancels |
Join the fun! courtesy: Peggy McQuaid
Want to test your cycling, running and swimming skills in a low-key setting, while helping AHS sports teams in the process?
Come on down to Memorial Park for on September 27th for the Albany Community Triathlon!
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 High School Athletic Department to benefit all 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.
New for 2014 – RELAY TEAM (that’s what I’m taking part in.) I’m doing the cycling portion, and I found friends for the swim and the run! I’ll root for my teammate during the swim, ride my bike, then root for my other teammate while she runs! What a fun way to spend the morning and work up and appetite for “Dinner With Albany.”
Also new for 2014 – YOUTH AND STUDENT DISCOUNTS!
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.
Feel great when you cross that Finish Line! photo credit Amy Smolens
Albany Strollers & Rollers is excited to again be sponsoring the Albany Community 
Triathlon – other sponsors include the Albany Community Foundation, Albany Lions Club, Blue Heron Bikes, REI, Albany Ford- Subaru and TranSports.
AS&R is lending the bike racks we use for bicycle valet parking to the triathlon for the race transition area and we are also putting goodies in the swag bags of all participants and volunteers. So come on down and participate in the fun!
For more information about the Albany Triathlon and to register, please see the web site, www.albanytri.com. 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 High School sports!!
Ride with us and our neighbors at the Tour de Trails!
Come join with our friends from Rich-City Rides and Bike East Bay on a 16-mile ride showcasing little-known local trails on Dec. 6!
The ride, which takes off from Richmond BART station at 10 a.m., is fun, easy-paced and mostly off-street and paved, according to Rich City Rides, the local nonprofit co-hosting the event with Bike East Bay.
Riders will learn how to navigate some of the more complicated sections of trail and discuss what needs to be done to make Richmond’s, El Cerrito’s and Albany’s trails easier to use.
The ride heads south from the Richmond BART station to the Richmond Greenway trail, then continues east on the trail to the start of the Ohlone Greenway trail in El Cerrito. The trip then goes south on the Ohlone to Albany, where it connects with the Marin/Buchanan Bikeway. Cyclists will then head north on the Bay Trail, looping back to the start of our route at Richmond BART.
Children under 16 must be accompanied with an adult and should be able to ride with their parents safely in the street. Anyone under age 18 must where a helmet.
Any parents who want to learn more about biking with children can attend one of the free family workshops offered online at www.BikeEastBay.org/FCW, or check out our website at www.BikeEastBay.org/FamilyCycling for more information.
Preview the route online at: www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/538365706. Those who can’t join the full route can get on BART at El Cerrito Del Norte at mile 3.3, El Cerrito Plaza at mile 5.2, or just head north on the Greenway until you meet up with the ride.
Please rsvp to the Facebook Event: Tour De Trails
Come on down to pedal-power a delicious smoothie and help others do the same!
courtesy: Amy Smolens
DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES OUT OF AS&R AND APAL’S CONTROL, THE BIKE RODEO HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL THE FALL. PLEASE STAY TUNED FOR MORE INFO.
Bring your kids to Albany Police Activity League’s Annual Bike Rodeo!
Ken McCroskey, AS&R’s master helmet adjuster and children’s brain guardian, tirelessly applies his craft
courtesy: Francesco Papalia
Free bicycle helmets will be given to youth participants.
Rodeo activities will include bike inspections, safety information, and a bicycle safety course. The goal of the bicycle rodeo is to encourage riders to wear helmets on every ride, to give young cyclists basic skills for on-road riding, and to teach them the rules of the road to help keep them safe. This event focuses on young riders in elementary and middle school.
AS&R will again be working with kids, showing them how to ride their bikes safely and responsibly.
We’ll also have our ”Check for Bikes” clings on hand for parents…and the famous Bicycle Blender so everyone can pedal-power a delicious smoothie!
PLEASE VOLUNTEER: We could definitely use some help running the bike blender station and talking to parents and kids. Any takers, please? If so, please contact Amy Smolens or Ken McCroskey.
School kids learn how to cycle safely and have fun doing it, while following the rules of the road.
courtesy Peggy McQuaid
Give your input to improve the Greenway by El Cerrito BART stations!
Come help our neighbor to the North, El Cerrito, shape its (and your) bicycle and pedestrian future!
The primary goals of this project are to:
*Improve bicycle and pedestrian routes to transit, commercial nodes and housing
*Bring new vibrancy to the areas around the BART stations
*Increase safety and accessibility for BART riders and Greenway users
*Improve the integration of the El Cerrito Plaza and El Cerrito del Norte BART Stations with the surrounding community.
Here are some of the 96 BikeLink lockers at nearby El Cerrito Plaza BART
On Tuesday November 10 the City of El Cerrito will host a community meeting to review the preferred plan for the Ohlone Greenway at the El Cerrito del Norte and El Cerrito Plaza BART station areas. This is the last of several outreach efforts to engage the public in the process of re-designing the Ohlone Greenway at two key areas in the City. At the meeting, community members will have a chance to voice their opinion on the preferred plan to create gateway elements and outdoor gathering spaces around the Greenway and BART stations, improve the mixed-use bicycle and pedestrian path and intersection crossings, and other enhancements.For more info, go here.
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!
Join your friends and neighbors for a free “bike-in” showing of the family film “Cool Runnings!”
The City of Albany’s Recreation Department is getting into the spirit of Bike Month with a Bike in Movie!
They will be showing ‘Cool Runnings,’ a film sure to spark your quest for the ultimate ride. Ride your bike on down to the Albany Community Center and join us for this fabulous Bike Month event! There will have plenty of space to park your bike in a protected area, complete with a massive bike rack.
The popcorn is free and will be flowing freely! This film is PG. Special thanks to 5 Little Monkeys for co-sponsoring this bike-tacular event.
Hundreds of people from all over the Bay Area take advantage of our Bicycle Valet Parking service at two lots on Solano Avenue. Please volunteer a few hours before enjoying the event!
Photo courtesy Amy Smolens
Albany Strollers & Rollers will again be providing Free Bicycle Valet Parking at two locations: 1800 Solano Ave (Wells Fargo) and 1245 Solano (the vacant lot near Masonic.)
We’ll also have an information table by our western lot near Masonic.
WE NEED YOU TO MAKE THIS A SUCCESS!
If you’d like to help park bikes at either lot or volunteer at AS&R’s info table, please contact Amy Smolens.
AS&R Super-Volunteer Lynn Eve Komaromi takes a well-earned Pad Thai break – thanks, Bua Luang!
Please join Lynn Eve and your AS&R neighbors in volunteering!
All volunteers who work at least a 4-hr shift or pick up & return rental racks will get free lunch provided by a supporting Solano Avenue restaurant, Mountain Mike’s Pizza , Tay Tah or Bua Luang Thai Cuisine!!
Since 1974 Solano Avenue and the cities of Albany and Berkeley have hosted the Solano Avenue Stroll, the East Bay’s largest street festival! The Solano Avenue Association , AS&R and Check for Bikes invite you to see what makes Solano Avenue a wonderful place. The Stroll features over five hundred vendors including 50 entertainers (there’s always great music!,) 50 food booths, 150 government and non-profit agencies, 150 juried hand-crafters, a 75 entry parade, state of the art mechanical rides and much more!
We would like to thank Janka White, the owner of AS&R’s new supporting sponsor, Floor Dimensions. Janka is donating a long Red Carpet to lead passers-by to our information table and straight up the ramp to our western Bicycle Valet Parking lot!
Thanks also to Lucas Euser of Clif Bar who donated boxes of Clif Bars and Z Organic Kids Bars & Fruits so ALL OF OUR VOLUNTEERS will have plenty to snack on all day!!
Come visit AS&R at our information table then enjoy a great stroll up Solano!
Or better yet, volunteer a few hours with Amy, Michael and your neighbors before strolling!
Photo courtesy Tenisha Neal
This family event promotes the unique traits of Solano Avenue, helping independently-owned businesses, artists, and community organizations to thrive by exposure and fundraising. Join 250,000 participants and event guests visit from all over the west coast at this annual street festival!
Please see the press room to stay tuned into what’s hot at this years event!
Brought to you by the Cities of Albany and Berkeley; and with the help of our generous sponsors, SAA members, and volunteer board of directors.
Lucas Euser of Clif Bar donated boxes of Clif Bars and Z Organic Kids Bars & Fruit for ALL OUR VOLUNTEERS!!
Photo courtesy Francesco Papalia
Bike, trikes, scooters, strollers, trailers, tandems, striders, long-tails, unicycles and more bikes!! Photo courtesy Mark Altenberg
Thank you Janka White of Floor Dimensions for donating a “Red Carpet” to lead festival-goers to our lower lot and table!!
The crucial Kains/Adams Bicycle Blvd project will be on the agenda of October’s Traffic & Safety Commission Meeting.
WOULD YOU RATHER BIKE ON THIS…..
OR THIS?? SPEAK UP TO MAKE THIS A REALITY IN ALBANY!
Considerable local opposition has arisen, and we are in danger of missing out on these facilities. If you and your family would use either of these Bicycle Boulevards because you want to AVOID bicycling on San Pablo Avenue, live on Kains or Adams, go to the YMCA, please act!
How? 1) Send a letter of support to Aleida Andrino-Chavez , requesting that she forwards it to the Traffic & Safety Commission, and cc or bcc me, Amy Smolens , so I can track support, which is important.
2) Attend this meeting and tell the Traffic & Safety Commission that you and your family need these Bicycle Boulevards as they decide from among the various traffic calming and Bicycle Boulevard options for our neighborhoods.
Engage with City staff, consultants, and your neighbors in community planning for improving pedestrian and bicyclist.
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 FINAL COMMUNITY MEETING before Traffic & Safety Commission makes its recommendations to City Council so your attendance is important!!
This was the consultants’ presentation at the meeting on October 4th.
The monthly Traffic & Safety Commission Meeting, the Fourth Thursday of every month, is a great place to make your ideas known, find out about the transportation issues and projects in Albany, and help improve things for cyclists and pedestrians in and around our town.
This is a map and chart of the regional bicycle route from Oakland to Richmond – Albany is the only gap in a 12+ mile North-South bike route.
Here is the meeting agenda. Kains/Adams is the second item on the agenda, and the first item is related – North Albany traffic calming, which included Kains Ave near El Cerrito Plaza.
Come on down – thanks!
