Bluoz

Lots of cameras at the 20th anniversary of Critical mass in San Francisco. This video is at Grant and Market and doesn't show the whole thing, but it's 20 minutes long. It took 30+ minutes for everyone to pass, so it gives a pretty good idea of how many thousands of bikes there were. The time on the video is off by one hour. It should be 7pm, not 6pm The photos are from Justin Herman Plaza just before it began



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my own photos from the Critical Mass 10th Anniversary, September 27, 2002. Published for the first time, 10 years later. It will be the 20th Anniversary this Friday, September 28, 2012



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Coming soon to a bike post near you. This one in Mid Market

San Francisco originated the bike protest 'critical mass' in 1992, and September 2012 is the 20th anniversary ride

But the very first mass bike protest in San Francisco was almost 100 years earlier on July 25, 1896. This was published in the San francisco Call, July 26, 1896 and can be viewed at the Library of Congress

There's also a nice write up at The Great Bicycle Protest of 1896 (PDF) and is during the great bicycle craze of 1896

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Biking the South Fork of the American River Trail, hunting for meteorites in Coloma, and visiting Sutter's Mill and Placerville

With the slowly evolving quality of public transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, a big question I always have is 'how far can you go without a car', either on a day trip or short weekend camping or maybe a little more, with only a bicycle

It is possible now to get to Folsom or Placerville from San Francisco without a car in four hours. This has been described a few years ago in the Bay Guardian and now there's updates.

You can take Amtrak with a bicycle from Oakland or Richmond BART to Sacramento in under 2 hours on the Capitol Corridor for 37 dollars. From there you have two choices close by in downtown Sacramento. You can take the Folsom 507 train to Folsom which has bike racks on the train (unlike Muni) or there is a commuter bus from Sacramento to Placerville on weekdays, or you can transfer at Folsom and use the Iron Point Connector to travel all the way to Pollock Pines which is at 4000 feet up in the Sierras. All of this is on El Dorado Transit You can also bike along the American River from Sacramento to Folsom. There is a bike trail the whole way

But what I did was take the train to Folsom and biked all the way up to Folsom Lake via Salmon Falls road to the Salmon Falls Bridge. The newly opened South Fork American River Trail which is the heart of gold panning country along that river and where gold was discovered in 1849. This is also the same area where parts of the Sutter's Mill meteorite exploded and landed

The South Fork of the American River get's the 1989 Marin Pine Mountain steel frame San Francisco bike messenger trash bike treatment. The same trash bike that was stolen and recovered in South of Market



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Ah, no, this isn't San Francisco, it's Vilnius, Lithuania. Let's find out what the San Francisco mayoral candidates think about this

From the New York Times

Fed up with the number of luxury vehicles parking in a bike path along a main thoroughfare in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, the city’s mayor, Arturas Zuokas, released a video in which he uses some military-grade machinery to crush an illegally parked Mercedes Benz.
“Mayor Zuokas wanted his message to be loud and clear that the city will not tolerate brazen and disrespectful behavior by drivers who disobey parking rules,” his spokeswoman, Irma Juskenaite, told the Guardian. “The mayor hopes that he will not have to repeat his performance,” she said, “although he says that he is prepared to do so.”

Posted on the mayor’s YouTube channel and clearly staged, the gonzo public service announcement quickly struck a nerve online, drawing some to imagine their own cities’ mayors in such a role.

456 rads per minute to be exact

San Francisco bike thieves - you do not want this bike...In fact, just stay 50 feet away and you'll be just fine....yep the U-Lock, saddle bags (paniers), wheels and water bottle are contaminated too...better off to just keep walking





my new 20 year old rad bike is the hottest thing on the market....as in overheating and having a meltdown and you better run

The Harvey's depicted in the poster is Harvey's Place, 5th and Shipley, South of market, San Francisco, it's the official poster of the 2009 Russian River Ride, a long time tradition for bike messengers

This little project was started partly because of this SFist article incorrectly proclaiming Junior to be the oldest bike messenger in San Francisco. The truth is that there are five bike messengers in San Francisco over the age of 60 with Junior being the youngest out of all five. Assembled in one place for the first time, here are all five of the senior bike messengers in San Francisco, starting with the oldest

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the new phase of bulletin boards - bike racks, where you can even find health advice

Bike Messengers might have a tough time with this one. From the Santa Rosa Press Democrat

Bicyclists: Don’t pedal and talk on your cell phone.

That was part of the message Thursday from the state Senate, which voted 21-16 to add for the first time a $20 initial fine for bicyclists for gripping hand-held cell phones while riding. You’ll have to go hands free. Subsequent offenses would cost $50.

The legislation, which now goes to the Assembly, also would increase the base fine for motorists from $20 for the first offense to $50 for talking without using a handsfree device.

As Road Warrior readers know, that $20 fine for drivers really turns out to be $142 with all kinds of additional county and state fees. So for $50, that ticket is going to really cost $256. Under the bill subsequent offenses will cost you $100, which with fees will really cost $446. Click here to read earlier story on all of the fees.

But under the bill, sponsored by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, bicyclists would NOT pay the extra fees. The total fine for cyclists would be $20 and $50. Period.

The California Bicycle Coalition supports Simitian’s bill, according to the Sacramento Bee. Spokesman Jim Brown told the Bee that drivers carelessly using cells endanger cyclists, and cyclists endanger
themselves when they clutch a cell while biking.

May 12, 7th and Minna, the 2010 bike-in Disposable Film Festival and Undergound Market in honor of Bike to Work day, which is today

from Craigslist

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/bik/1550657481.html

Blue & white pinarello bike stolen from bike messenger, downtown, Monday -- please contact Chris if you see this bike!!! (219) 781-8984 REWARD!!! Please see pictues!

today is the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor



But here's something many people don't know about how a bike messenger delivered the news

By Yokota Fritz


Today -- December 7 -- is "the day that will live in infamy," when the Japanese Imperial Navy launched a surprise attack in 1941 that crippled the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Here's a tiny little footnote in history about this day.

Japan intended to deliver a declaration of war 30 minutes prior to the beginning of the attack, but bureaucrats at the Japanese embassy in Washington were slow in decoding, typing, and delivering the message to Secretary of State Cordell Hull.

The U.S. Army had already decrypted the declaration on the evening of December 6 and dispatched war warnings to all Pacific area commands. Communication problems delayed receipt of the warning in Honolulu until after 7:30 AM, Hawaii time. A Japanese-American bicycle messenger was immediately sent to deliver the warning to General Walter Short, who was in charge of defending Pearl Harbor. The messenger was pedaling to Ft Shafter when, at 7:55 AM, the cyclist was caught in the attack. He finally delivered his message through falling bombs and bullets two hours after the start of the attack.

There's no word on if this unnamed messenger received a tip for his services.

this bike is currently stolen, and it was stolen with the Onlock U-Lock still locked to the frame (they broke the post it was locked to). It has a distinctive crack on the frame where the seat is and it's welded there to keep the seat up. Otherwise the seat would sink. You can see the weld if you blow up the photo. It's right where the quick release is


Even the saddle bags are very rare around San Francisco as only one store sells the 'banjo brothers' type



If you see the bike and/or saddle bags anywhere, please email

It's kind of idiotic to take this bike as it's not worth more than 100 bucks. Especially since it's going to cost to get an angle grinder to get the lock off the frame. It's 12 years old with a cracked frame and you can get a brand new Marin bike at the new Marin bike store on Folsom and 7th for 200 bucks