Established in 1986, the Oakland Yellowjackets Bicycle Club (OYJ) is a social, multi-cultural bicycling group for men and women of all ages and skill levels. We are not a racing team. Our "no-drop" policy ensures that even the slowest cyclists will always ride accompanied. For us, rides are social events not races, so we make every attempt to ride as a group for safety and camaraderie. Our members ride all sorts of bicycles: road bikes, tandems, mountain bikes and hybrids.
The OYJ regular ride season starts in mid-April with the annual Kick-Off Ride and concludes in late-September or early October with our annual Monterey weekend ride. OYJ rides are typically 35-80 to miles in length with higher mileage rides occurring in the later part of the ride season. Light and Humane Intermediate groups often ride a route with reduced mileage and easier terrain.
For more information about the club, please see the Yellowjackets 101 page.
The ride was, well, challenging (see below), but, as always, it was a great experience and I'm happy to be a part of such a worthwhile event.
The results (so far..)
Team Bio-Rad (my team) and the Napa Valley Tour de Cure event will likely have another record year this year! Team Bio-Rad just surpassed $65,000 this morning (most ever at this point) and the Tour just over $1.218 million! And the money is still coming in.! The Tour de Cure web site for our tour and Team Bio-Rad will remain open at least until the end of this month.
Bio-Rad Top 15
Bio-Rad had the largest team (191 riders registered) and so far raised the most money of over 200 teams in the event. We also had the largest number of volunteers doing a fantastic job!
Here is the list of my team's top 15 fund raisers. Thanks so much to everyone who donated to the cause!
The 2012 Tour de Cure was by far the toughest of the four I've done. The heat and the wind beat me relentlessly. I wanted to quit several times along the way, but I persevered and finished the 100 mile ride for the 4th time. Here's how it went down:
I rode up to Napa with Frank from the OYJ. I was psyched to him have along. He's a great guy and, well, a bit heavier than me, so he's got the right sized body to block the wind.
We wanted to hit the route when it opened at 6:45, but we had a late start and the crush of riders made it difficult to check-in. There were 2500 people participating in this event and most of them seemed to be in line ahead of us. Lucky for me, Bio-Rad is the main sponsor, so when this woman came by asking if anyone was on Team Bio-Rad, I said ,"right here" and off we went to check in and get our numbers. We managed to get out on the road around 7:15. Not bad. But not good enough, as it turns out.
"WPXI-TV the NBC affiliate in Pittsburgh produced 'Biking Through Black History,' a 30-minute Black History Month special highlighting the creation of the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route (UGRR). This route was realized through an innovative partnership between Adventure Cycling Association and University of Pittsburgh's Center for Minority Health."
More details, including a map of the route, on the Adventure Cycling.
Here's segment one:
You can see all segments by clicking on the "Read More" button.
I'm looking to put together a small team of Climate Riders. I would really appreciate it if you could share the attached and/or this link with your members. More information about Climate Ride and COTAP is also below.
Best,
Tim Whitley
Founder of COTAP.org
About the Climate Ride
Climate Ride is a fully-supported, 5-day charity bike ride, the one and only multi-day charitable bicycling event that supports climate change and bike advocacy organizations. Climate Ride is the hub of the green movement and gives a national voice to your local community. By riding in Climate Ride you can raise funds for COTAP.org and any other beneficiary organizations you choose. In 2011, Climate Riders raised $300,031 for 25 beneficiaries!
About COTAP.org
Based in Oakland CA, Carbon Offsets To Alleviate Poverty (www.COTAP.org) is a new 2012 beneficiary organization of Climate ride. COTAP is a new nonprofit which empowers individuals to address two of the world’s biggest challenges: climate change and global poverty. COTAP connects individuals’ carbon footprints with accredited forestry projects in least-developed countries which create measurable wages for the world’s poorest people.
COTAP also seeks to address the injustice that forestry projects, despite their proven ability to improve lives for the poorest, have been largely overlooked by commercial carbon markets. You can transform your CO2 emissions into wages, improved livelihoods, and changed lives with our three projects in Nicaragua, Uganda, and Mozambique.
I beleive Deb did this ride last year, and, to the best of my recollection, she said it was a great event although it dumped rain most of the time. Certainly a good cause.
Tour de Concord
OYJ Web Manager
April 22, 2012 - 02:19 AM
Just heard about the Tour de Concord, a leisurely ride on 5/12 to support the Greenbelt Alliance. So if you don't want to do Mines Road, it's a good (relatively) local alternative.
Per Sara, their MarCom person, "the purpose of the ride is to lead cyclists around the former Concord Naval Weapons Station in Contra Costa County and explain the policy and advocacy efforts that will lead to its future development."
Celebrate "Bike to Work" month and join us on a bicycle ride through Central Contra Costa County. We’ll roll by sites like the former Concord Naval Weapons Station, Contra Costa Centre in Pleasant Hill, and the Iron Horse Trail. Along the way we’ll hear about Greenbelt Alliance’s work in Concord to preserve 3,500 acres of open space and plan for future neighborhoods clustered near the North Concord BART station. The ride will end at Walnut Creek. For those who want a more challenging ride, we’ll pedal from Walnut Creek BART through Tilden to Downtown Berkeley BART.
Leaders: Evan Lovett-Harris and Sara Barz Distance: 19 or 35 miles with an elevation gain of about 650 feet. What to Bring: BART fare, working bicycles, spare tubes, water, and helmets required.
Snacks are strongly encouraged. Meet: Pittsburg/Bay Point BART station, 1700 West Leland Road Date: Saturday, May 12, 2012 Time: 9:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Celebrate the start of the OAKLAND YELLOWJACKETS' 25th season with a leisurely 20-mile ride from Lake Merritt to Bay Farm Island and back. Non-members welcome.
Helmet, waiver and ID with emergency information required. The ride will include bike inspections at the lake, a rest stop at the Bay Farm Island destination and, and a SAG (Support And Gear) wagon, if needed.
Please join us for the picnic following the ride sponsored by the OYJ members.
Ride Details
Date: Saturday, April 21st, 2012 Sign-in: 8am Ride Start: 9am Where: Children's Fairyland Area, Lake Merritt, Oakland Destination: Bay Farm Island Distance: 19.9 miles Vertical Climb: 98 feet
Become a Member
If you're interested in becoming a club member, details are on the join page.
As many of you might know, Mike Cox has retired as the instructor of this long-running bike skills clinic. After teaching more than 700 riders how to ride more safely and have more fun on the bike, Mike has handed over the clinic to me and my assistant, Hal Danielsen. Our first clinic will be on October 10 at the same Miller-Knox Park location in Point Richmond.
I am confident that I can continue to help clinic participants learn in a fun and safe environment. After racing for the Left Coast Cyclery team for 7 years, earning a California Triple Crown, acting as a mentor for both the Early Bird Criterium Training Series and the ‘Winner Within’ women’s racing series and becoming a USCF Coach, I feel well qualified to teach the skills covered in our clinic.
We will cover many skills during the 5 hour clinic, including basic handling, pedaling, braking, cornering and descending techniques, beginning paceline practice as well as offering helpful hints to further improve your skills. And while no one will be asked to attempt anything they are not comfortable doing, we will most certainly provide you with the necessary tools/instruction to perform the given tasks safely. Whether you are beginning rider, training for your first organized ride, or even considering racing, this clinic will provide a fun and supportive environment to help you expand your skill set.
I envy not his gallant steed
That man who doth bestride;
For I have a Velocipede,
Which I prefer to ride
On, on we go, machine and load,
And never stop to bait;
Toll-free along the turnpike-road
We clear each turnpike gate
To keep a hobby-horse like mine,
You need not keep a man;
You pay no tax, so, I opine,
It is the better plan
No paddock he requires, on grass,
At seasons to be fed;
No’er comes, in stable, to the pass
Of eating off his head
He never jibs, he never shies,
He never runs away;
He never, stumbling as he flies,
Goes down as though to pray
For why? Because he is, with knees,
Provided, as with heels,
Therefore no fits of kicking seize
Him whatsoe’er he feels.
To mend his pace no whip, no spur,
To curb, no bit, no rein,
No ” tclcqk!” wants he to make him stir,
Nor “wo!” him to restrain
Uphill we pull, downhill we drag,
On level ground we speed.
Ha, ha! Ho, ho! my new-built Nag!
My own Velocipede!
(Punch, Volume 57, Aug 7th 1869, p. 52)
Last Updated on April 11, 2012 - 22:19 PM
No Fooling, It’s the Nifty Ten Fifty
Amy Cameron
April 11, 2012 - 20:28 PM
April Fool's Day was the ideal irony for the 11th annual Nifty Ten Fifty, a notoriously hellish 54-mile, 10,000-feet-of-climbing course up and down Berkeley and Oakland's steepest roads. If you look at the route on Strava, it seems ridiculous. On the bike, it still kind of seems ridiculous, until you finish and then it's just cool.
To anyone familiar, it's not surprising that it was Bruce Carroll's idea to do the Nifty this year. I was convinced by the encouragement that this would "be a great training ride for the Triple Crown Stage Race!" Guess so…
We showed up at the starting point in El Cerrito, at the corner of Moser and Pomona, around 8:15 for a pre-ride meeting before the 8:30 start. It was a chilly morning—Roubaix bib knickers, long sleeve base layer, jersey, vest, double gloves for me, but then I dress like I'm in the Arctic most of the time.
The Nifty route has 10 climbs, but some are actually two, so it seems like more. Joy!
I'd been on most of these before, though had never done Marin from the fountain and hadn't done Hiller from the Tunnel side. We warmed up pretty fast climbing Moser, which sports grades of up to 20%, but is really more in the 15% range. Everyone re-grouped at the top and followed our leader, Bill Oldham (riding with a fractured wrist!), down streets I don't remember and then up the second climb, Terrace. Everyone in the group stayed together, all the while mentally planning for the day's most daunting climb, Marin.
The steepest half-mile of paved road in California is forgiving only in that it has little side streets that you can bail on when you feel like you just might topple. The first few blocks are not bad, really, but I'd done the last three blocks once before with OYJers Reese, Myra, Scott, Joan and Bruce, so I knew they were gut-busters. Once at the top, we got a little ego boost from a car spinning its tires trying to make the summit.
With Marin done, we re-grouped again and pedaled over to Inspiration Point, before heading down Wildcat and over to Toyonal. At the top, the B group split up, with the front half deciding to go ahead to Centennial. By now it had turned into a gorgeous day and all along Skyline the views of the City were stunning.
The Ride Committee has spoken and now the 2012 Ride Calendar is now published on the site. Some highlights:
Sesaon will kick off on the 21st of April with the traditional ride out to Alameda/Bay Farm
Lucas Valley has been converted to Picnic Ride
There will be a new Lake ride on August 18th. Detail forthcoming.
Our 26th Annual Monterey Ride will take place on October 6th
Check out the whole Ride Calendar for all the details.
Comments and questions welcome as always.
Levi's GranFondo 2012
OYJ Web Manager
January 17, 2012 - 17:53 PM
Registration is now open for Levi's GranFondo. The ride is not til the 29th of September, but if you're planning on doing it, you better sign up now as the event fills up fast.
Looking to ride with the Yellowjackets? Find all the details on the Join page. If you just want to come along for a ride, take a look at our Ride Calendar.
Re: OYJ Cycling Caps