Dove Speed

I have found that I am most happy on Saturday mornings when I have an adventure buddy. Yesterday I was so stoked to be adventuring with my co-worker Matt Dove. We had the responsibility of scouting the yard space for the up and coming Community Hubs events. Next Saturday YBike, Safe Routes to School, and San Francisco Bicycle Coalition will be hosting an awesome family bicycle event at Longfellow Elementary. Can’t make it on the 12th? Don’t worry, we will be hosting one at Monroe Elementary on Feb 26th and at 9 other schools through June. Are you interested in volunteering? E mail volunteer@ybike.org.

Matt travels at my favorite speed: “not rushing,” and everything seems to turn into a community supported adventure. So when we met up at 9 am, our first mission was of course, to grab a snack. We were astonished to discover that when it is sunny and warm, people actually get out of the house at 9 am. There were lines EVERYWHERE! We found ourselves at the new Arizmendi and enjoyed some tasty baked good as we watched the crowds roll by.

From there were took San Jose to Alemany. I was very excited to see new lines on the road with designated new space for Bikes: a left turn box, a bike lane that went all the way to Alemany and one that went back to the high way. On the way back we discovered a counter flow bike lane that saved us a couple of blocks of riding! That little area still needs a little bit of signage and maybe a few kinks worked out, but I am super excited about the new change!

Unfortunately bike lanes don’t prevent flat tires and Matt’s little wheel took a screw to the rim. We had to use a screwdriver to get it out of the tire! We sat down and enjoyed the sun as I watched the pro fix flat tires. It was pretty ironic because while we were enjoying our baked goods back on Valencia, Matt divulged a secret about flat tires. Most of his Bike Party adventures the night before had consistent of Flat Tire support. Matt gets a huge kick out of helping people have a good time while they fixes their flat, so I made sure to provide the moral support this time.

From there were made our final approaches towards Longfellow, but wait! What’s that?! It’s a cell phone on the ground. Let’s find the owner. In the midst of this we make it to the Longfellow and discovered the gates were locked. The Community Hubs grant was created because the SFUSD declared one yard in each of the 11 school districts to be open to the public every Saturday. It was very important for us to see that just because it was a declaration doesn’t mean it was happening. We will have to arrange for it to be open next week.

After scouting the yard from the fence we made our way to Monroe stopping along the way to meet the neighbors, check the yard sales, and enjoy the warm sun. Monroe was unlocked and we were about to map out a course, eat some fruit and meet a family coming to play basketball. We had gotten a tip that the owner of the cell phone would be playing bingo at the first Samoan church on 26th between Dolores and Guerrero, we decided to head over there. Matt got on the bingo caller’s mic and announced who were looking for in order to return the phone. The woman was stoked, the church confused, and the kids excited about these strangers with bikes showing up at their Saturday morning hang out. A few more blocks home with belly dreams of lunch concluded our Saturday morning adventure. It is always a good time with Matt Dove.

follow through and bike parties

What comes before Bike Part B? BIKE PART A! BIKE PARTY!

I had such a stellar time at the San Francisco Bike Party last night. One defining characteristic of the ride is that participants are encouraged to follow city bicycle laws. It is very easy to feel the power that comes with a large group of cyclists, and take advantage of the ease at which we could fully take over the streets. This ride prides itself on stopping at stop signs and red lights. I witnessed many fellow participants reminding other participants to ride on the right hand side of the road, to get off the sidewalk, or to allow cars to have a turn through an intersection.

Accompanied by bumping sound systems, the group of 200+ riders cruised along a preplanned route. Stopping at red lights led to packs of 20-50 cyclists traveling together on each block. It was easy to reconnect with friends at each of the 3-5 different designated dance party locations.

One of the main reasons I rarely participate in critical mass is due to the anger and disobedience I witness between bikes and cars. That vibe seems to influence riding style, and I feel less safe riding in such a large group of anger bikers. SF Bike Party did an impressive job of maintaining their dedication to leading a ride that followed the rules in order to improve the relationship between cars, bikes, and streets. And I had a lot of fun!

Today I am off to do a site visit at Longfellow Elementary School and Monroe Elementary school for YBike’s Community Hubs. Project. Community hubs is an event that happens at 11 schools throughout SF on select Saturdays and will involve many cool youth and family bicycle activities. We will have a bike skills area, a safetyville, a learn to ride area, a bike swap, bikes for sale, family bike rides, and so much more. Come out on Feb 12th to play bikes! We will be at Longfellow Elementary School, in the excelsior, from 10am-3pm. Email volunteer@ybike.org if you are interested in being a volunteer!

The Plan

When is the last time you walked to the top of Corona Heights Park (in SF)? It is one of my new top 10 SF Urban Hikes. I had the privilege to walk up there with my older brother who is in town for the weekend. As far as older brothers go, he upheld his responsibilities and helped me get a little mental structure in order to set some goals that will help me follow my dreams and fully seek/experience happiness.

Annie Londonderry (the first woman to bike around the world circa 1884) said that every good adventure starts with a wager. My brother and I shook on a deal that challenged me to grow my love of biking and food into a way for me to not only support myself, but also send my nephew to college. I am not sure I can win or lose our bet, if i succeed i am to finance Avery's college, if i loose i just have to buy him a bicycle. Regardless, my nephew is adorable and awesome and i couldn't be more excited to have him as my motivation to dust off the old blog and get back into writing.

I start with the first goal of spending one hour, hopefully in the morning, every otherday, blogging, researching other blogs, and setting some structure into this fare fetched plan.

Tonight I will take part in San Francisco's 2nd ever Bike Party! I hope to see you there!

Carrot Mob! Natural Selection! BYOQ!

Saturday is full of so many fun events. Here are the three I am going to attempt to attend.

Carrot Mob


Natural Selection


Bring Your Own Queer!

photos!

photos have been posted!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2470949&id=12301287&l=a34993bbda

The Experience Part Du

It is quick & easy to record and display the mileage and the locations of our adventure, but I find myself much more interested in dancing with the details of decision making, grocery shopping, and hill climbing.

On Day 1 I was pretty oblivious to the side of the map that showed the topography for the days ride. On Day two I took a look at the route sheet and let the fear of the climbs get into my head. I was totally capable of it all, but I let the anticipation take over my thoughts. The hills were tough, the heat was tougher. As I climbed up the hills I found myself putting my anger and frustration into my travel buddy. I was continuously questioning her motives, paranoid about her dislike and distrust of my actions. By the top of the day’s hardest hill I finally came to the realization that all of these thoughts, fears, and anxieties had absolutely nothing to do with my her and they were built fully on top of my insecurities. Not only is this a very unstable place to store feelings, its pretty false. By the time I made it to the top, I sat on a rock and wrote down what was on my mind. I was able to tier my insecurities. Rachel, who has sensed some hostility, asked if she had offended me. I transformed the satisfaction of reaching the top of the hill into confidence and shared my insecurities, my flaws, and my false thoughts. I asked her to simply listen, accept, and if she had thoughts, to fully process them and then we could discuss later.

At first I felt raw. “Ew, why did I share those things? I’m so exposed.” Then, to my great delight, Rachel treated me no differently than she had before my intimate disclosure. From then I was able to feel proud of my personal processing, my strength to share, and the dissolved ill feelings and insecurities. Throughout our entire journey I felt gratitude towards the safe, supportive environment we created as a team. That was my ode to hill climbing.

Early on in the trip planning Rachel and I realized we would be grocery shopping everyday on our 20 day adventure. It was the only practical way to travel by bike, and it was predicted that we would see plenty of markets along the way. The prediction was fairly accurate. There were a wide range of markets on our journey. We saw everything from corner store to farmers market to self serve farm stands to generic large grocery stores with florescent lights. Early on we also realized that our individual talents and joys would lead us to a pleasant division of labor. Rachel took on the responsibility of setting up the tent each night, occasionally going the extra mile to lay out our therma-rests and sleeping bags! I took the role of head chef and would race to finish dinner before the final zipper zipped on our freshly assembled home. When we sat down to dinner we were both grateful to arrive to a completed meal next to a completed tent set up, the surprise and gratitude never got old. Being head chef left me quite a responsibility in supporting the grocery store mission. We scoured boxes for ingredients, always staying away from high fructose corn syrup, suspicious of yellow 5, and frustrated with the endless waste that came with a bag in a box and a 1,000 mile journey to get it to our shelf. The good days we were the ones where we found a local market serving freshly picked, spray free or organic, local goods that we could steam and mix with our perfectly portioned bag of quinoa from the bulk store. Always adding some tasty (ideally, but not always) organic cheddar cheese. I strived to make every dinner taste different than the last. With one pot, one stove, one (very small) cutting board, and a limited amount of spices, this only slightly tricky. Our meals ranged from pasta with veggies and mozzarella, to beans, rice, salsa, and cheddar, to a creamy mac cheese with a roasted chicken. We didn’t skimp on our food. Almost ¾ of the money we spent on our 20 day journey was on food.

The third thing I wanted to write about was decision making. That was such an intense and valuable experience for me that it will have to wait for another blog entry. I have many things to say about the richness, honesty, and new discoveries that came with the experience. You can look forward to that next timeJ

It is time to write

It is time to write. It is time to find a nook and some how document the past 10+ days. At 9 am on a Sunday morning, after a night like last night, finding a quiet space to myself is pretty easy. The kitchen table of a radical bike co-op house will easily provide me with what I need.

The Experience:

On July 20th, after a 4 day vacation/adventure of bicycling around Vancouver with new friends and unloaded bicycles, Rachel and I packed our rigs and headed north. With four+ saddle bags and a guitar each, the weight, hills, and heat were a challenge at first. With winds on the third day we figured out how to work together. Rachel would often draft me on the down hills for more speed, and we began trading drafting/leading positioning on up hills (most oftenRach and straightaways with big winds. It was not only physically easier to have less wind on the drafters bicycles, but emotionally powerful and inspiring to be following my cycling partner or have her relying on me. At the end of the day we were tired. At the end of Day 5 we were the most tired because our ferry dropped us off on Orcas around 6:30 and we still had 15+ miles of hilly riding to do to arrive at our camp site. We also got accidentally split up for the first (and only, hopefully) time this trip. Each night, when we rolled into camp, We set down our bikes, dug out our eating and shelter gear, and went to our roles. I was in change of cooking dinner, and each night my goal was to provide a nutritiously filling meal that tasted different than last night. While cooking, Rachel would be seeking out flat land for our temporary homestead, setting up the tent, putting out our sleeping bags. Over dinner we were both equally stoked to be sharing a completed meal next to a fully set up tent.


Day 1: Vancouver- Porpoise Prov. Park 40+ miles
Day 2: Porpoise to Saltery Bay 40+ miles
Day 3: Saltery bay to powel river and back down to Parksville75+ miles
Day 4: Parksville to San Juan Island via Crofton, Salt spring Island, Swarz bay to Sidney 45+ miles
Day 5: San Juan loop-Orcas Island Moran State Park 45+ miles
Day 6: Our first day off! Hitched/hiked our way to the top of Mt.Constitution 5-6 miles walking
Day 6: Orcas-Lopez 20 ish miles
Day 7: Lopez to Victoria: 25+ miles
Day 8: laundry, showers, explore Victoria 10 ish miles
Day 9: Victoria to Galiano Island 2 miles (+luxurious van ride with family from VI to GI)
Day 10: Cinnabun in Galiano to Vancouver 15+ miles
Day 11: finally writing this post.