Super Late BTWD Wrap-up

This picture goes at the end, but I am dumb and lazy. These are the lovely people from the Sweetwater School District in Chula Vista along with a representative from Bike Warehouse. They talked me into entering their drawing. I suppose I didn't win.

This is the first stop from my trip at the San Diego Zoo. I apparently left too early for the Adams Ave. Bike Shop people. They weren't open yet. The Zoo had a pit stop open in their parking lot. this is Skink Floyd. He is a skink from Australia (I forget which type). These are the folks from the RECON Environmental sponsored pit stop. I believe they are dressed up as 4 of the threatened local species they are working to protect. Had a good time at this pit stop.
Even when they made me pose with them for a photo.
I didn't get any pictures from the Ridelink sponsored site. I did get to speak with someone from Ridelink about the new Sprinter service in north county. She told me that they have been overwhelmed with bicyclist and that they are working on figuring out how to have this brand new service work better for cyclists. That is the kind of thing I like to hear.

These great ladies work at the Hard Rock Hotel. They had a great spread and were real excited to be hosting this event. It was their first year doing it so hopefully they will do it again next year.

From there I got on the trolley and rode 4 stops into Chula Vista (since I was starting to run late to work). Went to the REI sponsored stop at the BFGoodwrench Aerospace complex. They had a mechanic out doing minor repairs and adjustments on bikes. Plus, free water bottles and tire levers. Good times.
Then I headed down to the first picture and then broke a spoke on my way to the bus (see Bike to Work Day Bummer).

All in all, I'd say the day went pretty well for the city. More sponsors it seems, now we just need more cyclists. Or I need to ride where the cyclists are riding. One of the two.

-Matt

Direct link to REI Cycling store

Pics from Earth Fair

Here are the pictures from Earth Fair today. Had a great time checking out the booths and what not.

Some highlights:

• Free Clif bars (seriously, I ate like 5)
  
• Talked to a ranger from Cuyamaca State Park. She said they are almost done rebuilding the bathrooms at my favorite campsite (Paso Picacho Group Camps) after the Cedar Fire in 2004. They still have some trees they need to cut down (they are a danger to fall on people) before they open up. Depending on funding the camps could be open at the end of this summer, but almost certainly by next spring
  
• The fantastic bike valet job done by the San Diego County Bike Coalition. They make it so easy to go and not worry about locking up your bike.
  
• Got some info about the California Native Plant Society and the Food Not Lawns group. Both groups are things I've been looking into myself.
• A-16 had a list of local weekend backpacking treks with elevation and difficulty. Pretty stocked about that one. (Especially since the wife gets sad every time she sees her backpack that she has never used even though she bought it a year ago.)
• Did I mention free Clif bars? Cause I brought 2 home with me.

The lowlights:

• The 5(!!!) different anti-abortion booths. The ones with the giant pictures of aborted fetuses. While I disagree with them, I agree with their right to freedom of speech, however, have some candor. This was a family event and it was event for Earth Day, not a pro-choice rally. Bad form.
  

Always good to see the US park service (I believe) out in force. The kids really got a kick out of the stuffed cats (most of which had been seized by US Customs from people trying to bring them back in from other countries).
This is the Bamboo Van down in the Eco-autos part of the fair. This van is a little disingenious however, it is simply a Chevy van covered with pieces of bamboo. It does extoll the virtues of bamboo for many uses however, so that is redeeming. I was just looking forward to seeing how the van could be made completely from bamboo.
Lots and lots of dogs there today. Seriously, tons of them. These were the biggest.
I was stunned at the number of people attending. I'm sure the website from the last post will have a total count or estimate at some point, but the place was packed and between in the incredible number of bikes at the bike valet (courtesy of the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition) and the crazy amount of traffic on the roads around the park I'd say there were quite a few people present.
Go ahead, ask the puppet. Not sure what this was for, but the whole crew got a good laugh out of it.
The sign there reads (and I couldn't make this up) Gothic Volunteer Alliance of San Diego. So for all the goths out there that read this blog. You should join up and allow your, ummm, sadness and pain to help you make San Diego a better place.

Cycling

Critical Mass – March

Just a reminder that the San Diego Critical Mass ride for March is taking place on Friday at 7:30pm. Meet at the fountain in Balboa Park outside of the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. Be sure to have your lights (white in front, red in back), some water and a good attitude.

Come find me, I’ll be the guy in the yellow jacket with a video camera.

Leap Year Mass

I want to start out by apologizing profusely for not mentioning Critical Mass last Friday. Despite being excited for it all day, I forgot to mention on this blog. I’m sorry.

[For those of you who don’t know what Critical Mass is, check Wikipedia, they have a good write up there.]

Leap Year Mass last Friday was a great time. The announced count was 475 riders and my mileage calculation was around 35 miles (which is pretty long for Mass). I, of course, did not have my camera this month, but promise that I will post at least pictures if not video of March’s event.

At some point I hope to figure out how to give the route graphically, possibly through Google Maps, but for the time being, the following word description will have to do:

This years event, as usual, began at the fountain in Balboa Park and we started out heading west across The Prado. We then headed south into the Gaslamp Quarter and then out along Harbor to Ocean Beach. From there we went north to Mission Beach and took the boardwalk to Pacific Beach. From there we headed down Garnet Ave through the bar district and to the east shore of Mission Bay. Followed that back to Pacific Coast Highway which took us back downtown.

All in all a pretty good Mass. I witness very little hooliganism and there seemed to be only a few crashes. The vehicular traffic was unobtrusive and there was no police action.

For those of you interested in attending future Critical Masses, the meeting point is the fountain in Balboa Park in between the Natural History Museum and the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center; on the last Friday of each month at 7:30pm (we don’t usually hit the road until 8ish). Everyone is welcome; this month we had people from 12 to 65 years old riding everything from BMX to single speeds to vintage road bikes and hardcore mountain bikes.

I’ll post a reminder here before next month’s event.