Hi,
I recently moved to Pleasanton, CA, from DC, and moving to Oakland, CA in a couple of weeks and am looking for a good club to ride with. I have been riding and racing since I was in high school, but about two years ago I lost my right leg (below knee) in Afghanistan and am just now getting back in shape for road. I am looking for a club that is competitive, but not elitest (we all know the type). If anyone out there knows of a friendly club in Berkeley or Oakland, CA I would love to get any advice, recommendations, etc. Thanks.

http://www.berkeleybike.org/

Great group of riders that will show you much earned respect.

Oakland Yellow jackets comes to mind.

...but about two years ago I lost my right leg (below knee) in Afghanistan and am just now getting back in shape for road.

Recent article in the Fresno Bee (http://www.fresnobee.com/sports/outdoors/story/690468.html) about a cyclist with a BKA.

You may get more responses if you post in the Northern California forum.

Thanks for everyone's help on local clubs. As far as the whole Northern CA, Southern CA, Central CA, etc. It makes sense if you grew up here and things, but it really is semantics and not nearly important enough to get so worked up about.

This "discussion" is almost interesting, but...

Here's a listing of many bay area clubs (with links):
http://www.diablocyclists.org/DCcycleclubs.html

OK, back on topic, while you are in Pleasanton, the Diablo Cyclists meet in Walnut Creek, are non-elitist, lots of older folks with tons of experience with group riding. Lots of double-century types & fixed gear guys. If you can maintain around 16 mph on the flats, you'll be OK. Tell someone that you don't know your way around and they will try to make sure you won't get dropped in the middle of nowhere.

Saturday is the long/hilly ride and sunday is the shorter/flat ride. Every other week or so they have a sunday "coffee & pastery ride" which is 10 miles to the bakery then spits off into groups, some go long, some shorter, others right back to the starting location.

http://www.diablocyclists.org/index.html

Racing oriented: Team Oakland (http://www.teamoakland.com)

Berkeley-based club: Grizzly Peak Cyclists (http://www.grizzlypeakcyclists.org/)

Oakland-based club: Oakland Yellow Jackets (http://www.oaklandyellowjackets.org/)

Climbhoser, your attitude is not doing the cause any good.

What is North/South depends on your point of view. When I lived in Arcata anything south of Willits was "southern california". To most people in LA or San Diego, anything north of the Grapevine is "northern california". But it's not worth making a fuss over. BTW the state of "Jefferson" predates those "NorCal" stickers by quite a bit- it was a very popular idea in the 1930s.

To the OP- there are a lot of road clubs in the greater bay area. It's always good to belong to one that's based near by so you can easily get to training rides. The best way to find out if a club is right for you is to go on some of their rides and see if you get along with the people. I don't think that road racers are "stuck up"- they're mostly just shy, and kind of focused.

BTW, thanks for your service (assuming that's how you lost part of your leg). In 1991 I trained really hard for the Death Valley-Whitney Portal road race and was the fastest I'd ever been. On the second day up Whitney Portal I got caught and dropped by a masters racer with one and a half legs. So it's possible to go pretty darn fast.

Ugh..I live in Oakland...raised in the Bay Area. This is Northern California. lol.
Anyone who has everyone gone to college in CA can tell you...UCB Nor Cal...UCLA So Cal.

Gooooo! Bruins!

And now on to the topic. I heard Oakland Yellow Jackets are a really great club. It's not really a racing club, but more so a social club. However, they do have levels of ability and you sign up w/ different groups based upon your ability.

Epic, moronic thread derail.

To the OP, the East Bay is a cycling paradise with lots of different clubs to suit your taste. You are in easy range of some great climbs: Mt. Diablo, Morgan Territory, Patterson Pass, Mines Rd, Mt. Hamilton, Sierra Road.

Try this link:

http://www.inl.org/bicycle/routes.html

OP, welcome to this forum. It's just too bad that this thread has gotten way off-topic (and now belongs in Foo).

I really respect your attitude considering you lost part of your leg.

Check out the NorCal forum; it has a lot of friendly people.

Epic, moronic thread derail.

Corrected

To the OP, the East Bay is a cycling paradise with lots of different clubs to suit your taste. You are in easy range of some great climbs: Mt. Diablo, Morgan Territory, Patterson Pass, Mines Rd, Mt. Hamilton, Sierra Road.

Try this link:

http://www.inl.org/bicycle/routes.html

+1 on all the climbs mentioned, the East Bay is a great place to ride

OP, welcome to this forum. It's just too bad that this thread has gotten way off-topic (and now belongs in Foo).

I really respect your attitude considering you lost part of your leg.

Check out the NorCal forum; it has a lot of friendly people.

+100

Nor Cal,So Cal,Low Cal,who the f cares.
Next earthquake the whole dump is going to crack off the mainland and fall in the drink.

Of course it will.

Until that joyful day, we'll just make the most of some of the best cycling in the US.

Thanks for everyone's help and advice. I did Mt Diablo recently and its a great climb.

Thanks for everyone's help and advice. I did Mt Diablo recently and its a great climb.

Diablo is awesome! One of Norcal's best climbs! :thumb:

climbhoser -- this is supposed to be a thread about riding a bike.

rydaddy +1 - diablo is a great climb.

to the OP - there are lots of people who ride. If you're competitive the house of pain and oakland port rides are a place to get shelled :) Many of the local competitive teams are represented and the guys are usually very friendly to ride with.

climbhoser -- this is supposed to be a thread about riding a bike.

I'm pretty sure, just guessing here, but I think I can talk about whatever the hell I want to talk about. While thread drifting purposefully can be rude, it can also be informative and fun!

Sorry to offend your fascist leader tendencies, but you might want to get that OCD control freak thing checked out before it metastisizes.

temporarily closing thread while I clean it up.
then moving it to Nor Cal subforum

Thread reopened minus 2 pages of arguments.

I was just going to ask what the hell happened to this forum. Hoser is the kind of guy who gets shut down most places.

To keep this on topic -- http://www.grizzlypeakcyclists.org/ these guys seem to have it together, although I've never ridden with them.

OP - What kind of rides are you wanting to do?

As for the rides I like to do, mostly between 50 and 70 miles. Some centuries. This October I am doing a ride with the Challenged Athletes Foundation from SF to San Diego over 7 days. Its called the Quallcomm Million Dollar Challenge and they are raising money for a training center for handicapped athletes. It should be a blast. I got wounded when I was in the army, and alot of these handicapped athletic organizations had a big presence at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in DC. Wounded Warrior project hosted a ride across the US two years ago that I did part of and it was fun.
I used to race a lot of crits and MTB cross country in NC and VA when I was in high school and college but stuck to triathlons while I was in the army. Would like to do more regular road racing and riding now. I have pretty much decided the running part of triathlon just isn't for me anymore. It kills my stump, and my other ankle had to be rebuilt so it gets really sore running too.

Not competitive, but social and fun: Team Alameda (http://www.teamalameda.org/). We do ~70 mile rides weekly (usually Saturdays), no-drop, but members always are free to break away and chase as needed. :D Please join us whenever you're bored of going balls to the wall, we love to have new riders, especially those with good stories to tell.

Thanks for the invite. I just might.

You can ride with the Fremont Freewheelers anytime one of our rides suits your fancy. Some rides start out in your area.

http://www.fremontfreewheelers.org/

http://www.fremontfreewheelers.org/ridesThisMonth.html

Thank you for your service and sacrifice in Afghanistan.