President’s Corner – December 2015

Welcome to the new VeloRaptors website. We hope you find it useful, informative and easy to navigate. Special kudos to Randy for his efforts to make this happen.

We are launching this new site in concert with the Christmas Party. A big Thank You to Fred and Alyston for hosting the Christmas party, and to Leslie and Cheryl (Just Delicious catering) for planning a  great menu. As usual  everyone’s culinary contributions will be fabulous and make this a great foodie event.

By now most members have received their VeloRaptor socks, designed by Steve L. Steve he also did the ordering, while Sally G and Susan C. did the distribution duties.  No getting around it – they are some cool socks

This year we have managed to schedule a 3rd Saturday ride every month, with good participation. Some rides have had 20 or more riders, and several different members have volunteered to lead rides. This has been a nice way to find new routes in the Bay Area and beyond.

We also continued to support BORP this past year (article below), both with the Bike Wash and with a team of 12 riders in the BORP Revolution.  Moreover, we raised in excess of $14,000 for BORP – a major contribution to their cause!   Most of the team did the 60 mile ride that explores the Sonoma wine country around Healdsburg.

This year’s Yosemite and Slovang rides were very special once again, and planning is in the works for them again in 2016.  Pictures of last year’s rides will be feature at this year’s holiday Party.

One bit of housekeeping.  Randy Mellin, our president for the past four years, will reach his term limit on the Board in May.  In July, your board elected me to succeed him as president, providing continuity in the transition. I am delighted to contribute to the club in this role, and look forward to many great biking adventures and social events with all of you.

See you on the road!

-Steve B.

President’s Corner April 2015

Hello VeloRaptors:

AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT – The VeloRaptors annual meeting is scheduled for May 31, 2015. The meeting will be part of our normal Sunday ride and will be held at approximately 9:15 am at Sibley Park (our normal rest stop). The Board of Directors at our last Board meeting asked Robin Brumell and Susan Stewart if they would like to serve an additional term as Board members and they graciously accepted. So, accordingly, the full Board agreed to nominate both of them for a new term as Board members. As always, if you would like to nominate another individual, you can submit their name to Randy Mellin (retmellin@gmail.com).

As in past years, Steve Blair has posted some new articles on his Bakery Blog that I am sure you will enjoy http://biketobakery.blogspot.com/.

The March Solvang ride was a great success, and the weather was perfect. We had a great group of riders, friends, and significant others. The lunches and dinners were spectacular, and as always, a fun time was had by all. A big thanks to Robin for putting this ride together once again.

Just a reminder of some upcoming rides you might be interested in joining:

  • Cycle for Sight
  • Primavera Century (closed)
  • Wine Country Century
  • Grizzly Peak Century
  • Ride For A Reason
  • VeloRaptors Yosemite ride
  • Marin Century
  • Chico Wild Flower

As always, ride safely, and follow the guidelines in the “Streets Smarts” safety booklet.