Come get away from your annoying visiting relatives with a perfect excuse to go for a ride. We're hosting a ride for Rapha's Festive 500 on Thursday the 29th. What's The Festive 500? It's a challenge to get your ass away from the spiked egg nog and on the bike for some miles this holiday season. Rapha is offering all kinds of prizes for people who submit especially compelling evidence of their rides. (Get all the info on that here). We're offering a great reason to postpone your trip to Best Buy to return your unwanted Kindles or Wii's or whatever.

Come to the Rapha Cycle Club at the corner of Filbert and Fillmore for an 8:30 rollout. Arrive at 8 for a Four Barrel coffee, do some visualizing, pushups, get yourself mentally right.

We'll look to keep all the Festive 500 participants on pace with a ride of 50+ miles.

See you there.

It's honestly a little hard for us to believe that Mission Cycling is coming to the end of Year Four. Pretty incredible. But fantastic proof that the concept of cycling and what it can be for people is much larger than bike racing, segment times, expensive gear, or tight spandex. When we started this experiment 4 years ago we didn't have too many specifics in mind other than the desire to create an environment? a thing? a club? where cycling could be a means to a larger end than any time or specific result and that you didn't a ton of rules, ride leaders or organizational structure to get it to happen.

Seeing how all the members and sponsors of Mission Cycling have taken it and turned it into so many different things is great. To some people it's the thing that gets them out of bed to climb Hawk Hill twice a week before work so they can get in shape while to others it's the opportunity to simply watch the sun rise over the bay. To some it's the place where they met a group of friends with not much in common other than the shared glory of conquering indescribable feats while to others it's the place where they met the single most important person in their lives.

This year has been our best one yet. At the moment that more than a few people warned us our enthusiasm and energy for Mission Cycling would wane, we've had a simply fantastic year. A few highlights:

Mad Marchness (in April)
After rescheduling due to rotten weather, this year's Mad Marchness was exactly the kind of event we all hoped it would be. Great weather, a fantastic ride and great support from our friends and sponsors. In case you don't remember, Here's how it went down:



Death Ride





A ton of Mission Cycling members got serious and conquered the Death Ride this year.  More than anything else this has to be due to the constant encouragement all the riders gave each other in training and on the ride itself. Even when some of them were sure they'd been beaten.

Custom Mission Cycling Franco Bicycles




In the spring the guys from Franco Bicycles drove up from LA to deliver the set of kickass Mission Cycling-customized Balcom road bikes we'd been working on for months. From working with us to get the design elements right (subtle Mission Cycling branding, each bike individually numbered) to spending a bunch of time getting each rider dialed in on his new bike, the guys from Franco went out of their way to make sure this partnership was special. Ask anyone who got one of these bikes - they're insanely great.

Number 7 is still available if you're looking for a new bike (white, size 57). Get in touch to arrange a test drive.

Headlands Raiders








Always a strong force for Mission Cycling the Headlands Raiders were even more consistent and committed this year. Record numbers of folks turned up to climb the Headlands - even with ever changing bridge closures, road closures and crappy weather.

Rapha Gentlemen's Race



We were honored once again to be invited up to Rapha's annual suffer-fest in Oregon. We took the opportunity of the event to debut some new gear ( jerseys , bibshorts , and gloves are here ) and tackled the gravel of central Oregon.

More on that here:


Spinning Spokes for Homeless Folks


We worked more closely than ever with At The Crossroads and put together Spinning Spokes for Homeless Folks. We asked Mission Cycling members to ask for donations for  a cycling goal  they committed to in September and October. Not only did we all get in serious cycling shape, we raised $12,000 for the at-risk youths in our neighborhood that At The Crossroads works to support.

Sponsor Involvement
How we work with our sponsors has always been a little different than the typical cycling club. Each year we go out of our way to work with the great local businesses that make up our community to try to increase their visibility around the Bay Area. This year, our sponsors went farther than they ever have to actively participate in supporting our members. Our title sponsors - the Delfina Restaurants - not only provided much needed financial support but they provided much needed pizza support with deals for MC members on Tuesdays (not to mention the thousands(?) of post-ride Peronis and Pizzas on Saturdays).



We had a great night out at Anchor Brewing  (until someone pulled the fire alarm - Yujin?) meeting the people who actually make our great local brew with their hands. The Monk's Kettle actually has a "Mission Cycling" discount programmed into their registers! Have you taken advantage? Coffee Bar has probably seen more repeat business from Mission Cycling members than anyone else. Self Edge, Unionmade, Woodhouse Fish Co., Bi-Rite and Tartine all offered incredibly generous discounts to us (have you taken advantage yet?). Flour + Water's involvement allowed us to support the development of new racing and cross kit and events. And of course, Timbuk2.



Timbuk2 took the time to work closely with us to develop The Mission Cycling Wallet which has received amazing reviews from every end of the internet (Thanks in large part to the fantastic photography by Rod McLean ).





Don't have one yet? Order yours here.

There are surely plenty more instances where our sponsors have helped make the Mission Cycling experience more unique - suffice it to say that we're lucky to be working with such a great group of businesses.

Mozzo

Mission Cycling's physical space has just recently emerged from the dingy basement space on 18th to a brand new storefront/clubhouse on 21st Street. The space is called Mozzo ("hub" in Italian). It's a gallery/storefront/clubhouse that will offer the best cycling apparel out there, ours, alongside some other great brands. It will also serve as a central physical space for Mission Cycling get-togethers. Finally. Mozzo is at 2979 21st Street. Come on by.

Racing
While bike racing isn't the main focus of Mission Cycling, you can't deny the amazing results that MC members have earned this year. From simply racing in their first races to taking their first (of many) steps up onto podiums, Mission Cycling members, whether racing for MC or for their teams, accomplished amazing things in competition this year. And now that it's cross season, we can only expect that to continue.

This quick look back at 2011 brings to mind so many specific, great moments it would be impossible to describe them here. But what they all add up to is a special organization that continues to expand the idea of what a cycling club can be.

So here's to a fantastic year. We owe a huge thank you to all the Mission Cycling members who have made this such a rewarding experience so far. See you on the road.

-Dylan and Kevin.

Well, it's a wrap. Spinning Spokes for Homeless Folks has come to an end. A triumphant end! In just 6 weeks of riding our asses off we raised over $11,000 for At The Crossroads. That's good work, people. And not only did we raise a bunch of dough for a great organization, it's obvious from the pace at this morning's ride that we all used those miles to whip ourselves into top shape as well.

This is truly a great accomplishment for our club and you all should feel very proud of stepping up to help an organization that survives to do its good work only with the support of classy individuals like yourselves. Give yourself a hand, tell the people that kicked down the $ for you that they're awesome too. And make sure to make it to the Timbuk2 party next week for an official "THANK YOU," prizes and a few high-fives.

Check the final tally (and kick in another dollar if you have one) right here.

Ok, it's officially Cross Season. And now that you've prepared yourself by participating in one of the Mission Cycling Cross Clinics last weekend, why not learn a little about the Northern California heritage of the sport.



Here's all the info on the exhibit -

"An art show dedicated to the spirit of North Cal Cyclocross, its roots, and its current spectacle.
Featuring works of photography, writing, sculpture, painting, collage, as well as historical documents and images.

Curated by Brian Vernor and Presented by the Rapha Cycle Club SF.

Contributing Artists and story tellers: Willie K. Bullion, “Pineapple” Bob Kurasawa, Pamela Palma, Jeff Hantman, Stevil Smith, Ray Stafford, Chris McNally, Paul Sadoff, Tom Simpson, Mike Ferrentino, and Brian Vernor."

The Opening Party is at 7pm this Friday.  Beer, waffles and NorthCal 'cross.