San Fransisco: recap and musings.

I was struck (figuratively) by the sheer number of cyclists. I was also amazed at how many tourists used the bike rental companies (there's a ton of competition in that niche!) to not only ride over the Golden Gate Bridge, but ride in traffic in downtown to see the sights. You'd think an out-of-towner would be frightened half to death by the traffic, but the ample bike lanes and infrastructure seem to erase that fear. I saw entire families on rental bikes lazily roaming downtown gazing upward (rather than focused fearfully on all the cars around them), taking in the scene. It made sense to see things from a bike, finding (car) parking is a tremendous hassle and if you do find an open meter, you can't stay there for very long. I really wish I had been able to convince Hubby that touring downtown via a bike was the way to go, but he preferred circling the same block 5 times to find a parking spot for our car and then having to run to the restaurant, scarf down our food quickly and run back to the car before the meter expired. Relaxing, yes?

I kept noticing the green Route signage wherever we went and had to Google what they meant.

Wow, so organized and official!

 There's even a "Wiggle" which allows cyclists to use the most flat route across the city.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wiggle

This gets my vote as "Most scenic and interesting solar-powered rack"!

Brought to you by Audi. Ironic.

Free bike valet at Giant's games too!

The number of bike lanes was astonishing. I was more surprised when we happened upon a road that didn't have a bike lane. The airport roads have bike lanes, the hotel/bio-genetics industrial complex that our hotel was situated in had a bike lane and I saw several commuters there. 

 We were walking down the Embarcadero and I noticed a Surly Trucker leaning against a railing as the owner sat nearby watching the Bay. This was only one of two Surlys I'd seen in my time there. Everyone mainly rides Treks and Cannondales. I engaged the owner in some bike talk while Hubby stood nearby and observed. I noted to the owner that I hadn't seen many Surlys, he answered "They're all out touring now."

Another thing I noticed was that pedestrians rarely jaywalk. They wait for the Walk/Don't Walk signals and the motorists adhere strictly to the 'pedestrians have the right-of-way' law. I saw one car go through a crosswalk that had people attempting to cross and the driver promptly incurred the wrath and harsh scorn of the pedestrians.

I only encountered one bit of anti-bike-ness. It was this sign:

I wondered what it meant: No bikes allowed?!

It made sense to me when I realized it was a "Keep off the sidewalk with your bike!" sign.

I want it to be known that I did things on the trip that didn't involve cycling.

We had great food:

Giant macaroon at a deli after a meal of lox, bagel, onion, cream cheese and capers.

We saw great baseball:

We bumped into local legend and celebrity Bob Walk at AT&T Park!

Hung out at wineries and had some fabulous Pinot Noir:

Went for a boat ride:

I'm on a boat!

Saw some wildlife:

I found two Stikman tiles!

Here's a Victorian Drag Queen crossing the street drinking a Slurpee.

I'll take "Things you don't see every day" for $1000, Alex.

Hung out at the beach:

I learned the hard way that the SanFran sun and weather are deceiving. It feels very cool, but you're getting a vicious burn without even knowing it.

If this looks painful, that's because it is painful. Ow.

Air travel: The 767-300s that we flew on have a really interesting feature where you can track the plane. I spent a good deal of time looking at that. I also noted that SFO is in the midst of building a new control tower.

So much fun. I wish I had biked more though.

San Fransisco: Bay Area Bike Share (BABS)

 We'd spent a week in the San Fransisco area doing things like:

• going to a few Pirates/Giants games at AT&T Park
• a Oakland Athletics vs Kansas City Royals game at O.co Coliseum
• Wine country! Napa and Sonoma!

...and out of curiosity's sake, I needed to try their Bike Share program.

They only plunked stations in the flat areas of Downtown which made sense as these BABS bikes aren't designed to go up ANY hills, let alone the hills of San Fran!


I stopped at a station the day prior to explain the system to Hubby before I tortured him with the logistics of dropping me off at a station and then meeting me across town at another station.




Some BABS bikes get attention/maintenance near AT&T Park.

The next morning, Hubby dropped me off at Townsend and 7th and he drove to meet me at Market and 10th Streets about 1 mile away. I took a route using the wide bike lane on Market and 7th streets. I encountered a roundabout, which was interesting to go through on a bike. The goal was to keep the trip under the 30 minute limit before they started tacking extra fees onto my credit card. The one-day fee to use the system was nine bucks, kinda pricey for my short trip, but I was just doing this for giggles. I tried very hard to convince Hubby it was safe to travel via the BABS bikes, but he simply wasn't ready to venture into rush-hour traffic nor spend 9 dollars to travel 1 mile. This was yet another of my strange hobbies that he endured gracefully and patiently.

Things I noted about the native cyclists: few commuters use hi-viz. EVERYONE uses a u-lock. The motorists treat cyclists with respect. If you signal that you'd like to change lanes on your bike, the driver will let you in with the same courtesy extended to other motorists. Refreshing. I'm accustomed to the "FU, cyclist!" attitude.

I was helmets-less... I mean, I couldn't very well fit my giant Bern helmet into my suitcase.
Marko had suggested just buying a cheap helmet when we got in San Fran and leaving it in there, but I never got around to it. I figured I'd take my head injury chances with the 2 miles in the bike lanes of Downtown San Fransisco as they were probably safer than Pittsburgh! My only fear was getting in the way of a speeding hipster bike messenger.

I'm reminded of a Tony Bennett song...

The system is very easy to use. You're given a code to unlock a bike (within 5 minutes) after using the kiosk. I noted they place a $101 security deposit on your card. The replacement fee if the bike is never returned is $1200.
The bike itself is a TANK.

 

Naturally, I took photos along my short trip:

Started my journey at Adobe and Zynga's headquarters: Folsom and 7th

 

End trip: Market and 10th

Look at all that bike infra! WOW.

Achievements unlocked: Switchback Mastery and Traffic Mettle

Today I tried to sneak in a bit of riding before a baseball game and before rain hit the area. I rode over to REI for some gloves to help alleviate the recent numb fingers issue I'm having. Rode back via Station Square and noticed the Duke Incline cars are decorated with huge Pirates banners. Very cool.

I took my obligatory #30daysofbiking shot under the McCullough bridge after I checked on one of my geocaches.

I met hubby and we did some bird watching at PNC Park.

Dugout box seats #covet

I used the raincape while we got rained on at the game. Felt particularly stylish in houndstooth while everyone else was wearing hideous disposable ponchos or plastic bags. My pannier doubled as my waterproof camera bag. I stayed dry with all my bike gear and bike clothing doubling as game gear. Win!

Noob Achievements:

Switchback Mastery

I'm noticing my downward rolls on switchbacks are getting much better. I don't crash into the outside rail (or anyone coming up the switchback, which nearly happened once) and can even manage to keep the bike in the center. Maybe one day I can make a tight enough turn to keep the bike on the inside?

Traffic Mettle

It dawned on me one day last week that I no longer avoid riding in traffic. I rode the trail to the Strip and had a decision to make: do I return via the trail or take the streets? I chose the streets and I didn't give it a second thought...

I recalled the first few times I rode in traffic:

I was rather anxious. I remember butterflies and actually trembling while stopped at lights with cars. Despite my fear, I forged on. I would be damned if I would let my fear impede my need to travel by bike.

Bombarded and barraged

It was very windy on Thursday, I was getting knocked around a great deal. I stayed off the trails because they were even windier being right along the rivers. Everyone was respectful, even a PAT bus who passed me and stayed out of my lane... except this driver. I tried to catch up with her when she was stopped at the light ahead of me, but she pulled away and into the valet area.

Too close, lady! One gust of wind and I'll get blown under your tires!

Silver Chevy JDJ 8331 is in a big hurry to get to the Casino!
Gotta park your rear in front of that special slot machine at a certain time? Can't be late!

After that pass, I decided to put this on the back basket:

I'm not sure I like it. Opinions are welcome.












Who wants to see Herring gulls?

I'm childish, I know. Every so often, the 4 year old in me likes to run through groups of pigeons and today, it was a flock of seagulls. I had to indulge the 4 year old today. Luckily, none of them crapped on me.

WARNING! Music: Surfin' Bird by The Cramps! Turn down your speakers if you're not a fan of Surfin' Bird or The Cramps (one of the greatest bands on Earth, IMHO).