SMSW on Velodromedary

Supermarket Street Sweep 2016: racing around the city collecting groceries by bike for the SF Food Bank. This was perhaps the...

Tue, 06 Dec 2016 16:00:00 +0000

Supermarket Street Sweep 2016: racing around the city collecting groceries by bike for the SF Food Bank.

This was perhaps the 4th time I’d done it– after collecting 20lbs of groceries in a santa suit in 2010, 100lbs the following year, and 156lbs with two large custom panniers and a backpack in 2013, I took a few years off and made a modest effort this year, picking up 152 lbs with a similar setup. My friend Dave repurposed his baby trailer and lugged in an even larger haul.

Supermarket Street Sweep (groceries by bike)

Mon, 09 Dec 2013 06:08:12 +0000

After skipping last year, I rode the Supermarket Street Sweep again, with two friends. This is a fundraiser / food drive for the SF Food Bank, combined with a little light competition to collect the most food or collect it the fastest.

It was an amazingly successful year for the food drive– 149 cyclists brought in 10,615 pounds of food, about 2,500 pounds more than the previous record.

A few photos snapped along the way…

Supermarket Street Sweep 2011

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 08:02:00 +0000

I rode the Supermarket Street Sweep (again) – a fundraiser / race to supermarkets around the city, with about 200 riders who collected a total of 8000 lbs of food for the SF Food Bank. I brought in 108 lbs in my recently-reinforced panniers, which held up well, though the bike was a bit unstable with that much weight. A few photos:

Supermarket Street Sweep poster... who wants to join me this year?

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:01:00 +0000

Supermarket Street Sweep poster… who wants to join me this year?

Save the date: Supermarket Street Sweep Dec 3rd (recap from last year when I did it by myself, but it would be fun to do with...

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Save the date: Supermarket Street Sweep Dec 3rd (recap from last year when I did it by myself, but it would be fun to do with friends).

Supermarket Street Sweep

Sun, 05 Dec 2010 05:19:00 +0000

Today I did the Supermarket Street Sweep, a combination bike race with prizes (in the general Alleycat style) and mission to collect food for the SF Food Bank. 170 cyclists participated and collected about 7000 lbs of food. [you can skip past this text to the map and photos, if you want]

Here’s how the race aspect works (I’d never done one before):

A group of cyclists gather without knowing the route, and then a manifest sheet is handed out with a list of supermarkets around the city you have to visit and things you have to purchase for the food bank at each one (you have to bring back receipts as proof). The first stop was prescribed (in Daly City, the farthest-out location), but after that you were free to visit the supermarkets in any order and by any route, making the race a combination of raw speed and navigation (well, and teamwork if you have a team, allowing some members to run in at each stop and shop, while others hydrate, watch bikes, plan the route for the next leg, and so on).

bike race for food banks, SFBC winterfest

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 01:28:35 +0000

I plan to do the Supermarket Street Sweep, Saturday at noon. A race around town to pick up a collection of food (to be donated to the SF Food Bank). You get the checklist of stores to visit and things to buy at each one when the race starts, so you have to decide right then what set of routes to take to optimize your path…

The SF Bike Coalition throws a party (beer, auctions, DIY activities, raffle, food, art) every year. Winterfest is this Sunday evening. You can get in free if you volunteer– I’ll be pouring beer in one of the tents.