For competitive cyclists, Race Across America (RAAM) is a cross-country race that separates the boys from the men. Our city’s paved trails and greater Sacramento’s hilly rural routes have served as a training ground for two local teams representing Sacramento, Team Sac PD and for first time, an all youth team, “Believe and Achieve.” On June 16, 2012, these local teams will compete in RAAM against 95 other teams from around the nation and world. RAAM is the toughest bicycle race in the world. It is incomparable to the Tour de France; RAAM is a non-stop, 24 hours a day relay race. This 3,000 mile cross-country bike race starts at Oceanside, Calif. and ends in Annapolis, Md. In the history

Some of the world’s top bicyclists will be racing into Sacramento Monday to finish the second stage of the sixth annual Amgen Tour of California at the Capitol. Racers will enter Sacramento from the northern city limits on Sorrento Road to Main Avenue, then head to Highway 160, where they will then enter the central city on 12th Street, according to Department of Transportation spokeswoman Linda Tucker. For the race route and road closures, click the interactive map below. View Amgen Tour of California Route in a larger map “You’ve got the opportunity to watch some of the best athletes in the world ply their trade,” said Andrew Messick, president of AEG Sports, which owns the race. “

This article will be about all kinds of things but, aside from the title, it won’t mention bicycles. Well, except for that first sentence where I had to write “bicycles” to establish the point. And again, just now, in sentence two – but the use of bicycles in that sentence was purely explanatory. Wait…damn. Hmmm…maybe the reason half the articles here are about bikes is that apparently it’s impossible to avoid writing about them, as I learned above. Why, I bet that we can’t even get through today, a perfectly average Saturday in Sacramento, without some further mention of bicycles. Anyway, on to non-bicycle related news. I was walking in midtown today, minding my own business, when a b