For the fourth straight year AS&R will be providing free Bicycle Valet Parking (at the Pumpkin Patch) to anyone who pedals or rolls to the Stroll. This year we are happy to announce Bua Luang Thai Cuisine and Tay Tah Cafe, both local businesses run by an Albany family, as our co-sponsors making this service possible!
As usual, Tay Tah and Bua Luang will be providing lunches to volunteers so RSVP to Sylvia Paull here by Monday, September 3rd to reserve your lunch and Thai Iced Tea – thanks!
WE NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE THIS A SUCCESS – THANKS!
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!!
Come on down and learn how to ride a bike more safely – and have more fun!
Do you, a friend or family member want to ride your bike more but don’t feel confident enough?
Here’s a FREE bicycle skills class RIGHT IN OUR BACKYARD, courtesy of Bike East Bay!
In addition to the regular first-Mondays classes at UC Berkeley, they have now set up a free Urban Cycling 101 Day 1 classroom workshop for adults and teens at the Albany Library/Community Center on Saturday, July 16th, from 1-3pm. Complete details and registrations are available here.
The class is FREE but it’s mandatory to register here.
Bike Share’s coming to Berkeley soon!
Bike Share in the Bay Area will be bigger and better soon. With 7,000 bikes at full build-out, the system will have stations every few blocks in San Francisco; connect Oakland, Berkeley, and Emeryville; and extend the San Jose service area from the downtown core. It will link people to MUNI and BART, to jobs and schools, and all that the Bay Area has to offer.
The City of Berkeley has partnered with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Bay Area Motivate to launch bike share in Berkeley in 2017. Berkeley will have 400 bikes and 37 bike share stations. Bike share will create a 24-hour, regional transportation network for short, one-way trips. Bike share provides an easy way of making trips from your home to BART, from your office to lunch, to dinner and a friend’s house. The Bay Area Bike Share system expansion will also include Emeryville (100 bikes), Oakland (850), San Francisco (4,500) and San Jose (1,000.)
No, not in Albany yet, but hopefully the next expansion will include Albany, El Cerrito and Richmond.
The next step is public workshops, where neighbors sit around maps and discuss which station locations work best for their community. You are invited to review possible site locations and give input, which will be considered, along withcrowd-sourced suggestions and technical analysis.
There are two more opportunities to give input so take advantage of them!
West Berkeley: September 28, 2016 West Berkeley Public Workshop, 6 & 6:45pm at the Sierra Club
North Berkeley: September 29, 2016 North Berkeley Public Workshop, 6 & 6:45pm at the North Berkeley Senior Center
Bike Share’s coming to Berkeley soon!
Bike Share in the Bay Area will be bigger and better soon. With 7,000 bikes at full build-out, the system will have stations every few blocks in San Francisco; connect Oakland, Berkeley, and Emeryville; and extend the San Jose service area from the downtown core. It will link people to MUNI and BART, to jobs and schools, and all that the Bay Area has to offer.
The City of Berkeley has partnered with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Bay Area Motivate to launch bike share in Berkeley in 2017. Berkeley will have 400 bikes and 37 bike share stations. Bike share will create a 24-hour, regional transportation network for short, one-way trips. Bike share provides an easy way of making trips from your home to BART, from your office to lunch, to dinner and a friend’s house. The Bay Area Bike Share system expansion will also include Emeryville (100 bikes), Oakland (850), San Francisco (4,500) and San Jose (1,000.)
No, not in Albany yet, but hopefully the next expansion will include Albany, El Cerrito and Richmond.
The next step is public workshops, where neighbors sit around maps and discuss which station locations work best for their community. You are invited to review possible site locations and give input, which will be considered, along withcrowd-sourced suggestions and technical analysis.
There are two more opportunities to give input so take advantage of them!
West Berkeley: September 28, 2016 West Berkeley Public Workshop, 6 & 6:45pm at the Sierra Club
North Berkeley: September 29, 2016 North Berkeley Public Workshop, 6 & 6:45pm at the North Berkeley Senior Center
Come join our annual rolling party, Bike to Work Day!
photo courtesy Nick Pilch
Join us for the 25th Annual Bike to Work Day in the Bay Area, a party on wheels!!
As usual, there will be coffee, food, swag, bike goodies in the famous Bike to Work Day musette bags, fun and lots of good conversation & information so come on down on your way to work!
Here’s a short VIDEO that AS&R member Francesco Papalia took so you can see how fun the morning is!
Don’t miss rolling down to see all your friends and neighbors!
Photo courtesy Nick Pilch
The staff of Blue Heron Bikes and Berkeley Bikes & Skateboards will be volunteering their time, checking your bicycles for safety and road-worthiness as they have in previous years! Thanks to owners Rob Allen & Winston Jamison for spending time with us all!
Local business Kim’s Cafe (thanks, Cathy!!) and Royal Ground Coffee (thanks, Mike!) are again donating home made pastries & beverages for our Energizer Station. Trader Joe’s El Cerrito, Barney Butter non-GMO almond butter from the Central Valley, Semifreddi’s in Alameda and GU Energy in Berkeley are also giving us generous donations. Safeway on Solano and Sprouts at University Village are donating gift cards for groceries, too!
SO YES, WE NEED YOUR HELP IN DISTRIBUTING ALL THESE GOODIES TO 600+ CYCLISTS!
Local businesses BLUE HERON, BUA LUANG, TAY TAH CAFE AND FERN’S GARDEN ARE ALL DONATING SPECIAL GIFT CARDS OR COUPONS FOR OUR BIKE MONTH VOLUNTEERS, IN APPRECIATION FOR YOUR TIME AND SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY!!!
Plenty of food and drink for everyone, but we could use people to pick it up and hand it out!
photo courtesy Francesco Papalia
WE WILL NEED HELP AT OUR ENERGIZER STATION BEGINNING AT 6:30 a.m. through wrap-up at 9:30, as well as preparing for a big celebration.
We will need help stuffing the musette bags with goodies beforehand, picking up food & coffee early morning on the 10th, and handing out swag, food and counting cyclists all morning at the Energizer Station.
Want to help get donations of food, beverages or $ for food & bevs? If so, please contact Ken McCroskey at kenmccroskey@gmail.com or Amy Smolens at calamari@alumni.duke.edu or leave a comment on this post.
Thanks!!
Stuffing bags for everyone who rolls by is FUN!! If you can help, please email Ken at kenmccroskey@gmail.com – thanks!
Stuff to stuff!
photo courtesy Amy Smolens
Want a fun bike park like Dirt World in Richmond? Support this project at an Albany Parks & Rec meeting and/or write a letter!
On September 13th, a course/park designer will pitch several plans for a proposed mountain bike/BMX bike park in Albany. Commissioners will benefit from input and feedback from the public, especially supporters like you, to help decide which plan, if any, to advance to the City Council. Proposed location is adjacent to Pierce St Park – just below it, to the west on Cleveland St. Early discussions described a MTB component around the perimeter space and a BMX component at the interior. The designer said he likes to design with different riding abilities in mind on the same course (very easy, medium, challenging) and to provide different price points for features, their materials, etc. He has designed and built Richmond’s new Dirt World and many other bike parks.
Here is the Design and Estimate Proposal.
Any input – in person or even in writing – you can provide (even just “looks great!” or “our family would use this!” will be helpful).
Separately, input is sought for what may be the final design review for the new and improved trails at Albany Hill Park. Here are the 90% Plans.
*New ADA trail at the top parallel to the ridge line
*Improvements to existing trails at the north
*Improved, re-landscaped access points to the park where Jackson and Madison dead-end
*Stairs plus a bulbout in the SE corner where Taft hits Hillside
The city has received the monarch roosting report it commissioned and is taking its results and recent community input to limit impacts to trees near monarch habitat. Some commissioners including myself (Bryan Marten) want to also use that information to move forward with choosing a select few trees to remove to improve views of the bay, bird habitat at the mud flats, etc. This involves the city approaching the large land owner at the SW corner of the hill which the city has said it will do.
This is the full agenda for the meeting.
BMX/MTB parks are great fun and recreation for kids, teens and adults!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS OF SUPPORT to Albany Staff Liaison Chelle Putzer at cputzer@albanyca.org and request that she send your letter to all members of Albany’s Parks & Rec Commission. Thanks!
Wildcard Brewing has one of Albany’s newest Bike Bike Racks – come try it out and raise money for AS&R!
We’re excited to have brand new local business Wildcard Brewing partner with Albany Strollers & Rollers on “Pints With Purpose,” their community fundraiser in which they help out local non-profits.
Hoist a pint or flight with us and help fund Albany’s newest bike rack at one of its newest businesses!
In this Bike Month activity, $1 FROM EVERY PINT OR FLIGHT THAT YOU BUY ALL DAY WILL HELP AS&R FUND A BRAND NEW “BIKE BIKE RACK” FOR WILDCARD CUSTOMERS!
Since we’re anticipating lots of you riding over, we’ll have our Bicycle Valet Parking racks set up right out front for you and your families. Racks will be unattended (we’ll be inside) so please bring your bike locks.
Yes, Wildcard is family friendly (they have non-alcoholic beverages including craft root beer, New York seltzer and lemon flavored sparkling water, plus plenty of games) and you can bring or order food in to go with your beer!
They even welcome leashed dogs!
Feel free to bring lunch, dinner or snacks from your favorite restaurants on Solano or San Pablo Avenues, too!
Support those who support us – hope to see you there as Bike Month winds down!!
We’ll have two of these racks right out front for your parking convenience. Please bring your bike locks – they will be visible from inside, but unattended.
Photo courtesy Mark Altenberg
Thanks to one of Albany’s newest businesses for raising money for a new Bike Bike Rack right out front!
