MASS!

Rose and I went on the Critical Mass ride on Friday night. It was a great experience. Turn-out was about 700-800 cyclists. We started at the Ferry Building downtown, lapped around Union Square, rode through Chinatown and along the Embarcadero, through the Marina and Presidio, then back to Union Square...the group was going to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, but we got stopped by the fuzz. Apparently last month, about 2000 cyclists took over the bridge (not the bike lane, but one full side of the bridge.) I think maybe the cops felt a little better about stopping a a smaller group. I was going to take some pictures but the freakin' batteries in the camera were dead. I'll make sure to take some next month if it's not pouring out. The ride went for about two hours...all kinds of people...hippies, roadies, hipsters, couriers, punks, yuppies... I almost got into a fistfight with some rich asshole in a Mercedes SUV. At intersections, cyclists have to block traffic so no one gets run over (the group of people was about a half mile long)...most motorists are respectful, but some people just think the road is all theirs and are on power trips in their SUVs. Anyway, it was a good time, I appreciate my bike(s) more and more every day. It's weird...when we lived in Omaha, I used to feel lazy when I would get in the car to go the three miles to Hyvee and get some fruit...now I feel lazy when I ride my bike the 1/2 mile to the super market (when I know I could walk just as easily)...It feels good to not have to rely on a motorized vehicle and everything that goes along with owning one...the cost, supporting horrible insurance companies, supporting big oil...now all my money goes to fixing my bike and buying tubes to fix flat tires. I also got Rose a cool top tube pad (it's got skulls and crossbones on it), so she can hang out with all the hipsters now...akin to the Saddle Creek kids in Omaha, the hipsters here all ride older road bikes converted to single speeds, with colored Deep-V rims and top tube pads (remember your old bmx bike with the foam pad on the handlebars and the top tube of the bike? like that, but longer).

Our Rides



Kona Dew (with Awesome Skull Pad)










Kona Jake the Snake (in Safety Cone Orange!)