What we’re about
The Hammerin' Wheels are all about being active on your bicycle. We have events for riders of all levels, on both paved and unpaved trails/roads.
Our club is divided into 3 separate groups.
You are currently on the road bike site. Here you will find rides that vary in length and speed, this site is meant for cyclists who have combination of experience and/or some sort of athletic ability.
If you are interested in a more"casual" ride you will want to visit https://www.meetup.com/Hammerin-Wheels-Casual-Bikers. There you will find rides that very from 10-30 miles usually on flat paved roads or trails where speed tends to be more in the 8-12 mph range.
If you are interested in hitting the dirt please visit our Mountain bike site here. https://www.meetup.com/HammerinWheelsMTBClub. Here you will find anything and everything to do with dirt! Most rides break into sub groups based on skill level.
In the name of safety we do require helmets.
Listed below are our Club Sponsors. These are the people who help to keep this a FREE group!! Your patronage of our Club Sponsors are greatly appreciated. Please stop in or call to say "Thanks for sponsoring the Hammerin' Wheels!!!"
Mark Van Biber, a Hammerin’ Wheels member, and Branch Manager of the Rocklin branch of American Pacific Mortgage has been helping families with their home mortgage related needs for over 24 years. Just recently Mark was named one of Sacramento Magazine’s Five Star Top Professional Real Estate Lending Professionals. The Five Star award went to fewer than four percent of Sacramento area residents holding a real estate lending license. Its Mark’s goal to provide the smoothest loan transaction you’ve experienced with kind, friendly and professional service. American Pacific Mortgage is a Direct Lender, with over 115 branches in 15 States and over 1300 employees to help insure you get great pricing and special products to meet your desired needs. Call (916-824-8700) or email Mark Van Biber (mark@mvblending.com) today and let his experience and friendly team help you with your next mortgage. NMLS 227505 / 1850. CA BRE 01114608 / 01215943. Equal Housing Opportunity. You can also click the logo for additional information. http://mvblending.com/
So who are we and what are we about?
Simply put we are a growing group of cyclists in the Sacramento area who enjoy the company of others while riding bikes. We try to cater to everyone on some level. It doesn't matter if you are a hardcore cyclist, or if you ride purely for the social aspect. We welcome riders of all levels on all terrains.
Safety
This group is all about having fun and being safe while riding. Please be sure to wear a helmet when you come to an event, They are REQUIRED for all our rides! We cannot stop you from riding if you show up without one, but we reserve the right to turn you away from riding with the group. Please be safe.
If you have any questions about if a ride is right for you please feel free to contact the ride organizer.
Please note: Organizers reserve the right to turn people away before or turn them back during a ride if they feel a rider is in over their head.
If your profile has not been filled out, you may be contacted by a ride organizer to determine your skill level fits the posted event.
How to select an event
We have adopted the same ride rating system the other bike clubs in the area currently use. The rating system uses a letter, A through F, to indicate the difficulty of the terrain the riders should expect to encounter. The system is as follows
A = Steep: Mostly steep grades, strong riders only
B = Steep/Moderate: Some relief from steep grades
C = Moderate/Hilly: A challenge for the average rider
D = Hilly/Easy: Rolling hills, a challenge for beginners
E = Easy: Some gentle grades, but no problems
F = Flat: Hills are no where to be found.
This letter rating will be followed by a number, this number indicates the distance of the ride. As an example a ride with an rating of "C35" will be a 35 mile ride that will entail a good amount of climbing. An "F15" ride will be 15 miles of flat road or bike trail.
This information will be in the title of the calendar posting so if you are interested you can open the event and get more information. Once you open the calendar you will see a ride summary with the following information:
Ride Summary
Terrain: Flat - Hills/high and low traffic areas/major concerns.
Distance: approx miles of the ride
Speed: desired pace of the ride
Rider Level: Beginner/intermediate/advanced
Sweep: Yes/No
For those that don't know, the sweep option indicates that the meetup event with have a rider bringing up the rear to make sure everyone makes it back OK. In a nutshell, no one gets left behind, provided you are riding the intended pace..
RSVPs
Please remember that the members of the Leadership Team of this group are all volunteers. They do this for nothing more than their love of riding. They put a lot of time and effort into setting up these events, with that said please show them the courtesy and keep your RSVP up to date.
If you choose to RSVP "Yes" for an event, Please follow through and show up. It is not fair to the rest of the group to sit around waiting for someone who is never going to show. If you develop a pattern of this behavior you will be removed from the group. We understand that "life happens" and you may need to change an RSVP at the last minute. In this event please try to contact your event organizer to let them know.
Attending events
When attending events you will be given a time to meet. Rides are normally scheduled to leave 15 minutes after the meet time. As an example if the calendar indicates a 9am meet time the ride is scheduled to begin at 9:15am. If you need additional time to unload, set up, warm up, etc, please arrive early. Rides will leave as close to on time as possible. If you show up 5 minutes before the start of the ride you risk being left behind. Please don't be "that guy", it is extremely disrespectful to those who took some personal responsibility to get there on time. Again, please arrive early!
Information about email and your settings
If you are not a fan of email you will want to update your settings at the following link. Click here to update your email settings! There are a number of options that can be turned off to help ease your pain. I would highly suggest you leave the "Special announcements from Organizer(s) to members" checked so you can receive important messages from the group Organizer(s)
Post event survey
If you attend an event please take 30 seconds to fill out the post event survey. This is a valuable tool for the Organizing team as it allows us to make the events better in the future. This is your chance to provide feedback you may have about the group, both good and bad. Please try to keep your criticism constructive.
Assistants
We are ALWAYS seeking people who are interested in setting up and leading rides, for all level of riders (especially the slower paced rides!!) and in all surrounding areas. If this sounds like something that may interest you, please let me know.
Photos
This is a public group and we take lots of pictures. In regards to ownership, once photos are uploaded to the site they become property of the club. If you are at all concerned with property rights please do not upload anything to the site.
Fees
While there are no fees to join this group, this group is not free to operate. This group runs strictly on donations, sponsorship from local businesses and clothing sales. If you like what we do please take a second to visit the donation center and make a donation to the club. We are asking for a minimum of $5 a year. Once your donation has been received you will earn the "Group Supporter" badge!
Any money received in excess of the operating costs will be placed back into the group for value add items like door prizes, official HW event support costs and of course the now world famous Hammerin' Wheels Birthday Bash (summer BBQ). You can use the Chip in link on the home page or you can use the button below.
If you would rather use standard mail to donate please email the organizer directly. We will also accept any donations in person if you are not comfortable using standard mail or the online method. Thank you in advance!
Liability Disclaimer
Please take a moment to read our liability waiver as it is required that you read it and digitally agree to it, via your profile questions, in order to be a member. It is important to understand that you are responsible for your own safety.
