Inappropriate Wednesday Fun

Don't watch this at work. Unless you work somewhere where this kind of thing is OK. In which case, pump it up!



Those of us in SF will have a little bit of a chuckle over this.

via SFist

Meanwhile...

Outside Europe...

We got it goin' on, too!

Mission Accomplished

I have now accomplished it all. If this were the internet, I would have reached the end! A panda, with cat in basket!

This is my kitten, Betty, on her way to the vet for a check-up. Goooooaaaaaallllll!!! : ) The couch-on-a-folding-bike people have nothing on me.

Raleigh Love Child

While my Batavus is turning Asian, my S.A.M. is most certainly looking a little hippie these days.

Funny how bicycles end up with personalities. A man I know talks about bicycles as less personal objects, but I have never been so sure that American's are ready for that step. We like to anthropomorphize just about everything, much like the Japanese seem to really enjoy making sure everything has really great packaging.

Pick Your Poison

The sticker is right you know.

Which one is our choice?

Opposites Attract

Meli insists I own every kind of bicycle there is. I certainly own the bikes at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Hubby the Bikeman is riding his 22lb mid-80's Miyata which has been converted to fixed. We call it the MLF, the Mid-Life Fixie. James points out that he does not call the bike that, but the rest of us do so that is its name.

I am riding La Ballena (The Whale), a 65lb cargo bike with a great big wooden bucket on the front.

La Ballena could crush the MLF. It would be a very unfare fight. Of course, the MLF could easily outrun any threat La Ballena represents. Despite this, they live together in peace in our garage and on the streets of San Francisco.

Of Cargo and Kittens

Úna on a Cetma-

Declan on a Metrofiets.

Another gratuitous shot of my cat, Dottie

Blurry San Francisco

A great deal of what San Francisco has to offer is in this picture.

The SF experience can leave you seeing like this sometimes, too.

Winter Cycling

For those of you out there who are reading this from the snow bound regions, I am truly sorry. It is January and by all measures I should be cold and miserable and battling mold in my window sills. Fact is, this is how I dressed to run errands around town this week-

A little mid-winter Vitamin D is good for the soul. And if this post makes you green with envy, despair not as Summer will soon be here and I will be dressed as I was last year for the first day of the "warm" season-

"That's A Big Bike!"

I make no secret of not liking to ride light weight sport bicycles. I am enormously uncomfortable on twitchy, skinny tired, racy bicycles. The bigger the better for me. A huge, heavy monster of a bicycle is right up my alley.

Back in September, I got to ride the biggest, heaviest bicycle I have been on yet- the cargo bicycle designed for the 2009 Oregon Manifest show by Metrofiets. While it may have been light weight by the standards of many 7 foot long steel cargo bicycles, it is not a feather weight.

After deliberating about our upcoming transportation needs, James and I decided that if we were going to put this much money into a new cargo bicycle (Cameron has been gifted the xtracycle) that we felt best about giving that money to someone we knew in exchange for something one of a kind, a rolling work of art.

So with the addition of a wooden box (also handmade and removable so we can use the basic platform should we chose) this gorgeous machine is now ours!

Because I am too busy just enjoying our new ride, I have not come up with anything technical about my land based cruise ship. There are some lovely details I want to photograph that all of you bike geeks out there will drool over. In the mean time, I have a couple pictures of my first San Francisco day with my movable conversation piece.

Because I am fascinated by the front of my bike being four feet ahead of me I tend to notice the space right in front of me more than usual. Of course this also because I have to remember not to bump things with my front wheel. I think that the world would be a very different place if people noticed things like this more often.

Parking something this big takes a little creativity. Or a nice standard parking space in front of the bakery. The law does not say you have to park a car in a parking space, only that you must pay for it and observe the time limits, so in I went. I love how the guy in the black car waited for me to move as soon as I got in it. There were ten minutes left on the meter and I was feeling a need to use all of them. I usually only do this if there are multiple bicycles that need parking, but this thing is as big as three bikes so it works. Anyway, the space was already being taken over by alternate users.

At many points, people were unable to resist looking at my lovely bicycle. A couple of them nearly crashed while riding by because they were so distracted. Several pulled out the smart phones to take pictures. This guy used his to find info about the bicycle while he walked around it!

There will be more info in the days to come. I am going to have Hubby The Bikeman write up the technical stuff (he is a huge bike geek, so it will make him happy. I just like to ride!). At some point I will get comfortable enough on it to take some pandas.

My Bike's Bigger Than Your Bike!

James towed my Batcyclegentleman for me when I couldn't ride two bicycles at a time (even I have my limits).

The Xtracycle is a large bicycle (James is 6'3" after all) that can carry 250lbs plus the rider. Yet, my Dutch monster makes the F.U.B. look downright dainty! Heehee!

Wait until my new bicycle comes (later this week, I hope!!!!!!!!!). It will dwarf all that come near it. Mwahhhhaaahaaaaaa!!!!!!!!

That Bicycle Ate My Baaayyybeeeee!

Happy, Bikey Christmas!!

Eat a bunch of Christmas pudding, then go ride it off with the people you love!

From us to you, Happy Chriskwanzicha!!

Happy Saturday!

My bike lane actually professed its joy in being! Gotta love it.

Can You Name The Theme?

Brownie points if you can guess the common thread here.

picture by Baudman

picture by rudyluciani

friday fun times: one of these things is not like the other

as seen in a parking garage in downtown san francisco:

um, yah. free bici. be careful while parking your bike out there. m'kay?

happy friday everyone!

Weekday Glide

It's a workday. You have things to do and stuff to carry. However you do it, do it by bicycle! Automatic style points for top tube gliding.

Gratuitous Bragging Ahead

So the other day I was opining about my inability to perform the task of taking a picture with both hands while riding. Tonight, I did it!!!!!

In the grand scheme of things this is completely meaningless. In my world of cycling it means I have finally found the balance and strength to fully control my bicycle!!! It means resting my hands and back on ridiculously long rides that have nothing to do with transport or utility. It means that in a life full of risk minimization I can still find the occasional thrill.

It means I can say "Look, Ma! No Hands!"

Grow A Beard, Ride A Bike

Beards have been making a comeback for the last year or so. They seem to have a special place in the bicycling community.

First up is our friend Esteban. He writes a San Diego based blog, Vélo Flâneur, and recently wrote a piece for Flow in which CYLRAB was mentioned (I am very pleased to be in a paper with footnotes : ) Esteban rides with a beard (he rode the Butter Lap with us last week).

Then there is our friend Deep, King Of The Trike (my title for him). Deep rides with a beard. And a sound system. On three wheels.

I shot this picture of what I have come to think of as "the beard cousins" last year. They seem to have tried to co-ordinate their beards.

I took this picture last year, too. He was just starting the beard odyssey. Maybe it has filled in since then.

This whole post (one that will go down in the annals of bicycle advocacy history as the post that changed the world for the better) was inspired by the wonderful man with the fantastic smile I took a picture of last Saturday.

Ride on all you bearded men!

I Can't Do This!!

I wish I could do panda's this good! "Sweet Olive" always shoots great pandas, but this one is my favorite.

Can you do better? Give it a try and send it into the Flickr group!