Monday View Of Sunday

A little, happy moment during Sunday Streets  this last Sunday.

It has been awhile since riding and holding a camera at the same time have been possible.  Nice to have someone smile at me when it happens.

35mm Bikes

It has been a bit since I have been out shooting pictures of my lovely fellow two wheelers.  In truth, much of my riding and shooting has been sidelined recently.  Pro-tip-  don't get arthritis if you like being very physical.  So this Thanksgiving day, I give you a little view into my San Francisco and a few of the bicycle people who populate it

Remember, after you spend some time being thankful for all your blessings, go out and ride your bike so you can burn some of those blessings off!

Mail

CC: Shell Oil, BP, Arco...

It's been real, but now it's over. Have a nice life.

Getting Critical For 20 Years

The ride that started it all was 20 years ago this month!  No matter what you think about Critical Mass, if you ride a bicycle in any city that has a bicycle lane or a sharrow or bicycle racks to park on you owe that first ride, and every one since, for making sure that the rights of bicyclists all over the world are kept in the public eye.  Critical Mass stopped us being invisible.  Critical Mass made those of us on the road a force to be reckoned with.  Critical Mass kept the conversation going at a time when it was being silenced.

The media and those who just can not, or will not, see beyond their dashboards will never see anything more than the controversy. They will only ever see a 10 minute disruption of their drive as the worst thing to happen in their lives (and if it is, how lucky they are!).  They will never see the people in front of them.

According to some, Critical Mass is only a bunch of hooligans out to cause mayhem and ruin it for everyone,

that only the "able bodied" and "young" and "athletic" can particiapte,

only young men out to destroy are there,

it sets a bad example for the kids who see the mayhem.

And yet, it has become a world wide movement, in spite of its "hooligan" tendencies.

So while Critical Mass looks different to different people, it is, whether it means to be or not, the public and in your face fight for the future of little kids with stuffed penguins on their helmets. Isn't that what all protests strive to be about?

Happy 20th, Critical Mass!  No offense, but I hope we don't need you in another 20.

Tag!

According to Marc, my bicycle is now truly Dutch.

 

While KT and I shared a bottle of sparkling wine at Etcetera, someone decided my basket needed to be tagged.  It is only White Out, so I can take it off but now that Ian has decided it stands for "sexy, young bitch" I am tempted to leave it there.

What do you think?  Should I keep my graffiti or not?  What does "SYB" stand for?

Me and You

Handlebars

We all have handlebars.

Sometimes they are rusty.

Sometimes they have baskets full of dreams hanging from them.

Sometimes they carry our coffee.

And sometimes we ask too much of them.

Sometimes they carry the people we love.

Let's hear it for handlebars!  After all, it isn't like we ever really think about them.

Date Night

On our way to dinner.  Hubby the Bikeman is not always dressed in bike wool and chain grease.

I think he cleans up quite nicely.  Someone driving by thought so, too, and gave him a shout out.

A nice night out for us means overcoat, tie and Dutch bicycle.  As it should be.

Almost Hitched

Last weekend my friends Kimberly and Amandeep

got married!  It was a weekend long affair that started for most of us with a bicycle ride across town.  Of course.

Deep had the sound system blowing, the rest of us followed along.  How can you resist a happy group ride of love?  You can't, so don't try to pretend otherwise.

I tried to get a shot or two of the bride along the way, but it just didn't happen before I ran out of film.  I did get this one, though.

A few other moments-

Deep taking his parents for a quick ride around the flower garden,

Our friend Sasha advertising for the cause,

Kevin (from here) and the love of his life,  MK(from here) who are a HUGE factor behind what makes riding in San Francisco FUN,

Alex and Gary spent the day being cute (my back went out just before the ride and Alex helped me put it back together because she is wonderful, Gary helped contribute to my back problems with his contributions to bicycling over the years : ) They were married, with bicycles, last year.)

There are more pictures of the wedding that followed, but you will have to wait for those.  They aren't back from the lab : )  I am pretty sure CTX has more than a few to contribute (BTW, she looked amazing at the wedding!!!!), too.

Picture Change

Bicycling has brought so many changes to my life.  There is something about how it frees you from convention, if you let it, that propels you into new experiences.  My shopping habits have changed (way less packaging because it is too hard to carry, more farmer's market purchases, more small store purchases because it is hard to park at the mall...), my eating habits are different (smaller amounts more often because it is awful to bike on a full stomach), my transportation choices have shifted (I will bike if I can, even when the car could be faster) and so much more.

My entry into photography was completely a result of riding my bicycle.  When I started seeing pictures from around the world of people on bicycles, I wanted to start adding to the record of what was happening around me.  As time went on, I wanted to do better at it and so I started to explore the camera.  Even pictures of things that have nothing to do with bicycles still have a bicycle as part of them as I probably bicycled to get where I was shooting or the subject was found while riding around.

Bicycling is very hard on digital equipment.  I have managed to destroy my Pentax 10D when I crashed my Bat on the Market St. train tracks.  The smaller ones have either worn out or been dropped too many times. So now, I am using film cameras that are much smaller and a great deal more robust.  But that means that my old "shoot-from-the-moving-saddle" style has got to change.

I can still do the occasional panda if I have the right camera with me,

but it is a great deal more difficult than it used to be.

So now, I will have to find a new style of shooting the bicycle scene.  This means finding a different way to interact with it, too.  It will take time to work out, but it will be fun and my bicycle will be with me all the way.

Saturday!

Go play like a kid!



The kids know how. Just copy them.

Come As You Are

Yesterday the CTX brought you a lovely moment to start your week.  Today I bring us down a few notches with my camera.  I think we should not get too high brow around here.

We always say ride in what makes you comfortable.  Flip flops and shower caps would fit that bill.

Night Ride

It has been a while since James and I were out riding at night.  It just never happens anymore.

Thought I would take a picture to remember how much fun it is!

From The Hip

It would seem I have spent enough time in the saddle of enormously large and heavy bicycles that I have become adept at it.

Taken from the hip, riding a 100 lbs of cargo bicycle one handed, using a fully manual camera. There really should be a way for me to make a career out of that skill set.

Your Weekend

Was it as good as Kevin's?

Tell us about it! Send us your stories and pictures

Read The Signs

One of the things I like most about bicycling in Portland are all of the wonderful signs they give you.

They tell you where to go and about how long it will take to do so.  I have always found the timing estimates to be spot on.  It is quite hard to get lost even though just about everything is a clapboard house with a big tree in front of it.

The ones in San Francisco are a little more interpretive.  We have room for improvement.

Tasting Flight

They usually come in threes, right?