san francisco

Something’s up with my rear derailleur.  I have no idea why it just completely lost its crispness overnight, but I guess I was due for some mechanical issues sooner or later.  I’m still running the same Gore housing I had the shop install from…I don’t even know when.  I stopped at the edge of the Golden Gate bridge to tighten up the barrel adjuster, which seemed to do the trick for a little while.  And then on Camino Alto it felt horrible again.  More on-the-fly adjustment made it feel a bit tighter, but the cable was probably in need of replacing.

Besides that, there were tons of people out, many of which were doing another AIDS LifeCycle group ride.  Others were in huge packs of Saturday morning group rides, many of which looked familiar – Mission Cycling, Dolce Vita, and some other ones I’m forgetting.  I’m glad to have made it back on the bridge before it became too crowded, but we’ll see what happens tomorrow.  Earlier leave time, longer ride, and more stellar weather, I’m predicting.

Foggy mornings are the best.  No one’s out, the Golden Gate bridge is a little misty so you get a bit of water on your face to wake you up in the mornings.  And everything is this opaque white, the light is soft, and the clouds block out the sun momentarily.  Of course, in Marin, it’s sunny and clear almost 100% of the time.  Not always though, but I’m enjoying it while I can.

Interestingly enough, I hit every single red light today, which was a game killer.  Luckily, I caught a break when I made it ahead of the school buses, though one of them was very close to catching up.  It had to stop to pick up a bunch of kids though, so I gapped him a bit more before he turned off the road.  I’m a bit surprised I didn’t see anyone I knew for the last half of the week, but I’m pretty sure everyone is either a bit ahead of me, or farther behind.  Or doing other loops closer to the Headlands.  Either way, I’m excited to be heading into work – the design pod is going to the Academy of Sciences.  I haven’t been back since their recent renovation (like 3 years ago…), and prior to this, I hadn’t been there since I was about 10.  So many cool exhibits, I hope they stayed true to the awesomeness that is/was the Academy of Sciences.

More spring time weather is here.  Foggy mornings giving way to perfect weather in Marin, no wind, and barely any cyclists out.  The bridge is the best this time of year – there aren’t any huge crowds on summer vacation walking across (not yet at least), and just a handful of runners.  I even caught a break and saw no school buses today.  They must’ve been a minute ahead of schedule, because their bubbly parents were still talking it up at one of the stops.

I guess that was pretty much it.  I didn’t see anyone I knew out, but I did have a token random drafter guy for about a minute.  Unfortunately, he split off somewhere on the bike path, and soon, and I was alone again.  Now I’m off to work.

Well, I forgot to take a picture of the conditions on today’s morning ride, but there’s a shot from yesterday of a guy painting Chinatown.  I shouldn’t say I forgot to take a picture, because in reality, I was caught up in a conversation with Matthew – member #350 on Stava, if you remember Wednesday’s ride, March 7th.  Anyway, I saw him swapping out a tube on his rear tire right near the highway off-ramp near the Golden Gate bridge.  He caught up shortly thereafter on the swing through Crissy fields and we started talking about the America’s Cup.  Apparently, Matthew is into sailing as well, so that made for a very informative conversation, to say the least.  Thanks for the info, September 2013 is going to be crazy here in the city!  The building I saw a couple days ago on the Embarcadero is completely torn down for the announcement/information booths for the race.  It’s going to be bringing a lot of much needed infrastructure changes into the city – better roads, more walking/riding paths, new street lights, etc.

Most informational morning ride, ever.  And with Marin kids off for spring break/Easter, roads were quiet the whole time.  Perfect!

The cold weather is back and with today’s morning ride low of 37*F, I guess I’ll be keeping on the full warmers for a bit longer.  Oddly enough, the weather was clear and sunny almost the whole ride, which was nice for a change.  Usually, the sky is pitch black from the clouds, total bummer.  Not too many people out commuting on their bikes today, either.  Maybe everyone’s staying away from the cold.  I caught up to a school bus today which was tailed closely by a highway patrol car – not sure if he just happened to be in the area and thought it was a good idea to make sure no one passes, or if the county had requested some “backup”.  Either way, I hopped onto the shared pathway to avoid being stopped by the school bus, and was on my way.  I went around the bus as it flashed yellow on the next stop, in the back of my mind, thinking that the patrol officer would pull me over (but somewhat knowing that you must yeild on flashing red, not yellow).  Anyway, he didn’t pull me over, and I never saw the patrol car again since it tailed the school bus, which turned on the next intersection.

Everything else was quiet.  Happy Friday.

Sometimes it’s hard to trust the weather forecast.  30% chance of precipitation in real life means clouds that appear to contain rain, but don’t actually rain at all.  Lucky for me, I was too lazy to pack a shell, so I’m glad the rain held off.  With spring in full effect now, the days are longer, and the mornings start earlier.  Soon, it’ll be foggy every morning, clear during the day, and foggy every single night.  That’s the San Francisco seasons I like the most…mornings wet enough to keep most people at bay, but not wet enough to consider it drizzling or raining.

I caught a break with the school buses too – they were much farther ahead of me as I made my way through Tiburon.  I managed to keep the momentum up all the way back towards the bridge, which seemed like a rarity.  A guy wearing a Clif Bar kit riding a custom titanium (or possibly steel…) fixed gear bike rolled up past me as I hit the bridge.  Micro ratio, dual brifters with an inline cable to a front brake – it looked pretty neat.

Also, a message for Tim: recover well, buddy!  He was involved in a car/bike accident yesterday night when a vehicle in the opposite lane turned left in front of him as he was riding straight.  He was admitted into the ER, but luckily, just had rash and abrasions.  The Giant Omnium wasn’t so lucky:

License plate bolt in the carbon fork?  Something like that…Glad you’re okay, Tim.  Everyone be safe out there.