Just a little update: June’s ride will be on June 22nd, 2013.  More to follow.

Oops, nevermind.  The ride will be on the following weekend, Sunday June 30th.

Sunday, April 28th

Ride starts at Walnut Creek BART

Meet at 10:00a | Roll Out at 10:30a 

Cru,

This month, we’ll climb Mt. Diablo for a strenuous, but rewarding climb and then head down the hill to Concord’s Ale Industries, where we will refresh ourselves with some well-deserved craft beer.  This is about a 38-mile ride with 3800 feet of climbing.  We’ll ride along the Iron Horse Trail for a bit, and then ascend Mt. Diablo from the North gate and take a break at the saddle point, which is just over halfway up Diablo.  Those who prefer to not continue to the summit are welcome to hang out here for a while or can head over to the brewery early.  For the rest of us, there’ll be spectactular views, and perhaps ice cream at the summit.  We’ll then ride down back to the saddle point and through the bright green fields (probably speckled with orange California poppies) back into civilization and onto Concord.

This ride will be slightly different than others in a few ways:

• Normally, we do a loop.  This time, we will start the ride at Walnut Creek BART and end at Ale Industries.  It is about a 6 mile bike ride between the two, so if you want to drive, you can park at either place and get in those extra miles at the beginning or end of the ride.
• The ride’s a bit more strenuous than normal.  You are more than welcome to ride half of the way up Diablo and hang out for a while until the rest of the group returns from the summit.

Here are links to the route:

• GPX File: http://www.thegrandcru.org/GPX/diablo_ale_industries.gpx
• MapmyRide: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/194610816

See you at Walnut Creek BART at 10am on the 28th!

Saturday, March 30 2013
Meet at 10:30a | Roll Out at 11:00a
173 Throckmorton Ave
Mill Valley, CA 94941

This month we will pay another visit to Mill Valley Beerworks.  When we first stopped by in 2010 they had just opened, so it will be interesting to see how they have advanced over the last few years.  The ride was great last time, so we will keep with the same route: a scenic loop taking us down to Tiburon, up along Paradise Road, around Larkspur Landing, and finally over the hill from Corte Madera.

Hope to see you there!

Cheers,
Colin

Hey there. We hope you had a great San Francisco beer week and an excellent Tour de Biere 2013.   We had excellent weather and excellent beers (and cookies!), and hopefully made new riding and drinking buddies.  Now that things have calmed down a bit, we’d like to share our fundraising data and photos with you.

We were able to donate $1317 to the East Bay Bicycle Coalition this year.  This is a record amount!   This was 90% of your entry fees.

Jenny Oh Hatfield wrote a nice piece in KQED’s Bay Area Bites about the ride: http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2013/02/17/the-3rd-annual-tour-de-biere-an-east-bay-bicycle-brewery-tour/

as did Gene Anderson from Our Oakland: http://blog.ouroakland.net/2013/02/tour-de-biere-2013.html

We’d like thanks those who made this possible:

• Bicycle Coffee Company: for donating coffee for the ride
• Clif Bar: for donating awesome mid-ride snacks 
• Drake’s Brewing
• Linden Street Brewery
• Trumer Pils Brauerei
• Pyramid Berkeley Alehouse

Scroll down for photos from the 2013 Tour de Biere.  Also, stay tuned for details for our March ride!

In the meantime:

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Cheers,
Colin, Israel & Phil

We had been slacking on putting together rides this winter.. but Tour de Biere 2013 planning is in full swing.

We are returning to Fairfax for this year’s Biketoberfest Marin on October 13th, 2012.

Like last year, tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. The festival features numerous bike vendors, live music, local breweries, and food.

The event runs from 11am to 6pm. We’ll be meeting at the Ferry Building at 9:30am and departing at 10:00am. We’ll ride across the Golden Gate Bridge then through Sausalito, Corte Madera, Larkspur, and Ross. On the way back, you may choose to take a ferry (The Larkspur ferry is 5.5 miles away) or you can ride all the way back into San Francisco. What you choose will probably depend on how much beer you’ve sampled at the event.

Southern Pacific Brewing
Sunday, July 29 2012
Meet at 10:30a | Roll Out at 11:00a
620 Treat Ave, San Francisco, 94110

This month the Grand Cru is going to check out San Francisco’s newest brewpub, Southern Pacific Brewing.  Nestled in the heart of the Mission, SPB is striving to impress with it’s clean, classic-style brews, tasty food, and ample elbow room – standing capacity is 300 people!  It sounds like the perfect place for a relaxing Sunday afternoon beer, so let’s go see what they have to offer.

For the ride, we are going to cut southwest towards Daly City, and then loop back along the ocean and through the park.  It’s going to be a relatively easy one, so if you have been sitting on your bum for a while, now’s a great chance to get back in the saddle.  Also, please note the earlier starting time: 11:00a instead of the usual noon.  Here’s the route:

We hope to see you there!

Russian River Brewing Company
Saturday, June 23 2012
Meet at 1130 | Roll Out at Noon
725 4th St, Santa Rosa

Folks:

We’ve pushed this ride back for several months, but at last we are ready for our annual visit to Russian River Brewing!

Russian River doesn’t need much introduction. If you’re a hophead you’ve probably had your fair share of Pliny the Elder. If you’re into sours – Russian River has one of the best barrel aged sour programs in the world. Long story short: they’re our favorite brewery in the area.

We’ve planned a 27 mile loop around Annadel State Park.  The weather should be nice and hot, so bring plenty of water.

Unfortunately the public transit options up to Santa Rosa are limited so I would recommend carpooling with your Cru mates.

See you there!

Cheers,
Colin & the Grand Cru

The Grand Cru on Tour

Saturday April 28 to Sunday April 29
Departing & Returning to the San Francisco Ferry Building
Spending the Night in Petaluma
RSVP via email to claim a spot at the campsite | iafigueroa@gmail.com

Folks:

Since last month’s ride got rained out, we want to make it up to you. April’s ride will be double the fun, consisting of two days of riding (i.e it’s an overnighter).

This is something I’ve been wanting to do with the Cru for a while. A few of us rode up and stayed at Lagunitas a couple of years ago and had a blast. Here’s the itinerary:

Day 1:

• Meet at the San Francisco Ferry Building
• Ride to Iron Springs Pub and Brewery in Fairfax
• Ride to Lagunitas Brewing Co in Petaluma
• Sleep at the Local KOA Campsite (8 minute ride from Lagunitas)
• Time Permitting: Mandatory Karaoke at a locals bar nearby & Hamburgers…with Fries!

Day 2:

Cheers,
Israel

P.S. For those of you concerned about a lack of a Russian River ride this month – don’t worry, we havent forgotten about it. It’ll happen in the next few months.

Tour de Biere 2012 Riders:

We wanted to thank you all once again for supporting the Tour de Biere 2012. We were shocked that the ride sold out even faster this year despite an increased price.  Four days!

The weather cooperated (always a risk when you plan a bike ride in February) and all of last year’s breweries and supporting business signed up to be part of the ride once again. This year we added Elevation 66 to the tour and had additional support from Clif Bar.

We succeeded in having fun, riding around the East Bay and drinking beer. How did we do on the money raising front? We’re happy to report that the East Bay Bicycle Coalition will be receiving a check for $1,239 – an 83.9% return on the money generated through Tour de Biere ticket sales.

This of course wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of the East Bay breweries who opened their doors to us, and the local food purveyors who provided caffeine and energy boosts throughout the day. Please keep their community support in mind when you spend your hard earned dollars.

It’s our hope that February’s ride isn’t a one-off thing, but the first of many rides you’ll be doing as part of the Grand Cru.

March’s ride has been posted to our website. We’ll be going to one of our favorite Bay Area breweries – Russian River Brewing Company. It’s home to such greats as Pliny the Elder and Supplication. We hope to see you in Santa Rosa in a few weeks.

In the meantime, take some time to make sure you’re kept in the loop:

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Cheers,
Colin, Israel & Phil

Thanks again to:

Trumer Brauerie
Linden St Brewery
Triple Rock Brewery and Alehouse
Elevation 66 Brewing Company
Pyramid Brewery
Bicycle Coffee Co.
Clif Bar