If you're like us, you spend an hour or so on your bike every day, from home to work and then back, then maybe to the supermarket, and occasionally over to a friend's house or up to Corona Heights to watch the sunset.
Wouldn't it be neat to keep track of your rides so you know how far you've gone in a week? Or whether your favorite route to the Marina is any shorter than the city's official route? Or whether Polk is a steeper climb than Van Ness?
Yes, yes it would. Whether you're commuting to work, the park, or the corner store, you could use that information to find better, shorter, less hilly routes around the city. And that means getting where you're going faster, and being less smelly once you get there.
For the first time in 10 years, the international professional bicycle-racing circuit will bypass San Francisco, while today's stage three of America's biggest cycling event, the Tour of California, is skipping the city with a jaunt from Auburn to Modesto.
From 2001 to 2005, we were host to the San Francisco Grand Prix, a tough circuit race noted for appearances by Lance Armstrong, and 18 percent grades up Fillmore and Taylor streets. Left-wing members of the Board of Supervisors shut that event down after complaining that it was being backed by banker Thomas Weisel, who just so happened to be Republican.
Wasn't Bike to Work day fabulous this year? We
saw a lot more cyclists out than usual, and we hope to see
them out again on the remaining 364 days until next year. Let's do a
quick roundup of the best of the bikes.
According to the Chron, the mayor and "almost every member of the Board
of Supervisors" were out riding today. Almost? We would like to know
which ones weren't. Maybe this was the one day that David Chiu was like
"Fuck it" and drove to work.
The city's frantic bike network upgrades in the last two weeks remind us a bit of the flurry of last-minute activity before the curtain goes up on a new play. Paint that set! Strike those lights! No time to sew the costumes, just use staples!
What's all the hubbub about? It's Bike to Work Day, of course, Thursday, May 12.
In a city like San Francisco where so many people already bike to work, it sometimes seems a little silly to call it Bike to Work Day, as if there's only one day for it rather than 365. But it's nice to have a focal point where we're all out on our wheels, doing what's right and learning that skipping Muni means getting to all of our meetings on time.
Fixies! Dangerous and insane, right? Well, yes, but only if you don't know how to ride them. In the right hands (and legs), a fixed-gear bike is graceful and glorious.
Fixed-gear enthusiasts are a proud bunch. We'll never forget the first time we walked into Mission Bikes and chatted with Jefferson about his products. When we asked about gears, he shrugged. "We're just not derailleur people," he said.
If you want proof of the fixie rider's prowess, head down to the fixed-gear fair this weekend at Justin Herman Plaza. The official name of the event is Red Bull Ride + Style, but all you really need to know is that there'll be flashy bike tricks and bike art.
Okay, let's get down to brass tacks with this Golden Gate Bridge bicycle speed-limit crypto-bullshit.
Here are the facts:
According to a study commissioned by the Golden Gate Transportation District, 6,000 cyclists pedal across the bridge everyday. That number is rising -- and so are the number of accidents, although not as fast as the number of cyclists on the bridge.
In other words, the bike-accident rate is dropping.
Bike etiquette: What do you do when what's polite isn't safe, what's safe isn't legal, and what's legal isn't polite?
This week a guy was seriously injured in the Financial District when he fell off of his bike ... while riding against one-way traffic. Okay, so that's neither legal, polite, nor safe.
But what about four-way stops when there are no cars coming? Turning left from the Wiggle onto Fell Street? What about those roadways with no bike lanes at all, like Duboce Avenue east of Market? Squeezing through the rush-hour cars stuck at intersection at Market and Fourth streets?
And Sunday Streets -- oh, Sunday Streets. Anecdotally, we've heard that some of the cyclists have been getting aggressive with pedestrians. Have you found this to be the case?At last, an answer to the question that has long intrigued San Francisco: Is it a good idea to ask kids to bike to school?
As it turns out: Yes. Yes, it is.
When we were young, Bike to School Day happened five days a week. But here, in San Francisco, it's an official affair only one day every year, and that day was yesterday.
So, how'd it go?
Later this week watch for those youngsters -- some 3,000 little ones -- to saddle banana seats and pedal their Huffys to the schoolyard as part of the third annual Bike To School Day.
Think: Critical Mass with handle streamers and less aggro hipsters.
Wait a minute -- is this really a good idea? Kids on bikes -- in San Francisco?
Adult cyclists have enough trouble negotiating the streets safely -- with careless drivers, snarling traffic, and the unsavory road rage. An analysis by The Bay Citizen counted more than 1,000 bike accidents last year, including the four cyclists who were targeted by a driver on a rampage in Potrero Hill.
