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11 Apr 08:17

weekend ride report: cinderella classic 2013

by calitexican
way too early on saturday i woke up and took bart to the east bay on one of its last destinations: dublin-pleasanton. i was meeting a couple of friends for the short drive from bart to the alameda county fairgrounds where the ride started.

Taken at 6:30 am for metric century today in East Bay #100km

the above shot was taken around 6:30am just before some guy rounded the corner to talk to me. he then determined i must be in law enforcement and walked away from me quickly.

at the fairgrounds it was rather empowering to see all these women of all ages and sizes ready to go on a ride. this event sells out every year at 2500 people, which is an indication that more rides like this are needed elsewhere.

Cinderella Classic

some women were spandex queens ready to go fast. some were ready to have fun with tutus. one woman had one of those fake plastic butts with a diamond encrusted thong over her shorts. (how that was to ride in i don't know....)

some were the enforcers of the rules of the road and constantly shouted at people to PLEASE say on your left when you are passing or SLOWING when you are slowing. nothing wrong with doing those things, but perhaps it was her law enforcement tone. that guy on bart would have certainly changed his mind about me after that.

and more than a fair share of women brought their kids with them. one particular memorable mother had a kid on the back of her bike on a rack supported car seat. she was passing people up hills with that rather heavy load on her back. very impressive. other young girls were on their bikes riding in small packs of moms and kids. adorable and we cheered for them as we saw them.

Cinderella Classic

as you can see, i brought the 1980s sequoia along for the ride. my thought with this bike is that it is going to replace my blue entry-level road bike that i feel i have outgrown. although it has a lot of gears on it, i don't particularly care for the gearing that it has. so i tested out the sequoia. i think it's a strong contender for the replacement. it has less gears than the blue bike, but it is smarter gearing. i push down on the pedals and this bike is ready to GOOOO. vroomvroom. nice.

i was able, for the most part, to keep up with my friend and her modern-day bianchi. for my first ride, i say we did a pretty good job. my little 1980s era avocet bike computer said we were going anywhere from 14-22mph. i'll have to confirm with her garmin. i'll have to figure out how to use the old school one more. or just upgrade, but i like that little thing. it looks identical to the one below.

Avocet Model 20

for the ride itself, it was mostly flat with a few climbs. the 2nd leg was my favorite as far as just pure riding. the third leg included soul crushing winds that were combined with the most climbing. more like marin and SF "speed bumps," but with the wind, i was working more than a little bit. you could tell who was from SF, east bay hills or marin (other than the marin century / marin cyclist jerseys), because they kicked butt in the hills. i have joanie to thank for that since i didn't get a chance to train as much as i wanted to for this ride. she's a good training partner.

Cinderella Classic

overall it was a fun ride. i was pleased with the sequoia's performance. time to take her out more in marin. i would like to do the ride again next year, and hopefully can have some more friends. my friend and i were already planning who we could ask and what our outfits would look like since we were horribly under-costumed for this event. less pink, more black. woot! but of course, whatever the look, they will have to match our bikes!

Cinderella Classic

now that my knee seems to be better...2013 cycling season has begun!

Tom, our directeur sportif
11 Apr 07:58

SFPD’s Warped Street Safety Priorities at Work on Harrison and 15th

by Aaron Bialick

Should bicycle riders be expected to stop at this sign? Image: Google Maps

Officers with the SF Police Department have recently been spotted wagging their fingers at bicycle riders for neglecting to stop at a stop sign on northbound Harrison Street at 15th Street, where the “stop” line doesn’t run through the bike lane like they normally do at intersections.

Since Harrison and 15th is a three-way “T” intersection, the bike lane doesn’t intersect with any cross traffic, and the stop sign is poorly placed for bike riders whose chief concern should be yielding to pedestrians in the crosswalk on the far end of the intersection. The intersection is not known to see many bicycle crashes.

Adrian Maestas, who bike commutes through the intersection, says he always stops at the sign anyway, but that on March 22, he witnessed police threatening to crack down on bike riders for rolling through. “Two cyclists whizzed by me, and were greeted by an officer who was parked on the side of the street. He told them to stop on the side, and gave them a warning, saying “today you get one chance, after this, 100 percent stop sign enforcement!” Maestas said he hasn’t seen such enforcement at the intersection since then.

Here’s what California Vehicle Code 22450 has to say about stop sign requirements:

The driver of any vehicle approaching a stop sign at the entrance to, or within, an intersection shall stop at a limit line, if marked, otherwise before entering the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection.

If there is no limit line or crosswalk, the driver shall stop at the entrance to the intersecting roadway.

Jeff Wozniak, a San Francisco attorney who represents bicycle riders in crashes said he thinks “technically, they’re probably right” in that the bike lane is entering “an intersecting roadway.” However, “My opinion would be that it’s a very confusing intersection, the way that it’s painted, in that you’re not crossing a crosswalk, except when you get to the other side of the intersection.”

The only known recent bicycle crash at 15th and Harrison occurred on February 21, when a Muni bus driver turned right across the southbound bike lane at the southwest corner to head into a driveway into a Muni storage facility. The driver knocked a woman off of her bike, crushing it and causing minor injuries, according to SFGate’s Bay Bikers Blog. Police reportedly ticketed the woman for “unsafe speed,” but didn’t cite the Muni driver, who Wozniak said made the error of cutting her off.

But that crash occurred on the far side of the intersection and “had nothing to do” with bike traffic in the northbound bike lane, said Wozniak.

As we’ve written, California and other states would do well to copy Idaho, which adjusted its stop sign laws to decriminalize the natural way that people (police included) negotiate stop signs on a bike: by slowing, checking for traffic, and being prepared to yield to others.

Of course, people driving and riding bikes should never violate someone else’s right-of-way. But police enforcement should be focused on the most dangerous intersections and behaviors, driven by crash data. How does devoting limited enforcement resources to issue warnings for seemingly innocuous behavior help make streets safer?

“In terms of priorities for the police to encourage biking safely,” said Wozniak, “there’s very little point to ticketing people there, because it’s not a dangerous intersection.”

10 Apr 06:47

Bicycle bar: The best way to drink in the park today

by Andrew Sarkarati

Except for that one straight-edge guy down there.

(via Dirty Dave)



11 comments | Permalink | Share on Facebook | Tweet this

06 Apr 19:36

The Single Most Important Item in the Global Economy

by Tom Vanderbilt

Pallets, my boy.  Pallets.

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03 Apr 17:10

TAD's Greatest Hits

by Bill Z
Volker Neumann

love TAD

It's always bothered me that the blog, (unlike the book), goes in reverse chronological order, so I thought I'd make a (probably final) post of greatest hits:


2 years old


Can I Have a Bite? Of You?


The Brief: I want you to draw me a crocodile!
The Critique: No! Don't eat me!
Job Status: Rejected



Dinosaur Bath



The Brief: I want you to draw me a dinosaur! Not a scary one! He's taking a bath.
The Critique: I don't like him.
Job Status: Rejected


CH and Dinosaur Mouth




The Brief: CH and a mouth
The Critique: NO!!!! CH and a mouth!!!
Job Status: Rejected
Additional Comments: I hate the mouth and the teeth.


Baby Dinosaur Eating an Orange



The Brief: A Scary Baby Dinosaur
The Critique: No! You color him some more! Can I put makeup on him?
Job Status: Rejected
Additional Comments: Stop Drawing! Stop Drawing!


Bone Dinosaur Eating a Baby




The Brief: A bone dinosaur eating a little baby
The Critique: No! A baby dinosaur!
Job Status: Rejected
Additional Comments: He's just going to be nice to that baby he's got in his mouth


Poo-Poo Airplane

The Brief: A dinosaur eating a baby, like last time
Artist Negotiation: But you didn't like it. How about something other than a dinosaur?
The Brief, Revised: a Poo-Poo Airplane
Job Status: Commission Declined


Duck Biting Dinosaur



The Brief: A dinosaur eating a baby, like last time
Artist Negotiation: How about something other than a dinosaur?
The Brief, Revised: A duck. A duck biting a dinosaur's tail.
The Critique: I want a goat and a piggie
Job Status: Rejected


Kangaroo and Giraffe




The Brief: A giraffe and a kangaroo fighting over an apple
The Critique: Where's the dinosaur?! Draw me a dinosaur right now Daddy!
Job Status: Rejected
Artists Comments: After completing the project I documented the two year old art director's instructions and reaction. She took offense at this and tried to erase my notes.
When I took away my eraser, she yelled "I don't like your notes!", and scribbled all over them with my pencil. She then ran to the bathroom and ran water over the piece of paper. "Look at them now Daddy!"


3 years old

Poo-Poo Airplane - by repeated request




The Brief: Can you just paint one poo-poo in a frame? The poo-poo is an airplane.
The Critique: Good. I want a treat.
Job Status: Approved


Crocodiles




The Brief: Crocodiles
Preliminary Sketch (no longer extant): Upon seeing the preliminary sketch, the art director, in a rather unprofessional outburst, collapsed on the floor sobbing and screaming.
The Critique: The back is so so so bad I don't even want to look at it! You always do that to the crocodile's back!
Job Status: Rejected and Destroyed

Finished Version (above):
The Critique: Good. The big one is me. You can be the little one.
Job Status: Approved


A Dinosaur Chasing Us




The Brief: A dinosaur chasing us
The Critique: Where's us? Draw us on the picture! I'm going to fix him the way I like him. This is how I don't like him. Please, please erase him! Erase him now!
Job Status: Rejected
Additional Comments: Get those claws out of here!
Artist Statement: The Tiny Art Director hates this more than anything I've ever done for her, with the possible exception of the crocodiles from the other day.


Ugly Eyeballs



The Brief: A dinosaur, not too scary
The Critique: He's a ugly one! I hate those kind of dinosaurs! Where's your eraser?
Job Status: Rejected
Additional Comments: [hits page] He has ugly eyeballs.


Stupid Ugly Angry Monkey. I Hate Him



The Brief: A Monkey
The Critique: Stupid ugly angry monkey. I hate him.
Job Status: Rejected
Additional Comments: His tummy and his belly button and his eyebrows and his hands and his feet. And his head too.


Alphaphageosaurus



The Brief: A dinosaur eating a R and an O and an S and a I and a E
The Critique: That's not what I want. That's a Brachiosaurus. I want a T Rex. He's supposed to have the other letters in his mouth too. See look! He's only eating that one. What letter is that?
Job Status: Rejected


4 years old

X-Ray T-Rex




The Brief: A dinosaur in a X-Ray
The Critique: I just want to see a little mousey in his tummy
Job Status: Approved (after addition of mousey)
Additional Comments: That's what kind of bones dogs like to chew on. Dinosaur leg bones.


Collaboration: T-Rex, Superdog and Girl



The Brief: I'll show you. I'll draw it and you copy [fig. 1]. It's a T-Rex trying to eat a girl.
The Critique (on sketch, after TAD's, no longer extant): I hate that girl. You erase her and I'll draw her as I like her. I want her to be brave. She's not scared of one thing cause that's me and I'm not scared.
The Critique (on sketch, improved by Art Director [fig. 2]): I think my drawing's a little bit better than yours.
Comments on collaborative painting, above: That's my bag, and that's a puppy in it. I'm not noticing the dinosaur, but the superdog [note the 3 eyes] knows what to do. She bites it on the neck and kicks it into a lava pool -- that's the volcano.
Job Status: Approved



Dragon and Princess


The Brief: I want you to draw a dragon eating a girl.
The Negotiation: How about if they're actually friends?
The Critique: No, he has to have that girl is his mouth. He's not supposed to be a nice dragon. He's supposed to be a bad dragon. I want to see that girl's head pointing out of that dragon.
Job Status: Rejected
Additional Comments: He has to be biting and squishing it.