Posts

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The biking along Skyline and Shepherd Canyon were more challenging than usual after the storms: This was a smooth bike trail the last time I was here: Still great views:

For the first time in six years, organizing group rides (or really, riding much at all) fell off my radar most of 2016, between big changes at work and at home. But reminded how much biking keeps me grounded and happy by a week in the saddle in Maine, I’m ready to pick up the torch again. Speaking of the torch… if I declared 2014 ‘Year of Dirt’ as a way to motivate myself to organize a series of rides on casual dirt roads in Livermore, through the fragrant fennel forests of Benicia, and up and around Mt Tam, it seems like 2017 should be a year of Water (rides to lakes, swimming, kayaking), Air (mountain tops? riding for speed would fit the theme but is not my style), or Fire (more bike camping, especially of the brief one-night S24O style like this overnight at Lake Chabot). ...

I moved to Oakland and bought a cargo bike. Oakland’s been very walkable and bikeable so far (with a good grocery store, hardware store, coffeehouse, garden center, transit centers, and bike shop all within 10 minute rides). While I’ve been idly looking at and researching cargo bikes for many years (including admiring the range of designs I’d see in Copenhagen, Amsterdam, or the Supermarket Street Sweep), I could never really justify the expense. Now that I’m living somewhere a bit more spread out than SF (and with, for the first time, a yard and room for gardening and woodworking), and with my motorcycle retired (no registration, insurance, gas the past few years), when I saw an Xtracycle Edgerunner for auction at a fund raiser for a good cause, I made an impulsive decision and rode it home that night. ...

Supermarket Street Sweep 2016: racing around the city collecting groceries by bike for the SF Food Bank. This was perhaps the 4th time I’d done it– after collecting 20lbs of groceries in a santa suit in 2010, 100lbs the following year, and 156lbs with two large custom panniers and a backpack in 2013, I took a few years off and made a modest effort this year, picking up 152 lbs with a similar setup. My friend Dave repurposed his baby trailer and lugged in an even larger haul. ...

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Bike camping in Kirby Cove: For years I’d wanted to camp here (and use it as an easy introductory S24O ride for some friends interested in trying out bike camping who didn’t want to ride 40 miles each way to Samuel P Taylor or Point Reyes), but the reservations fill up three months ahead within minutes of being posted online. ...

A bit of biking around Bend, OR. The breweries and bike lanes are plentiful, though some are on less pleasant for riding, higher-traffic streets (with somewhat hairy traffic circles West of downtown). The trails (some dirt) along the Deschutes River were nice, though.