Beta Testing the "Choots"

I rode the Choots to work today, hoping to give it a decent testing out before taking it to France next week. The ride into work was pretty smooth, no issues. On the way home, I took advantage of the longer days and good weather and detoured up to the top of Mt. Tam. The bike climbed pretty well actually -- certainly good enough, and damn fine for a bike that packs up into a friggin' suitcase!

Bike to Work Day

A great Marin-bound posse out there on the GGB today.

Diary of a Great Day

5:30am. Wake, work/check emails from Europe and NY. Coffee.
7am. Make kids breakfast, get out the door for school
8am. Tiburon Ferry to SF


5pm. Riding home along Crissy Field with friends.


5:30pm Quick detour up the Marin Headlands to admire the view and get the blood pumping. Not a bad way to get home!

6pm. Home. Dinner with the family.

Douchery on the Golden Gate

An otherwise great ride home marred today by some self-absorbed prick who insisted on blowing by all four of us at warp speed with millimeters to spare, having dispensed no courtesy warning whatsoever, and the dastardly deed having been consummated just as we were slowly and courteously passing a dad with his little girl on the west side of the Golden Gate Bridge. Ths Shitbox nearly crashed all of us into the family. Unreal behavior. Guys like this are what cause everyone to hate cyclists. [and before you make assumptions, no, we were not dragging ass and taking up the entire path -- this guy was just in some kind of hurry and treating the bridge as his own personal time trial course].

In happier news, it was a glorious day out there and the ride was fantastic but for the douchery described above. It was almost 80 degrees on the sunny side of the bridge and fog free. Could the good fall weather be here at last? Hope so.

Lots and lots of Mt. Tam

Three rides in the last 7 days and all of them up and around Mt. Tam. Life could be worse.

Last weekend I joined the shop ride from Studio Velo for the first time, and we did Alpine Dam/Seven Sisters. Great ride with a nice group of folks. I like this ride because it leaves early and typically ends by 10:30, so I can get on with the day.

Yesterday I did my first mountain bike ride in over 15 years -- a casual jaunt up the railroad grade to the top of Mt. Tam, then down Eldridge/Blithedale and back to Mill Valley. I felt great on the climb ("hey, this isn't so bad") and got utterly DROPPED on the downhill. I clearly suck at riding fast over sharp rocks. That said, it was a very fun outing and I'm already thinking those magical words -- "bike upgrade".

Today was a hammerfest, back on the Alpine Dam loop. I joined Eric and Tom from my bike-to-work gruppo for their regular Sunday ride. About 10-12 guys, all strong riders, and they put down a very aggressive pace once out of Fairfax. Lots of breaks, sprints, bomber downhills. All fun stuff. We flashed the loop in record time (for me) and I was able to hang with the front group and not blow up. Actually felt damn strong today despite having ridden yesterday and most of the week commuting. If only you could feel strong like that every day.

Yes, this is how I get to work

Unreal! And sorry about the weather today!

The Pros are in Town

Great commute rides yesterday. I had a bunch of early work calls from home so I didn't hit the road until around 9am. The streets were pretty empty and the air was very warm for February. As I got to the bottom of my hill, a guy on a very nice looking BMC Pro Machine whizzed by. He was sporting team issue Assos BMC bibs and jacket, so I figured it was probably one of the pros out for a light training ride in advance of the Amgen Tour. Unfortunately I was on my commuter bike and not my shiny BMC. Still, I caught up to him and it looked like it was Ian McKissick, who is not a local guy but does do some training and events with Endurance PTC in Mill Valley. It's always cool to see the pros out there (yes, they do ride the same roads we do), and after we rode our separate ways I ended up pushing a bit harder than normal over the bridge and to the office. I'm guessing that as we get closer to the ToC, more and more pros will be out on local rides -- but probably mostly up in Sonoma and down south.

The afternoon ride home was more of the same great weather. I met Tom at the normal group spot along the Embarcadero and we ended up having five strong riders all the way into Mill Valley. I peeled off towards Tiburon, and the other four headed up over Camino Alto towards the Larkspur Ferry. One of the guys, Ken, was riding a fixie back home to Olema on his regular commute (burly!).

Trackhead posted a video of Matt Dixon's group ride last weekend at an "undisclosed local spot" (you'll know it if you watch). Be sure to watch the HD version. Some of the helicopter mounted shots are fantastic.

The End of June-u-ary

I returned home from Kauai to some incredible weather in Northern California. The mid-January "thaw" (or "June-u-ary", as my skiing friends like to call it) is always fairly predictable around here after the equally predictable New Year's storms. But this year it is ridiculous. Long rides with no leg warmers or vest. 65-70 degree high temps. Crazy. I could get used to this global warming thing if it weren't for the loss of the polar bears and the Maldives. Friday afternoon's ride home over the bridge was about as good as it gets.

But all good things must come to an end. Of course nothing is guaranteed to make the weather turn foul like the staging of a major bike race in California. Last year's ToC sported some crazy rain and winds, especially on the Big Sur coast stage. Phil Liggett called it "absolutely diabolical" and Levi said it was one of his top three worst days on a bike. Well, Levi (and Lance!) are back this week for an Astana training camp in Santa Rosa getting ready for the ToC. This means rain is in the forecast. Weds through Saturday is gonna be wet. Have fun guys!

Levi and team on the miserable Stage 4 of last year's ToC

In addition to the rain, and contributing to the damper on the fine local riding, Loren reports on a lame tack throwing incident somewhere in a local bike lane. I hate flats, especially when caused by thoughtless jackasses.

EB on the Evening Commute!

Its new years' resolution time, so my buddy EB has decided to dust the cobwebs off the bike and start riding again. Even shaved his legs for motivation (a mental tactic I strongly endorse, along with retail therapy, as in "I sure do need that new Zipp carbon wheelset to motivate me to ride more"). EB met me down at Crissy Field last night on the ride home for a quick jaunt across the bridge and back. Hopefully we'll get to do this more often, especially as the days get longer.

Burning off those Popems

The first week back from the Xmas/New Year's break has come to an end. It's always great to have some well-earned down time from the job but I'm glad to be back in the routine. As with most people, the holidays for me generally mean a time of limited exercise, lots of "red light foods" and copious amounts of booze. This year was certainly no exception. The upside is that I skied 15 days in a row, including two outrageous bluebird deep powder days in Tahoe and many more better-than-average days. The downside is that for all the calories burned while skiing, I probably tripled them up afterwards in the form of Nachos, steaks, Pacificos, French Toast, Cabernet Sauvignon and even these luscious little things called Popems (as in, ya just Pop'em in yer mouth).

Behold the Popem, in its glazed, succelent and NON-organic glory. I must've eaten 157 of these.

So needless to say, while fun was had in Tahoe, I needed a good reentry plan to get back to clean livin'. I took a couple of indoor cycling classes at the gym, but the best was being back on the bike for the commute. I rode home from work Monday and Wednesday, and rode both directions today. There's just nothing better to start your engine in the morning, or clear your head in the evening, than a great bicycle commute. Especially on days like today -- tule fog in the morning yielding eerie mists along the Richardson Bay bike path; a huge full moon bringing the bay waters way up in the morning, then running them out past the bare tidal flats on the ride home; crisp clear skies that somehow still cough up a sunset to make Arizona proud. Yep, it was one of those days.

I always see a few other folks doing the SF-Marin homeward ride, and many times there are the same familiar faces seen along the wharf, Crissy Field, the Golden Gate, or Bridgeway in Sausalito. One guy, Tom, is particularly enthusiastic. He and I seem to share the "holy crap can you believe we live here and get to ride this every day while other people actually choose to sit in traffic talking on their cell phones" attitude -- except that he actually does seem to ride it every day. There are many others too. It's a fraternity of like-minded souls, enjoying the free scenery and plentiful endorphins on the homeward train.

Tom and Eric lead out onto the Golden Gate.

The blurry camera phone shot can't do it justice. Looking over the tidal flats of Richardson Bay to San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Short Days...

The shortest day of the year is only a couple of weeks away, so riding to and from work is becoming colder and a bit less fun every day. That said, it sure as hell beats sitting in a car. Especially when you not only transport yourself from A to B, but you also get in a great workout and see the amazing sunset off the Golden Gate Bridge. People pay big bucks to visit this city and do what I get to do every day. That isn't lost on me. The sunset was especially nice tonight so I did something stupid and took a couple of random camera phone pics while cruising along.

Cracking Week for Bike Commuting!

Wow, what a great week for bicycle commuting in the Bay Area! The weather has been absolutely ridiculous -- no fog, no wind, no nothing other than pure California sunshine. I could get used to this. Actually, I will have to, since the 10-day forecast shows nothing but "more of the same" :-)

Doored!

Well, it finally happened. I got doored today down in Fisherman's Wharf while riding home. I was riding along Beach St. towards the bridge. As I got to Hyde, there was a line of cars waiting at the light, one of which was signaling a left turn. This street has one lane in each direction, so I started riding along the right side of the stopped cars in the (fairly decent sized) gap between the passenger side of the cars and the edge of the roadway. There is no sidewalk here, just an iron railing which guards a 6 foot drop down to a sunken walkway behind a commercial building. So basically there is no place for a car to pull over, no place for a pedestrian to walk here, nor is there any spot for a passenger to exit a stopped car.

Of course this did not stop the guy who decided at the very moment I was riding past, to throw open the back door of the taxicab (4 back from the stoplight, in the middle of the lane) and T-bone me directly on the left arm, leg and handlebar. I bounced off, careened into the iron railing and snapped out of my pedals as I fell to the ground. After some hyperventilating and adreneline-influenced shouting and finger pointing, I calmed down to make sure I wasn't injured (and more importantly, that my bike wasn't injured). We weren't.

So the taxi rode off. The passenger walked off, and I nursed my bruises all the way home. Incidentally, I saw the guy cross the street and walk into the Buena Vista, presumably for a St. Patrick's Day whiskey. Was probably drunk when he flung the door open on me.

I played over in my head whose fault this accident was. In some ways we were probably all a little bit negligent here -- the passenger for not looking to make sure the roadway was clear before opening the door, the driver for letting the guy out in the middle of the goddamn street, and me for not demonstrating the proper respect anytime you ride your bike in proximity to a taxi cab -- especially in a touristy part of town. I think I had the legal right to ride alongside the cars (California law seems to allow multiple "vehicles" per lane, and requires bikes to ride on the right), but even if that's true there's a big difference between being "right" legally and being "wrong" based on the damage a car door can do to you.

Be careful out there. I got lucky this time.

From the Beach to Work

We're at the beach for the July 4 week, but had to go to work today. So today's ride was even more spectacular than the everyday "mundane" commute.

The Ride:
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ca/san-francisco/553106804

Some photos (not taken by me, but show some of the highlights of the route).

Stinson Beach. The pad we are staying in is beachside right in the clump of trees near the point. The ride goes along the beach,then up the big cliffs towards SF, about 28 miles to the office.


6 miles of righteous coastline later: Muir Beach and Overlook.




A long twisty descent into Mill Valley where I picked up the"regular" commute into Sausalito and over the bridge. A gorgeous day in Marin, but the fog was firing (pretty gray in SF today...)

I live in the greatest place on earth!!!

The Bike-to-Work Commute

May is Bike-to-Work month, so I figured I would post my commute. Depending on weather and season, I generally do this a few times a week, and sometimes I also add in a return trip on the ferry if time is tight or I'm just not feeling up to the ride.

Route Map: http://www.mapmyride.com/view_route?r=450c177e4a8a7d1bc7bdbf10e76ee0fc

Coming down the hill from the house. Objective in sight, 18.9 miles away. The ride goes way back out of picture right, over the GG bridge and into the city.

Early morning cruise along the bike path. The bridge is visible over Richardson Bay. A quick ride into Mill Valley, where the local wildlife is out in force on the bike path, if you know what I mean. The scenery is pretty good on this ride.

Gets even better as you get into Sausalito on the waterfront.

A quick but stout climb up Fort Baker makes the kid break a sweat.

Some orange bridge I gotta cross

Then into the city, where the buildings look funny.

Past the cruise ships and tourists.

Along the Embarcadero, past the SF Ferry building (where I can catch the boat home if I'm bailing out on the return trip). Nice view of the Bay Bridge along the way.

And then I arrive at the office, almost exactly an hour after I start pedaling.

In the afternoon, I reverse the ride on the way home. The ride back to the the bridge is generally very windy, with the afternoon gales blowing into the Golden Gate. The famous San Francisco fog is never too far away and always seems to come back in after being away for only a couple of hot days. Sure enough on this day, by the time I got back up to the house, she was coming back in to say hello.