Calling all Single Guys

That's my kind of tune -- playing over at More Than Just Another Bike Blog. I am not sure I can make it -- however -- some of my friends might. Saturday next -- Menlo Park Caltrain station, 35 miles, moderately paced, with minestrone soup lunch at Barrone's afterward, I'll have the minestrone soup and Peter's Panini. Thank you!

The ride home today included a movie, The Illusionist. One of my friends managed to catch me on my bike as I was passing the theater in San Mateo. I didn't really manage to review a restaurant at lunch today (it was sad -- the restaurant). The movie was good and I enjoyed the company. Two thumbs up. Should I start reviewing movies?

3 October 2006 PM/October Total

Swimming: 0 yards/500 yd.
Riding: 3.28/13.10 Miles
Running: 0/0
Walking 0/3.6 Miles
Weather; Sunny 59° F.


On the Way Home.

According to this the weather is going to degenerate tomorrow into rain. Do I believe them? NO.

Kissling

Do you notice anything odd about this?


And this? 

Train to Work

Bean Street Cafe for the double espresso.


Here's the commuter on the train. The train accomodates 32 bicycles so it's kinda nice. It's a bit like segregation, only it just effects bicyclists.

I sit reading The Journey Home, by Edward Abbey. I don't exactly know where he's going yet because I just started it. "Across the river waited a land that filled me with a strange excitement: ... a vast and silent emptiness smoldering with heat , color and indecipherable significance, ... For the first time I felt I was getting close to the West of my deepest imaginings -- the place where the tangible and the mythical become the same."


I am sure it wasn't here he was talking about.

So here is the bike graffitti, where the tangible and the mythical become the same. This was taken through the window of the train -- in case you're wondering.

3 October/October AM

Swimming: 0 yards/500 yd.
Riding: 3.28/9.82 Miles
Running: 0/0
Walking 0/3.6 Miles
Weather; Sunny 60° F.

Train, train, train.

Photo Credit
I saw some cool bike graffitti yoday from the train -- Caltrain -- not that vandalism is acceptable behavior or anything like that. I am going to take the camera in tomorrow and see if I can get a picture of it ... I bet you can't wait. I had Thai for lunch, and then I had Chili Tofu (also Thai) for dinner. The rice is always important.

2 October/October

Swimming: 500 yards/500 yd.
Riding: 6.54/6.54 Miles
Running: 0/0
Walking 0/3.6 Miles
Weather; Foggy AM/Sunny PM. 62° F.

Ride, train, ride, Thai
Ride, train, ride, Thai
Swim Train
Dont think to complain.

The Route to Work, or The Road Home

Depending on how you look at it.


To the train station, 1.2 miles. Stop for coffee not included.


1.4 miles ...

Link to the actual Google map, where you can see me in the picture on my bike on Townsend Street. Just kidding. This is not the best route for a bike, but it is pretty close to my actual route. It is much better to get off Division at 11th and head to Harrison. Division is noisy and busy and although it wants to be bike friendly, it's not.

That's 2.6 miles x 2, or 5.2, each day. The hardest part of the ride is the endless stairway at the end, carrying the bike.

Seven Hills -- They Told Me

The great cities of the world have Seven hills. Rome -- San Francisco ... etc. That's what every one told me ...

This guy (Tom Graham) says there are 43 hills in San Francisco. Have you got you're hillclimbing gear running?

"At the very beginning," city archivist emeritus Gladys Hansen says, "San Francisco was a very small city and we had only seven hills -- which were copied (figure that one out -- if you can -- copied???? Hello.) from the seven hills of Rome. There was Telegraph Hill, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Rincon Hill, Mount Sutro, Twin Peaks and Mount Davidson. " He cites. But what about Potrero Hill, and that ungodly thing that funnels the wind into Candlestick Monster™ park (talk about wrecking history -- grumble -- monsterpark) . OK, so it's the hilliest city outside of La Paz, Bolivia (37000 ft, serious verticle -- like that). 43 hills. Second hilliest city in the world.

I particularly like this bit -- about San Francisco is a great center of world-wide commerce in 1859. Have a gold rush and become a center of world commerce:

When Dana returned, he wrote:
On the evening of Saturday, the 13th of August, 1859 -- the superb steamship
Golden Gate ... bound up from the Isthmus of Panama, neared the entrance to San
Francisco, the great centre of a world-wide commerce .

There are streets with stairs in San Francisco. Ride your bike up that. There are stairs all over.

He's right. It's a hilly city. I spent all day uphill in it.

But the Burrito at La Cumbre -- was worth the walk. If you didn't read that link, there is way more about the San Francisco Burrito than you ever wanted to know. The burritos at La Cumbre in San Francisco are famous the world over. The truth is -- if you want a really good burrito -- you need to cook a steak and throw it in. Carne Asada -- Salsa Caliente. Sweat. Eat. Feast. Add cheese.

San Bruno Mountain Summit Loop Trail

San Bruno Mountain Summit Loop Trail

September 30 2006 - 111 Photos

The hike went well and was good. The weather was super.

Happy Birthday Critical Mass

Ok -- I missed by a couple of days. It is the last Friday of the month and this is San Francisco, which is where this says the first critical mass ride was , to wit:

The first San Francisco ride, with
48 riders, began at 6 p.m., Friday, September 25, 1992, although it did not come
to be called Critical Mass until the second ride, on Friday, October 30, 1992
(with 85 riders).

I particularly like this bit,"analyzing the tactics of the ride, as part of an evaluation of decentralized decision-making for potential military battlefield use." Wow -- I don't know if that person had enough to do.

Critical Mass is 14 years old. Next time.

San Bruno Mountain

The hike. Tomorrow, methinks. 3.5 miles, 650 ft up and down. I am going to try to break my 581 mph speed record. Here's an interesting pictureMap showing the edges of this little bit of wilderness.

Take one of these

And ten of these.

And call me in the morning.

I had a good workout and now I am tired.

Teds Market

Fresh Roasted Turkey and Swiss from Ted's Market on Howard at 12th in San Francisco. Although it has more meat, John, it just doesn't taste as good as the one from the Ravioli House. I don't know why. It's still a good sandwich.

The Ravioli House

Years have passed, many years, and it is still a good lunch. Fresh roasted turkey with cheddar cheese on a sourdough roll from the Ravioli House on B Street at 5th, in San Mateo. Just as good as I remember it. Who could ask for more.

Working it Out.

So I managed to swim my seven laps today without any real breaks. This is a substantial improvement. It was a lot more of a workout than I have had so far. Why? You might ask.

1. I hurt.
2. I inhaled water.
3. I feel like I went for a swim.
4. I am tired.
5. Crossroads was playing on the swimp3 player.
6. I feel great.
7. I didn't wear the helmet.

Today, one of my work mates asked why I haven't been riding my bike. He rides the same route as I and meets the same train. Maybe he misses me. If I start riding again and then swim I might end up training eating continuously.

Today I saw video of Bobby Kielty celebrating because the Oakland A's (I was born in Oaktown) have cinched their place in the playoffs. Amid all the champagne pouring, splashing and spilling, here is the red headed Kielty (great name after all) wearing goggles like mine -- but cooler. They were polarized. Mine play music though -- so there.

It's a new trend I think. All Kielty's wear nutty goggles.

Suburban Life

I swam 7 laps last night and 7 laps on Sunday, and 5 on Saturday. I tried out the underwater Finis® swimp3™ player -- it's marvelous
when underwater, otherwise it's kinda sucky. Swim (good sound), breathe (sucky), swim (good), breathe (sucky), and so on. I remember the bone conduction technology of the BoneFone sounding much better on dry land.

So I am disappointed. It will never do for riding on a bike. Update: However, if you manage to get them positioned well -- the sound is better when the head leaves the water.

Holy Cow

I like this cow. Notice the halo. It's in front of a place called Holy Cow, of all things.

Another Boring ...

Day ... post ... whatever. I ordered one of these. which I will want to test out. I swam 7 laps yesterday, which should be 350 yards. I haven't been riding my bike this week. Grumble.

Talk All You Want, It's Free

(Crossroads ringtone music playing from my pocket)
Me: "&*%$, that's the phone."
L: "Hello."
Me: Breathing heavily.
L: "Hello, Shawn?"
Me: "Hello."
L: "Are you on your bike? (meaning riding)."
Me: "Yes."
L: "I wish I could do that."
Bring brriririinbggg! (bike bell).
Me (screaming): "HEY!!! -- Lookout -- Bike coming!!"
Me (at surprised driver that just tried to run me over): "Quit talking on the phone, would you?!!"
L: "Shawn?"
M: "Yes, sorry."

Today laws were passed in California to make it illegal to hold a phone to your ear while driving. I must quit driving. Maybe I could tape one in place. I would really believe that it couldn't possibly be true that talking on the phone is dangerous while driving, if I hadn't seen so much obvious evidence that it were true.

Some people will never be able to drive (and talk on the phone). Others will always manage to.

Argument follows.

P.S. I usually don't answer my phone while riding my bike -- it's very hard to do; not to mention dangerous. If it's very (extremely y'know -- bike path protected from cars -- no peds or bikes coming -- don't try this at home -- etc.) safe, then I do. Typically I stop and pick it up.

On to the swimming and riding parts. Last night, I met a girl at the pool with a pink water bottle (hereinafter -- the girl with the pink water bottle) who swam 40 laps in about 45 minutes, which she tells me is 2000 yards. Ok -- that's a mile, plus. It also means that the ten laps I swam were actually five. so I swam six tonight. I.e., 300 yards. I need to find some rythm here. She was very surprised to hear that I could ride a hundred miles but couldn't manage to swim across the pool (with out choking on my own sputum running out of breath).

Date: Lately, September 2006
Miles Riding: 14.43
Max: 22.8
Bike: Commuter
September Bike Mileage: 70.21

It seems I am going to have to work harder to get alot of miles in.

Sunday's hike was different though -- we hiked 4.52 miles and our max speed was 581 mph, according to the gps. ... go figure.

Stilts

Another Shot

This Seems to Speak for Itself.

I have never quite seen habitat restoration that started out like this. This is an area near the city of San Mateo's Shoreline Parks seeming just beyond the San Mateo border into Foster City.

When I was younger this was all wetlands.