I headed into the City early this morning. Well not that early, but early enough. BART from Downtown Berkeley to Embarcadero. The whole public transit approach to the oil crisis in the 70s really paid off for these Californians. It’s a shame Denver voters turned down rail while the spot light was on keeping the Olympics away so that sprawl did not get out of control. That worked…
Neighborhood Map for the spatially inclined
Started the day off with a loop up Market through the Financial District and Civic Center into the Mission. Then back through SOMA and up to the Tenderloin. Started climbing Nob Hill to realize I had a flat. Stop, repair, continue. Climb Nob Hill and descend through China Town and North Beach. Another flat, slow leak. I have ten minutes max to make it to the bike shop before it goes all the way. Ended up at Mike’s Bikes in SOMA. Chain commercial store but the shop monkeys were super cool. Good advice on where to live and where to ride. Will be joining those folks and their fixed/brakeless cross team on Sunday for a muddy day. Realize that my front tire has been pitted to hell from glass and my rear is almost skidded through. Head to Sports Basement (kind of like REI I guess but cheaper) for a new front Gatorskin and rear randonneur. I forgot to mention it has been raining fucking sheets all day and no end in sight.
Stopped by an apartment back in Nob Hill. Too expensive. Killed some time in a coffee shop while the floods were taking over the streets. This is where it hit me again, I am now living in San Francisco, weird.
Back to the flooding. The infrastructure definitely could not handle the rain that was coming down and intersections were starting to turn into swimming pools. No need to fear, out off nowhere, twenty city employees at every block clearing that shit out. Sorry Hick, but if you could do this with snow you would be re-elected forever. It is crazy this is a, somewhat, normal thing and the stormwater system just flooded like that. But I’ll tell you what, the is a job creating economic development machine for all those dudes out there with their giant squeegees.
The rain let up for about five minutes. Enough time to get my moral back up to get in the saddle and ride the Embarcadero from Market to Golden Gate Park. Climbing hills and dodging miniature dog breeds on long leashes to the top of trail.
Right before the hill climbing and dog dodging fun began
Holy shit the Golden Gate Bridge is huge! Ride half way across the bridge to this point:
One big bitch!
Look at all the pretty lights...
Shortly after this photo was taken I looked over the edge and had a mini panic attack. My faith in the show Modern Marvels is not strong enough to believe this bridge can fight the forces of gravity. If it can happen in Minneapolis it can happen here. Shit. Focus. Look at the cars. Whew. Made it. Now I just have to get back across. Move fast, don’t think. Made it.
Made it back into the City in time to meet up with a new friend for drinks on her birthday. The bar was called Romolo 15 and it was really cool little spot with good old school drinks priced well and cheap bar food. I will be back there very soon. Caught the last train back to Berkeley at 11:55.
