Check out the super long list of fun bike-related activities coming up in April, including free breakfast at various locations for Bike 2 Work week, bike races, rodeos, kids events, and of course our very own bike film fest at the Loft:
www.dot.tucsonaz.gov/bikefest
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Yummy! Tooley's Cafe now sponsors El Grupo!!
One of the greatest expenditures, and yet the easiest way to bring smiles to El Grupo riders, is food! And with our newest sponsorship from Tooley's Cafe in the Lost Barrio, that means some ridiculously delicious food. For El Grupo, that means a yummy breakfast burro for each rider on our once a month visit to their lovely cafe and outdoor patio after a hard Sunday morning practice. But feel free to try anything there, honestly, and you won't be disappointed on any day of the week.
We are totally excited about this new partnership with Tooley's Cafe--look for their cool logo on our jersey soon! And with the new Kryptonite bike racks that we were able to get placed outside the cafe, you can cycle over there for some grub and support them soon, too! Check out www.tooleyscafe.com for their location, menu, and new spot on C
ongress & 5th St.Big thanks to Adam & Dana for cooking and serving up the burros almost as quickly as El Grupo riders devoured them; and thanks to Patricia for making this all happen!
Bike Valet Success & Upcoming Opps
El Grupo parked over 120 bikes at the 4th Ave Street Fair this past weekend! The 3-day event attracts people from all over Tucson and beyond, and the clear majority of the thousands who attend come in car--which is why traffic and parking are so frustrating during that time. Yet, riding a bike there is catching on, and we hope that more people realize just how easy it is with bike valet parking. We watch over your bike so you can enjoy your time and not worry about where to park it, if it will still be there when you get back, or even carrying a lock with you.
Several El Grupo riders, parents, board members, and even younger siblings helped to make this happen--thanks to everyone of you!
Please look for us at the Solar Rock event at Himmel Park this coming Saturday, March 28th; at the Earth Day Festival at Reid Park the following Saturday, April 4th; and at the first annual bike film fest at the Loft on Sunday, April 5th (fundraiser for El Grupo)...more on this soon! Consider riding your bike to these events and parking with us. It's free! but tips and donations certainly appreciated :)
Much thanks goes to Ordinary Bikes for having us stationed outside their front door all weekend, and just generally being totally supportive and awesome! also, thanks to the 4th Ave Merchants association for new signage to help folks find us, and Kryptonite for sponsoring us to be out at these events. Feel free to stop!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Valet Parking @ Street Fair
That's right the Street Fair is back and El Grupo is out helping. We will be stationed in front of Ordinary bike shop on 7th street just west of 4th ave. Judith is taking care of making sure we have proper volunteers so call her if you time this weekend. Tell everyone you know to ride their bike to the fair and to leave a tip if they can. Thanks for supporting the team and I hope to see everyone out.
Ignacio
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
El Grupo outreach on the Westside
El Grupo did two awesome outreach events this past week in the Westside Coalition neighborhoods. Each had a distinct purpose and yet both brought smiles to numerous people's faces.
The first was the Bike-2-the Market day at the Santa Cruz Farmers' Market off Speedway and Riverview, put on by the Community Food Bank each Thursday from 3pm-6pm. El Grupo participants Logan and Kramer tuned up and made shine a dozen bicycles of shoppers at the market. We had lots of bike maps, comic books for kids, and basic bike safety info that others found super useful. This was a first-time event, but with portable tools and bike stand borrowed from BICAS, we hope to make this a more common occurence. If you know of any event that would benefit from having us out there, let us know!
The second outreach event was at the El Rio Community Center Annual Health Fair on Saturday, March 14th. Thanks to Pima County DOT Bicycle & Pedestrian Program, we were able to have all the bicycles and obstacle course props needed to have well over 50 kids hone their bicycle skills that morning. El Grupo participants Julia, Conner, Kramer and assistant coach Alex all helped Daniela & Ignacio fit about 100 kids of all ages with helmets that they could keep, and coach them through the obstacle course. So
me kids even learned how to ride for the first time with help from an older, patient El Grupo rider. Also, we had tons of Spanish speakers that we were able to get valuable bike safety info all in Spanish. It was a total blast! We look forward to doing more bike safety outreach in the near future. Everyone leaves a winner--El Grupo participants gain confidence and pride from teaching younger riders, and the younger riders gain skills and get to see that riding bikes is cool! Thanks to funding from the Westside Coalition Weed & Seed Program and the Department of Justice for making this all possible
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Watch me again!
In a cheap attempt to improve our YouTube ranking, I am asking everyone to watch our video again (and rate it if you so desire).
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Tucson Bicycle Classic Recap
The TBC is the biggest stage race Tucson has to offer. With it's coming this year I was nervous to send out the whole team, as many of our members have never raced in a USCF race, and I did not want to throw them in the fire. So I decided to let three El Grupo riders participate. The only three that have ever been in a race before.
Kramer, Max, Logan and coach Alex Strickland were the lucky participants.
Max and Logan raced in the 13-14 year old category, and Kramer and Alex raced in the senior mens 5 category.
How did it go?
Well first off I was very nervous that Max and Logan were not going to have anyone to race against, as for whatever not great reason, junior bike racing does not pull a big crowd. However much to our surprise there is a youth bike team in Yuma, AZ that came to the race and was able to field quite a few riders. Which was very impressive and exciting for the boys.
So what happened?
We were incredible. Max actually won all three stages and Logan had he not shown up 5 minutes late for his time trial start would have gotten second in all three. They raced great, as sportsman, with pride, all ways congradulating there competition. They even crossed the finish line of the last days race together with arms up and holding hands. They broke away from the competition on the first lap and just kept increasing there lead through out the entire three laps. They worked as a team and friends and really dominated the day. (the picture that you see below) They also won the Road race in break away fashion Max winning by 5 minutes over Logan and Logan the same over the rest of the field.
Kramer and Alex participated in the cat 5 mens category and raced there hearts out. Kramer was way out of his league as he was a good 10 years younger than most of his competitors and much less sessioned as a bike rider. However he never gave up, always pushed hard, and ended up proud with a smile and a lot of lessons learned.
Alex, coach, went for the win and raced with courage. He finished the time trial in 18th place only a minute behind the leader. So on Saturday he rode the road race for the win and lost by less than a wheel and got 4th place. A slight bummer because had he finished third he would have recieved a time bonus and moved up in the standings considerably. Once Sunday came we knew he had to go after the whole shibang. It was a nothing left out there sort of race for the kid and I am thrilled by his effort. During the circuit course there was a time bonus to be had on the third lap and he gunned it, finishing third in the sprint. Again just one place off of the time bonus. After the failed attack though with no teammates around to help him he blew apart and was unable to hold on to the pack. A super gutsy attack!!! Thanks for the courage kid!! Alex finished over all mid pack but as one of the few who "went for it".
What really made this event so thrilling for the whole team was that on the last day I was able to ride them all to the race so we could all watch, scream and yell together. Everyone was there and we ear peircing loud. Every time our team came around we lit the place up. We were really an awesome sight to see. We were all matching, thrilled, and working as a team. Everyone stayed after as well to watch Max and Logan get there winnings and then we all rode home to the club house together where then every other rider told me, " We are ready to race."
So Tucson and the South West here we come!!!
PS we'll ride the dirt too
PPS and fast
As a final note: Daniela the ED of the team and my wife, was a bit upset that there was no pregnancy category as she is sure she was the only 7 month pregnant women there who actually rode her maternity bike.
Kramer, Max, Logan and coach Alex Strickland were the lucky participants.
Max and Logan raced in the 13-14 year old category, and Kramer and Alex raced in the senior mens 5 category.
How did it go?
Well first off I was very nervous that Max and Logan were not going to have anyone to race against, as for whatever not great reason, junior bike racing does not pull a big crowd. However much to our surprise there is a youth bike team in Yuma, AZ that came to the race and was able to field quite a few riders. Which was very impressive and exciting for the boys.
So what happened?
We were incredible. Max actually won all three stages and Logan had he not shown up 5 minutes late for his time trial start would have gotten second in all three. They raced great, as sportsman, with pride, all ways congradulating there competition. They even crossed the finish line of the last days race together with arms up and holding hands. They broke away from the competition on the first lap and just kept increasing there lead through out the entire three laps. They worked as a team and friends and really dominated the day. (the picture that you see below) They also won the Road race in break away fashion Max winning by 5 minutes over Logan and Logan the same over the rest of the field.
Kramer and Alex participated in the cat 5 mens category and raced there hearts out. Kramer was way out of his league as he was a good 10 years younger than most of his competitors and much less sessioned as a bike rider. However he never gave up, always pushed hard, and ended up proud with a smile and a lot of lessons learned.
Alex, coach, went for the win and raced with courage. He finished the time trial in 18th place only a minute behind the leader. So on Saturday he rode the road race for the win and lost by less than a wheel and got 4th place. A slight bummer because had he finished third he would have recieved a time bonus and moved up in the standings considerably. Once Sunday came we knew he had to go after the whole shibang. It was a nothing left out there sort of race for the kid and I am thrilled by his effort. During the circuit course there was a time bonus to be had on the third lap and he gunned it, finishing third in the sprint. Again just one place off of the time bonus. After the failed attack though with no teammates around to help him he blew apart and was unable to hold on to the pack. A super gutsy attack!!! Thanks for the courage kid!! Alex finished over all mid pack but as one of the few who "went for it".
What really made this event so thrilling for the whole team was that on the last day I was able to ride them all to the race so we could all watch, scream and yell together. Everyone was there and we ear peircing loud. Every time our team came around we lit the place up. We were really an awesome sight to see. We were all matching, thrilled, and working as a team. Everyone stayed after as well to watch Max and Logan get there winnings and then we all rode home to the club house together where then every other rider told me, " We are ready to race."
So Tucson and the South West here we come!!!
PS we'll ride the dirt too
PPS and fast
As a final note: Daniela the ED of the team and my wife, was a bit upset that there was no pregnancy category as she is sure she was the only 7 month pregnant women there who actually rode her maternity bike.
Friday, March 6, 2009
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