Bike Hut!

http://potreronuevofarm.org/thebikehut.html

fuel up & hydrate before attacking tunitas...

City's bike plan may fully roll out

By: Mike Aldax June 22, 2010 Room to roam: S.F. is planning to add 34 miles of bike lanes to the existing 45. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner)

SAN FRANCISCO — The green light to vastly expand the number of bike lanes in The City may finally come this summer.

Today, Superior Court Judge Peter Busch, who imposed an injunction on San Francisco’s long-awaited bike plan in 2006, will hear the city attorney’s final arguments about why he should lift the ban.

The bike plan would add 34 miles to The City’s current 45 miles of on-street bicycle lanes during the next several years, along with parking spots and traffic signals for cyclists and colored lanes on some streets.

The plan was ultimately stifled by a 2005 lawsuit demanding an environmental review that would adequately address traffic issues and other impacts. That review has been completed.

In November, Busch lifted the injunction on a conditional basis, prompting The City to embark on 10 of the 45 projects that received approval from city lawmakers. The judge’s lifting of the ban would allow The City to move forward with the remaining projects.

After the hearing today, the court will have up to 90 days to issue a ruling. Advocates hope the injunction will be lifted this summer.

"By the end of the year, we hope to see at least 20 new bike lanes and innovations like colored bike lanes that will make our city an easier and safer place to live, shop, do business, work," said Renée Rivera, acting executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, in a statement.

Bicycle ridership in The City has increased 53 percent during the past four years, the organization said.

maldax@sfexaminer.com Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Citys-bike-plan-may-fully-roll-out-96858174.html#ixzz0riiTYiIs

3rd annual ride around lake tahoe 6.19.10

yes, finally - the 3rd annual ride around tahoe! we arrived pretty late friday night & had a couple chores in the morning (bell mounting, pedal swaps and tire pumping) but managed to start the ride just before 10am Saturday. greg rode his 1973 schwinn paramount factory custom piss yellow colored extra braced bicycle sculpture and i rode a 1971 raleigh super course w/custom drivetrain and "hammered into submission" rear rim. from lakeshore blvd. at incline village to hwy 28 1st thing in the morning might be my favorite part except for that incredible long descent from the hwy 50/28 junction - so cool. makes the extended climb almost worth it. ;>)... but before we could do that long, fun downhill Greg needed something and he needed it badly. i arrived at the hwy 50/28 boat inspection station to find all the car hoods up and Greg checking everyone's oil. i figured he was applying for a new job and demonstrating the extra service he could provide the inspectees vehicles but i should've known better - he was actually wiping the dipstick oil off onto his bike chain because the chain squeak was driving him batty. this took awhile, then we had a blast racing downhill and into south lake tahoe where there was (naturally) a car show going on. we checked out everything and most received thumbs up - good selection and polish this year. The sound of that old Mercury idling was music to my ears...

car show behind us we raced through south lake asap, not much to see there. arriving at our usual lunch spot in camp richardson about 1pm it was time for some bike fuel - club sandwich and sobe green tea, please. ahh, perfect. always take it easy after lunch on the bike path but there is that emerald bay road to climb, grr. this is about the hardest climb of the ride & it seems to get easier each time - interesting because i thought i was in about the worst physical shape of the 3 rides so far but the '71 super course must've been set up just right and made it the easiest of the 3. a 180mm length TA triple crankset and old broken in brooks b15 saddle are great for touring i guess... the downhill run past bliss park after the emerald bay climb was pretty epic - not much wind, clouded over & cool mid afternoon with about 3 cars behind me at the run-out. one gave a short honk & smile as he passed :>). we skipped the tahoma stop as we both felt well fed & hydrated, rolled through homewood and stopped in tahoe city for a break. it was funny seeing the fish jumping for bread crumbs thrown by the tourists at fanny bridge.

the rest of the ride was pleasurable and uneventful and we rolled back to incline together about 6pm. Greg typically has "head for the barn" syndrome after tahoe city and beats me by about 15 mins. but that 42-24 gear combo kept him down to my pace this year. ok, what's for dinner? salmon, sauteed zucinni w/onions in olive oil, wild rice combo and martinis! a just reward for the days efforts.

more pics here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericm/sets/72157624328579254/

pics from the '09 ride:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericm/sets/72157622368662010/

pics from the '08 ride:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericm/sets/72157605802075362/

'til next time, "Have a Nice Ride"...

Jour De Fete Jacques Tati 1949

6/13/2010 Route

a bit hot for me to ride in the mid 80's but was itchin' to get out so the pink bike got to run for a few miles. and run she did - that straight stretch into ivanhoe (ave 328?) was so smooth and with a slight tail wind it seemed i was jet powered. damn! that was fun blastin' into town with dogs barkin' at my heels with no way to keep up...

'til next time, "Have a Nice Ride"...

how do we get more people cycling?

summer in the city

love our natural summer air conditioning...

fun ride today in sf after deciding it was too hot on the peninsula. drove to & parked at log cabin at the presidio then checked out the "green" street fair on union st. headed back to explore ft. point by bike and got chased out by park ranger. then it was up and over the golden gate and through sausalito heading for mill valley bike swap. guess i was a bit late since the place was empty. thought about doing a paradise loop but it was too hot for me at the end of the bike trail so turned around to head back and ran into Omar - he'd just finished a loop & was heading back so we chatted and rode back through mill valley & sausalito then over the bridge again. Omar peeled off and i went to delarosa for a pizza & beer & martini. great food, drink & people watching on chestnut st. i needed the antifreeze for the windy/cool ride back to the log cabin. finally getting comfortable on the torpado - might be because i massaged a 1/2 pint of olive oil into that rock hard saddle...

'til next time, "Have a Nice Ride"...

SF fixie gent - borrowed from CINELLI on facebook

click it to read...