The sun was blazing in San Antonio Park on Sunday as bike polo players wrapped up their games, alleycat racers crossed the finish line and the scraper bike crew blasted Biggie. This group of eclectic bike riders along with many others jumped on their bikes and headed over to Alameda to watch the film festival. Here are some photos of the group ride:
The bicycle film festival hits San Francisco this week. Besides watching movies about bikes, there’s going to be all sorts of other fun, like parties, concerts, art gallery crawls and bike games. Oakland gets its day too—on Sunday, July 19. Down at the Michaan’s Auctions Movie Theater, people can see film shorts like “Bike Ride,” which is about a guy who rides 50 miles to see his girlfriend who dumps him and then he rides home, or feature length films…
The goal is to donate over 800 bikes to a small village in Namibia. Mike’s Bikes in Berkeley is hosting an “Africa Bike Drive” that will not only ship the bikes to Namibia, but also has partnered with Varsity Painting, which will contribute $30 to the Children’s Hospital of Oakland for each bike. Why is Mike’s Bikes doing this? This is what they say: “The bicycle can help in the development of many parts of Africa by providing people with…
I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m seeing more bikes with baskets than ever before. Maybe it’s more people commuting? Or maybe folks are giving up their cars and use baskets to grocery shop on their bikes? Maybe it’s just a cool trend? Whatever the reason, some people get really creative in constructing their baskets. I’ve taken a few photos of the eclectic baskets I’ve seen around lately:
The streets were packed last week at the Uptown Unveiled block party. It was such a warm night, no wonder so many people came through on bikes. Here are some photos:
With a total of 40 miles, six checkpoints and throughout six cities in the East Bay (Oakland, Berkeley, Emeryville, El Cerrito, Albany and Richmond) last weekend’s Rad Massaker alleycat race was all sorts of fun. The winner, Ricardo Moran, clocked in at around two hours and 30 minutes, coming in ahead of over 150 other folks. Here are some photos I took of the alleycat:
The same folks that brought you the Oakland Scrape alleycat last year are putting together the Rad Massaker alleycat this Sunday. The race will be throughout Berkeley, Oakland, Piedmont, Richmond, and Albany and will “finish bbq style.” It’s ten bucks and all proceeds go to the local non-profit-Cycles of Change. For those of you who don’t know, “alleycats” are free-for-all, unsanctioned bike races without a set course. Bikers are given a list of checkpoints spread across a city and they…
I had to do some tinkering on my bike the other day and didn’t have all the tools I needed–so I headed over to the Missing Link Bicycle Cooperative in downtown Berkeley. Their tool library is so cool. You just have to give them an ID and you can work up to two hours on your bike; they have work stands, manuals and any tool you’d ever need. The Missing Link is a co-op, so it’s owned and operated by…
I was in New York City the past few days and its bike culture reminded me a lot of Oaklands’. Tons of people ride around on bikes–from BMXers to road racers to daily commuters–and all seem proud of it. A friend let me borrow his bike to get around; I must have riden across the Williamsburg Bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn and back at least three times a day. The bridge is fun because it’s good bike-people watching, some folks…
Now that it’s summer, people are out riding bikes in full force. Lately, I’ve been taking pictures of bike piles–I love seeing them, especially when folks get creative locking and hanging their bikes on trees, gates, fences, whatever. Here are some pics:
Happy Cinco de Mayo! But not so happy for Oakland. I’m sure many of you found out that the usual Cinco de Mayo Fruitvale festivities were canceled this year. Why? Lack of funding for security. The Asociacion de Comerciantes y Profesionales de Oakland sponsors the event each year and has to get permits and police protection from the Oakland Police Department. The celebration and parade were supposed to be held last Sunday but ACPO needed more time to fundraise. “We…
State budget cuts slashed $300,000 of funding to Claremont Middle School. What did the school do about it? They rode their bikes 100 miles. Claremont parents organized a century-ride from Oakland to the State Capitol, on May 4, to raise public awareness and money for their children’s school. If they cannot raise these funds, the school will lose their communications coordinator, librarians, a counselor and the digital media program. Even though the ride already happened, you can still help this…
In easy view of crisscrossing highways and towering industrial parks, dozens of people marched through East Oakland’s flatlands wearing white surgical masks on Saturday. Families pushing strollers, men in suits, and kids with skateboards walked from Tassafaronga Recreation Center to Acorn Woodland Elementary School to celebrate ‘Love Yo Mama’ Earth Day and to call attention to environmental degradation in inner city neighborhoods.
This video of Danny MacAskill in Edinburgh, Scotland is like nothing I’ve ever seen. He takes freestyle biking to another level, trees, fences, railings, stairs, it’s insane. Definitely worth a watch.
Fix without Dix is a bike crew/gang/club for women only. They meet every Wednesday evening and ride through the East Bay’s streets to Alameda, Richmond, Berkeley, the Port of Oakland or up into the hills. Any woman who likes riding bikes can join — she doesn’t have to ride a fixed gear bike or be the fastest in the Bay Area. This group is more about community and fun than competition. To join on a ride, meet at the…
I was curious what the City of Oakland is doing to create more bike paths and found this information on the City of Oakland Public Works Agency Web site. They have a bunch of information about signs, trails and paths. They say that from 1999 to 2007 they installed more than 87 miles of bike lanes and in December 2007 approved the “Oakland Bicycle Master Plan” that will build 131 miles more. I also found their definitions of bike lanes,…