Category: Uncategorized

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

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.

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