Tag: Cycling

Mustard Seed Spin supports homeless kids

This weekend the Mustard Seed Spin will have hundreds of riders touring the American River Parkway. The ride, which has been around since 2005, raises money (100% of rider fees) for the Mustard Seed School, a school for the children of homeless families run by the Catholic organization Loaves & Fishes.

Online registration is closed but it looks like you can still register at REI or on the day of the event, which is Sunday at 11:00 AM at William Pond Recreation Area. I’ll be there, either as a rider or handing out water and protein goo.

Greatest costume ever UPDATED


This is *basically* what my friend saw.
From Grim Reaper blog

From a friend out on a ride I heard a tale of an individual dressed in full grim reaper garb, including sickle, and mounted on a black steed, stationed at one end of the bridge over the river from William Pond to Goethe Park River Bend Park. Just from one report I am willing to dub this individual the wearer of the greatest costume ever seen in Sacramento. Did anyone else see this?

(By the way, is there a name for that bridge? RonTopofIt and I are stumped on that.)

UPDATE: RonTopOfIt came through. That bridge is called the Harold Richey Memorial Bicycle Bridge.

May is Bike Month in Sacramento

bike month sacramento 2007
cc by neighborhoods.org

Two-wheeled locomotion is all the rage this month in the Sacramento area. May Is Bike Month, sponsored by various local municipalities, public transit agencies, and government groups, is basically a massive jog-a-thon for cycling nuts, only instead of the marching band getting new uniforms, we all just get more time to enjoy cycling. The program’s goal for the area is to log one MEELLION miles, and they already have close to 1.25 million pledged.

Continue reading “May is Bike Month in Sacramento”

On your left!

For those that may have missed this memo released on February 18th, new “Rules & Courtesy” signs are going up along the American River Parkway to “encourage visitors to follow the rules and share the bike trail.”

“Our old courtesy signs were several years old and were showing their age,” said Flannery. “Our old signs also had a lot more wording, and because we realized that most trail users reasonably wouldn’t take the time to read the entire sign, we cut the words by half.”

And people still won’t read/follow them. Anyone that has had to do anything that involves people of any kind should know by now that you can’t win no matter what you do. On the Parkway, at the grocery store, you name it. People just suck.

This is about the time of year where the Parkway etiquette debate heats up. The Parkway, like The Sac Rag, follows the “if you live here, you know” slogan.

Adventure Cyclist Shares Globe Travel Tales Tonight

Weir's new book: Travels with Willie
Weir's new book: Travels with Willie

Ever picture yourself traveling across the globe?—by bicycle? Sacramento native Willie Weir has done it, and done it cheaply. Across the United States, Canada, and even through far-flung places like South Africa and Laos, Willie has put his pedal to the road. He shares his travel tales tonight at REI in Sacramento at 7:00pm.

Weir is a cycling columnist for Adventure Cyclist magazine and a public radio cycling commentator. He’s experienced it all, and done so on a tight budget. He’ll go so far as to call himself “cheap.” In fact, one five-month journey cost him only $400. Find out how he does it tonight for a cheap $5, which benefits the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates.

If you can’t make the event, his adventures can also be found in his new book Travels with Willie: Adventure Cyclist.

Our name is Sacramento, and we have a problem.

When I first moved to these fair parts several years ago, one of the things I took note of was the casual attitude where DUI was concerned. People here don’t take drinking and driving very seriously compared to where I’ve lived before. It’s so commonly done and accepted that I’ve seen off duty cops do it (and even a certain coach of your Sacramento Kings). I’ve had difficulty understanding how unconcerned people here are with impaired driving and the risks that come with it.

It’s no surprise our region is rife with buildings crashing into our moving vehicles.

I felt some vindication about my feelings on this issue when I came across Marcus Breton’s article in Bee today:

Continue reading “Our name is Sacramento, and we have a problem.”

Nevada City to host AMGEN prologue – UPDATED


cc by Trefethen

As I predicted, Nevada City will be involved in the 2010 AMGEN tour. In fact, the prologue to the 2010 race might start in the wonderful foothill town, News10 reports. The prologue would end here in Sacramento which means lots of two-wheeled action for our fair city as well.

In addition the race has been moved to May. The announcement about the race layout will be made official tomorrow, and it looks like it is still uncertain whether Lance will compete since the Tour of Italy also takes place in May.

UPDATE (Thursday 10/22): It’s official, Nevada City will start the 2010 tour. Also official is Lance Armstrong’s participation in the event. Big news for our neighbors up the hill!

Bikes and Brews

If it’s October, that means Oktoberfest! Enjoy the brewed bounty of the season from brewers like Rubicon, Hoppy and Pyramid this Thursday with an Oktoberfest Bike Crawl. Bring your cruiser or 10-speed, rent a bike for the occasion for only $15, or ride in style in a pedicab sampling fall’s best beers and free appetizers. At each location there will be prizes, giveaways, and drink specials. And remember, it’s a furlough Friday this week, so you state workers can really let your hair down. Pre-party starts around 5pm, with the crawl starting at 6. Meet-up is at 1013, 12th Street. Cost is $20. Check out http://www.grubcrawl.usa.com for more info.

Alternatively, hit up Sacramento Brewing Company, Flaming Grill, and Sam’s Hof Brau, for some hardcore suburban Oktober’ing if you happen to be closer to that neighborhood.