Baseball and bicycles

My brother Terry is visiting this week and he’s a willing participant in bike fun every time he’s here.  So, when I learned there was an 11:35 a.m. game at Raley Field in nearby West Sacramento, I decided it would be the perfect bike outing for us.

Raley Field is home to the Sacramento River Cats, a AAA-dominating team affiliated with the Oakland A’s.  And, it’s just down the road from my office, making the entire trip no more than 6 miles or so, 5.5 of which are on the bike trail.

The ride was easy and slow.  The Kid came along on her mountain bike and we all enjoyed the mild, warm weather, the riverside wildlife and the lush green growth all around us.

I was a bit nervous about taking a hard-to-replace bike on this trip because I was unsure of the security of bike racks at the ballpark.  We’ve been to a million games, but always arrived by car.

To my surprise and delight, Raley Field has “valet parking” for bikes.  Actually, there’s nothing “valet” about it, but there is a dedicated corral for bike parking and it’s supervised for the duration of the game.  Most folks lock their bikes anyway, to ensure that nobody falsely claims one as their own and rides off.  Still, it’s miles better than a rack sitting out somewhere unguarded.

Now that I know one of our favorite destinations is supremely bike-friendly, I think we’re going to save $8 in parking fees for nearly every game from now on.