Basketball

Sunday afternoon. While Sophia (and Mom) hosted a Friendsgiving celebration at home and Dad and Avery were in San Jose for a volleyball tournament (which they won), I had the good fortune to take Carson to his basketball game.

Alley Cats Ride

8:30a Sunday, cold and foggy, as I waited for Brenda to meet me at Peregrine Park for the ride in.

The starting point was Old Soul in Liestal Alley.

Riding through Firehouse Alley in Old Sac.

BarbaraL and I were co-leaders for the ride.

We started with 26 but finished with 12 at Cantina Alley in Jazz Alley.

Good food at the after-party:

The winner of best alley cat costume .. our very own Brenda .. who also took all the the bicycle-action photos above.

Fun day. My first time leading a SABA social ride. 32 miles!

Bourbon Night

Thank you Sarah and Brett for inviting me to Bourbon Night. Knowing nothing about bourbon and surrounded by connoisseurs, I asked for a bourbon that a novice might like. Angel’s Envy was a very good choice.

Learn 2 Ride

A cold Saturday morning. Barbara and I met at 8:30 at Miller Regional Park. Barbara explaining how to use the brakes:

With the pedals removed, working on balance and gliding:

A caravan of motorcycles, classic cars, and low riders delivering donations for a toy drive.

After class was over, Barbara and I rode the Alley Cats route (for next Sunday) one more time.

ATC

The final meeting of the year for the Active Transportation Commission.

We approved the 2025 Annual Report which required a group picture for the slide deck that will be part of the presentation to the City Council.

Social Ride

Mather Veteran’s Village is part of Mercy Housing and provides 50 permanent supportive homes for formerly homeless and disabled veterans. Having a functioning bike is important to many of the residents and other who live in the surrounding community. SABA’s Ride Ready Repair team comes out regularly to fix bikes. Today we added a social ride afterward.

Before we left, Rick’s bike needed some air. Thank you Barbara for noticing and Ken for helping.

The guy on the left walked by as I took this picture. He didn’t go on the ride, although we tried to talk him into it – lol. Harry, Barbara, Rick:

It was a short ride, about 2.5 miles to Dutch Bros.

We bought coffee for everyone and mostly listened to Harry (smile). Rick’s drink was the Golden Eagle – we figured out a way to get it home without spilling.

On the way back, Rick and I rode side by side most of the way and he got a chance to talk about his military service and family. He asked if we could show him how to use his bike to go see his daughter in Folsom. What a couple of nice guys who served in the military and now need some help. And someone to talk to.

Shady Lady

Thank you Terri and Elaine for going with me to Tomato Alley Free House to get a gift certificate (to give away next Sunday).

Not certain we wanted to stay and have a beverage and snack, so we went to a place Terri likes, the Shady Lady on R St.

Woodworking

Thais and I finally found a day we could both go back to the woodworking class to finish our cutting boards.

Final touch: wood butter.

Thais had a laser image “burned” onto hers.

A better picture of mine.

Supermarket Sweep

I met Lorge, Kimberly and Hal at Bella Bru at 11a on Saturday forSupermarket Sweep – a SABA-sponsored bicycle-powered food drive.

We rode to three grocery stores in N and S Natomas. We had about $390 to spend. SABA gave us $100, Jibe $250, plus our own contributions.

Our final grocery store was on Sutterville Rd, close to our final destination – Two Rivers Cidery on Attawa St.

We unloaded the groceries from our panniers and trailers into bags, then the SABA team weighed everything. 158 pounds!

Ahead of time, we agreed we weren’t interested in competing or winning prizes. Nevertheless, we improved our strategy this year and it worked. We came in 3rd place! 1-Pull a trailer. Jibe loaned me a trailer, Hal already had one. Lorge bicycle tours so he has front and big rear panniers. 2-Have one rider in your group who can post on social media – thank you Kimberly. Go team! Rob, me, Michael:

Such a fun event. We are ready do it again next year. Thank you SABA for organizing this food donation drive and Jibe for supporting our N Natomas team.