Our 15th Annual Britton Fund Ride will take place May 2, 2022 in Oakland, California. From urban street trees to scenic parklands, this year’s Britton Fund Ride starts in urban Oakland with two route options leading through the rolling East Bay Hills and one option will take a cruise along the shoreline. All riders will roll out together from the Oakland Marriott City Center with a group start around Lake Merritt before splitting off. Both routes return back to the Marriott with an optional tree planting at nearby Lafayette Square Park to end the day.
We have two phenomenal routes for 2022.
Flat Route:
The flat route option will head toward the bay, taking riders past Oakland’s Jack London Square and into nearby Alameda and Bay Farm Islands for a cruise along the water’s edge. Plenty of terrific lunch stops, views, and time to relax along the way.
Details: 28 miles and 252 feet of elevation gain.
Check out the Flat route here:
https://www.strava.com/routes/2925934659915077236Road/Hill Route with gravel options:
After the group start lap around Lake Merritt, this ride leaves the flatlands and heads up and over the hill into the East Bay’s bucolic regional park system. This route is based around taking a classic road ride through the area’s best scenic loop. Expect some long hills, sweeping descents, striking views, and a constantly shifting ecology of local and introduced trees that all now call the California hills their home.
Although this is “only a metric century” this year, be prepared to feel every kilometer. With that said, there is a pretty good exit point about halfway through after we have finished the Skyline Boulevard and Redwood Road loop. For those ready for the whole package, the best climb sections are saved for the end as the route rolls along Pinehurst Road and up toward Berkeley’s Grizzly Peak and Tilden Park. We take a final loop through Tilden Park before descending back to the hotel to kick off the conference.
Details: 63.24 miles and 6,415 feet of elevation gain.
Check out the Road route here:
https://www.strava.com/routes/2924059391365983876Either way, how many gravel sections you take is up to you on this ride. In the coming weeks, we’ll provide a list of gravel segments with difficulty grades and photos so you can better choose your route.
PRO TIPS FROM ROUTE AUTHOR
Best bikes for the routes:
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Flat: bring what you have! Any comfortable bike you want to ride will work well here.
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Road: any type of road bike will do for this tarmac based ride. However, if your frame can accept some wider tires, you’ll be able to take advantage of some of the bonus ride options and better handle the few country road potholes along the way.
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Gravel: all options can be done on a wide-tired gravel bike. I’ve ridden all of these trails and fire roads on a drop bar cyclocross bike with rim brakes and done ok, but I plan on riding my drop bar bike with 42mm tires and disc brakes.
Tips on gearing: Most local cyclists from the Western Chapter know about our California hills. But it is worth mentioning that some low gear ratios will be your friend here on the hilly rides. Unless you’re putting up footlock times like Jared Arbrojena in 2009, do your legs some favors by having a nice and easy bailout gear for some steeper sections. I really enjoy my sub 1:1 low gear ratio for the hills. I was never good at footlock anyhow and need all the hill climbing help I can get.
What about my mountain bike? While a mountain bike may be helpful on a few sections, it won’t really be needed and may make the other awesome road sections less fun. Even the full dirt themed course will enjoy some amazing portions of East Bay road riding.
Registration Fees:
$125 and all riders must raise a minimum of $650 ($775 total minimum).
https://justgiving.com/campaign/15thannualbrittonfundrideFUNDRAISING MINIMUM – The fundraising minimum is $775.00. This is inclusive of the 125.00 registration fee. The minimum is set to ensure we keep our event costs low, maintaining our credibility with all our donors and most important, maximizing the funds we are able to invest in our mission to provide funding for research and education to benefit the field of arboriculture and urban forestry with emphasis on issues inherent to the geographic area of California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii.
