Alameda Runners – Get After It!

I am still out with a knee injury.  To help fill up my Saturday morning, I am going to attend the Foot clinic at the REI store in Berkeley at 11:00am on Saturday morning.  This is a bad time for most cyclists and people on the bigger training days but it may work for the rest of us.  There are still 31 seats available and the clinic is free.  The Berkeley REI parking lot fills up fast but there is plenty of street parking on Saturday mornings.  I will be sporting my SFtri T-shirt.  If you see me there, come say hi.

Berkeley REI — Foot Care for Any Sport: Fit, Blisters & More
Date: 4/14/2012
Event Location: Berkeley REI
Event Fee: Free
Time: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (PDT)
Presenter: John Vonhof
Group Size: 50

Description: John Vonhof is an expert on foot care. An ultrarunner, hiker, and backpacker for more than 25 years, he has pushed his feet to the extreme. As a paramedic and orthopedic technician, he has treated athletes at top adventure and endurance races around the world. In today’s interactive class at REI Berkeley’s Footwear Festival, John will share his secrets for healthy feet, featured in his book, “Fixing Your Feet: Prevention and Treatment for Athletes”, now in its 5th edition. Come learn about fit, insoles, socks, toenail care, calluses, hot spots, preventing and fixing blisters, properly taping your feet as a prevention/treatment measure, and more. If you register for this free class at www.rei.com/berkeley, we will hold a seat for you until the scheduled start time. Seating may be available at the door, even if registration is closed.

BikeAlameda, the long-established bike advocacy group in the City of Alameda, has sadly ended its valet bike service.

From BikeAlameda (courtesy of AlamedaPatch):

For the last 12 years, BikeAlameda has provided safe, secure, free valet bike parking at many Alameda events. Over the years we’ve parked thousands of bikes at hundreds of events throughout Alameda. We’ve proven there is a need out there for bike parking. Unfortunately, we are no longer able to provide it. BikeAlameda would like to have some enterprising group or individual take over this opportunity.

Over the years our costs (both financial and administrative) associated with valet bike parking have continued to rise, but the fees we charged and time we put into it were not able to keep up. It is a business with income and expenses that BikeAlameda never intended to run for this long.

Now that BikeAlameda decided to bow out, I’m unsure if a business or dedicated group will step up and help out. If not, it’s a tragic end to a great service that I’ve supported and utilized myself years ago.