Stephen Blair – VeloRaptors

Marin Headlands Ride – 2019!

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!

Celebrations! VeloRaptor Christmas Party and 20 Years of VeloRaptors

From Rob:

Hi Everyone –

I hope you are getting in enough cycling to work off all the extra calories that we ingested at the party Saturday night!

For those who couldn’t make the party, we celebrated 20 years of the Veloraptors, and took some time to thank the people who have made it possible.

Click this link to see a list of people that have made the club what it is today:

velo 20 aniv

In the spoken remarks, Rob forgot to mention a few things, that are important to highlight including:

1. Tom Willging’s work with Bike East Bay: Tom devotes a lot of time to making Oakland a better and safer place to cycle. He updates us on important bike infrastructure projects and ways we can support cycling. Tom especially wants everyone to know that all cyclists are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO JOIN AND SUPPORT BIKE EAST BAY.

2. Big Sur Trip – May 13-16 – 4 days of cycling: When talking about our wonderful cycling trips, I forgot to mention that there is one coming up in May! This will be a chance to spend a long weekend cycling the Big Sur area without having to plan or do a thing other than show up. Black Sheep Adventures will be running the trip, which we hope to fill with people from our club. Many of us have travelled with them before and they always arrange a fantastic trip.

3. Paul Lattierri: I forgot to mention the enormous amount of time and effort that Paul has spend collecting and curating photograph. Many of you have spent time looking at the beautiful slide shows of Veloraptor rides that he has created.

4. A special thanks to all the important people who I’ve still forgotten to mention!

Happy Cycling!

VeloRaptors Ride For BORP

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.

VeloRaptor Jerseys – Right, Left and Center

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 Update – May 2018

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.

VeloRaptors Comment on Road Diets in Oakland

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

VeloRaptor Fun – OFF the bike

The VeloRaptors have hatched a subgroup of golfers. This group (termed the HackoRaptors by Kevin M.) had a great day of golf at Chardonnay in Napa, playing in the Orion Fund Charity Tournament. This tournament was founded by our own Pam H. and supports college students that are in a health crisis. The group pic shows our trophy, and bottles of wine awarded to us for having the most fun! Randy and Steve were named co-captains, for no particular reason.

Holiday Party – December 9

Our Holiday Party is scheduled for December 9. Save the date, more info to come..

VeloRaptors Support BORP Revolution

The 15th annual BORP Revolution ride was held Oct 23 at Trentadue Winery near Geyeserville. This year the VeloRaptor team had 8 riders, most of whom did the metric century. The weather was clear and not too hot, and the Sonoma County wine country was beautiful, as always.

Together the VeloRaptors raised nearly $13,000 for the cause. Thanks to those who contributed via the Bike Wash as well as the Revolution ride itself.

Bike Wash is June 3 / Annual Meeting is June 4

VELORAPTORS ANNUAL MEETING – JUNE 4 The annual meeting is scheduled for Sunday, June 4 at Sibley. The group usually arrives there around 9:15. A detailed announcement regarding board nominations, etc. will follow.

I hope to see you there.

-Steve B

TEAM VELORAPTORS BIKE WASH & BBQ – JUNE 3

Keeping the VeloRaptors annual summer party and BORP Revolution Bike Wash party going, once again Steve G., Steve B. and Randy are assuming the lead role for staging our fantastic annual VeloRaptors B.O.R.P Revolution fundraiser. And yes, now many of us will have been riding a lot, so it’s time to celebrate, spend time with other club members and get your bikes cleaned at the TEAM VELORAPTORS BIKEWASH. Our team of volunteers is getting ready to wash your bike; again this year’s “lead washers” Dennis C, Randy M., and Kevin M. will make your bike sparkle and your chain drive hum for a mere $25 donation to the BORP fundraiser! Any other members that would like to help with the bike wash let Randy know. This is a great opportunity for all you Velos to get your drive train cleaned and lubed.

Donations for food and drink are an additional $25: the main course along with wine/beer that you will enjoy is well worth the money, and remember we are raising money for a great cause!

…the particulars are:

When: Saturday, June 3, 2017
Bike Wash: 2:00pm – 4:30pm
BBQ: 5:00pm `til not-too-terribly-late

Where: Randy and Christina’s House
in Moraga.

A few things you might want to know:
• We’ll have beer, wine, and other beverages. We’ll also have assorted Kabobs (Beef, Chicken & Shrimp) and munchies. Bring a side dish, dessert or appetizer you want to share. So that I can get an idea on the amount of food & beverages, please RSVP to the invitation you will soon receive.
• The more the merrier – spouses, families, and friends welcome.
• Come early if you want your bike washed…there will be a line…
• Dennis and Kevin will be helping Steve B. and Randy wash and clean your bikes. Any other volunteers are appreciated.
• Steve and Randy will be recruiting members to ride the Revolution on Saturday, September 24, 2017. We had 13 riders last year and it would be nice to increase our number of riders for 2017. So, let’s have a great time joining other riders at a wonderful venue (Trentadue Winery). Registration will open in a few weeks.

To learn more about the BORP Revolution go online, or ask while at the BIKEWASH –BBQ, or call Randy/Steve.

By the way, last year was the fifth consecutive year our club riders raised over $14,000 plus for BORP,\! Congratulations to all the VeloRaptors who helped. Let’s beat this amount and increase our number of riders for the 2017 ride!!