Author: Stephen Blair

A new bike path just opened on the Richmond – San Rafael Bridge.  30+ VeloRaptors and friends made the clubs initial ride across the span.

Read more about the ride at here

The ride on Saturday, Nov 9, was a little different.  The ride was a combined VeloRaptor/Rotary ride to Treasure Island.  The start time was set for 10 am, hoping the fog would be burned off by then, but no such luck.  The temperature wasn’t bad (52 deg), but the fog was thick enough that we couldn’t see the bay.  Dennis showed up with his 89 Toyota 4Runner, and was impressed that Mark had a 92 version.  Dennis didn’t ride, but decided to meet us at the restaurant on TI.

Seven of us pedaled out into the gloom from the Brickyard pavilion and stopped to give our respects to the Bridge Troll along the way.

I got a call from Dennis just as we reached the end of the bridge path.  He wanted to let me know that the power was out everywhere on Treasure Island.  While I was taking the call, the others passed me and headed up the Yerba Buena Island hill.  Dennis decided to hang around the closed Mersea restaurant for a few minutes until we arrived.

We rendezvoused with Dennis at the restaurant, but realsized that one rider (Mark from Rotary) wasn’t with us.  I called him and learned that he was at the nearby Aracely café where Carla (another Rotarian) was waiting to meet us.  We cycled the short distance over to Aracely and found that it was open, albeit without power. As we rode up a group of firemen were leaving  with what turnd out to be the last few cups of coffee. Fortunately, Aracely still had pastries and hot water for tea. We had had nice snack break and somehow Carla ended up volunteering to SAG for one of our rides!

The return ride was uneventful and several of us stopped for coffee at the Blue Bottle on Broadway.  Herb brought Kate along on the ride and I learned that she teaches 6^th grade math.  I asked was subjects she covered during the year and our discussion led to me volunteering to come to her class and do a brief show and tell about my career. Basically, these kids have little exposure to career opportunities beyond service industries, etc. I think my 3 minute Rotary self-introduction can be expanded to 10-15 minutes and expose them to career paths in science.

-Steve Blair

The new bike path on the Richmond-San Raphael (RSR) bridge is scheduled to open soon (Nov 16).  VeloRaptor’s inaugural ride on this new bike path is set for Nov 20.

Nineteen VeloRaptors did the Marin Headlands ride on January 12!  We met at the foot of Market St, and then rode along the Embarcadero to Fisherman’s Wharf.

We made a stop at the Dolphin Club to look at the vintage boats, and watch the hardy Dolphin members emerge from the chilly water.

Then it was on to the beautiful Marina Green with fabulous views of SF Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge

Biking across the Golden Gate Bridge is always an exhilarating experience, due to being on this fabulous structure, crossing the Golden Gate, and the speeding cyclists, rookie cyclists on electric bikes, going in both directions, as well as the bridge maintenance equipment.  Once across, most of the group made the long slog up the Marin Headlands, and posed for our annual picture at the top.

Then comes the truly terrifying descent down to Ft Cronkite. The scenery is fabulous, but the road is STEEP and NARROW with several sharp CURVES.

It was then on to Sausalito where the group splintered.  Several riders caught a ferry back to SF. A few others cycled back over the GG Bridge, or cycled out along the headlands for a closer look at the ocean.

Six of us (3 Steves along with Paul, Kevin and Dale) pedaled our way to Tiburon and took a ferry to SF from there.

It was a fabulous day for cycling and riding ferries on SF Bay!

VeloRaptors have participated in the BORP Revolution ride for the last many years.  This year we had a team of 13 riders, and raised over $18,000 for BORP.  Steve Blair put together a brief video:

BORP Revolution 2018.

The VeloRaptor annual meeting was held June 3 at Sibley, and was well attended! Lots of riders toiled up Tunnel Road from Montclair, escorted from behind by Chris S. (who drove as she had to leave early).  Two Steve’s went off the board and Kathy and Charlie were added.

Incredibly, all three of our jerseys appeared.  On the right, Kevin has his keepsake original ‘VeloRaptors/Royal Grounds Cyclists’ jersey (a  very rare item).  On the left, Rick has the second generation jersey.  Smiling in the center, Kathy brings us up to date with the latest version!

VeloRaptor News!

VeloRaptors looking good – Russ leads our pack,  and he looks the part, with his new bike and matching outfit. Here he is on a recent Sunday ride!

Always a good idea to stop at stop signs, especially if it is a New STOP sign.  Found this one along the Carquinez Scenic Byway on a recent 4th Saturday Ride.

A few of us attended the Bike East Bay Pig Roast fund raiser and ‘goodby’ to Rene Rivera, BEB director who is leaving.  Not shown are Howard and Steve G. who also enjoyed the festivities.  https://bikeeastbay.org/

The hills are green and riding in Marin is fabulous right now.  Here is Fred, rolling through a meadow on Chileno Valley Rd.  We also saw some bovine action along Hwy 1 between Tomales and Pt. Reyes Station.

Finally, we had a Wednesday Outlier ride in Livermore in mid-April.  Here is a pic from the top of Tesla Rd.  Post ride lunch at Garre’ Winery was fabulous.

Recently the East Bay Times published a commentary disparaging Road Diets.  Below is a link a reply to the commentary, put together by 3 members of the VeloRaptors .

My Word: There are safe, successful road diets in Oakland