Coops, Maps, Routes, Classes and Raffle !
Congratulations – It is time to start planning your coop day fun! We highly recommend you review all of the coops and your tour options BEFORE coop day so you can select the tour(s) that best fit your cycling ability, your geographic preference for a ride, available time and the coops your want to visit. Be sure to scroll all the way to bottom of the page to see all of the 150+ miles from 11 different “coop loop” route options to get you out to the coops and start making new chicken friends!
Remember, this is a self guided tour of coops and you must be self sufficient with food, water and bike repairs. Coops are only open from 9AM to 4PM, just on Saturday September 15, 2018.
Routes and Map links are listed at the bottom of this page!
Is there a coop in your future? – YES!
Have a clucking day!
First, we recommend you get a quick preview of the variety of coops, community gardens, and urban farms available this year on the tour by viewing the coop list summary by city below. Then scroll to the bottom of this page and find a tour that fits your available time, location and selection of coops! There is something for everyone! You may want to do a particular coop loop by bike but then go and directly visit another single coop not on that route you biked. Many of the coops offer tables to enjoy a snack at with other coop tourists. We encourage you to network and build your chicken friend community on the tour!
- Coop List Summary – Click here to view a complete summary with pictures of individual coops by city for 2018 tour!
- List of Coops with address and Coop name (PDF)
Questions??
Please review our coop tour FAQ page if you have any questions about the tour. This page will hopefully answer all those questions like – I don’t have a bike.. can I drive and visit coops and many more questions.
Need to rent a bike? There are some bike rental places near the coop tour loops near to Caltrain stations. We have 3 tours that start or go by Cal Train Stations. Check out our Coop Tour bike rental page for some options.
Coop Tour Raffle!
New for 2018 – This year we are raffling off an automatic opening coop door. You only need to register for the tour as a tourist or a Coopster to qualify for this raffle!
Click HERE for complete raffle information!
Classes and Tour Coop Scheduled Demos
To help launch your backyard chicken coop and urban farm, we recommend a few demos offered by some of our coopsters.
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- Clorofil (in Los Altos on various LA, LAH, MV tours) will offer live chicken health check demonstrations at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm. Stop by their micro-sanctuary coop stop to learn this critical skill.
Clorofil also offers chicken care classes. See details and schedule at www.clorofil.org/learn.
- Clorofil (in Los Altos on various LA, LAH, MV tours) will offer live chicken health check demonstrations at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm. Stop by their micro-sanctuary coop stop to learn this critical skill.
- Shanti Farms – Los Altos Hills – will be offering demos of various homesteading practices like milking goats, bee keeping, wax melting, etc.
Local backyard Urban Farming vendors
This year, two of the coop stops are stores that specialize is selling urban farming supplies. If you are looking for backyard chicken supplies or bee keeping supplies, both of these locally run and managed stores offer expertise in getting you setup and providing feed and other products.
Sam’s Downtown Feed – This feed store in downtown San Jose is the place to get chicken and coop supplies and bee keeping equipment. There are coops for and bee keeping starter packers to launch your backyard urban farm today!
cHick n bees – Store owners Jon and Melody have been in business for over 12 years (selling ink and toner) but only recently added their passions “Chickens and Bees” (they have 24 chickens and 18 hives) to their merchant business.
Chicken Chat –
We encourage you to stop and hang out at the coops for a while and meet other coop tourists and have a snack or lunch with them. Many of the coop stops offer some tables and chairs and areas to hang out and chat about chickens and solving world problems with coop goodness.
Routes, coop loops and navigation to coops!
GOOGLE MAP OF COOPS:
This year we have 28 coops from Redwood City to San Jose. If you want to navigate to the coops only using Google maps with individual coops, click on the image below and save that webpage link on your phone! Note: This google map does not have any route- coop loop information. We recommend you follow our coop loops below if you want to cycle between coops.
(NOTE: To view this google map on an iPhone may require that your download the Google Drive app first) . It should work fine on desktop devices.
Bicycle Coop Tour Routes with Maps/Cue Sheets
This year we are offering several routes to serve a variety of coop tourists cycling abilities from family friendly to the serious coop (50K+) events. That’s a lot of mileage and coops too! Each route has information provided in a few formats.
Cue Sheets The most valuable navigational document is the cue sheet. Included with each tour is a CUE sheet marking every right/left turn.
Cue Sheets are included with each tour. Print them out and fold them into a 1/4 page. They show the
- The turn or stop number
- The total mileage
- The directions – Left, right, etc
- Distance to this turn from the last turn
Printable Maps – With each tour will include printable maps you can download and print yourself. Simply click on the map and you will get the full resolution of one map per page and print it on a color or BW printer.
Ride With GPS Maps – Another option we provide to help you navigate the coop loop is a link to the RideWithGPS map of the coop loop. You can view the routes on full screen browsers or you can also download and install the RideWithGPS mobile APP from rideWithGPS.com for your iphone or android. The RideWithGPS app is a monthly service app that allows you to run GPS based Google type navigation of the routes we created. It also does much more and allow you to create and share rides and routes.
Note – Plan to spend some time downloading and playing with the app ahead of time if you wish to navigate using the app and our defined Coop routes on your phone.
Please review the Coop Route Navigational Options page for more details on how to use the various formats. Click on each route below to see the individual route details and maps and cue sheets.
MAPS AND COOP TOUR ROUTES:
Smaller – Neighborhood Routes – These routes are specifically designed to be shorter and more family friendly in terms of the routes selected:
- Redwood City – 3 coops – 8.6 miles – Mostly flat
- Los Gatos Area Coop Tour – 14.4 miles, 5 coops!
- Shanti Farm Coop Tour HIKE – 2.4 miles 1 coop
- East San Jose Bike Coop Challenge and Picnic – 10 miles – 1 coop
- Los Altos Hills and Palo Alto Coop Loop – 17 miles and 8 coops
- Willow Glen Area – San Jose Coop Loop 2018 – 10 miles 4 coops
- San Jose and Santa Clara Tour – 2 coops 7 miles
- Los Altos, Mountain View and Sunnyvale Coops – 4 coops – 9.4 miles
- Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Palo Alto, and Mountain View Coops – 7 coops – 15 miles
- West San Jose Coop Tour – 1 coop – 1.4 miles
More Serious Cyclist Routes – This longer route is designed for proficient cyclists who are comfortable riding on longer rides.
START CLUCKING!
Questions or issues? Feel free to send organizers an email at SVTourDeCoop@gmail.com.
Silicon Valley - Tour De Coop 