On The Road Again

S.A.M. is back on the road. He does not look that much different, but he is!

I was going to do the work, but it ended up with Hubby the Bike Man doing just about everything (we have a different work style involved primarily with me liking to have a cup of tea at 10:30 PM and James liking to go work in the garage until midnight).

S.A.M. has a new bottom bracket (sealed), new pedals (MKS), new chain rings (Hubby knew I needed different gearing although I was oblivious), new wheel bearings and a repacked head tube.

All of the recycled parts required overnight soaking in orange oil prior to being scraped clean. That is some serious, long standing, baked on grime. It was worth it, though. James was able to salvage the derailleurs.

The paint is still shot. The paint that is left is strong and a really pretty soft metallic blue, but so much has been scraped off. I was worried the new V.O. fenders and the Axiom rack would really make the paint look baaaaad.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the new shiny bits do not make the paint look worse. S.A.M. has an air of shabby chic now that was not there before. The addition of the Peterboro baskets to the back end are perfect.

Today, I got to take him for a nice, quiet ride to the Farmer's Market. It has become obvious that the freewheel needs to be replaced, but other than that, everything rides so much better! Nothing grinds anymore. Everything is quiet and smooth. The fact that it is well tuned and 25 lbs lighter than the Bat, 65 lbs lighter if you factor in the weight of Declan, means that I don't end up as tired at the end of the ride. It makes me happy.

It is not easy to put an old bike back together. There is a lot of trial and error involved. I am lucky to have a husband who enjoys building bicycles (I hate to think how much it would have cost to have a professional do it). If you have the interest in this kind of thing, you should do it. Having a bicycle with history and character is wonderful. Being able to make it exactly what you want it to be makes riding so much better.

Go fix a bike! You will like it!

Black & White Saturday

happy saturday everyone! :)

I Read Your Blog!

This last year has brought a number of new people into my life. I am amazed at how interesting and involved all of them are. Every one of them has something intelligent to say. Every one of them is talented and accomplished. When I spend time with them I am reminded, pleasantly, that I need to step up my game so I can keep up. Each of them challenges me in a different way and I walk away from our time together full of ideas and inspiration.

While all of the women in this picture have many talents and interests, what they bring to the big picture of American cycling as an everyday activity of normal life is immeasurable. Each of them has found a way to shatter the myth of bicycle as sport toy and brings that knowledge to the world everyday.

Some of these new people got together to celebrate our lovely Cali's birthday. This is them-

From left to right-

Lisa Marie of Hambone Designs.

Calitexican- this chic can write.

Meligrosa- My first partner in bicycle blogging crime : )

Kristen- Just a day after Meli and I decided to start this little project of ours, Kristen asked me to join her over at Vélo Vogue.

Gwen- A recent addition over at VV. Gwen is also the fire behind the fashion shows for the SF Bike Expo and SFBC's Bike Away From Work parties.

Lilia- Her thoughts are provoking. Her sense of humor is silly. She looks better in pink than I do.

Me.

Ramona- another of the VV women and the brains behind the "Bike Wardrobe Remix".

I raise my glass to you all, my fellow SF bicycle bloggers. You have all made an impact and I am honored to know you all!

Click Your Heels Three Times...

Ride what you got.

Canary Is To Coal Mine As Tree Is To Traffic

For a nice change, we bring you this interesting view of the road from our frequent commenter, Val! We all have a road like this in our communities (unless you are reading this in Denmark or Holland or Japan or Sweden or.... in which case we give you this opportunity to see just what you are missing out on!). How do you see yours?


The neighborhood I live in is a somewhat isolated suburb, on top of a steep ridge. There are only three routes up or down this ridge, and all are crowded and challenging to ride. Here's one:




It doesn't really show, but that's a 10% grade there, with a 40mph limit that almost all the traffic exceeds. This is a section where I frequently use the sidewalk, especially coming up (and, yes, if I'm doing that, I'm going at pedestrian speed, yeilding to people, and smiling as I pass them - politeness always helps).

Further down the hill, the street is lined with cherry trees:




It's very pleasant for those of us not sealed in high speed boxes, and you can see that February is turning out to be quite nice here in the Puget Sound area. As we proceed along this stretch, however, we see that not all of these trees are standing straight:




In fact, quite a few seem less than vertical:





What could cause such a thing? Perhaps this is a clue:



Or, if that is not enough, how about:




If the sight of a truncated trunk lying on the ground with its bark torn off still doesn't tell the tale, I direct your attention to my final exhibit:




That's right, what we are seeing here is automotive damage. The combination of a steep hill, crowded road, and people in a hurry leads to motor vehicles going off the road in this area with alarming regularity. I shudder to think of anyone who may have been walking when these things happened. The trees, at least, can adapt and survive, usually. There are several blank spaces in the row that have been left by trees that were too damaged.

Why post this here? For me, this street is a constant graphic reminder of some of the contrasts between bikes and cars. When I am riding, I can appreciate the cherry trees, which are barely noticeable from a sealed environment going 40-50mph, and I know that no matter how out of control I get, I will never knock one over. We hear about illnesses caused by exhaust fumes, we read the statistics about deaths in traffic, and we know that driving increases stress in drivers, but constant visible damage like this has another sort of impact. Every time I see these trees, I am glad to be riding.

Do you have a ride you would like us to see? We would love to view the world through your eyes. A favorite road? A place that leaves you wondering? Something that makes you want to become an urban planner? Share with the world!

wednesday whispers of sundays past

a few sundays ago, friend of the blog *honeychild* and i went for a ride up twin peaks. there was a break in the rain and all i wanted to do was be outside.

i had a new steel tool at my disposal, new gearing, new fears. with *honeychild*'s encouragement, we went up. and up and up and up and up. and then when we got to the top, we saw this.

we busted out the bagels we had gotten at the cafe at the bottom of some hill or another. as we were nomnomming away, i spied some young man bounce off his fixie and jump and sit on the stone wall overlooking our gorgeous city all in one move like it was taking a breath of fresh air.

not to sound too SF or anything (ok, i am anyway...), but his energy was really nice and youthful and carefree. these things i have on my mind as about as i turn another notch on the odometer.

so to twin peaks, awesome friends, achieving new goals and pushing oneself. all things i have chosen to do in this new year of my life.

happy hump day to you and happy new year to me!

Growth Industry

San Francisco has growing numbers of cyclists. The latest numbers for 2009 are wonderful, especially when you take into account that until the last couple of months, there has been zero increase or improvement of bicycle infrastructure in San Francisco in years. We are still under a partial injunction that allows us to only complete projects that the court has deemed "potentially reversible".

While some intersections where cyclists were counted showed very small gains, and in some instances drops in usage, several spots in SF showed triple digit increases (!!!!)- Great Highway and Sloat 110%, 23rd & Potrero st. 111%, 7th. & 16th St. 202%, Alemany & Geneva-222%, Embarcadero at the Ferry Building 104%, Stockton and Sutter 205% and Randall & San Jose (my personal nemesis and daily spot) 150%.

San Francisco has a 53.5% increase in the number of bicycles counted in San Francisco since 2006 when the count started. We have not been (insert city here)-ized in any way. We have been blocked by the courts to make anything better for ourselves. We have had to carve our space out with nothing but our bicycles for help. We have taken to the streets with our fixies, our cargo bikes, our Wal-Mart bike shaped objects, our child trailers, our tricycles and proven that all it takes to start the change is to get out and ride.

So we have said it before, and we will say it a million more times- get out and ride, people! It makes a difference. Every ride, every time. Make sure you have some fun along the way.

thursday thoughts: bikes as installation art?

UPDATE--late wednesday evening:

so i had a post written out from a few days ago regarding the below pictures. but then i checked in with another fellow SF blog, mission mission, and they have also seen the cords, literally hanging around town. turns out marketing: it can haz some hazy powers over the calitexican (and apparently over other bloggers). along the same lines, now that i know this is advertising, this is NOT an endorsement, just merely an observation. kthx.

to keep with the integrity of the post, i will keep it as is, because it may be interesting (to some) my initial reactions. but my honest one was, why waste all that material on a bike like that...

(tuesday during the day)
i'm not quite sure what the intentions of this person behind this bike seem to be, but this bike just could not be functional. i also apologize for the iphone at night picture, but the best camera is the one you carry with you, right?

wrapping every spare pieces in pink corduroy. except the brakes and the bike light. seen outside of ritual coffee roasters in the mission.

i also like how the bike is completely locked up. you know, just in case someone wanted to score a pink present.

KT over at velo vogue has noticed them too.

is this the beginning of springing into action in springtime, or just arting around town? what is the purpose of them, or do they have no official stance? or do they just mark "hipsters reside here?"

does anyone know? please share in the comments.

Rewording

Mikael posted this quote over at Copenhagenize.


I propose an updated version

People of the world
you have traded your birthright
for a world poisoned
by cars

Rampant spread of cars has
stolen the streets from your children

Belief that a car is the only way
kills our women, and men, and children, and pets, and environment.

People of the world
Rise up and claim your birthright-
a world not ruled by machines and fear.
Reclaim your power to be strong
without destroying all there is around you.
Reclaim your power to be self-sufficient
without endangering others.

Look to yourself to be what you want to see in the world.

What's you version?

You Want Fries With That?

After taking a lovely ride to Daly City to see Avatar (way better movie than I was expecting), Declan declared "I want a hamburger and a toy!". We haven't been in a Burger King in eons so we decided to give it a go. If nothing else, Declan would be so happy to get his chance for a free toy there would be little complaint about the chilly ride home.

On receiving said child's meal with hamburger and Spiderman toy, I received a little gift of my own. I never dreamed I would see this printed on the side of a Burger King food bag-

Say what you want about fast food and what it does to us all. A company that makes huge profits out of drive-thrus, whose entire history is wrapped around the American car mythology, is telling people to stop driving and start riding a bike!

Things are changing! In places we would never expect.

decisions, decisions

Quasi Appropriate E-Mail

This was sent to me by a friend today. It is certainly something I had not given any thought to. The text of the email stated-

" When you purchase a bike, make sure the color of the seat is taken into consideration. "



We have all been warned.

Continued Challenges

This post does not have pictures. You will soon realize why.

This evening, the Calitexican and I headed out for what should be the traditional Friday night tacos and beer (my fish tacos were wonderful). Having just purchased some new books while waiting for her arrival (Son Of A Witch, Everything Is Illuminated & the Collected Works Of Willa Cather) I was anticipating a great evening.

After wonderful conversation (Cali's good friend S., who was with us, has just as much fascination as I do with the subject of work related disease) and great food and a few Negra Modelos we were ready to hit my favorite night spot for some jazz and whiskey (The Rite Spot). There was an open staple to lock up to and the sound coming out of the club promised good music and a mellow crowd. I was anticipating a Laphroig (neat, water back) to enjoy with the stand up bass playing... when my hand and lock both met with a nice, wet, pile of recently rained on dog shit. There is nothing quite like walking into a jazz club, covered in crap, certainly not something I have ever experienced before. I will say though, it did get me priority into the single stall bathroom, despite the line.

People. Please. Don't tie your dogs up to the bike parking. It is really just not a good thing.

Effortless? Humph!

Have you had that day where being on your bike was just wrong? Nothing around you is that different, but it is all wrong nonetheless. I had that today. Even going downhill required effort. My hamstrings were screaming less than a quarter of the way to picking up Declan. He whined and complained all the way home about every little thing he could think of. He wiggled so much in the seat I couldn't keep the bike straight (which wore me out even faster than usual). By the end of the ride I felt like crying every time I had to stop and put my foot down- even keeping the bike up at a stop had become too much.

It happens. Riding a bike does not magically cure all the ills of the world. You can still have a crappy day on a bike. It just isn't quite as crappy as it could be. You still get to see things and smile at people and see the sky.

Colours still stand out, and you can stop to admire them. You can see how other people do what you do.

Even with that, some days just blow. Nothing you can do but take a picture of it.

Will You Be My Neighbor?

This is my neighbor. I don't know his name, but he rides his Madsen through our crazy, hilly neighborhood with his three kids in the bucket! My kids had seen him around, but it wasn't until today that I was able to get a picture. For a few minutes, my street looked the way I wish it always did- a Madsen with kid, Xtracycle with teenager, 10 year old on her own bike, Dutch bike with groceries, trail-a-bike with son behind Dad. A healthy street. I hope the rest of the neighborhood got a good look : )

In other fun news, Mr. Rogers has a song about just getting on with it and trying (featuring a bicycle). I wish I could find a download or something on YouTube, but no luck. Sooo, click here. It should be the theme song for the entire North American bicycle movement.

¿quién es esa niña?

in the words of madonna above and below..."who's that girl?"

Change Your Life. Ride A Unicycle!

This always makes me laugh. Especially this rider. Valencia street, pictured here, is in the middle of massive design changes. The end result will be great, but the construction phase is challenging. This is one of the busiest bicycle corridors in the City and with great, huge chunks of the bike lane dug up everyone has to be patient and really try extra hard to share the very limited space. So what do some people do to make it all work? Ride a unicycle!!!

tu y yo...are looking for the bicis!

so to pick up where we left off the last time: the super cutie pie duo of pilar and dorothy were looking for a bike for pilar in LA.

the last time dorothy discussed types of bikes that are available from beach cruisers to bmxes to 10 speeds to mixtes mountain bikes. pilar decided she wanted to look for a hybrid bici.

so for this time, as they look for bikes, they come across a JAMIS. and i love how they discuss the finer points of language. as in how do you pronounce jamis? pilar, being a (self-described) chilean valley girl, says it would be "HAH-mees," whereas dorothy mentions that if you're in "america" you say "JAY-miss." please, see for yourself.



um, how cute is pilar riding around on those lil comfort bicis? :-D

anywaysssss...

part three has them narrowing things down to pilar's dream first bici at the "walmart of bike shops."



so what bike did pilar choose? i dunno! i don't know if i can find the last episode. sad face.

regardless i wanted to share these videos for a few reasons. one being that these were southern california women of color (for lack of a better term at the moment, but we're working on a better one...stay tuned) interested in looking for bikes and helping others by modeling how to buy a bike if one does not now how/where to start.

chances are if you are reading this blog, most likely you have a bike or know where to start when looking for one. but, sharing the beginning steps i always feel is important in that maybe now that the weather is starting to mellow out, the days are getting longer that maybe you all can grab a friend, someone you never thought would hop on a bike and get them started. maybe they are shy, maybe they are scared, maybe they don't have any money. whatever the case may be, there is always an option by just sharing and starting the conversation.

and to close, i'm going back to dorothy's own words back in the first video i shared with you all:

i don't have a car ... and i definitely want to show it, not just say it. i'm looking forward to hosting more rides so that not only can people learn how to ride, but also learn about their city. it's nice to hear that people are open to something like a bicycle in los angeles. maybe 5 years ago that would have been really crazy.

i don't know about y'all (yah, ahm from texas ok?), but i think those words nicely encapsulate what we are about on this here blog. don't you?

what about y'all? are you doing what you can to get someone you know involved in riding around?

Renovations

As anyone who has read this blog knows, I ride a Batavus. I love my Bat.

At some point, someone named him the "Batcycle Gentleman" and it stuck. He is, indeed, a gentleman (most of the time) and there has not been a single day since I purchased him that I have not been happy to have done so.

Despite our obvious comfort in just kicking back together, later this month, the Bat will be on loan to an out of town visitor. I would not loan my bike to just anyone, but I know that this person is one of the few that I would and that he will be in good hands.

In preparation for this event, I am finally stripping down S.A.M. and doing all of the repair work that has needed to be done since I bought him.

S.A.M., so named because someone carved "#107" into his paint in several places (his secret agent number I suspect), is completely rideable as is, but there was so much left to do after the initial fix we did when I first bought him. This bike was a mess! Nothing , absolutely nothing, worked on the bike. He was filthy, rickety and totally not road worthy. I bought him for the frame as it is the largest mixte frame Raleigh ever made and that was what I needed. Until I knew I would ride the bike regularly, I didn't want to put in the time for a complete tear down and reassembly. Now, I will be riding it, with kid in tow, as my primary bike and thus, work is required.

Stay tuned. I have new V.O. fenders and a wonderful new rack to install. The bottom bracket is going, the head tube is being repacked (it has loose ball bearings in it which is something I have not dealt with before), I am taking apart the derailleurs to completely de-grime them, the wheel bearings will be re-packed... a spa treatment deluxe!

So, at least for a little while, my mixte will take center stage, and not just be the bike that waits in sketchy neighborhoods for me to be finished drinking Belgian beer : )

Market Musings

Marketing. Today I am thinking about marketing. There is a lot of marketing going on out there in the bicycling world these days. A great deal of money and time and effort is being put into just how to get all of us to interact, on one level or another, with the bicycle. While I do not have numbers to back up my theory, it is my guess that there is a great deal more time and money put into getting us to buy bicycles than into those things that would get us to actually ride them more.

I do not mean to be cynical in this line of thinking. We need the bicycle companies of the world to be successful so that there are bicycles for all of us to use. A competitive industry means choice in what we ride and how much we pay for it. I am simply wondering aloud if there aren't better ways to do it so that the sales are improved through marketing lifestyle vs gear ratios.

On the Specialized web site, there is a section for women. All of the pictures on it are of women either in the mud, on their way to the mud, resting after being in the mud... Please, don't get me wrong, I love riding in the mud! Off road riding is one of my favorite things and I miss being able to do it greatly. What strikes me is the lack of scope the marketing shows.
Recently, Specialized has tried to branch out with their Globe line. Not only have they branched out with the machines themselves, they have broadened their view of how to market them. As many know, Globe gave many bloggers out there Globe bikes to ride on the condition that the people who received their bikes wrote about the experience and how their bikes fit into their daily lives. They chose a broad cross section of people from different age groups and regions and races.

I think this is brilliant! There is no beating you over the head with "Globe is great!", just a lot of stories about how life is lived on a bicycle. The regular Specialized web site leaves me cold. There is nothing there for me as I know nothing about bike parts, and quite frankly, I am not that interested in them. The people pictured do not represent me, how I live or even how I want to live. The Globe blogs make me want to know more about the company and the bikes they make. The people that ride them look like me and my family and my neighbors.

There are other bits to this thought floating in my head. How women and young people are ignored by the industry as a whole. How a desire to simply live with a bicycle seems to get eclipsed by those who feel that we should all aspire to be fast and muddy. How cyclists are portrayed as incompetent or daredevil (or both) despite the fact that our vehicles do not accelerate out of control or knock down power polls or leak antifreeze that kills animals that drink it.

I guess I'll just keep plugging away with my camera and take pictures of what I think makes cycling attractive to the masses.

It is certainly what attracts me- a 39 year old mother of three with a career and a commute (not so much career / commute these days, but you get my point). My guess is that I was not what came out of the various marketing meetings and focus groups : )

bikey times with siteLA

in 2008 quicksilver, the surf clothing company, sponsored 6 female visionaries in residence for a project called siteLA. i followed them online and saw their videos on youtube.

two of the visionaries stood out to me. one, pilar diaz, is a musician i love & knew of her before this project. the other one, dorothy le, is a bicycle advocate. meet her below.



naturally, i was intrigued. and then when i found out the two went on a crusade to find pilar a bike to start riding around LA, i was sold.

here is part one of how to buy a bike with dorothy le.



so even though their 2008 residency is over, their words and actions live on. yay.

parts 2 and 3 of how to buy a bike with dorothy and pilar coming soon :)

Obssesive? Maybe.

I just posted about my DIY bike fashion tendencies over at my other internet gig, Vélo Vogue. What I left out of that post is that I am somewhat obsessive about how my new cycling skirt moves. I knew when I picked the pattern that it would work well on the bike, but I didn't know I would find it so entertaining. There is obviously something very wrong with me.



Do you have a favorite item of clothing you ride in?

This Just In!

Bikes and tacos!!! Throw in a beer and we have a deal! The Facebook invitation has 259 confirmed guests as of this posting. I say, be patient while waiting for your taco! Maybe try to pop some wheelies while you wait : ) Thanks to our Flickr group friend "Cold Iron" for the heads up!