Davis Bike Collective and Sudwerk Brewing Co. hosted their first regular brewery bike crawl
By EMMA CONDIT — city@theaggie.org
On Sunday, Jan. 28, Davis Bike Collective and Sudwerk Brewing Co. hosted a bike loop across four Davis breweries. As they enjoyed the journey from spot to spot, participants bonded over their love of bikes, beer and unseasonably warm January weather.
Davis Bike Collective is a “volunteer-run nonprofit community bicycle organization,” as written on their website. Alex Fisher-Wagner, Sudwerk’s event planner, explained the intention behind the event.
“You don’t have to drink,” Fisher-Wagner said. “But if you are into beer and haven’t had an excuse to go try the different breweries and you want to burn it off at the same time, this is a really great opportunity.”
Jordan Blandino, a first-year graduate student at UC Davis and participant in the event, offered his thoughts on biking in Davis.
“I did lots of biking before I came to Davis, and that’s actually one of the reasons I came here,” Blandino said. “I was thinking, ‘maybe I could put some of the bike background into the education.’”
Blandino, who is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in design, hopes to integrate his biking background into urban design.
“With design, for example, there are a lot of opportunities around sustainable transportation and sustainable product design,” Blandino said. “I want to focus on wellbeing for people in American cities […]. [In Davis] we don’t have any mountains, and the county roads are long and straight. But there is a lot of support for cycling here.”
The 10-mile loop took participants to 3-Mile Brewing, Dunloe Brewing and Super Owl Brewing and ended at Sudwerk Brewing Co., where a small market was happening simultaneously. Marina and Brandon Aria, who sold cookies at the market during the event, spoke about their journey as bakers.
“I’ve been doing it since I was a little girl, baking with my Oma,” Marina Aria said. “Then I hurt my spine when I was 22, so I would bake to relax because I couldn’t really do anything else. […] Then the pandemic hit and my aunt asked me to bake a cake because everything else was closed, and I realized, ‘Hey, I love this’ and dove head first into it.”
Brandon Aria then spoke about his experience selling in local markets and supporting Marina Aria.
“I enjoy supporting her,” Brandon Aria said. “The biggest thing, other than that, is connecting with the community. I didn’t think that would be a big thing for me, but it’s really cool; it’s very rewarding. We have a reason to leave the house. So let’s do it.”
Davis Bike Collective and Sudwerk Brewing Co. plan to host this free event on the last Sunday of each month.
Written by: Emma Condit — city@theaggie.org
