What a year for Different Spokes San Francisco! By estimates, we rode together as a club for nearly (if not over) 23,000 miles!
Special thanks go to Aaron, Jeremy, Will, Stephanie C, Stephanie V, Jerome, Chris T, Cory, David G3, Ken, Patrick, Alfred, Jen and Liz who posted and led or co-led more than one ride. Thanks as well to Chris and Anne for leading most of the Jersey Rides, our monthly ride around the Tiburon loop. And not to ignore members who led or co-led a single ride, thanks also go to Mark, Nancy, Jeff, Rico, Laura, Kim, Erik, Sharon, Russ, Coy, and Tim. And that does not include the DSSF supported organized rides we did as a group, such as Chico Wildflower, Wine Country, AIDS/LifeCycle, the Death Ride, Marin Century, or Konocti Challenge in 2007.
Jeremy took the Alpine Dam/Mt. Tam the “hard way” to new levels, leading this a dozen different times, under some rather amusing names too (I Hate My Sisters, Test of Strength, Dam Tam Fever, Vote for Pedro and Toe Fungi).
Will led 10 different rides and co-led another, starting in January with the Brief Tour of Napa, March with the Del Puerto Canyon and Napa Spring Forward century rides, the Firecracker 4400 and Lucky 7 Double Devil rides in July, three fabulous different rides for the Gold Rush weekend in Amador County and finishing the year with the HMB HWY 1 S ride from Half Moon Bay. He also co-led the Fall Social 3 Bears Loop with Stephanie C, and hosted the Holiday Party at his home.
And we had great representation from the women of the club too! Stephanie V led the East Bay BART to BART rides, Coyote Hills via the Alameda Creek Trail, Tiburon from the Golden Gate Bridge and co-led a Pleasanton Coffee Ride too. Stephanie C started the spring rides with the Marin One Bakery Loop, along with a Cinderella Warm-up training ride, co-led the Half Moon Bay-Gazos Creek-Canyon loop and the East Bay Parks & Reservoirs rides, showed off her new bike with the Shiny New Bike Ride in September, and finished the year with the GLS Tour of San Francisco (with Nancy) and continued the post-Thanksgiving ride series with the Turkey Burn/Marin One Bakery Ride (with David G3.)
Attempts were made to get the club out riding before or after work too (in addition to Aaron’s Tuesday After Work Ride, of course!) Liz started the morning work out by posting the Cap’n Crunch rides (the Conzelman loop) and Jen followed in early summer with the East Bay After Work Ride.
Kim lead the Fast & Flat work out in the East Bay, Chris & Anne led the Nicassio Loop the Easy Way, Laura led the Rosie the Riveter ride for the Fall Social and Sharon finished the year with her classic Mt. Hamilton in the Fall ride.
Different Spokes members ride mountain bikes also. Ken, who competes with Jeremy for the most amusing ride names, started the year with Un Cañon Muy Puro, an 80 mile challenging ride from Millbrae over Kings Mountain Road and down to the coast and back. Tim led the Mountain Bike Ride in Redwood Park before the Fall social (and who can forget his post for riders… “like I said, if it’s only me and I fall and no one is there to help me and I have to drag myself back to the road with only my left arm, that’s ok too!” And Coy ended the year with Anyone Want to Ride a Boy Scout? well attended by six riders in all!
The longest ride posted was the 120 mile Hell-Devil-Liver-Ham (in that order) Happy Ride, led by Ken in early April He followed that epic journey with the Girlie Men/Manly Girls (Arnold? Are you there…?) ride taking Amtrak to Sacramento and then bike 30+ miles along the Sacramento and American Rivers to downtown Folsom for lunch, then return.
And Cory returned to the club in spring with Morgan Territory Circumnavigation, Chilly Hilly, Mary Go Round and a Woodside, Tunitas Creek, San Gregorio, Old La Honda kicker before injury sidelined him for the summer. Not to be held back, he returned in the fall with the Easy Canada Roller, and the Woodside Fast and Flat rides.
And returning member Chris T. brought even more Peninsula rides to the club with the Palo Alto to Los Gatos, South Bay Mellow Metric, Loop Around the South Bay, Stanford Plus Loop, and Mountain View to Pulgas Water Temple rides. He also brought DSSF to the Central Valley for Fresno in the Autumn!
Another competitor for the longest ride, Mark Y led the Los Altos to Davenport Double Century training ride, getting ready for the Terrible Two.
And thanks to Jerome for leading the China Camp loop ride to the Club Picnic and for co-leading the Morgan Territories-Palomares loop. Thanks to Erik for the Tam Quickie, Rico for the San Pablo Bay Loop, Patrick for Patrick’s Birthday Ride, Alfred for the Pleasanton Coffee Ride, and Jeff for the Nicasio Reservoir loop.
So what will 2008 bring? It’s up to each and every one of us as members. The road and dirt track are just waiting for you to lead a group of happy and enthusiastic Different Spokers on a wonderful cycling adventure!
Let’s Ride!
The Chain Letter 