Category Archives: Ride Archive

January’s Ride: Speakeasy and Oyster Point

Speakeasy Ales and Lagers
1195 Evans Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94124
Saturday, January 21st
Meet at 1:30p, roll out at 2:00p

A very happy 2012 to the Grand Cru!

Speakeasy Brewery has been a San Francisco institution for over a decade. It is probably the second best known SF brewery after Anchor, and they make some fantastic beers. Until recently, the brewery was only open to the public on Friday nights, which prevented us from organizing a ride there. Luckily, they recently decided to open their doors on Saturdays as well, so we will start the new year with a visit to the Big Daddy of SF brewing.

The last Grand Cru ride was an adventure, to say the least. Between the slippery roads, ridiculously steep climbs, mud pits, wild animals, and the nearby artillery range (no kidding), we were lucky to make it through in one piece. This month we take it easier with a nice ride to Oyster Point and back. The route is mostly quiet city streets with some lovely scenery. Here’s the ride:



This ride should be great for shaking off the holidays and getting back in the saddle. We hope to see you there!

Cheers,
Colin

November’s Ride | Drake’s Brewing and the Lake Chabot Bike Trail

Saturday, November 26th
Meet at 11:30, roll out at noon

Drake’s Barrel House
1933 Davis St
San Leandro, CA
Greetings to the Cru!

This month we will be taking advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend to visit the new barrel house at Drake’s Brewing in San Leandro. These guys have been a key player in East Bay brewing over the last twenty years, but until recently have been flying under the radar. We are excited to check out their brand new facilities.

Our ride will take us through San Leandro and around the main bike loop of Lake Chabot Regional Park. The ride is a bit shorter than usual – only twenty miles – but makes up for that with ruggedness. There are several steep climbs, so make sure you go easy on the turkey. note: some parts of the ride will be on hard-pack trails with a few rocks. Bringing a hybrid/cross/mountain bike might be a little more comfortable. Bryan notes that it’s rideable on a road bike but it’ll be slower going.

Here’s the ride:



And here’s the brewery:

http://www.drinkdrakes.com/

We hope you can make it!

Colin

Photos from September’s ride: Biketoberfest Marin 2011, Sunday, September 25th

getting started at the ferry building
getting started at the ferry building
same day as the race for the cure
same day as the race for the cure
riding along the embarcadero
riding along the embarcadero
at a stoplight in fisherman's wharf
at a stoplight in fisherman’s wharf
riding along chrissy fields
riding along chrissy fields
crossed the golden gate bridge
crossed the golden gate bridge
group shot
group shot
mt. tam, which we did not go near
mt. tam, which we did not go near
san anselmo street fair - booger wars
san anselmo street fair – booger wars
san anselmo street fair - bubble walk
san anselmo street fair – bubble walk
biketoberfest!
biketoberfest!
4-wheeled, 4-person bike
4-wheeled, 4-person bike
rivendell, green, hillborne
rivendell, green, hillborne
wood renovo bike
wood renovo bike
recumbent with full road wheels
recumbent with full road wheels
the grand cru + east bay bike crew
the grand cru + east bay bike crew
biketoberfest banner
biketoberfest banner
wood joints
wood joints
ferry back
ferry back
ferry back
ferry back

September’s ride: Biketoberfest Marin 2011, Sunday, September 25th

Hey all,

September’s ride will be from the Ferry Building in San Francisco across the bridge and up to Fairfax to celebrate Biketoberfest Marin. The festival features numerous bike vendors, live music, 20+ local breweries, and food. You can purchase a beer-tasting ticket in advance for $25 and save $5 from the price on the day of the event. This ticket grants you an unlimited sampling of beers. All proceeds benefit the Marin County Bicycle Coalition and Access4Bikes.

We’ll be departing a little earlier than normal in order to be able to spend more time at the festival. It’s about a 22.5 mile, mostly-flat ride to Fairfax.  We will be crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on the newly-reopened west sidewalk, then riding 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.

September 25th, 2011
9:30am: Meet in front of the Ferry Building
10:00am: Roll out

August’s Ride | Point Richmond and Beer Revolution

Beer Revolution
464 3rd Street
Oakland, CA 94607
Sunday, August 28
Meet at 11:30a, roll out at 12:00p

Greetings Cru,

This month we are straying a bit off the norm and basing our ride out of a bar rather than a brewery. However, Beer Revolution has 47 beers on tap, including many from local breweries that don’t open their doors to the public (Linden St and Dying Vines spring to mind), so we hope you forgive the discrepancy.

We will be riding along the East edge of the Bay up to Point Richmond and back. The ride is a tad on the long side (~40 miles), but extremely flat and gentle, so it should be fun for everyone.  For those who would like a shorter option (~30 miles, no hills at all) then you can choose to turn around at the Richmond Marina.



See you there!
Colin

June’s Ride | San Francisco & Social Kitchen and Brewery

June’s Ride | San Francisco & Social Kitchen and Brewery
Social Kitchen and Brewery
1326 9th Avenue, San Francisco
Sunday, June 26th
Meet at 11:30a, roll out at 12:00p

This month we’ll be visiting the newest kid on SF brewing scene, Social Kitchen & Brewery. Their focus is on beers that are food-friendly and full of flavor. It turns out not everything has to clock in at 10% and have gobs and gobs of hops. Their beers are neat and their space is great.

Here’s the ride:


Bike route 540947 – powered by Bikemap 

As usual, I would encourage everyone to take public transit to Social Kitchen. The 16th/Mission BART station is a half hour ride away.

Photos from April’s Ride | Tied House and Los Altos Hills

April’s ride was sunny and relatively warm and featured the Tied House in Mountain View.

pre-ride photo

 

We had a pre-ride snack from Hong Kong Bakery and Cafe.   Pork and custard buns and sticky rice.

 

 

Checking out the route prior to the ride

 

 

and we’re off

 

 

starting the ascent

 

 

climbing moody rd

 

at the top of moody.  it was a pretty good ascent.

 

 

pit stop at the alpine inn in portola valley

 

 

formerly rossotti’s

 

 

a mid-ride burger

 

 

and tetris

 

 

we rode by Stanford on the way back and made a bit of a wrong turn (my bad).  But, horseys.

 

 

 

and a post ride burger

 

April’s Ride | Tied House and Los Altos Hills

The Tied House
954 Villa Street, Mountain View
Saturday, April 30th
Meet at 11:30a, roll out at 12:00p

Welcome back folks! We got rained out of a ride last month, but April has been treating us nicely, so it’s time to blow the dust off our bike seats and get out on the road again.

This month we will be heading out of the Tied House in Mountain View. The ride is a 28 mile scenic loop through the Los Altos Hills. If that sounds a little too intense after a few months of hibernation, don’t worry – there are several shortcuts available for anyone who wants to take it a little easier. Here’s the ride:


Bike route 901568 – powered by Bikemap 

I’ve set up a poll to see which day works for the most people. Please click the link below to vote if you would like to participate in the ride. The poll will close on Monday, April 18th.

http://www.doodle.com/9kiiieme7s4kctn5

Finally, the Tied House is a couple of blocks from the Mountain View Caltrain station, so I encourage everyone to take the train if possible.

Hope to see you there!
Colin

Tour de Bière 2011 Debrief

As everyone’s livers recover from the 2011 edition of SF Beer Week, I wanted to give you folks a debrief on the inagural Tour de Bière. The ride was to benefit the East Bay Bicycle Coalition (EBBC), and I think we did pretty well.

We did what we could to keep costs down and the EBBC will soon be receiving a check for $720, 96% of the revenue collected.

One reason we were able to keep costs down was the tremendous support from the East Bay breweries who opened their doors to us at no cost. Those five gentlemen from Trumer? They gave up their Sunday morning to help make Tour de Bière happen. Same goes for the Bicycle Coffee Co folks and the owners of Linden St. These businesses gave us their time and wares in support of the ride. Triple Rock and Pyramid Berkeley were both generous with their discounts and freebies.

The event wouldn’t have been a success without all of you who attended. The ride sold out nearly a week before the event, which was much sooner than expected. Thank you for your support and for helping us raise funds for the EBBC. For those of you who had never ridden with The Grand Cru before, make sure to keep in touch:

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March’s ride details will be posted within a week…stay tuned.