Category: Uncategorized

Joe Shami’s Legacy – Mt Diablo Bike Turnout Project and a Bench on the La Morinda Trail!

Tragically, on April 14, 2021, Joe Shami, “The Legend of Mount Diablo”, was struck and killed by a vehicle while riding his bicycle in Lafayette, CA. In honor of Joe’s efforts, spirit, and inspiring demonstration of life fully lived there are now two wonderful remembrances of his life of cycling. The California State Parks Foundation has dedicated the Bike Turnout Project on Mt. Diablo to Joe and a bench has been placed along the Lamorinda trail near his home. In addition, Joe’s passing was also noted in a recent issue of the MIT News which reads as follows:

Although he is not with us today, Joe left a special gift in his will of $123,415.61 to California State Parks Foundation to fund additional Bike Turnouts on Mount Diablo. Read more about Joe and the Bike Turnout Project at this link https://act.calparks.org/a/biketurnout .

Here are pics of both Joe at the top of Mt. Diablo and few VeloRaptors at the bench dedicated to him.

I

If you find yourself on the LaMorinda trail you will find Joe’s bench near the birdhouse village as shown below.

VeloRaptors Support BORP Revolution Ride!

For several years the VeloRaptors have supported BORP, an organization which provides sports, recreation and fitness programming for children, youth and adults with physical disabililities and visual impairments. On Saturday, May 13, BORP held its 21st annual Ride, Roll and Stroll in Santa Rosa. We are proud to say that 11 VeloRaptors participated and collectively raised $23,600, smashing our goal of $15,000. The ride this year was a memorial tribute for former team member Dennis Cathey. The team, headed up by team captain Randy Mellin, had several prodigious fundraisers on it, including one of the top 5, Steven Goldenberg. Altogether the team inspired 103 contributions to BORP.

VeloRaptors Ready to Ride!

You can learn more about the BORP organization at their website:

http://www.borp.org

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.

DSCF0634

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.

 IMG_2431

IMG_2429

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

DSC09813

 

DSCF0642

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.

DSC09830

DSCF0648

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.

DSC09836

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

DSCF0649

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

DSC09903

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!
IMG_2394
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:
 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!