Tag: alleycat

San Francisco Supermarket Street Sweep and Santa Cruz Cranksgiving

Registration for the Eight Annual Supermarket Street Sweep in San Francisco closes this Friday, so do it right now if you plan to participate, especially if you’d like a free t-shirt (limited quantities!).

Last year, 119 racers participating in the Supermarket Street Sweep collected over three tons of food and $7400 for food banks in San Francisco and Marin County in an alleycat style scavenger hunt. Supermarket Street Sweep 2013 begins at noon on Saturday, December 7, 2013 at Cupid’s Span (the big red bow and arrow statue on the Embarcadero at Folsom Street.

Racers do this for a good cause, but there’s a good pile of schwag for those who collect items the most quickly and those who can haul the most cargo. Visit Supermarket Street Sweep blog for details.


THIS WEEKEND: Santa Cruz Cranksgiving

Clutch Couriers and Santa Cruz Bike Polo bring you a bike race this holiday season to provide food and holiday cheer to those in need and get you some awesome prizes! This is a bike race a la the Cranksgivings in NYC and all over the US. Santa Cruz Cranksgiving benefits the Familia Center.

Racers race around town picking up food items that were requested by the Familia Center as well as purchasing gift certificates for food and clothing at participating grocery and clothing stores. Teams are recommended to cut down on costs, but feel free to race alone if you desire. Bring $5 per racer for registration which will be donated to the Familia Center. Also bring $15 to $30 per team to buy needed items on the list. The race will cover grocery stores from Aptos to the West Side, so be ready to pile on the miles.

Pre-registration not required, but feel free to say you’re going on the event Facebook page. Otherwise, just show up before noon on Saturday, November 23 2013 at the duck pond in San Lorenzo Park. That’s the park hidden on Dakota Street tucked between Soquel and Water Street behind the Paradox Hotel.

2012 Virtual Alleycat Race with the Kickstand Cyclery

I’m doing another online alleycat race with the Kickstand Cyclery. No actual bike skills are necessary to win this race — all you need is an Internet connection, the ability to click links on web pages, and perhaps some web searching skills.

We’re still working on prizes; if you’re interested in sponsoring this race by providing a good first place prize please get in touch with either Rick Smith or me. Last year, first place prize was a bicycle. We’re looking at a bike trailer or similar for this year, but we’re open for other ideas.

Race begins Monday, January 30, 2012 and ends the following day. When we’ve done this in the past a good time was had by all.

Go to YehudaMoon.com to register and you *DO* want to pre-register if you want to win.

Santa Cruz Wildcat

Update: Santa Cruz Wildcat 2011 photos here.

The Santa Cruz Wildcat bike race is not your average alleycat race. There are mountains to climb, rivers to ford, sandy singletrack to bomb down, redwood trees to avoid, rock gardens to navigate and beaches to run across, so something sturdy and fast with gears is a Really Good Idea. Cyclocross bike is the best choice if you’ve got one. I foolishly tried this on a fixed gear bike a few years ago and nearly died.

Registration begins at 11 AM, Saturday July 23 at the Bike Church in Santa Cruz, CA.


wildcat 2011

Followups

Happy Monday. I hope you had a swell weekend.

  1. The Kickstand Cyclery Virtual Alleycat is now done and we have a definite Lanterne Rouge winner who straggled in a couple of hours before the the official race close. We’ve also picked a few comments that we especially like — picking the one winner will be difficult. We’ll announce Real Soon Now.
  2. Llloyd @ Treehugger followed up on my chicken & egg post with a BBC produced history video about the past and present of bike lanes and bike paths in the Netherlands.