« March 2007 | Main | May 2007 »

27 April 2007

Bike Parade

This might be the most accurate article I've ever seen about Critical Mass:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/28/MNGF2PHDCK1.DTL

Except for the part that says the "route was announced" (it's much more spontaneous than that), it describes Critical Mass the way I've experienced it.

I used to commute to Oakland on public transit. Every night, I stood at the bus stop on Market Street, waiting impatiently in the cold. Bicyclist after bicyclist pedalled past, looking happy, fit, and in control of their own transit. By the time my bus finally came, they were probably home. I decided I wanted to be like them!

The first year or two was scary. I was unfit, uncoordinated, and unsure of myself. I didn't quite get the art of blending into traffic. There was some honking and harassment—and close calls. But I didn't want to get back on the slow, filthy bus, and I was also bored of the gym. I kept at it, even after spending a night in the hospital with serious memory loss after a crash.

Now I've been biking to work for nearly ten years and my rides are smooth and breezy almost every day. I've only crashed one other time, when a pair of tourists opened their taxi door into me. I scraped up my hands when I hit the pavement, but the friendly, remorseful couple sat on the curb with me until they were sure I was okay. Later, another cyclist who saw it posted to Craigslist's "Missed Connections" asking whether I was okay or needed a witness.

Cyclists like that one are the rule rather than the exception, in my experience. They glide unobtrusively through traffic and watch each other's backs. They encourage each other's good citizenship and try to build a healthier, friendlier civic life in San Francisco. Once a month, they have a little bicycle parade—and often the motorists and pedestrians literally cheer for them.

But somehow the popular idea is that Critical Mass is a menacing bunch of anarchists, and last month's incident didn't help. The good cyclists are the ones you never notice because they slip through traffic like water. It only takes a few bad ones to ruin everyone's reputation.

Meanwhile, I'm still in love with my bike.

Comments (1)

11 April 2007

Brent and Trisha

Last weekend was Brent and Trisha's wedding at the Star Hill Ranch in Austin. Everything went off without a hitch—except the freak storm that dumped freezing rain and ice on us! Nevertheless, everyone had a good time, as can be seen in the photos:

Congratulations, friends! Also, the flourless chocolate cake was divine: rich, dense—the platonic ideal of chocolate.

Comments (0)