Events

You probably know Street Level Cycles as the group who has given free bike tuneups at the annual Albany Arts & Green Festival. They’re much more than that, so come to their holiday party to find out more!
Join them for an afternoon of food and fun to raise funds for their youth programs!
Waterside Workshops has received a $10,000 challenge grant, and you can help us reach our goal by attending our event!
A donation of $10 per person gets you:
* a free boat rental
* wooden toy-making for kids
* entry into the kids or adult bike raffle
Also, Doc’s of the Bay will be here with their gourmet food truck serving up mouth-watering locally-sourced fare and the Cookie Department will be sampling their amazing cookies, the perfect addition to a cup of our famous Waterside hand-crafted coffee.  Our interns have been hard at work creating fine wooden handcrafts and building bicycles for the whole family, so while you are here, don’t forget to visit our Holiday Sale to mark a few names off of your list.  During the event, we will give away 25 kids bicycles to local low-income families.  If you know a family in need of a kid’s bicycle, please tell them to contact us before the event! At 5pm, we will be showing “Waterside” a documentary film about our organization and its role in the community.  All proceeds from this event will go directly to supporting our free programs for low-income youth.  Please join us on the 9th to kick-off the Holiday Season while giving back to your community!
For more details, go here.

Tonight’s Planning & Zoning Commission Meeting will include the first look at the newest proposal for the University Village Mixed-Use Project, including a Sprouts Farmers Market as anchor tenant and a two-way cycle track for excellent bicycle access.
More details about the project are here.

Discussion of and recommendations for the San Pablo Complete Streets project is also on the agenda.

Look here for the full meeting agenda.

Please come to the meeting to ask questions or speak, or send a message to the Commission care of cityhall@albanyca.org celebrating and supporting the proposed the cycle track.

Hey, Albany cyclists – do you want to take a spin with Albany’s City Council/Commission/Committee Members and City Staff? Would you like to show them what you like about our cycling infrastructure and explain how things should to be improved? Then please join Albany Traffic & Safety Commissioner Farid Javandel on Thursday morning for the 2nd Annual City Officials’ Bike to Work Day Ride Around Albany!

The ride will meet at 7:15 a.m. for 7:30 wheels up at the bike racks by the parking lot at City Hall and do a brief tour of Albany, highlighting some of our cycling highlights, current and future projects, and trouble spots. Route tba depending on attendees’ preference so arrive early to put your two cents in!

You will finish at Albany Strollers & Rollers’ Energizer Station at Marin Avenue & the Ohlone Greenway, where we will have giveaways, snacks, free safety checks from Blue Heron Bikes, Wheels of Justice and Berkeley Bikes & Skateboards, as well as our usual festive atmosphere!

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!

Street Level Cycles has graciously donated free bike tuneup services at the Arts & Green Festival since 2008
photo courtesy Matt McHugh

No doubt you know Street Level Cycles as the non-profit organization that provides FREE tuneups to members of our community at the annual Albany Arts & Green Festival.
Here’s a chance to learn more about them and enjoy a great afternoon of food and fun, at their holiday party and fund-raiser for their youth programs.
A donation of $10 per person gets you:
-a free boat rental
-wooden toy-making for kids
-entry into the kids or adult bike raffle
The Taco Guys will be there with their gourmet food truck serving up some of the best and most original tacos in the Bay.  Top it off with a cup of Waterside’s famous hand-crafted coffee and a fresh baked pastry to make for the perfect afternoon.
During the event, they will give away 100 kid’s bicycles to local low-income families.  If you know a family in need of a kid’s bicycle, please tell them to contact SLC before the event!

At 4pm, they will have a “Donors and Supporters Happy Hour and Silent Auction.” Any of you who have volunteered at an AS&R event over the past few years are invited to take part.  Items in the silent auction include gift certificates to local restaurants, original works of art, a week vacation rental in a beautiful Tahoe cabin and more.
All proceeds from this event will go directly to supporting their free programs for low-income youth!
Hope to see you there!

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 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!

Ride on down to Everest Kitchen to enjoy a special Happy Hour menu and chat about biking and walking!

If you’ve volunteered at any event over the past few years, we’d like to thank you for your service to the active transportation community! Please join us at our Holiday Happy Hour Meeting & Volunteer Thank You Party!
There will be delicious appetizers, one drink per person, and swag, courtesy of AS&R. You’re welcome to order dinner, too, and Sanjiv of Everest Kitchen  generously will give us 15% off their menu, including drinks.
Please RSVP to Amy at calamari@alumni.duke.edu so we have an approximate head count, can reserve a table, and can pre-order some appetizers. Also please let me know if you are vegetarian or vegan.
Of course, please bring your ideas, questions and input about cycling or walking around Albany!! As usual, this will immediately precede the Traffic & Safety Commission Meeting and will also be a good chance to talk about anything coming up on their agenda. Come and talk about walking and cycling in Albany, while eating delicious Nepali & Indian food! All are invited.
Yes, they have plenty of bike parking – feel free to stack your bikes, since many of us will be leaving simultaneously! This is our every other month (even-numbered months) informal get-together to talk about all things bike and ped in Albany. It’s a good chance to ask about what the city is up to and what our stance on issues is, and to meet others who are interested in issues related to human-scale transit/active transit.
Everyone is welcome.
Have something you want to talk or ask about? Put it in the “comments” section below! Hope to see you there! Again, please RSVP to Amy at calamari@alumni.duke.edu so we can have an approximate head count.

Sanjiv says “come on down!”