Cruising and shining.

Bikey love from the Bay, to ELAY, this video I found via laughinsquid earlier this week, reminded me that the beauty between the north and the southern end of our state, some people can get a rush from having the latest and greatest gadget -SF feels this way more than often especially with so many siclionvallenians nerdos-- or you can get a rush from cruising in the beachside around Los Angeles county.
Almost felt like I would see our LA collab wondershooter woman Caryl somewhere in the video =)
I'd like to visit this shop and get me a cruiser if I ever was to live in SoCal or elsewhere - because any place is really flat, after biking in SF for almost a decade.
This video is tight.



CRUISERS

black and white saturday

No More Mistakes, Please.

Some days it sucks to be moving through the City. Sometimes there are no winners in the race to get there. Keep it slow, stay alert, remember we all have to get there no matter who we are.

market street bike lanes, an attractive nuisance?

attractive nuisance: (doctrine; lay definition): [a] landowner may be held liable for injuries to children trespassing on the land if the injury is caused by hazardous object or condition on the land that is likely to attract children who are unable to appreciate the risk posed by the object or condition.

i ride market street everyday. i don't particularly care to do so, other than it is the main artery of the city, therefore it is the way that leads me from here to there. so in order to get to where i need to go, market street is a necessary part of my commute and other errand type of biking.

as a regular market street rider, i can say that it has gotten better since the installation of separated bike paths, delineated with those green painted spaces or with those "safe hit posts" (oxymoron anyone?). within the past year, personal car traffic has been direct to turn left at two intersections, 10th street and 6th street. traffic earlier in the year was directed to turn right at 8th street and 10th street by traffic cops, but they have since discontinued that practice, presumably there in the first place to get regular drivers used to the new practice.

is this a "safe hit" post? foto by ade

in the past couple of weeks i have noticed a few things on my morning (aka pre-caffeinated) commute, two of which are disturbing to me as a daily commuter, and as a frequent weekend market street rider.

first, at 10th street, bike traffic is directed to the left of the mandatory right turn, with the bike lane sandwiched next to and to the right of to the F rail train. so it's muni tracks, bike lane, mandatory (car) right turn lane. like this (except now the bike lane is painted green):

foto by meli

this does not leave a lot of room for those mandatory right turners to go straight through the light, as they have to cross paths with east-bound bike traffic. which is exactly what has been happening in the mornings in the past couple of weeks, and can be pretty unnerving. apparently the sign saying "LANE CLOSED" has been down. today, thankfully, i noticed it was reinstated and that the mandatory right hand turners were obeying traffic signs.

which brings me to the second, and instigator of this whole post: seeing the below picture of two buses blocking the bike lane at 8th and market:

foto by adam

two wednesdays before this photo appeared in my feed, i noticed something very similar happen, but on a much larger scale, on my way to butterlap. sigh. there were at least 5 large tour buses in that very spot, NO DOUBT related to the big tech company convention that was all over the news. sigh.

a block away i was already busily thinking how to navigate around that nonsense with taxis in front of me, who are able to go straight through on market street until embarcadero. i must have worn the confused look on my face because the other cyclist turned to ask me with a wry smile, "how are we going to get past that?" "i have no idea, was just thinking the same thing myself," i replied.

foto by meli

i show this pic of meli cause i think it illustrates several of the obstacles of which i refer: grates, and those pinche muni tracks on either side of the double yellow line. UGH. i have seen many a competent (and newbie) cyclist get stuck in those tracks, then fall down, go boom, spawning this sticker:

the comments which started in the picture above with the buses were very interesting. adam, whom i know is a parent (thus familiar with the term), mentioned market street being like an attractive nuisance in that market street with its green lanes and "safe hit posts" thus creating the analogy that market street's new sporadic bike infrastructure may make it attractive to cyclists of all levels, including newer and other inexperienced riders, and get them encouraged to ride, despite its obstacles.

that conversation stuck with me for a couple of days, enough to for it to jump without me past the flickr picture and on to spark a lively facebook page discussion and then produce a vimeo video taken just yesterday (as of the writing of this post)

2010-10-04 Blocked, by Clear Channel from TyrellVoightKampff on Vimeo

so, are the newer bike lanes on market street like an "attractive nuisance" to newer riders?

i'm certainly not a new rider. i'm comfortable in trafficky conditions, as a frequent pedestrian (nyc baby) a frequent bike rider and an occasional car driver. i know i'm not the oldest hat at bike commuting, but i'm confident in traveling in urban traffic in my own patient way.

i cannot even fathom to promote what can be done with market street as i am not an engineer nor am i an urban planner. i am, however, a bike rider who commutes daily. i would like to feel safe in my designated and provided separated bike lane, and i would like to know that cars on market street will turn at appropriate intersections because it makes the remaining stretches of the commute for the rest of us (public transporation, taxis and bikes) more bearable and predictable.

but those buses...... those buses really are a problem for muni buses, passengers, taxis and bike riders alike.

for all of the obstacles shown above, market street now really is rather enjoyable, compared to what it could be, during the morning commute.

what about the afternoon commute west-bound on market street you may be asking? well, let's save that for another long post, shall we?

cicLAvia

for our LA peeps!! this sunday, 10/10/10 a LA cicLAvia will be born. this cicLAvia gets me super excited. if LA can do this....think of the possibilities......oooh.

from their press release: 7.5 Mile Stretch of City Streets to Become Temporary Public Park Open to Pedestrians and Cyclists on 10/10/10

photo by Alex de Cordoba

and a little video, cause that's how we do.

from their site: "A Ciclovía is not just for recreation. It is social integration."

yes............!

y tambien, en español

please go, and if you do, let us know how it was!

A cyclist's special

A friend of mine showed me these videos awhile back. They are from the mid-50's and

At 1:40
BART- *should* have these. This is every Bay Area biker's dream and I'm sure many trains and public transportation systems could definetely use these wagons. Would be SOOO nice.
The narrative is fantastic, in many ways reminds me of heading out of SF and riding into the Marin rolling hills.

Lovely fashions, picnics, beer, 'extravangant wheelmen' and bicycle talk while riding. Some simple basic things that are timeless =)

Anyway, enjoy these - they are quite charming to distract you from the Monday daily grinds

Short films about a day out cycling in 1955, made by the British Rail film board

More Park(ing) Day

A couple more pictures of one of my favorite annual San Francisco events. This Park was outside Rainbow Grocery

I wanted to do one of my own on the street outside my home, but there just wasn't time this year. Next year! I have many ideas!