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California’s strategy for tackling its housing affordability crisis is having a split screen moment.

On the one hand, state lawmakers have gone big on legislation aimed at boosting housing construction. They’ve passed bills to densify wide swaths of urbanized California, to rewrite the state’s signature environmental protection law to exempt most apartment buildings from review and to speed up the building permit process. In the past, such efforts have fizzled or been too politically radioactive to attempt. Now, fresh off last week’s deadline for the state Senate to hand its own bills off to the Assembly and vice versa, 2025 is shaping up to be a banner year for pro-development legislation.

Then there are the bills aimed at providing immediate help to renters.

In short, there aren’t that many. Of all the tenant-focused legislation introduced at the beginning of the session, the most ambitious have been shelved for the year.

A bill that would have reduced allowable rent increases across the state was quietly extinguished in late April before it received a hearing in the Assembly Judiciary Committee. That’s despite the fact that the committee’s chair, San Jose Assemblymember Ash Kalra, was the bill’s author.

Another bill to limit the types of fees that a landlord can charge tenants on top of monthly rent was put on ice until at least next year, even though the bill was introduced by San Francisco Assemblymember Matt Haney, chair of the Assembly Housing Committee, its main backer is the state’s attorney general, and it was deemed priority legislation by the Legislature’s growing renters’ caucus.

As legislative leaders focus on finding solutions to California’s affordability problems, some solutions are getting a warmer reception than others.

“Fighting for tenants in this building is not popular and it’s not easy and it’s always going to be an uphill battle,” said Sen. Aisha Wahab, a Fremont Democrat, a member of the Renters’ Caucus and chair of the Senate Housing Committee.

Wahab has introduced her own share of tenant-minded bills this year. They include:

• Senate Bill 436, which would require landlords to give tenants 14 days to pay any late rent they owe before facing eviction (the current notice period is three days);
• Senate Bill 681, a housing policy grab-bag which includes restrictions on certain rental fees and an expansion of state tax credits for renters;
• Senate Bill 262, which would change the way that the state awards its “prohousing designation” to cities — a bureaucratic imprimatur that comes with prioritized access to state funds.

So far these bills have survived the Legislative gauntlet, but often significantly watered down. An earlier version of SB 436 would have given tenants up until the day of their physical eviction to make good on the rent they owe and “redeem” their tenancy, addressing situations in which renters scrounge up the money they owe but too late and are evicted anyway. An earlier version of SB 262 would have rewarded cities with credits toward a prohousing designation if they have local caps on rent in place.

In both cases, the bills were amended in the face of fierce opposition from landlords.

Debra Carlton, a lobbyist with the California Apartment Association, the premier trade group representing the state’s rental property owners, said that this year’s crop of tenant-related legislation doesn’t go nearly as far as the construction-related bills, but instead “nibble around the edges.”

Still, she argued, landlords are frustrated at having to constantly push back against legislation written to constrain the way they do business. She noted that in 2019, the association acceded to a statewide cap on rents — “that was huge for the industry.” Then came Kalra’s effort this year to lower the cap.

“Every time we sit at the table then the following year there’s something else,” she said. “It gets frustrating when we feel we’re negotiating in good faith… It’s like, why do we even negotiate?”

Other bills that would stick landlords with additional regulations: Senate Bill 52, authored by Pasadena Democratic Sen. Sasha Perez, would restrict landlords from consulting certain software to set their rents and Assembly Bill 246 by Culver City Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, a Democrat, would shield tenants from eviction if they are due delayed Social Security payments. The current version of Bryan’s bill is significantly more modest than the initial proposal introduced back in January: An across-the-board, yearlong rent freeze across Los Angeles County.

Modest appears to be the only kind of renter protection bill that has a chance in the current political climate, said Wahab.

“I want to make sure that the policies cross the finish line and get signed by the governor,” she said. “That is extremely difficult when you are dealing with special interest money, millions of dollars going in to people’s races that are afraid to make the right choice out of fear of losing their seat, millions of dollars being put into campaigns to ensure that they select the person that would vote with them instead of doing the right thing by millions of Californians.”

The apartment association is a major presence both in the Capitol and on the campaign trail. This year alone, the organization has lobbied on at least 25 bills, according to a tabulation by Digital Democracy. In just the first quarter of this year, a committee affiliated with the association has spent nearly $200,000 on campaign activity. Late last month it produced a website directed specifically at Wahab, which refers to the senator as “the biggest threat to California’s housing progress” and someone who “has sided with NIMBY obstructionists.”

“Every member of the Legislature and anyone who runs for office in the state of California understands the power of the apartment association and the association of Realtors,” said Michelle Pariset, director of legislative affairs with the nonprofit Public Advocates.

But there are other reasons that may explain why tenant bills often have a tough time in Sacramento. Roughly 44% of California homes were occupied by a renter, making tenants a minority. Homeowners are also much more likely to vote than tenants — and far more likely to contribute financially to a campaign, attend a town hall meeting or otherwise engage with the political system. When lawmakers listen to their constituents, homeowners have a much louder voice.

For lawmakers looking to protect tenants, there are also just fewer low hanging fruit to pick. The state already places a cap on allowable rents. Advocates say the cap is too high and includes too many loopholes, but the fact remains that California is just one of two states to have something akin to statewide rent control. California also has strict limits on when and how tenants can be evicted. A recent report by Consumer Affairs found that while California is the worst state in which to rent thanks to the sheer cost, its laws are among the most tenant-friendly.

Such tenant-friendly laws also come with the possibility of side effects — another reason that many lawmakers are reluctant to embrace them. Making it more difficult for landlords to raise rents or evict tenants can make it less profitable for developers to build new homes and discourage landlords from renting out their vacant units. That is, such policies could undercut the Legislature’s preferred method of addressing the state’s affordability woes: Boosting the housing supply.

Some California lawmakers, especially Democrats, do support both enhanced renter protections and policies that seek to turbo-charge supply. But the two goals can find themselves in tension in Sacramento. Anti-gentrification activists often look upon bills that promote market-rate development with skepticism, if not outright scorn.

Pariset, with Public Advocates, called voting for legislation to boost more private housing production “a way to essentially do nothing and pretend like you’re helping.”

That ideological rift has been a recurring theme in the California Senate this year, with members openly disagreeing over whether promoting more development is the best way to address the state’s high housing costs. Wahab has been a central figure in that debate, opposing Senate Bill 79, legislation that would allow denser development around major transit routes with modest requirements that some units be set aside for lower-income renters.

That bill, authored by San Francisco Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener, narrowly passed out of the Senate last week. Before voting no, Wahab called it a “complete handout to developers.”

Much of the academic research on the subject has found that new market rate housing, even if priced at rates unaffordable to many surrounding residents, still tends to reduce neighborhood and city-wide rents.

In an interview, Wahab disputed the characterization that she is anti-development, as many supporters of that bill have painted her. “I do believe in build, build, build,” she said, but stressed current renters won’t feel the effect of legislation aimed at boosting construction for years.

“It’s not all just about development and streamlining and permitting. It is also: What are we doing to ensure that renters can stay housed longer?” she said.

Beyond saddling landlords with additional regulations, another way the state helps keep renters in their homes is through funding for designated affordable housing and homelessness services. But those causes are also having a hard year. Grappling with a $12 billion budget shortfall, Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed no additional spending for the state’s signature homelessness grant program and its main affordable housing subsidy.

On Monday, the Legislature countered with its own budget proposal, which would add hundreds of millions of dollars to the affordable housing program, but no additional homelessness grant funds for the coming year.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom suggested last week that California may withhold taxes it pays to the United States if President Donald Trump slashes federal funding to the state.

It could be another front in the escalating battle between the Trump administration and the Golden State, which are at the moment wrestling over the president summoning the military to handle protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles. But how it would all work — on both sides — is anyone’s guess.

CalMatters asked several tax experts to weigh in on how the state could withhold money from the federal government. Most would not comment about what they called a “vague” threat by state officials. But they pointed out that residents and businesses pay state and federal governments directly when they file their income taxes — making it unclear what tax money California could withhold.

Newsom is not suggesting people stop paying their taxes, said Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for the governor. But she said the state is considering “whether there are potential options that would allow it to retain some of the funding it typically sends the federal government.”

She would not provide further details and did not answer CalMatters’ question about which of his staff the governor has directed to explore those options.

California’s biggest sources of revenue are personal income tax, corporation tax and sales tax, the last of which goes to local and state governments. The state does not handle other excise taxes, such as those from airports, transportation and more, that the federal government receives, according to the Finance Department.

Newsom on Friday also floated on social media the idea that California is a “donor” state and contributes tens of billions of dollars more a year to the U.S. than it gets back, something Gallegos reiterated to CalMatters.

A study by the Rockefeller Institute of Government found that in fiscal year 2021-22, California provided about $83 billion more to the federal government than it received, nearly three times as much as the next state, New Jersey, which provided about $29 billion more than it received from the U.S.

In addition, California taxpayers contribute the most of any state to total federal taxes, according to IRS data the state’s Finance Department cited. In fiscal year 2023-24, California’s total federal taxes were $806 billion — nearly twice as much as Texas, which contributed $417 billion, and more than twice the $384 billion New York contributed.

State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas also posted on social media last week that California must look at “every option” including withholding tax dollars, saying that “we’re the nation’s economic engine and the largest donor state, and deserve our fair share.” Rivas, a Salinas Democrat, was not available to answer questions, his staff said.

Some people dispute the notion of donor states.

“The governor’s long-standing complaint that California is a donor state rings hollow,” said Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects for the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based right-leaning think tank. “Unless California politicians are questioning the legitimacy of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, the complaint that California residents pay more in federal taxes than they get back is disingenuous.”

“Courts have made it abundantly clear that you can’t be a conscientious objector to paying taxes,” Walczak said.

Courts have also made it tough for the White House to cancel funding.

White House spokesperson Harrison Fields confirmed in an email to CalMatters this week that the Trump administration is reviewing possible wide-ranging funding cuts to California, as reported last week by different media outlets such as CNN and the Washington Post. But Fields said no decision has been made, and would not specify which programs are being considered for defunding. In the same email, Fields said the answers were on background or off the record, which he and CalMatters did not agree to beforehand.

H.D. Palmer, spokesperson for California’s Finance Department, pointed to the Trump administration’s attempt to freeze hundreds of billions of dollars in federal grants and loans, through an Office of Management and Budget memo, which it then rescinded in late January after public outcry and court orders.

“One salient point from our high school civics lessons: The power of the purse doesn’t lie with the (presidential) administration,” Palmer said.

Palmer provided a list of state programs that receive the most federal funding, which the state is counting on in its current budget. The list includes money for health, education, highway planning and construction, disaster recovery, grants for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and more. The biggest is $100.9 billion for medical assistance programs.

He said the White House has yet to provide specifics or answer the following question: “What public policy benefit are you seeking by withholding these federal dollars from California?”

Hearldine Campbell began her journey on June 5, 2025, in Hoopa. She was born February 16, 1945, in Fall River Massachusetts to James E. and Ida Jean Campbell where her dad was stationed in the US Navy. She grew up in Hoopa, CA and spent her life in the Pacific Northwest from San Francisco, Ca to Port Angeles, Forks, and Hoh River Washington; where she worked as a CHR, and Fairbanks, Alaska. She moved back to Hoopa to be with her family and relatives devoting a lot of her later years doing in-home care for close family and others. Over the years she cared for our grandmother, mom, dad and sister with love and devotion.

She always said, “God, knows my heart” and always had a prayer for someone in need. She enjoyed gathering and preparing willow sticks and roots from along the river. She made a burden basket that she used for gathering. She liked wood carving and landscaping with rocks. Her ability to transform any space and decorate it was awe-inspiring.

She lived briefly on Alcatraz Island during the Occupation 1969-71, and years later, traveled to Wounded Knee S.D. during the American Indian Movement Memorial and stayed in the AIM house.

She had style and grace, always taking care of her appearance, clothes, jewelry, hair and car. Her last tattoo was the 111 on her chin. She never failed to say what was on her mind whether you wanted to hear or not. She was a straight talker right down to her last day. When it came to her family, friends and community she was loyal to the core. She was the mother of five boys. A True “Auntie.”

She is survived by her eldest brother Joe LeMieux and her youngest sister Gina. Her sons Frank L. Reece and Kim, and Craig E. Reece. Nieces Mary Jane Aubrey and Bruz, Lacheth Ida Jae and Clara. Her nephews Jim and Tracy Campbell, Kiai Lincoln. Her grandsons; Johnny and Nena Blake, Eric and Shay Blake, David, Timothy, Jonathan Blake, and Austin Blake. Granddaughters; Brooke (Blake) and James Giddens, Felicia Blake, Emily Blake, Stormy, Daisy(Reece) and Clifford, and Shiara. 10 great-granddaughters and five great-grandsons and two great-great-granddaughters.

Preceded in death by her parents James and Ida, her cherished cousins Connie Thompson, Wally Martins Jr. and Colleen McCullough, Sisters Becky Campbell and Georgia (Booboo) Campbell, Brothers J.C. and T.C. Nephew Dale LeMieux, Her beloved sons- John Luddington, Harold (OT) Joseph, and Thomas Eugene-Blake.

Pall bearers Eric Blake, Timothy, David and Johnathan Blake. Tommy Blake, John Blake III, Kehniwh Offield, Whikil Campbell, Tyler Campbell and Lil’ Des.

Honorary: Joe LeMieux, Gumpy Fountain, Craig, Frank, Jimmy, Johnny Blake, Bruz Aubrey and Hill Bill, Desmond Oliver, Kiai Lincoln, Two Feathers Offield, Hank Masten, Jason Rakestraw, L.T. Tracy, Brent and Loren Thompson and Doug McCloud.

We want to thank the specific people who were present in her life. Ten-day fire on the flat ongoing.

A wake will be on Jun 11, 2025, at the Assembly of God Church on Tish Tang Rd. Hoopa, CA Service at 11 a.m. on Jun 12, 2025. Internment at Hoopa Cemetery.

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Robert Dale Jackson, loved husband, brother, grandfather passed May 15, 2025 Robert was born December 27, 1967 in Santa Clara.

Robert was predeceased by his parents, Dale Jackson and Susan Elaine Leonesio Jackson Bolling, father and mother-in-law, Henry and Carol Del Biaggio, grandparents and uncles John and Bill J Leonesio.

Bob lived in San Jose, moving to Redding with his mother Susan and brother John Bolling, enlisting in the army after graduating from Enterprise High School in 1986. He moved to join familly in Eureka in 1997.

Bob loved walking on the Centerville Beach with Donna, watching movies, watching and listening to his nine grandchildren play and surprising others with amazing bits of information he knew.

He is missed by his wife Donna, brother John E Bolling (Lorena),step-sons Jared and Kyle and step-daughter Samantha, brothers-in-law Dennis (Susie) and Daniel (Kelly) Del Biaggio, grandchildren Cora, Dusten, Zion, Abagail, Hannah, Rebekkah, Alice, Adom and Milo, niece Cecelia Elaine Bolling, aunt Judy Leonesio and cousins William A (Linda) and Michael Leonesio (Paula).

Friends are invited to Centerville Beach to join family to remember and wish him farewell.

Press release from the City of Rio Dell:

The City of Rio Dell, in partnership with Caltrans and the Clean California program has connected multiple communities with a new trail path along the bank of the Eel River. A ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted today at the Edwards trailhead celebrated the natural beauty of the waterway and unveiled a transformed portion of the riverfront.

This $2.3 million Clean California grant project installed a new quarter-mile paved nonmotorized path that runs along the west bank of the Eel River, linking previously unconnected city streets and providing the first designated public access point to the river. Interpretive monuments placed along the trail highlight the river’s ecological and cultural importance, offering an educational experience for residents and visitors. The City of Rio Dell was also awarded nearly $198,000 in Clean California grant funding for landscaping and recreation upgrades along Wildwood Avenue.

“This trail is more than just a path — it’s a way for our community to connect with the river, with nature, and with one another,” said Rio Dell Mayor Debra Garnes. “It transforms what was once an overgrown dumping site into a vibrant and educational corridor.”

“Clean California is about more than cleaning up trash—it restores pride and purpose in our shared public spaces,” said Caltrans District 1 Director Matthew Brady. “The Eel River Trail is a shining example of what is possible when state and local partners come together to invest in the health and vitality of our communities.”

Adding a special community touch, students and faculty from Eagle Prairie Elementary School played a key role throughout the project, serving as trail stewards and advocates for its success.

The ribbon-cutting event included representatives from the City of Rio Dell, Caltrans, Redwood Community Action Agency, the County of Humboldt, and local environmental and trails organizations.

The Eel River Trail is a testament to the power of partnerships and the potential for state investment to create safer, cleaner, and more accessible public spaces in communities like Rio Dell.

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After securing $43.5 million in state grant funding last month, staff with the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Public Works are moving ahead with plans to relocate and rebuild Sempervirens Psychiatric Health Facility on a Fifth Street parking lot, directly across from the Humboldt County Courthouse in Eureka. 

The new inpatient facility is slated for completion in 2030.

For nearly 60 years, the 16-bed facility has operated out of the Clark Complex, the former Humboldt General Hospital campus built in 1907. Over the years, the building has fallen into disrepair with structural issues that have put the facility’s operations at risk.

Speaking at today’s Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting, DHHS Director Connie Beck underscored the importance of the project, emphasizing that “there haven’t been any significant improvements made to the facility over the last 45 years.”

“From Fiscal Year 2021 through 2024, maintenance, repair and project costs have exceeded $864,000,” she continued. “There have been 3,008 work orders in [those] five years. We have approximately $4.1 million [in] projects that are currently on hold, including full elevator retrofitting, replacement of a leaky window, tile and floor repairs, etc. We have another $2 million in additional recommended repairs and upgrades. … I think most of your board is aware that the Grand Jury has reported on the current facility every year since [Fiscal Year 2019-20].”

Plans for the new 21,000-square-foot facility include 16 inpatient beds, four crisis stabilization unit beds and expanded access for children and youth, as well as patients who are not ambulatory. Surely anticipating questions about expanding, Beck noted that Sempervirens is only permitted for 16 inpatient beds, due to federal rules surrounding Medicaid- and Medicare-certified facilities. 

The $43.5 million grant was awarded through Proposition 1, the Behavioral Health Services Act, passed by California voters in March 2024 to replace the Mental Health Services Act of 2004. After the county was notified of the conditional grant award in early May, staff had just 10 days to submit plans for a shovel-ready project. 

Over the next year, DHHS and Public Works staff will work with an outside consultant to finalize the design plans. On top of that, staff have yet to determine who will run the facility. 

“We may contract with another entity, or possibly continue to run as the county,” Beck said. “I know your board is aware that we have several contracts with doctors and nurses in order to provide the services at Sempervirens. So, that will be a work in progress over the next couple of years.”

Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo asked if DHHS would be able to expand outpatient services at the new Sempervirens facility.

“It’s not going to be incorporated into this facility,” said Paul Bugnacki, deputy director of Humboldt County Behavioral Health. “We’re not sure where we’re going to put outpatient services yet. You know, we could possibly continue to use some of that space at 720 Wood Street … for outpatient services and substance use disorder services. … We would definitely need to have discussions about where those staff are going to reside.”

Beck noted that the Hope Center, located at 2933 H Street in Eureka, currently provides a variety of outpatient services. She added that the county could restructure some of the services offered at the Hope Center once the new Sempervirens is up and running. “There’s a whole lot here still that we have to figure out,” she said.

First District Supervisor Rex Bohn spoke in favor of the project but expressed concern for the extended timeline and potential for “a lot of hiccups in the next four years,” seemingly referring to the county’s budgetary woes and rising construction costs.

“I don’t see anything going down in the next four years,” he said. “This is exactly what happened … with the jail [expansion project]. We didn’t deposit the million dollars or whatever, so we got put on the back burner. … If we don’t get it built, costs are going to go up some more, and then it’s going to be unattainable and we’re going to be sitting here with a lot of wasted effort.”

Third District Supervisor and Vice-Chair Mike Wilson echoed Bohn’s concerns, but emphasized the “extreme” importance of the project. “It took tons and tons of hard work to have the established facility that we have today, but I have to say, it is on its last legs and we really need to move forward with something.”

Speaking during the public comment portion of today’s meeting, Public Works Director Tom Mattson underscored his support for the project. “Sometimes you have to take risks to get great rewards.”

“Make no mistake, this is a critical medical care facility,” Mattson continued. “Most people think about critical medical as, you know, the hospitals [and] regular doctors, [but] mental health is also very, very critical in our community. … We believe we built a solid budget that will survive what’s coming at us, but there’s always a risk.”

After some additional discussion, Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone made a motion to receive and file the report, which was seconded by Arroyo. The motion passed 4-0, with Board Chair Michelle Bushnell absent.

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On the other side of the Redwood Curtain, cycling is often associated with elitism and bicycles that cost triple what a used Honda Civic sells for and Fred-bashing Lycra enthusiasts with stringent sets of rules that define who, exactly, is a cycliste and who is a nerd with too much money. But to live in Humboldt is to do stupid things with, on, or to bicycles. Examples are abundant enough that providing them is almost pointless — take a look at the Arcata Plaza during Memorial Day weekend, or head out to the forest on a weekend and watch people throw themselves down hills and over berms and snake down evil singletrack switchbacks. Or perhaps ride in a great pack to every Murphy’s Market in the county.

It was May 25, 2025, and the weather was atypically fabulous. 15 cyclists descended on the Murphy’s Market in Sunny Brae sometime that morning, said some greetings, and started riding south. Their destination was another one of the local chain grocery stores, the Cutten location, and after that they were riding to the other Murphy’s in Arcata, then up to Trinidad, where they would make a pitstop at — shocker incoming — the one up there. Then a quick jaunt to sample what the Murphy’s in Glendale has to offer (apparently, a pretty damn good hot bar) and finally back to Arcata. All in all, the trip was about 64 miles, managed to avoid any major hills, and went smoothly. 

OK, but why?

“I mean, how could you say ‘no’ to hitting five different Murphy’s?” asked rider Claire Anderson during an interview with the Outpost. “It’s kind of the perfect way to do a long distance ride.”

And it was. Employees greeted the cyclists at every stop with snacks, sandwiches, Gatorade, encouragement, and, in Glendale, custom buttons, adorned with the outing’s official title: The Murphy’s Metric Century. 

Daisy Schadlich, an organizer of the ride, had the idea to ride to all of the Murphy’s last year. It turned out her roommate had the same idea, and they got as far as planning the route out — and then her roommate had to move. The idea was scuttled. But Daisy’s friend Claire had thought it was an excellent plan, and they had to do it before Claire and her partner moved away too, so they picked a weekend when they and their partners would be free. 

At one point Daisy considered the Sunny Brae Murphy’s her “pantry,” often stopping in multiple times a day with her roommates because it was just around the block from her place. Sometimes she had to; sometimes it was an excuse to go out for a little while. She once had the pleasure of hooking a Scottish bikepacker up with his favorite soft drink from the Old Country on a trip to the Murphy’s. It had been discontinued back home — he was ecstatic. 

Both Daisy and Claire are mainly mountain bikers, new-ish to the cult of the crankset. Claire started cycling about four years ago, Daisy about five. They met each other on a group chat made up of local women mountain bikers and became friends. 

Humboldt’s brutal climbs and primeval roads can make two-wheeled transport difficult. Innumerable potholes and washboard dirt roads trash skinny road bike tires, and roads that offer endless miles of flat, car-free cruising are rare. Cyclists here tend to be tight. 

“It’s incredible to me how the riding here is so hard,” Daisy said. “But people ride! It’s not even, like, these ‘weight weenies’ who are on these super tiny feather-light carbon bikes. You see people out there riding like whatever they have, and they’re stoked to see anyone else out there doing the same thing. And so I feel that’s kind of the mentality that we approach this. And, I mean, yeah, admittedly, I was wearing a full cycling kit, but I was also on my aluminum gravel bike, and wearing a Hawaiian shirt over the top.”

Races in Humboldt tend to emphasize the silliness of the task, of the impulse to power the machines over stupid distances and impassable obstacles, trails and avenues through beautiful scenery that rend and split metal and rubber apart piece by piece over infinite, infinitesimal repeated impacts. Bogstomp, a late-season cyclocross race in November out on a soggy chunk of land near Elk River, is an example par excellence of the ethos. There is no cell service. Competitors slip and slide all over steep, muddy hillsides while trying to complete laps. They must often get off of their bikes and walk them. 

Basically, spending a day riding 100 kilometers to a chain of grocery stores isn’t unapproachably weird to a lot of folks. When Daisy hit the group chat up to pitch the ride, she found out that more than a few people had dreamed up the same ride independently. It wasn’t hard to bring together more than a dozen people who were in. But Daisy and Claire were the first to bring the idea to Murphy’s. They reached out to Kelsie Ng, the Marketing and Human Resources specialist for Murphy’s, to see if they could set something up. 

Kelsie was enthusiastic about the idea. She thought it would be a good opportunity for friends to hang out with one another outdoors, and she liked the plan of hopping location-to-location. She sourced snacks and goody bags for the riders, and made special posters. She wanted to spectate, but was out of town that weekend and couldn’t.

While the peloton was trawling from one store to another, employees called one another to advise them of the groups ETA’s, and made a point of taking a photo of them in front of each store. When they arrived, they’d mess around a bit, eat, and take more pictures. 

Daisy, Claire, and their partners knew most of the people who joined them on the ride, but there were a few new faces. A man they knew only as “Rusty,” who claimed to be a professional mountain biker with a pilot’s license, showed up in full cycling kit on a nice bike. He led the group for most of the day (seven and a half hours from start to finish, including breaks), and despite his pedigree, was down to just hang out and chat with everyone. Everyone was alright with getting strange. People posed with onions in the Trinidad market, and one person rode a giant steel bicycle, a behemoth-like beast that clocks in at almost 30 pounds named the “Surly Ogre.”  But no one treated it like anything it wasn’t.

“We might be going a long, long way,” Claire said, “but it’s not a race.”

They plan on doing it again next year.