Behind the Mike’s Bikes on the path! Thanks to Carlos for sharing! I gotta check this thing out this weekend on my way to Inverness!
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I had a time! We took a slow & easy 8.5 hour ride (yes, really, and it was awesome) south through side streets, twisty beach climbs, Planet of the Apes, campgrounds, and more. Did my first return along the coast and found a t-rex like the one on the farm, ate a potato taco & cinnamon sugar shit at the fanciest Taco Bell in the world, got coffee from the hip new cafe in Pescadero, and bought a chaos pouch from a grumpy dude who wouldn’t let me inside of his army surplus store because it was too messy. As I was riding along the beach in Pacifica, near all the surfers and bikini-clad sunbathers, I started humming some Beach Boys tunes. Then realized that it was the middle of fucking January and a great day to be at the beach in Northern California. If nothing else, climate change is awesome for biking weather.
The Mayor of Pescadero on my old Gitane singlespeed, Purple Rain.
The fanciest Taco Bell in the world
Planet of the Apes
Loren
The bros
View from the Korean church in Pacifica
Must be made by the same dude who made the mammoth
2011 was the year in which I completed my first randonnée.
2012 was the year for me to really get into randonneuring and achieve the R-12 award.
2013 was the year that started out as me wanting to achieve the Super Randonneur award, but those plans were derailed by my greater desire to hang out with my friends on a double century weekend.
2014 started out with a permanent amongst friends. Jesse talked about how he’s not really into doing solo 200k rides anymore and by the end of the ride I agreed with him. To me, solo 200ks can be good for long, lonely ruminations at best, and boring slogfests with nobody to commiserate with at worst. If it hadn’t been for the guys on the ride, I would’ve never been chased off of the old Devil’s Slide route by a bulldozer. I wouldn’t have had anybody with whom to share a Mighty Pint float (Guinness with a shot of espresso and a scoop of ice cream) 85 miles into the ride, right before the biggest climb of the day. I’d have had nobody to share artichoke bread with and it would’ve been a lonely Caltrain ride home. I wouldn’t have learned about the hill avoidance method of riding home from 22nd St. Caltrain by just riding one block east before going north! And who would’ve taken that awesome picture of my crotch on the Mary Avenue Bridge? I often think about the challenges of farting while remaining in the saddle, but with nobody to help me process those thoughts I wouldn’t be able to fully develop my theory of saddle farts.
RUSA awards are great and solo 200ks can be fun, but I’m realizing that 9+ hours of bicycling to me is no longer a solo endeavor. I’m gonna give some populaires a try this year, as I think the shorter distances will lend themselves more to impromptu solo, selfish shred sessions (as well as cruises with the rando friends). 2014 will be the year of the P-12 and group 200ks. Moving forward alone can be fun for short stints, but I’d rather we move forward together.
From the Cyclecide News Digest:
Last Chance Market?
December 14th & 15th
Cycleide Swearhouse, 1660 Jerrold st
San Francisco CA, 94124
11am – 7pm both days
Free admission
Join us as we host local vendors for a weekend of shopping, music, food, and drinks at our art space. Come find unique hand made gifts, vintage clothing, records, art and more for your holiday gift giving(or find something fun for yourself!). We will have food to keep you going, beer, and a bloody Mary bar to keep you hydrated, and live music to keep you entertained. Kids are welcome.
https://www.facebook.com/
?
We have a few vendor spaces available for one or both days, please email rosehipsdancer@gmail.com if you’d like more info.
We also have a few performance spaces available for acoustic solo, duet, or trios. contact libertine_la_douce@yahoo.com if you’re interested.
Please invite your friends and support local crafts people and artists this holiday season.
Fuck all
Bikes & beer this Friday evening. Rad.
What a great day of fucking around with friends. SUPER stoked on the Swap. I started drinking sedimenty beer around 11. Not sure what happened, but the hop bags must’ve exploded up in those kegs, because I had hop floaties all up in that shit. Pro tip #1: Make sure you have enough gas for your kettle so you ain’t gotta dry hop if you weren’t planning on it. Live and learn, I suppose.
Friends started rolling in just before noon and kept a steady pace throughout the day. Beer was flowing, sandwiches were going, people were hanging, and we even got to play a few games of foot down. Ohh yeah, and bike stuff was traded, bought, and sold. Here’s the stuff I scored:
Turbo saddle, Gobha Hat, $10, and a sweet rack
The last dude rolled out at about 8pm or so. After that, it was time to lock the front doors and head up to the bell tower.
Bell tower beer
Finishing that pitcher, we headed out of the church for the first time in several hours. After a few celebratory beers and rounds of Star Trek at Molotov’s, it was back to the tower for more beer and a little bell ringing.
The last party people up in the tower
Late night in the bell tower
I ended up sleeping in a small little room that night
My sleeping arrangement for the evening
Somebody broke into the church and stole my BOB trailer that night, fuckers. I left it out in the main room, not expecting anybody to want to steal that. Guess I was wrong! Fortunately, they didn’t steal my bike, my backpack full of bike parts & some cash, or the donated bike parts, all in the closet. Lazy thieves. . . . Ty’s trailer with four kegs and a CO2 tank were in the main room and left untouched as well.
Besides getting my trailer stolen, everything was super rad. I’m looking forward to doing this again, perhaps with the added element of the ability for folks to post their stuff online in advance of the swap.
Too much metal below the mount!
Hacksaw did the trick
All set
Peep the new saddle in action
More photos on the pictures page
