bike expedition

Minutes from this week's bike expedition
(Pride + Golden Gate + Richmond)

Manifesto courtesy of Andy:
"A sleek BMW drives by, sliver, with a brown leather interior. The trophy wife in the passenger seat, still young and unspoiled, can't take her eyes off you. The ease and self-assurance of your movement remind her of the possiblities she gave up when she married for money, and she considers the possibilities with a young, vital urbanite such as yourself. Her husband notices this. He wants to speed up, but the street is too narrow. He is stuck behind you, fuming. You are indestructible."

Date:
6/24/07

Participants:
Hill
Boos
Doll
Reid

Route:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1077890

We had grand plans for Sausalito and Tiburon. Circumstances (homemade sangria! Staple gets a cold!) forced us to put those plans on ice. Fortunately it was still a gorgeous day and we could see plenty even though we stayed closer to home.

First stop was the Pride Parade. It's a pretty big deal in San Francisco (Market Street and the entire Civic Center gets shut down), so we decided to check it out. The 861 boys set out at around 2:00 and met Evan at El Castillito, at Church and Duboce. We all proceeded to ride down the middle of Market Street towards the Embarcadero, in the aftermath of the parade. As you can imagine, the people-watching was ridiculous. My favorite part about the whole affair is that it's exploding with color--everyone is decked out in their brightest. It's the most colorful day in the most colorful city (see picture):



Nick described the experience of careening down Market, avoiding streetcar tracks, police motorcycles, and inebriated exhibitionists, as "real-life Paperboy."

We took a left at the Ferry Building and continued down the Embarcadero. We took a quick detour down Bay Street to Columbus to avoid pedestrian hell at Fisherman's Wharf. Once we were safely at Aquatic Park we continued through Fort Mason, down Marina Green, and past the Warming Hut up to the Golden Gate Bridge. Here's the Bridge from Crissy Field. This is where I get to run every morning if I want. Sometimes I can't believe it myself:





We crossed the bridge as a massive container ship passed under. The ship wasn't being guided by any tugs, and I was amazed at the accuracy required to guide the ship through the bridge channel without assistance--ships that size take miles to stop, and lots of time to maneuver at all.

Here you can see the ship's wake, and get another taste of what a ridiculous day it was:



Here's another picture looking up at one of the towers. Amazing:



After getting back to the San Francisco side, we decided to check out the Richmond on our way home. We got some excellent dim sum at a little takeout place at about 8th and Clement. They had a bucket of chicken feet sitting outside. I had three potstickers and a steamed pork bun for a grand total of $2.30.

Then at Nick's urging, we walked a block or so to Green Apple Books. Their website is down, so I'll throw up the Yelp link instead. This is one of the more amazing bookstores I've been to. It's not as big as the Strand in New York, and I've never been to Powell's in Seattle (Nick's favorite place), but Green Apple is hands down the best bookstore in the City. Green Apple has two locations on the same block (the original and the Fiction Annex), two creaky old wooden staircases in the main location, and more old cheap used books than I've ever seen in one place. I even found a two-volume unabridged hardcover copy of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which I have sworn to read before I die, but it wasn't quite in the condition to justify the $40. That's going to be a "life purchase" someday. Instead I picked up a James Joyce anthology for $6. I've never read Joyce and it should be a good starting point. Nick got a whole bunch of stuff as is his custom at bookstores.

We were at Green Apple for nearly an hour, and I could have easily spent four. However it was getting late so we bombed down 8th Ave back to the park and headed for home. Evan gets the trooper award for riding all the way from Noe Valley. Justin gets the spirit award for buying a bike two days before the ride and keeping up the whole way. We're looking forward to the next one.

Future expeditions:
- Sausalito/Tiburon
- Tire Beach
- Berkeley