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!
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!!!
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!!
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.
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!
Albany Recreation & Community Services continues its Parks, Recreation & Open Space Master Plan update with the second of three workshops designed to gather community feedback. The first Albany Parks community workshop was intended to capture a high-level vision of what changes people would like to see in their park system. This next workshop is intended to focus at a site-specific scale on how those changes might look like. We will be joined on the webinar-style Zoom with the Albany Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Commission.
Significant is that this plan deals not only with parks per se, but also trails and paths like the Ohlone Greenway and the Codornices & Cerrito Creek Paths. Which connections do you and your family need to safely bike or walk where you’re going?
Are there sufficient bike racks and other facilities in our parks and open spaces?
REGISTER FOR THE WORKSHOP HERE
Please take the Albany parks community survey here and follow @albanyparksmp on Instagram for the latest updates. Stay in the loop through www.albanyparks.com. You can also receive Master Plan updates through “Albany Parks Master Plan” eNotifications.
Want to test your cycling, running and swimming skills in a low-key & fun setting, while helping AHS & AMS sports teams in the process?
Come on down to Memorial Park on Sunday October 16th for the first post-pandemic, real, in-person Albany Community Triathlon!
The Albany Community Triathlon emphasizes fitness and fun with a 400m (425y) swim, 10k (12 laps around Memorial Park/AHS) cycle and 2.5k (1.6m/3 laps) run.
There is also a “Super Youth” division for kids from 7-10 – 70m (75 yd/3 lengths) pool swim, 2.5 mile bike (1.6m/3 laps) and 1k (0.6m/1 lap) run.
Registration is available at https://albanytri.com/register/.
Registrants will get fun 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!
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 include Albany Community Foundation, Albany Ford-Subaru, Trader Joe’s, Blue Heron Bikes, TranSports and Bikes on Solano.
So come on down and get in on the fun!
For more information about the Albany Triathlon, 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 Middle & High School sports!!