Even the Devil Rides

Tin Hats on the Street of Croccodiles

2005-08-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

just off the wires from the Tin Hat Trio:

In January we'll be recording a new CD dedicated to the art and writings of Bruno Schulz. Check back for more information and a release date.

That's magic right there. Bruno Schulz's brief literary output contains some of the most beautiful, delicate, phantasmagorical narratives ever put on paper. They inspire a host of artists I admire, most notably The Brothers Quay whose short fim Street of Croccodiles is nothing short of amazing. Tin Hat Trio's sound is so evocative of Shulz's mysterious, playful and menacing vignettes that it's hard to believe that they haven't been making music about him all along.

In other musical news, I recently picked up the Anthology of American Folk Music. It's a scratchy, dustry trip to America's dark heart. It's a refutation of Laura Bush's fairy tales about those who settled this land. A simpler time? Hardly so. It's difficult to listen to those songs (murder, drunkneness, fear, redemption) and reconcile them with our lives today. After putting the whole collection on my iPod I went to the folkways website and pulled down the rather extensive collection of notes (not Harry Smith's but the more recent ones) and put them in a twiki for easy viewing via the iPod's notes function. So if anyone has been wishing for a more portable version of the liner notes, let me know...

My head's spinning like bicycle wheel these days. I do all my riding up there.

More devil, loss blogs

2005-08-08T17:56:00.000-07:00

I've not written on here much, and I think it's time to admit to myself that it's time for a break. Since returning from Germany I've been focusing more and more on art, less on Cycling (with a capital C). Sure I still use it to get from here to there, but increasingly I wonder if I need to write about it.

For the moment, I don't. I love cycling. I really like blogging. But there's a part of me that feels a little sad about my need to transfer the one to the other. Which is not to devalue anyone else's blog. But right now I feel a little less activist than I did before.

Dusseldorf Bike Shop

2005-07-28T21:28:00.000-07:00

Tour de France laughs

2005-07-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

The Daily Show has some fun with the Tower de France.

I missed the tour. In fact, since I was in the correct time zone I had the opportunity to watch it "live." But I didn't. Why?

The Tour is a tough ride, obviously. I can't take that away from those who ride it. But I want to see a Tour without the cars. I want to see riders fix their own flats. It's bicycling, after all. I want to see individuals, not teams, out there, riding their hearts out. The beauty of the bicycle and the rider. Not pace cars.

High MPG Hummer!

2005-07-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

Artist in Residence

Well, it has no MPG to speak of, because it's made of styrofoam.

old town bike

2005-07-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

One thing that was so refreshing about Germany was not just the number of bicycles, but the range of people riding them. Not just students and messengers but businessmen in suits, seniors running errands, middle-aged tourists.

With gas at the equivelent of $5.50 a gallon, it's no wonder. The reason gas is so high has little to do with import costs, or even the costs of motor vehicles. The German government is fond of attaching all kinds of taxes to fuel.

Getting up to speed...

2005-07-20T08:49:00.000-07:00

...after two weeks in Germany. I saw a lot of great old bikes, including this one. It has a single rod brake in the front. When the brake lever is pulled the brake pad hits the top of the tire.

Which must have been murder on your tires. Makes you glad for cantilever brakes.

Gas Pump Stick Up in Stuttgart

2005-07-15T01:44:00.000-07:00

Of all the cool sticker art I saw in Stuttgart, which is a lot, this coffin car pump is my favourite (don't know about the ninja above it thought). Brilliant.

hanging up the helmet for a while (and the keyboard too)

2005-07-03T01:07:00.000-07:00

for two weeks. I'm heading off to Germany, sans bicycle. I hope to be able to rent one while there, ride the countryside.

At the very least I hope to photograph some of Germany's bicycle culture.

auf wiederzhen.

When a public official falls off a bike, it's news!

2005-06-30T19:49:00.000-07:00

Va. Governor Injured in Fall Off Bicycle - Yahoo! News:

This story occupied the top ten news search results for "bicycle" on the day it happened. Usually I find half a dozen stories about anonymous cyclists killed on the roadways.

"RICHMOND, Va. - Gov. Mark R. Warner broke his bill-signing hand Monday in a spill from his bicycle.

Warner, 50, was treated at a hospital after suffering two broken bones in his right hand, said press secretary Kevin Hall.

The governor was among about 2,000 cyclists in rural Rockbridge County for a 24-mile bike ride. Warner had six miles left when the accident occurred.

Warner lost control as he was approaching a railroad track and holding a water bottle in one hand, leaving him unable to apply pressure evenly to brakes for the front and rear wheels, Hall said. Warner apparently squeezed the front brakes too hard, flipping the bike.

The governor was wearing a helmet.

Warner's term as governor ends in January. He has been mentioned as a possible Democratic presidential candidate in 2008."

Since falling off a bicycle seemed to be a requirement for front-runner status in the last election...

Because it's just too difficult to reduce greenhouse emissions...

2005-06-27T16:16:00.000-07:00

Space Ring Could Shade Earth and Stop Global Warming - Yahoo! News:

A wild idea to combat global warming suggests creating an artificial ring of small particles or spacecrafts around Earth to shade the tropics and moderate climate extremes.

The cost? Six to 200 trillion dollars. And it would illuminate our night sky as much as the full Moon, for example.

But, you know, what else can we do?

Don't honk at me, honk at the parked cars!

2005-06-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, riding home from watching Land of the Dead (which gets a zero in bicycle content, but is wonderful, joyous, anti-authoritarian, mysanthropic, anti-capaltistic) I took Dolores street. Dolores street is a four-lane road that gets clogged with parked cars on Sundays. They park in the middle lanes while at church. This is not legal. It only leaves one lane open. And I took that lane.

And I kept hearing this honking behind me. When the lane opened up again an auto passed me, honking. I kept in mind his anger was misplaced. It's not me that's the problem, jackass, it's the cars parked in the road.

good day biking

2005-06-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

seeing things, like this large wooden gazebo/sculpture on the newly emerging Octavia boulevard. Once upon a time there was a freeway here. Then the earthquake took it down. And the good people of this city thought to take back the street, or at least part of it.

Unocal Uncertainty

2005-06-24T12:15:00.000-07:00

Chinese oil firm trumps Chevron bid for Unocal:

I'm taking a lot of interest in the news that Chevron's bid for Unocal is being challenged by a competing bid from a Chinese company. If anything, it should show people how the diminishing supply and increased demand for oil is going to make everything really screwy. How screwy? Well, the normally free-market, non-regulatory Republicans want the President to step in and stop the proposed buy-out:

'I do not believe it is in the best interest of the United States to have Unocal owned by the Chinese national government,' said Rep. Richard Pombo, R- Tracy, in a prepared statement.

Unocal is going to be forced into a patriotic quandry. And if they do sell to China, so the Chinese can fuel their increasing appetite for automobiles, the US will get really squeezed. And I find this fascinating. A financial power struggle. But it's scary too, because of the potential for war (remember the Japanese in WWII).

Remember Mad Max? It presented a future world where people drive around to find oil for their cars so they can drive around and find more oil, so they can grease their mohawks and fuel their cars (and so it goes, ad infinitum). Why didn't they just stay where they were?

Spare the Air Faire

2005-06-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my Organization held a Spare the Air Faire, where a dozen well-meaning environmental and transit representatives came with the sysyphisian mission of converting car commuters to sometime-alternative commuters. I feel for these people, I really do. They must overcome laziness with good intentions and facts. They hand out brochures, transit time-tables, pens, and fold-and-make cardboard trains. They get vague commitments in return, "sure, I'll take the train, or carpool, maybe, once..."

There was an electric bike to test ride. And I gave it a whirl. It was a fun ride, but not one that makes much sense. A rather heavy mountain bike augmented with a 20-pound motor and battery that promises to zoom you up hills. Except once you take into account the amount of peddling energy expended on moving said device, it seems rather silly. It seems like a "lossy" process.

Riding the Raleigh in Davis

2005-06-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

I spent the birthday/father's day weekend in Davis, where I got a chance to ride the classic 1979 Raleigh. It's a beautiful bike.

Even though I grew up riding those flat, pastoral lands, it was quite a shock this time. To ride for 15 miles without a hill or a traffic light felt so strange.

I didn't really appreciate before just how much of our food comes from that area. Now much of that land is being converted to housing. Sprawl, really. And the Walmarts and the Costcos are coming. And with it all the cars.

At low speeds with SPDs

2005-06-14T12:13:00.000-07:00

So I'm really warming up to these. Not nearly as tough as I'd feared. I had to do an emergency clip-out on Sunday when a stopped car that I was passing suddenly decided to turn left (as a quick asside--this was in the vicinity of the Haight Street Fair. What is it about street fairs that is so apalling? is it that in an effort to reclaim the streets for people, people feel compeled to drive there? A backlog of SUVs trying to find parking in the neighborhood that hippies made famous).

In fact it's all those nights dancing as a mod boy that makes it seem second nature. The pointed toe stab gets the cleat in, and the heal-swing gets the foot out. Whenever I want to stop, I just conjur up the sounds of the Small Faces, and I'm out.

The one difficulty I'm having is clipping out at low, really low speeds. i.e. doing a track stand (when one realizes one can't stand quite long enough). Or stopping on a hill (thank goodness for walls to grab). That sideways motion feels unstable. Maybe it's an illusion. I should go practice somewhere soft.

Produce Love

2005-06-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

This makes me so happy.

Grilled onions, tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini and baguette on top of a bed of mixed greens with cantaloupe and goat cheese.

Calexico's "Hot Rail" playing as the sun goes down. And a bottle of Dead Guy Ale. It's too bad Sunday has to end.

This bike protected by Charlie the Dog

2005-06-12T18:28:00.000-07:00

Down on 24th street I locked my bike, as per usual, to a parking meter. When I returned Charlie was also attached to the meter. I had a hard time getting my bike unlocked, as every time I went for the lock, she proceeded to lick my hand, look up at me with her big brown eyes, and beg me to keep her company while her owners drank their lattes.

Naturally I obliged.

my new spd

2005-06-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

I finally took the advice of family, friends, and coworkers: I picked up a pair of SPDs. And my dad sent me a pair of shoes. I'll admit to fearing the very idea of having my feet attached to my bike. But after a quick spin around the neighborhood (the neighborhood is foggy, cold and windy), I think I'm sold. Only one moment of panic.

Cyclist killed in Brooklyn

2005-06-10T08:48:00.000-07:00

CBS 2 - New York News: Lawyer Killed In Freak Bicycle Accident:

A woman bicyclist was killed in Brooklyn when she tried to squeeze between an ice cream truck and an electronics delivery truck, that just opened its door.

Two things are particularly troubling. One is the article, which describes this as a "freak accident." In fact it's not. The driver didn't look when he opened his door. A freak accident is one that's so random and so strange that it can't reasonably be avoided. This leads to the other disturbing element: the driver was not cited. You door a cyclist and you get away clean.

Green House

2005-06-05T16:51:00.000-07:00

I pretty well managed to miss World Environment week. I was able get a look at the Scrap House as it was being scrapped. Built on-the-spot in UN Plaza behind city hall, the house is made entirely from salvaged materials, and utilizing energy-saving technology. More here.

On the ride home I noticed this Hummer advert on the side of the Zeitgeist, San Francisco's surly cyclist bar. Could they think of a worse place to put it?

Water Flowing Underground

2005-06-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

Yesteday I joined Chris Carlson>, a San Francisco litero-eco-histerio genius for an ecological history tour of San Francisco.

There's a lot under our feet: river, dunes, boats, manure, and shellmounds which are still shaping our city. It's the nature we fight against or choose to live with. But it's there under the slanting streets and collapsing buildings.

And then there's the eucalyptus trees, planted by speculators for the great lumber boom; only they planted the only kind that doesn't make for good hardwood. So instead they just took over. And then they burned (and then they came back).

Birds once blacked the sky here. Now we're so concreted-over that the sewers flood.

Grand Heft Auto

2005-06-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

Comedy Central - Media Player

The Daily Show gives gas prices a ride, with its trademark analysis and expertise.

Bicycle Graffiti 22nd and Dolores

2005-05-31T10:36:00.000-07:00

I'm sure it's my ability to notice every little damn thing that makes me so neurotic, but it also enables me to find treasures such as this.

Counter-evolution

2005-05-30T12:15:00.000-07:00

I'm a novice urban gardener. I grow parsley, cilantro, oregano and rosemary in a redwood planter on my window sill. For a month the cilantro was growing tasty, wide leaves. And then, suddenly it went to flower and the leaves, the food-stuff, started to die.

This, I learned from my mother, is what happens when the cilantro reaches its prime reproduction time. So I must clip the flowers, and deprive the plant of its evolutionary raison d'etre: to pass on its genes. Otherwise I don't get what I want: tasty herbs.

There's no real quandry here, just a small, personal example of how we manipulate nature, starve it, reshape it, to further our goals.

After reading Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire, I realize though that cilantro doesn't need flowers to spread its genes. It just needs its flavour (and us). As long as it has that, we will spread its genes from field, to nursery, to redwood planter.

First Day of the Long Weekend

2005-05-28T18:46:00.000-07:00

The morning was cold and windy. I rode to the top of Twin Peaks, while waiting for a call from a friend. I accidentally gave a European tourist the wrong directions. To him I'm very sorry. He asked for the "Village of Twin Peaks" which really caught me off guard.

Love to all the Rebels

2005-05-27T09:33:00.000-07:00

ZeD - Web Submission - Love to all the Rebels

Fans of Martino's Bikelane Diary have no doubt seen this. For all others, this short is really worth a look.

VeloTracts

2005-05-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

Velo

If you live in a major metropolis, you're no doubt familiar with Chick Tracts, these offensive ultra-fundamentalist comics often found stuck in the space of a rattling bus window. They seek to scare us straight with their visions of wayward sinners.

VeloTracks are tools of the Velo Evangelist.

Worth a look.

Decorated Derelicts

2005-05-23T22:23:00.000-07:00

Person or Persons unknown will decorate derelict bikes, wheels, and locks that are left in the Mission district. I suppose it's a way of honouring them. Though I imagine some people still come back for their rides. This one, in particular, looked road worthy still.

Still, better yarned than stolen.

at the Marsh Cafe on Valencia

2005-05-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

echoes of "The Triplets of Belville" or something

tattoo prototype

2005-05-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

Screwing around with illustrator. Bats and bicycle chainrings are rather easy things to render. And quite complimentary in their geometries.

Happy Bike/Swim To Work Day

2005-05-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

A wet day to encourage people that biking to work is easy. Still, I met up with the guys from work and we did a fast, rain-soaked ride from the station to the Organization.

In other news: I'm really pleased with the interest in blog route so far. I've received a number of great responses and some really cool blogs (including, soon, a Dutch cycling blog). So, thanks to everyone.

Another tale of conversion:

2005-05-16T17:09:00.000-07:00

Wausau - Bicycle commute hassles minor:

From an editorial in the Wausau Daily Herald by a reporter who has become a bike commuting convert:

"I find myself noticing the flowers on the trees, the water rippling on the Wisconsin River and birds singing.

That's worth a little dampness on a rainy day, a slightly rumpled wardrobe and nearly being sideswiped by a woman in a Buick with a 'Respect Life' sticker on its bumper. (Biking seems to heighten your sense of irony, too.)"

Lo Fi Wonders

2005-05-16T12:37:00.000-07:00

Lo-Fi Customs is a punk-rock infused custom cruiser shop on Duboce street, just off Valencia between two motorcycle shops. They also have a seductive sense of graphic design, offering a host of T-shirts that scream the edgy beauty of urban cycling with devils, skeletons, flames, cranks, pin-up girls.

And they have a nice bassett hound named Molly.

Vist them.

Bike Polo in the news

2005-05-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

Bike Polo a Popular Alternative Sport - Yahoo! News

Couldn't play today, as it was Bay to Breakers, a cross-city run which kind of takes over Golden Gate Park. Plus there was some rain.

Just when I was getting used to the 'ol ball and mallet.

blogroute.net beta is up!

2005-05-12T23:06:00.000-07:00

Here From There - Blogroute.net - Bicycle Blogs

I've posted a beta of Blogroute.net which may do a better job of demonstrating my idea.

Yes it's still very much in beta. But I've already got one request in for a bikeroute sign. These will be hosted on the blogroute server, and will simply link to the blogroute front page.

Anyone interested in said graphic just needs email me:

1) a display name/blog name/firstname whatever
2) blog address
3) twenty or so words on why you bike/blog
4) your favourite bike blogs. These will create route linkages.

I send back the graphical link. You put in your template.

the fun begins.

etc.

Store Wars

2005-05-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

Grocery Store Wars | Join the Organic Rebellion

Watch this quick, before George Lucas discovers it's violating his copyright.

It's kind of funny. Especially if you like Star Wars related vegetable puns.

Shout-out from bikescape!

2005-05-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

bikescape loves us

I'm here at work, catching up on Jon Winston's bikescape podcasts and suddenly I hear my name and the name of this very blog. And then to know that I was playing polo with that very Jon.

It's a small world, we just bike (and blog) here.

Blog Route -

2005-05-08T16:59:00.000-07:00

It's too rainy for bike polo. So instead I sit down and play with adobe illustrator:

These are done in the style of bike route signs, which all good cities have as a way of letting cyclists know the good routes.

I'm wondering if people would be interested in having such signs on their bike blogs (customized to their city name and some arbitrary route number)--linking to a world map showing where people are blogging from. It could be a really cool thing.

So, if you're interested in displaying such a sign, drop me a comment.

n.b., I'm still playing with the colours.

New friend on bike

2005-05-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

Though this be madness, yet there is method: 5 great things about riding a bike! (dedicated to Velodiablo)

My friend Mei has just picked up a bicycle. As her ecstatic answering machine message informed me, she's a convert now.

Heh, and the other day we passed right by one another in the park and didn't even notice.

Bikes Win!

2005-05-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | Technology | Bicycle chosen as best invention:

At least on the BBC, where the Bicycle was voted as the best technological innovation since 1800, beating out the internet, television, internal combustion engine...

The transistor came second with 8% of the vote, and the electro-magnetic induction ring - the means to harness electricity - came third.

Yeah, it looks like Fisher-Price meets Tron.

2005-05-03T12:17:00.000-07:00

This is cool. It's a training bike for kids. Instead of training wheels you have these two slanted wheels which provide stability. That's at slow speeds. As you speed up the rear wheels vome together and form a single wheel so kids get used to riding that way.

So sleepy at the station

2005-04-30T22:27:00.000-07:00

The Organization that I work for is quite large and profit minded, but also rather alturistic. Today I joined other volunteers to help build an ecology garden for a neighborhood elementary school. Mostly I hauled wheelbarrows full of sand, dirt, and paving stones.

The centerpiece for this ecology experiment is the pizza garden, which is designed to grow all the veggies needed for a pizza. These are California kids, so they grow eggplant for their pies.

If it helps kids to appreciate ecology and understand what goes into growing food, then if might help them make better choices about what they do that affects the planet and their lives.

Our ecology is our culture and our history. I appreciate that more and more as I read Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire. Which I really thought about as I pulled up hardy weeds in order to plant basil.

With achey arms and back, I waited for the train. And I lay down on the cold stones with my bike beside me. And I listened to the wind in the trees, and the traffic on the highway, and the chatter of those around me, and felt, for once, rather at peace with it all.

Cadillac Bicycles - Adventure Series

2005-04-29T18:17:00.000-07:00

Cadillac Bicycles - Adventure Series

The ugliest bike, ever....

It's from Cadillac. What do you expect?

Old Bicycles - bates Index

2005-04-27T13:02:00.000-07:00

Old Bicycles - bates Index

I am so, so, so in love with this! Bates was a bicycle builder that began in the 1930s. More inf here.

Portland, home to the GUPPYS?

2005-04-27T12:25:00.000-07:00

In Portland, living the green American dream | csmonitor.com

An article on the eco-house movment that introduces a frightening new term:

Call them GUPPYS - green urban professionals who are young.

It's almost enough to make one want to burn baby seals for warmth.

Other than that, rather interesting reading.

Senator Inhofe cites Michael Crichton, saying global warming is a hoax...

2005-04-25T12:21:00.000-07:00

James M. Inhofe - U.S. Senator - Oklahoma

...says the real danger is renegade cloaned dinosaurs.

Inhofe's congressional aids (pictured above right) remain confident that the unseasonable rain is not attributable to global climate change, and dinosaur is result of liberal stem cell cloaning policies.

I either got hit in the head with a bike polo mallet this weekend, or this is a belated April Fool's Post. The part about the dinosuars is a joke, unfortunately, the first part isn't.

it was just like that

2005-04-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

It was Portland/Seattle weather, beautifully on the verge of rain. And the streets were relatively quiet. As I cruised from coffee shop to record store to art store I was gliding, always with the right of way. I lost at scrabble, but so what? Even the hills were nice to me.

Happy Earth Day

2005-04-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! Celebrates 35 Years of Earth Day

I promise, I aint shilling for my organization. But Yahoo!'s earthday page is pretty descent. In their list of ten simple ways to save the earth, I highly recomend #1: getting off junkmail lists.

Speaking of Earth Day. Today Bush's energy bill goes to the Senate. Contact your senator today and tell him/her to say no to corporate give-aways and Bush's environmental lip service.

Still high on bike polo

2005-04-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

So here's another pic. This was taken by someone at the match. That's me, second from the left. I think at this point I was learning how to swing the malet and balance on the bike.

Must remember to add this to my links

2005-04-19T16:25:00.000-07:00

Martino's Bike Lane Diary

Martino's Bike Lane Diary is a great blog devoted to urban cycling issues and great photography.

Bill Nye, The Bicycle Guy

2005-04-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

Eyes of Nye

I've always liked Bill Nye's wacky, inspired, secular view of the world. His kids show was brilliant and enormously fun. He now has a new show aimed at adults called The Eyes of Nye. If your public TV station doesn't carry it, check out the website. In particular Episode 11. Bill buzzes in on a bike (no direct link 'cause it's Flash) to talk about transit issues.

Bill has also produced a series of a bicycle safety films.

Not a country club affair

2005-04-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

Bicycle Polo is just what it sounds like. Mallets, balls, and bikes. Riding, hitting, falling. And yes, it's just as nuts and as fun as it sounds. For the first time I met up with the San Francisco bicycle polo enthusiasts at Golden Gate Park. I was given a three-minute overview (never put your foot down, you can block the ball with your bike, but not another rider from getting the ball, and the rather confusing part about right-of-way) and a battered mallet. And the games began.

No one kept score, buy my personal score: two falls, one broken toe clip, one broken bicycle horn mount, and one goal. But it's really not as dangerous as all that. Mostly you're not going very fast.

And no horses are harmed in the process.

Bicycle Polo Rules

People are strange

2005-04-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

Every week (or more often if you drive an SUV) California automobile drivers go to fill up their tanks at gas stations where signs read: "Warning: Chemicals found here have been known in the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects." And yet the only thing people can complain about is the price of the gas. Cancer, birth defects, those things don't give us pause, but $2.50 a gallon for gas? That's wrong.

There's something wrong with our priorities.

49 Mile Scenic RIDE

2005-04-09T18:20:00.000-07:00

These seagull signs are ubiquitous in the city of San Francisco. They outline a route, set up in 1939 to show the highs and lows (geographically speaking) of San Francisco. I've been long wanting to ride it. Especially after I read the following in an article in the San Francisco Chronicle:

it's hard to find someone who has done the drive. The whole drive, that is. At one sitting in a car, as it was meant to be driven

It's an odd route on car or bike, winding as it does through trafficy downtown, sending you twice to the tenderloin (not that public urination and verbal abuse aren't a part of San Francisco living), and perhaps most curiously of all on Highway 280 where one has a view of projects on one side and a shipyard on the other(here I deviated from the route and took Bike Route 7 that goes underneath).

The 49 Mile Scenic Drive is kind of a sad relic. A left-over from a time when San Francisco didn't suffer from traffic congestion, and the Tenderloin wasn't the crummy eye-sore that it is today. There are some breath-taking vistas, but mostly on the west side of the city. There nature has remained master planner and architect.

n.b. Some really crazy cyclists did an even cooler thing with it, riding a 39-mile variation on unicycles.

Midday Break

2005-04-07T15:12:00.000-07:00

I'm working from home and the sky outside is changing: cloudy, bright, brilliant, dull. My back is tight and my world is deteriorating into the two dimensions of the laptop screen. I should hunker down, power through, deadlines approaching. I don't, I...

Get on my bike. Up 28th's street rude-awakening 15% grade, up again to Diamond. Twirl around the de-stijl-derivative houses on Goldmine Drive. I come out and ride north. The famous Twin Peaks are brilliant green after the morning's rain. I can't help it; my bike goes that way. I can only hold on and pedal.

It's not a bad climb at all. Only the first part is steep. Every turn brings you a new wind, alternately friendly and mean. But hills, for all their punishment, have their rewards.

For that matter, so does San Francisco. This is one of them.

Kavanagh Transit

2005-04-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

Kavanagh Transit Home Page

There's a song by Lee Hazelwood on his Town Called Trouble album where he begins by saying, "it seems there's no easier way to start an argument than by saying something for or against the railroad." I mention this by way of introducing this obsessive transit page. I use obsessive in a really positive way here. This guy covers rail systems, especially light rail systems, from all over the world.

Another Helmet Advantage (On the Head 2)

2005-04-06T16:53:00.000-07:00

While enjoying a beer with some non-cycling friends I was asked how my fauxhawk remained so spikey despite my use of a helmet. A beautiful, untouted feature of the Bell Metro is the strategic placement of the vents. The unique shape of the center vent preserves, and may even enhance, the fauxhawk's spikes. It's rather extraordinary.

Tour De Tech Parking Lot

2005-04-05T13:51:00.000-07:00

I met up with my co-workers in Palo Alto, and we rode in from there (only about 13 miles). There were the usual problems (pictured).

We managed to go through the parking lots of several major technology companies including Google, Microsoft, Nokia, and Netscape. Which is not particularly thrilling. It's just our landscape.

Free bikes to Seattleites

2005-04-04T11:55:00.000-07:00

The Seattle Times: Local News: Beat the deadline:

Bike to work day is fast approaching (as is my own anniversary of cycling to work). Up in Seattle they're giving away fifty bikes for Bike to Work day. If you live there, this is what you gotta do:

You must submit a short statement — 50 words or less — on how you would use a bike to get to work. Fifty of the most compelling entries will be selected, and each of those essayists will be asked to keep track of their commuting experiences with the bike for three months. Participants may keep their bikes after that.

On the Head

2005-04-03T13:02:00.000-07:00

There's a tiresome, never-ending debate on the subject of helmets. And what it comes down to, usually is statistics, style, and politics. Or rather statistics and politics are exploited to justify style. Anti-helmet folks will say cars are the problem; i.e. we only need helmets because of cars. Solve the car problem and we won't have a helmet problem. Wearing a helmet is admitting defeat to the evil forces of automobiles.

Whatever. We go to the streets with the traffic we have. And with the traffic we have, I wear a helmet. I recently switched up from a large green multi-sport helmet to the Bell Metro. Sure, on the one hand Bell is niche marketing, feeding into consumer fetishism, etc. On the other hand they've created a helmet that is under-stated, comfortable, modular, and available in a nice matte-black. The built-in light mount on the back is a nice feature. And it doesn't look so bad. Maybe not sexy, but not bad. Right?

Response

2005-04-01T20:51:00.000-08:00

I wrote to Christine Jacobs of the CHP about her quote in the Chronicle. She replied, rather promptly:

Dear Mr. Hall,

Thank you for your e-mail dated 3-30-05 concerning our recent fatality involving a pedestrian/bicyclist on Mark West Springs Road here in Sonoma County. I want to first of all assure you that I was in no way insinuating that Mrs. Black or any bicyclist for that matter is to blame when they are killed by a drunk driver.

Please allow me to put my comments to Mr. Doyle at the SF Chronicle into the context of our overall conversation. Mr. Doyle posed the question, in essence, should we tell bicyclists they can't or shouldn't be out on the county roads in light of all these fatalities? My first words following his question were, "Absolutely not, they have as much right to be there as we do in our vehicles". The comments you read in his article were but a small portion of our conversation. As you know one of our missions as Highway Patrol officers is to remove impaired drivers from the road. Please be assured, we will do our part in these tragic situations to make sure the responsible party is held accountable.

I hope this addresses your concern as expressed in your e-mail. Thank you for the opportunity to respond and hopefully give you a better understanding of our concern for the safety of everyone who rides, drives, or walks on our roadways.

Christine Jacobs

I wonder why Doyle chose to quote the way he did.

A moment of silence, then scorn

2005-03-29T17:27:00.000-08:00

SONOMA COUNTY / Cyclist killed on rural roadside / Motorist booked on suspicion of drunken driving

A moment of silence for the 43-year-old woman who was killed while resting next to her bicycle in Sonoma County. She was struck by a drunk driver.

Now for the scorn: CHP spokesperson Christine Jacobs had this to say:

"We have a lot of rural country roads out here, and people who ride their bikes on these country roads usually know the risk and assume the risk," Jacobs said. "They do the best to protect themselves, but can't protect themselves against everyone."

There they go again, those damn risk-prone cyclists getting in the way of drunk drivers. Wouldn't a more appropriate response be to condem drunk driving? This is the third time in a year a cyclist has been killed by a drunk driver. So shouldn't Jacobs say that clearly there's a problem with drunk driving and inadequate CHP coverage of the roadways?

Treat animals like this, you're going to have trouble

2005-03-25T13:10:00.000-08:00

Yahoo! News - Health Photos - AFP:

A man leaves a poultry market with live chickens hung over his bicycle. A 28-year-old Cambodian has died of bird flu at a hospital in the capital to become the country's second victim of the virus, the health minister said as experts played down the threat of a major outbreak."

Cycling Songs

2005-03-23T10:13:00.000-08:00

With our seasonal wetness I've found fewer occasions to ride my bike. That and being chained to my desk at work. The solution? My Cycling Songs Mix on iTunes>. $12.87 for 46 minutes of songs about the beauty of bicycles. It's fairly low-fi, downbeat, indie-rock flavoured and does not include Queen or Tom Waits (nothing against them of course, but I wanted less expected songs). Includes: The Sugar Cubes, The Clientele, Dauerfisch, Haywood, Luka Bloom, more.

Biking Class Heroes

2005-03-23T09:06:00.000-08:00

Four Bike Heroes:

I highly recommend this somewhat lengthy article in today's San Francisco Chronicle profiling four city bicycle commuters. While I am not profiled (I think I carpool too much), part of my route is:

To move between the two neighborhoods (Mission and Bayview), a cyclist must pass through a stretch of terrain I had come to call the Gauntlet. At the point at which 101 crosses Cesar Chavez, a cyclist's options are abruptly narrowed to two unsavory choices: One is to follow the bike path, which leads you through a homeless Hades of shopping carts and broken glass. In this stretch, one stands an extremely good chance of inadvertently witnessing someone either injecting something into or extruding something from his or her body.

John chose the alternate route, which requires one to build up a head of steam, merge into the mad current of taxicabs and delivery trucks and shoot the shoulderless tunnel. He insists his wife is acquainted with the peril of his route. I'm not so sure.

My wife does know about the perils of my route. My parents, however, do not. Though I hear they are regular readers of this blog, so now they do. One thing they always taught me is that sometimes the bike route is not the safe or efficient route, in which case you need to act like a car.

How do you ride?

2005-03-21T12:31:00.000-08:00

ESUVEE

Perhaps you've been carpooling down the 101 and seen a bizarre billboard with a blurred image of a person riding atop something that looks like a GMO'ed Gorilla/Bison. There's a rather tiny url in the corner for esuvee.com.

What is it? Besides a very difficult to decipher billboard it's an ad campaign concerned with the 9,873 rollover deaths in 2000:

To combat the tragic reality that these statistics represent, the 50 states and three jurisdictions today joined forces to launch the ESUVEE Safety Campaign. This $27 million, yearlong national education program consists of events and initiatives designed to reduce SUV rollovers, particularly among younger male drivers who have the highest incidence of such accidents.
The Campaign highlights critical tips for driving SUVs that can mean the difference between life and death: check your tire pressure monthly, don’t overload your SUV, always wear your seatbelt, try to avoid abrupt maneuvers, and don’t speed.

That beast is their monster mascot. They even have a TV ad where driving an SUV is compared to riding in a rodeo. Cute, huh? Friendly too.

No mention of the environmental impact, reduced visibility for cyclists and pedestrians, the oil consumption, the war, etc. Just wear your seat belt and try not to steer to wildly. Got that soccer mom?

This is part of Ford Motor Company's settlement of lawsuit regarding the company's ads which misled consumers into driving unsafely.

It gets more and more frightening...

Even the Devil Crawls

2005-03-21T10:16:00.000-08:00

CNN.com - Pet store owner: Satan's image on turtle's shell - Mar 21, 2005

This turtle, the only survivor of a pet store fire, is said by the owner to have Satan's image on its shell. Amazing how people look for the supernatural when really the issue here is symmetry. Nature favors symmetry: in faces, and in turtle shells.

My question is what would happen if Lucky the turtle met the grilled cheese sandwich that supposedly has Mary's face in it. Do turtles eat cheese sandwiches?

Clean Motorbike

2005-03-16T10:56:00.000-08:00

Yahoo! News - Quiet British Bike Seeks Added Vroom

A British company has invented a fuel-cell motorcycle. It only goes 50 mph, but can go 100 miles on a single fill-up of its hydrogen fuel cell. Since it lacks gears, it doesn't make enough noise to announce its presence to pedestrians and bicyclists.

If only hydrogen grew on trees. While it is a clean-burning fuel, it takes energy, usually through the burning of fossil fuels, to produce.

The da Vinci Mode

2005-03-14T09:55:00.000-08:00

Da Vinci's inventions go on show - MARCH 15, 2005:

An exhibition of da Vinci's dreams made real in Vienna:

da Vinci's bicycle is a curious affair and appears to have been designed by one of his students after an idea the master had. It already has a transmission chain between the pedals and the back wheel, something that was missing in the early bicycles of the late 19th century.

Fat Tire Ale Spots

2005-03-10T14:15:00.000-08:00

Home of New Belgium Brewery, Fat Tire Beer, and the Tour de Fat

Freddy at Orange Bicycle first posted this. These commercial spots from the makers of Fat Tire ale are really wonderful. Low-key, free, breezy, DYI, wind-in-your-teeth, beer-in-your-belly beautiful short films. OK, they're beer adverts. But I think they're really biking adverts. Biking and living free. Sure, drink a beer too. But ride beautifully. Beer drinking not shown in combination with biking. So it's safe.

But it's not safe to get on your bike and ride like this. Because you start thinking that there can't be anything in life other than this spinning and climbing and speeding downhill. It's not safe for the rationalizations you have about your boring day-to-day, the prosaic get-up-in-the-mornings, fight the traffic, sit in the office, breath re-cycled air. It's not safe for that.

Three cheers for you, cyclist

2005-03-08T20:06:00.000-08:00

Just a mute shout-out to my fellow cyclist on Caeser Chavez this morning. Good to have someone to take the right lane with. I don't ride it every day, though at least once a week, and I usually don't see anyone take it all the way down. It's not so bad really. In fact I've gotten to really enjoy riding three-lane thorough fares like Caeser, Gough, and Fell. You get one big bike lane if you stay out of the door zone, and you pretty much move at the speed of the traffic. And the cars can pass in either of the two left lanes.

So, cheers to you cyclist, whomever you are.

Looks like the stoplights might have been retimed too

Acoustic Motorbike

2005-03-07T10:15:00.000-08:00

This song by Luka Bloom is my current favourite biking song. Well worth the ninety-nine cents from itunes. The song's narrative goes, logically, from the joy of biking to the bike as a solution to urban madness. Exactly as I feel when I ride back from the Headlands (which looks a bit like Ireland, where the song is set).

You can also here it on the February 23rd edition of Bike Talk Radio. Other good biking songs including Tom Waits "Broken Bicycle."

I watched Koyaanasqatsi last night, amazed at the vastness of nature, the shallow, destructive, tendencies of man.

Climbing the Golden Gate Bridge on your bike

2005-03-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

Not literally, of course but when you take Conzelman road on the north side of the bridge and wind up 1.8 miles you're eye-level with the towers. It's a good climb, there's some traffic, but yesterday it seemed there were more bikes than cars.

Bicycle Dreams

2005-03-04T12:22:00.000-08:00

I dreamt last night that a large catholic church in the inner sunset had been transformed into a bicycle museum/bike store. Huge beautiful bikes. Old bikes. Bikes that were like balloons. Ye Olde Velocipedes. It was such a happy place.

I feel on this rainy morning that I'd like to live a life that doesn't harm anyone. I listened to the radio today. A show about the struggle of the Winnemem Wintu tribe to hold onto their sacred lands in the face of a plan to raise Shasta lake. California needs more water for its endless, green, Hockney lawns and its endless tide of new residents.

"We feel like Catholics would feel if it was decided that flooding the Sistine Chapel was a good public works project," said Caleen Sisk-Franco, the tribe's leader.

I think it'd make a nice bicycle museum. I didn't plan for those two things to come together, the dream and the Sisk-Franco quote, but they did. I'm appending this post, after a day at the doctor's and then the nursery. The plant nursery. Where we bought a planter, some rosemary, parsley, cilantro. It smells so pretty, the soil and the herbs. The dream was one fragment, the quote another. And the herbs and the doctor's office don't fit at all.

People who throw bicycles part 2

2005-03-02T08:44:00.000-08:00

TheBostonChannel.com - News - Teen Calls Bicycle Toss 'Drunk Mistake': "Teen Calls Bicycle Toss 'Drunk Mistake'"

A 17-year-old Acton, Mass., man has been arrested for allegedly throwing a 10-speed bicycle off the roof of a three-story apartment building in Boston, hitting and injuring a woman on the sidewalk below.

Justin E. Towne was charged with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon following the incident early Saturday morning. He was released on personal recognizance after pleading not guilty at his arraignment Monday.

Towne called the incident a "really, really stupid drunk mistake."

Bike Trailer

2005-02-26T10:48:00.000-08:00

Anna gave me this postcard. French Racer Latourneau is pulling an Airstream trailer. No word on how far he made it.

Published by Chronicle Books in 2000.

Great Movies With Bicycle Scenes Part 1

2005-02-25T10:20:00.000-08:00

I Heart Huckabees

While billed as an existential comedy, it's really a postmodern comedy. It's also an extremely pro-bicycle comedy. Bicycles featured throughout the film ridden by Tommy and Albert, the film's heroes. Bicycles save the day, literally. SUV owners are ridiculed mercilessly.

Another SF Bike Blogger!

2005-02-22T07:51:00.000-08:00

bikescape

He also does a podcast radio show on cycling.

A modest proposal

2005-02-20T20:42:00.000-08:00

I am a cyclist, but first and foremost I am a pedestrian. More than that, I am a walker, an ambler, an urban hiker. How does one live in San Francisco and not become one? San Francisco, my geographically complex, moody, convoluted seven-by-seven miles. Coast to coast, hill to hill, canyon (yes canyon) to peak. Most important of all: stairway to stairway.

Yet how often I've walked down some unknown street only to find a yellow road sign that says, "Not a through street." And how often it lies to me; there's a perfectly serviceable set of concrete steps. But then again, sometimes there is not. And one's perfect, unplanned amble is perturbed by retracing one's steps.

So I propose a sign such as this, perhaps smaller, below every "Not a through street" sign that might mislead the walker. I'd suggest something more poetic--perhaps, "...but not a dead end either"--, but these are signs, and should be understood.

Future Biking Benefits?

2005-02-18T13:57:00.000-08:00

PortlandTribune.com | Bike commuters could see cash

See, someone's thinking about us:

The 3rd Congressional District Democrat and Rep. Mark Foley introduced the Bike Commuter Act, which would include bicycle riders in a federal transportation fringe benefit. Employers now may offer a monthly tax-exemption benefit totaling $200 for parking or $105 for transit and car-pool expenses. Blumenauer and Foley’s bill would extend the benefits to bike commuters.

So write your congressperson and ask for his/her support.

A kind of justice

2005-02-18T11:10:00.000-08:00

Man escapes serious injury after lit cigarette ignites vehicle

20-year-old throws his cigarette out the window of his $30,000 SUV. Only the cigarette blows back in and ignites the car's interior. He pulls over and gets out. But he neglects to put the vehicle in park. It plows into a guard rail and bursts into flames.

The best part? He'll get fined $1,000 for littering.

Quote of the day

2005-02-17T12:04:00.000-08:00

"The successful urban cyclist counts on nothing but chaos and stupidity." -Robert Hurst, author of The Art of Urban Cycling

Mission: Not Impossible / Urban cycling is rewarding dream to be enjoyed

Wooden Wheels

2005-02-16T11:07:00.000-08:00

A wooden bicycle that works
:

An Orissa carpenter has built a bicycle completely (really, completely) out of wood. It weighs 100 kg and reportedly cost him $4,500 to create.

It took him two years to complete the two wheels and 13 months to prepare a bell. The chain took almost two months while the free wheel took seven months and the ball set three months. The handle and mudguard took two months each.

Next on his agenda? Sadly, it's a wooden car.

Beautiful Land and Rellics of An Old War

2005-02-14T12:13:00.000-08:00

The Marin Headlands. Some of the most beautiful riding country we have. Green rolling hills, views of the ocean so precipitous you feel like you might fall off. And then there are the old military bunkers, no longer protecting our ports and coast because our enemies today don't have airplanes. So it's made more beautiful by the fact that the bunkers are empty, the turrets are dismantled. But it's also a lie. Because war is never over.

You need a Hummer to get up these hills? No, just your two wheels, your two legs. Homemade muffins and fresh pears to power you through. Out there cyclists are everywhere, whispering down the slopes. I've driven out there too, but in a car there's no joy, just the grumbling engine. The sense of geometry is different too. In a car you're a square on a mandelbrot coastline: incongruous, painfully so. You think you're hugging the turns, kissing the road, the endless string of sexualized automobile cliches. But you never know the road that you're on, you only see the road that's coming up, and the road in your rear view mirror. On a bike the road is continuous: the present is under your feet. You are aware of the road ahead becoming the road underneath.

And the war ahead, and the war underneath. And the wars of the past. And the sound of the wind in your spokes and your tires on the road and the buzz of the bee. Ignore the car engine behind you. It will wait.

Taking its toll

2005-02-11T12:16:00.000-08:00

SAN FRANCISCO / $1 toll plan called 'stupid idea' / Walkers, cyclists reject notion of fee for Golden Gate Bridge

First Muni says it will hike fares by a quarter, now Golden Gate Bridge authority wants to charge pedestrians and cyclists a dollar to cross the bridge. There's a lot of really good stuff being written on the SF Bike bulletin board about it. Everything from the weight/cost proportion to the impracticality of setting up mini toll booths and paying someone to staff them.

I can't claim to understand the budgets of either Muni or the Bridge, but it seems so wrong.

Cycle Nostalgia

2005-02-10T17:41:00.000-08:00

Camera Travels

Bad coding caused some ugly formatting errors when this was first posted. Anyway...

I love this photo. It's so of its time. 1979. This reminds me of when I first became conscious of bicycling, of the kinds of people I knew that cycled (or the people my parents knew), coming from the bro-bike progressive Davis, CA. And this guy's story is pretty great too: cycling across the US and Europe with a camera. There's something here, some intangible sense of freedom, nobility, strength.

Vintage Bicycle Quarterly

2005-02-09T09:50:00.000-08:00

Vintage Bicycle Quarterly -- Home Page

Some pretty, pretty bikes.

Radio Free Davis

2005-02-08T22:04:00.000-08:00

Bike Talk Radio

Through Tournez a gauche I find out that my home town of Davis, California is home to a weekly radio show about bicycles. This shouldn't be surprising, but it's a cool thing to discover. They have a great site too, with all their archives on it.

If you're from Davis you'll find this funny:

It may not be enough to change the world — or even Woodland for that matter — but we fill that thirty minutes full of a world of bicycle information.

Another FLickr Classic

2005-02-07T08:44:00.000-08:00

This one from urbandiscount, photographing a cyclist in the Netherlands.

The Hardest Working

2005-02-05T11:30:00.000-08:00

Thou shalt not steal. Really, we mean it.

2005-02-03T20:27:00.000-08:00

Tabloid News of Thursday, 3 February 2005:

Whilst enjoying this delicious pasta with broccoli and capers (again, thanks to Deborah Madison's Vegaterian Cooking for Everyone)--just a darn tasty and easy recipe--I come across the following article:

Worshippers at the St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Parish at Bawku, on Sunday exacted instant justice on an 18-year-old man, who was severely beating up for attempting to steal a bicycle on the Church premises during morning mass.

This is really good pasta.

Cell Phone Follies

2005-02-02T09:37:00.000-08:00

Yahoo! News - Study: Cell Phone Use Ages Young Drivers
:

according to a new study from the University of Utah that says when young motorists talk on cell phones, they drive like elderly people — moving and reacting more slowly and increasing their risk of accidents."

and

In fact, motorists who talk on cell phones are more impaired than drunk drivers with blood-alcohol levels exceeding .08

curiously enough (and this destroyed the joke I was going to make):

The only silver lining to the new research is that elderly drivers using a cell phone aren't any more of a hazard to themselves and others than young drivers.

When cops attack

2005-01-31T12:05:00.000-08:00

Mainichi Interactive - Top News

A drunk police inspector who hurled a bicycle at a passer-by after getting into a brawl over jaywalking has been arrested, prefectural police said.

No report on whether or not the bike was injured.

Kindly Thieves

2005-01-31T08:55:00.000-08:00

I've heard a lot of stories of people having their bike seats stolen. On my carpool ride into work this morning I heard a new one. My carpool companion had previously worked down on Folsom street. She came out one day to find that something was different about her bike. It was her seat. It had been exchanged. The thief went through a lot of trouble too, because it was a bolt-on seat post. I guess he just wanted to upgrade.

Not mine either

2005-01-29T09:33:00.000-08:00

This is a great photo by flickr member Tighten up!.

Navi-gate

2005-01-27T15:42:00.000-08:00

Live from the Third Rail: Archive

Live from the Third Rail (link above) is reporting on a brewing Detroit scandal, or perhaps just political foible, involving their mayor. Like most cities in America the Mayor's being forced to make some drastic cuts in city services. He has, however, decided to make room in the budget for his very own, city-purchased, Lincoln Navigator. An evil vehicle under any circumstances, these circumstances make it even more repellent.

Understandably, those residents are a little miffed. I don't think even ex-SF-mayor Willie Brown would have done that.

A moment of silence...

2005-01-26T15:30:00.000-08:00

...for the ten people killed in this morning's train crash in Los Angeles.

Your daily street lingo lesson

2005-01-25T21:51:00.000-08:00

The Sun Sentinel informs us that the street lingo for bicycle is "whip".

Used in a sentence:

Today, I almost ran my whip into a car turning out of a gas station today (driver not looking left). In Mountain View. Which is funny, because most of my near accidents, flats, bee stings, and whatnot have happened to me there. Not in San Francisco. Not on nasty, busy, six-lane Caeser Chavez. This stuff happens in the quiet silicon suburbs.