When you arrive to a Fun Ride you see bikes everywhere. They are leaned up against trees, on their sides in lines and likely being pedaled around a skills course made of orange cones. There are people too, the friendly kind, ready to say hello, extend a hand and welcome you to the group.
We circle up and introduce ourselves to the group and get oriented to the bikes we’re about to ride—brakes, air, shifters, seat height and more. Then before you know it we’re all pushing the pedals, off to ride the skills course and practice some new mountain bike skills like “ready position” or switchbacks!
After we practice, we go explore. At our October 22nd Fun Ride we rode along the Richmond Greenway, a largely paved bike/pedestrian pathway that runs though the heart of Richmond. We stopped to play in the future site of “Dirt World” where someday (hopefully soon) Richmond will have a world class dirt pump track and skills park. In the meantime we’ll still enjoy the dirt rollers and mini pump track.
At our second Fun Ride on Saturday November 4th we were riding at Miller Knox park along the shoreline near Point Richmond. We started on grass and did our best to avoid pavement as we snaked our way through picnic areas and BBQ pits toward the gravel and dirt trails out by the point. Whoops and hollers were heard as tires spit mud out in a rooster tail out the bike—signs that we were now indeed mountain biking.
Once out at the point we took in the views. We could see the Golden Gate, Bay and Richmond/San Rafael bridges as well as seemingly every Island in the Bay. We took it all in, handed out some maps to help show where we’d be going next, snapped a few photos and jumped back on the bikes.
We continued our ride out along the Bay Trail, a protected bike path that runs along much of the Richmond area shoreline. We stopped to share some Richmond history and see how our piers and shoreline is being used today. Oh, and of course we ride!
We reached our turning around point at the end of a leg of the Bay Trail and had to take a couple more pictures, tell a few more stories and point out where we’d be riding November 12th at Alvarado Park which could be seen as we traced the Wildcat Canyon ridgeline to it’s northern terminus.
We turned around and jammed back the way we came, making sure to hit as much dirt, gravel and some fun singletrack on the way back, practicing our ready position and switchbacks with finess! When we returned high fives were given generously, favorite parts of the day were shared and a hearty “See you next week at Alvarado Park!” Was exclaimed. “Hands in. Richmond Composite on three. 1...2...3!”
Want to get involved? Join us for a remaining Fun Ride by clicking this link. All are welcome and we’ll even bring you a bike! We ride again:
Sunday November 12th @ Alvarado Park - 10am-12:30pm
Sunday November 26th @ Point Pinole - 10am-12:30pm