video: bike to work week and oak street improvements

as i wrote on fb yesterday, there are some big changes on three mere blocks of san francisco's 7x7 slice of earth.

so excited to see this green paint going up on one of the more precarious streets to bike on in SF. it is basically a one way highway for cars that bring people from the west side of town to downtown and other actually designated freeways. bikes share three blocks of this stretch of road.

one of our "reporters on the scene" took some video during his commute to work. oak street is getting some improvements. the actual ride is a bit precarious due to the construction. but nothing totally out of the complete ordinary on a workday commute.



have you noticed any bikey improvements going on in anticipation of bike to work day? SF's bike to work day is tomorrow, THURSDAY, may 9. when is yours in your town? SF tends to be earlier than normal. other than that in these parts of the interwebs bike to work day is everyday, of course.

friday fun times: biking for worker's rights

i, unfortunately, was unable to participate in may day festivities/marches/protests this year as i have a new job. ironically. as such, didn't feel comfortable enough to take off. and also had a board meeting that night. one of my infamous 12-hour work days. i hope next year's may day will be different.

anyway, here are some bikey and work type things i saw on may day, which was wednesday.

saw a cyclist on her way back from a civic center demonstration. she gave me permission to take her picture.

over where the work is never done, the new job has quite the bike commuter area.



you could adjust your pedals, or your headset...?

happy friday everyone! we are experiencing some crazy warm weather here in northern california. some people are complaining it might be too hot to bike. NO WAY! hehe.

also... congrats to the golden state warriors for chomping down on some denver nuggets. they advance to the next round in the nba western conference playoffs. we'll have to see how they fare against my san antonio spurs!

tandem bike friday!

i've seen a few, but none with the front rack like that. he also said that it was usually set up for three people (for him and his kids).

if you are reading this, sorry i cut off your head...but no time at the stoplight to move back to get the full picture.



see any crazy fun bikes on your commute today?

obama's new chief of staff rides a bike to work

the league of american bicyclists has a post describing that current bike commuter and new obama administration employee, denis mcdonough, may have to stop riding his bike due to the security involved.

foto by daniel greenfield

the league posits top five reasons the new CoS should be allowed to ride his bike to work.

• the fitness of his security detail will set a new standard for the entire White House
•he’ll never get stuck in traffic in times of emergency
•there’s always plenty of bike parking space on the White House railings
•he’ll never have to leave a critical security briefing “becasue my carpool is leaving now”
•didn’t you sign an Executive Order on Sustainability that encourages this sort of thing?

they are asking to fill out 5 more reasons as to why he should be allowed to ride his bike to work. what would you say?

the times article i listed above says probably one of the most poignent reasons he should be allowed to ride his bike: "(After scrapes with motorists, he now mostly drives.)"

so one of my reasons would be: "the visibility someone in his position bike commuting to work will set a nationwide trend." the trend will be less dependence on foreign oil and also combat obesity, setting a role model for our nation's children. basically things we like about biking anyway.

what would you add to the list?

two for tuesday: buses and pedestrians

unfortunately this morning on my way to work i witnessed a bus hit a pedestrian and her little dog (i guess s/he's a pedestrian too). made me think of what kind of city we live in, what kind of factors we need to negotiate in our daily lives just to get to work, to school, to wherever.

the person looked like she'd be ok when i left. another bike commuter behind me commented, "that was hard to watch." indeed it was.

then this morning i got my weekly newsletter from the bike coalition talking about their taxi driver education program:

You probably know that the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition teaches free bicycle education classes. But did you know that last year we launched a program to teach all new taxi drivers how to share the streets with people on bike? We know that educating frequent drivers about safely sharing the streets with bikes is crucial to making your ride around our great city much safer. Last week, we celebrated our one year anniversary of the taxi training!

In 2012, our instructors have led two courses per month, and taught over 1,000 taxi drivers how to pass bike riders safely, how to avoid dooring, and how to safely turn when people on bikes are on the road! By working to educate these frequent drivers, along with our dozens of classes for bike commuters, we’re making our streets safer for everyone. Hopefully this great program is already making a difference in your ride. Please remember that the only way we can educate the thousands of people -- both behind the wheel and on two-wheels -- is with the support of people like you.

i believe they have muni driver's education as well, but i will need to confirm it. either way, makes me think of everyone's safety and how we judge importance of running lights, or getting ahead of the light to cross the street.

please stay safe everyone. and what's the hurry? you'll get to where you are going in due time. and muni, take some advice from your own campaign. and is driver education enough? what, dear readers, do you think we can do?

do you remember when you CYLRAB?

this bike does.

and the owner decided to write it out on the bike to celebrate. it's put on by black enamel paint, the kind you can find at any art store.

and...take a closer look at this bike box hack job. it's pretty sweet.

this person also recently told me their partner also got a bike recently. seems like riding around is contagious!

what about you? do you remember the exact day your life changed because you rode a bike?

it's time to get back and bike to work!

it's time to get back and bike to work!

seen on the morning commute. s/he's got a lot of places to go, and things to do! being chauffeured by bike looks like its preferred mode of transportation.

happy day after (usa) labor day everyone!

RE: Market Street's New Bike Boxes: Use them!!

Dear Market Street Commuters:

I, like you, ride Market Street daily to get to work. This has been rather well documented on the blog.

Being that we ride on Market quite a bit, you've probably noticed that there are new bike boxes around the intersections of Van Ness and 9th streets. (btw: THANKS SFMTA!!)

Some of these bike boxes are more useful than others, but one in particular is amazing and very very much needed: the box at the intersection of Van Ness going eastbound. I've talked about the perils of crossing that intersection before. What I have noticed lately is that NO ONE (except yours truly) that I've seen communting around me is actually using the box. There is a bike box on the wiggle at Scott and Oak that people use, so what is it about the new Market Street bike boxes that have people staying out of the box? It's arguably more necessary to use the eastbound Van Ness bike box than any other one on Market Street.

Just in case you don't know what to do with the awesomeness which is our little bikey bright green space on Market Street and Van Ness, here's two StreetFilms videos describing how to use a bike box.





In the immortal words of biggie smalls, "if you don't know, now ya know."

So fellow Market Street bike commuters: use the box! It's ours to use!!

Much Love,
CTX

The Dying Of The Light

According to the weather report, today was the last day of lovely light and long shadows. This last week has been spectacular, the kind of weather that makes you thrilled to live in Northern California. These may be my last pictures of Autumn.

When next you see me, I will be ready for near freezing rain.

Our Farmers Markets in San Francisco are year round. They may not produce quite so inviting a pannier tableaux by Saturday morning.

Here we go, people! The long, dark months are upon us! Get those lights on your bicycles (now! Stop reading this and go put some damn lights on your bike!), shake out the weather proof gear, make sure your panniers have adequate drainage, lube your chains and stop worrying about the extra weight and get some fenders already!

surveys and such

photo by sfbike

last friday on the above stretch of market street as i was going to work, i noticed a woman dressed in what appeared to be a SFMTA vest holding a clipboard. she was in the green painted part of the bike lane close to the end of the paint near the crosswalk. as i have the lights pretty timed, i was mainly concentrating on making the light and continuing on my way.

perhaps she sensed my hesitation because she didn't talk to the cyclist in front of me, but rather asked me three questions:

1. would i please participate in a quick survey?

--yes

2. on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the least safe and 5 being the most safe, how safe do you feel in the lane you are in right now?

--two

3. on a scale of 1 to 5, using the same scale, how safe do you feel biking on green bike lanes?

--four

i was extremely interested in what this was all about, and if she did indeed represent SFMTA. in my quick glance at her, i didn't see a logo of any sort, just yellow and reflective things everywhere.

did anyone else encounter this? if so, what did you say? did you ask her questions back?

please let us know in the comments, and thanks always for reading.

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?

School's In

If you go to public school in San Francisco, then today is the first day of school! My kids are public school all the way, and this morning, they each decided to start the year with a bicycle commute.

Declan decided quite a while ago that he wanted to emulate his older brother and ride to school (he is in Kindergarten this year). It is only two blocks away, but the lure of a morning ride and his very own bike lock was too much to deny.

It was really nice to see a lot more people walking to school than in years prior. There were still a number of people in cars, but the morning traffic tangle was nothing like I have seen it in the past.

The school has a bicycle rack, but it has still not been bolted into the ground (almost a year after receiving it!) so we used one of the polls outside the school. It works out fine and as I had to pass this spot a few times today, it was nice to see Declan's bicycle parked out there waiting for him.

This year, Úna starts Middle School as she is the 6th grade. New school, new friends, new commute. Her school is only a mile and a half from home, but it is on the other side of the hill. She decided to take the long way around through a rather busy business district instead of climb the hill so I went with her, following behind to see how she handled the streets.

She had to pass between City College of San Francisco (the largest community college and the second largest learning institute of any type in the United States) and Riordan High School which was a tangled mess of traffic and random jay walking pedestrians. It was so busy I couldn't take pictures of her riding through it like it was nothing (just like how people in India don't seem to notice the traffic and crowds there). She was fantastic and did everything right.

Once we got past the college mess, it was a short trip through a business district she is very familiar with. There was construction all over it, but after a short stint on the sidewalk, she got around it with no problem and made it to school on time with no stress (unlike the 5 blocks of tangled car traffic around the school building!!!! What kind of madness is this?).

I was uncomfortable with the amount of traffic on her chosen route. It will calm down in a couple of weeks, like it does every year, but until then I am going to make sure she goes over the hill instead. She had no problem negotiating the craziness this morning, but I would not feel comfortable letting her go on her own and the whole point is for her to do this by herself. Next time, we'll try the hill route which is much less busy and crazy.

Over all, a good day. All three of the kids got to where they were going under their own power. They all took the next steps in the process of growing up. I love it!

How far is far.

How far is your commute to work? your happy hour or dinner outside your neighborhood? your trip to get groceries? your ride to go meet with freinds? The other day heading to work I was thinking that I would do all of these in one day. Do you?
I dont live in the central part of the city. Neither does Adrienne. We pride ourselves in living in opposite ends of the city and so when we all meet, we head near where Melyssa lives, kind of. So all 3 of us - at any given day, we at least ride 8-9 miles, easy.
Anyone that tells us that Laurel heights, the Marina, Glen Park or Sea Cliff is far - we just look at them and wink at each other.

This is a picture of Lombard street (yes that curvy postcard shot) that tourist destination sits behind me, and past a (guess!?) steep hill. On the other side, looking westbound lies this. Not a bike friendly street, but a pretty sight. To head towards the fog, you can ride on north point/francisco or on greenwich. Both have bike lanes and are very traffic-quiet.

Say hello to our little fog.

friday fun times: casual friday panda

it is a bright and beautiful day here in san pancho, califas, usa.

today's version of running into someone on the market street bikeway: paraphrased convo.

scene: on the way to werky times today. running late edition.
calitexican?
oh hai. sssup.
i read yr blog.
i read yr blog.
[bikestuffbikestuffblogstuff]
[pedal around stupid car making dumb decisions behind a bus he shouldn't have been behind anyway cause he was supposed to turn, but DIDNT and a rush of bikers surrounded him on all sides]
ok, here's my stop.
bye!
laters, see ya around!

GUAOOOO

*Spanglish for -wow-
Feels like Fell and Divisadero....


Saw this yesterday morning, via smashenger

"hey, i know that bike"

one of my favorite things about riding on market street during the morning commute (a short list to be sure), is talking to friendly people on bikes. another one of my favorite things is running into people i know. san francisco is so small, that the chances are high you'll see someone familiar on the bikeway.

today's installment was one omar. friend of meli. on way to werky times.

"omar" by meli

i was getting ready to pass someone and thinking how i like how my new shoes are on my pedals when i heard, "hey you." i turn and i see mr. omar. i was running super late to work, but there's always time to say hi and chat it up a bit.

you just can't get that in a car. or on muni/bart (for the most part). nice start to the day.

happy friday!

Monday Means Two Wheeled Women

Everyone wants to know where the women on bikes are? They are out there getting to where they are going. It is Monday, and there is stuff to do!

image by Amsterdamize

image by Bart Omeu

image by anglomex

scenes from the bikey lane: (w)holy weeks worth edition

this has been compiling in my head for the past couple of weeks. i think i had been waiting for a bit cause after a while of noticing a lot females riding to work, lately have been noticing a lot of guys and i'll be the only woman riding with them.

1. a little teeny tiny rat sized dog breaking away from its owner at 7th and market and nearly breaking its teeny little chicken wing leg in the muni tracks in front of a bus....then the light turned green. (i do not know what happened to the dog...sorry. am curious myself)

2. a raccoon in golden gate park looking a little scary. good thing i was on my bike. those eyyyessss...#nobueno

3. riding through the panhandle in the morning, i've counted tons of people on bikes, but maybe 1 to 3 will be female for the morning commute in either direction. where da females at?

4. an 18-wheeler on fell street in the left hand lane, which is the lane right next to the bike lane. i was very nervous as it passed me. that is an understatement. i had visions of the wind pulling me under the tires and running over me several times.

5. two acquaintances chatting me up on market street on the way to work. oh hai...is better than just going to work alone.

6. speaking of market, last week on the way to butter lap in the evening, i saw the beginnings of re-striping the completely ridiculous bike lane at market and 10th. NOW it makes more sense. phew and yay.

7. more bikey changes going on in the calitexican's hood at mojos. very nice spot to grab a beer and a bite after work now that the light stays with us later in the day.

8. me pulling the other meli and grabbing some coffee in the linden lands while it rained in my coffee.

9. rainy days...going away....but the last rainy day, an older dapper gentleman with a matching bike said at a stop light, "thank god for fenders on a day like today!" (yes, he said it with an exclamation point) and the other guy and i at the light (again, just me and two dudes...wtf?) were all smiles and saying, yes, thank goodness for fenders. no skunky stripe for me.

10. and finally, i saw this girl i went to college with walking down the street. i did a double take. she's the one that introduced me to riding around on two wheels. we had fallen out of touch, and i didn't know if i should say something, but something tells me this town is small enough that chances are highly likely i will see her again.

happy week everyone!

garage parking

when i first rolled up to work today, i thought:

1. issssh, my favorite parking spot is taken!

2. this is kinda cool that there is very little parking.

3. there will be happy and productive workers in downtown SF today.

4. (this thought occured much later while looking out of the high rise window...) it's so beautiful today, there will be a lot of distracted workers today.

:)

scenes from the bikey lane: monday march madness edition.

hey y'all. can you believe it's march already?! wow, 2010 is speeding by like a certain famous bikey dude riding his cargo bike down the wiggle the other day. vroom vroom.

ok then, let's get to it:

1. light grey skies, dark gray asphalt outlined with yellow stripes next to dewy and fresh smelling green grass. nice change of scenery.

2. sausage fest throughout said above route.

3. 3 women, 1 male at page and octavia.

4. 5 women, 0 males at 7th and market.

5. 6 women, 2 men at 5th and market.

6. red mixte seen inside bank: 1

7. baskets seen: 4. two were on the same bike.

8. mixtes spotted: 2. upright handlebars on those bikes: 2.

9. cords worn: 1 pair. (brand unknown. not pink)

see anything fun or different on your commute this morning?