On my way home from school one evening, I saw a cop car driving ahead along my normal route. So I figured to completely avoid the risk a confrontation, I would take the long way home. I was riding along on a busy street with almost no room between the cars and the curb. I decided to hop onto the sidewalk; there were no pedestrians present so it should not have been an issue. However, ahead on the sidewalk up a slight slope, I saw a dude riding his bike down towards me. I looked over my left shoulder for an instant to make sure I had room to drop back into the street and let him continue on the sidewalk. Boom! My front tire let out a piercing “Pop!” followed by “Sssssss.” I had barely been thrown off the seat, still standing upright with my bike in my hands. However, the other guy had been coming downhill and riding much faster than I was, resulting in him flying off his bike.

But he stood up and recovered himself pretty quickly. There were no feelings of anger between us. We examined each other’s bicycles and made sure we were not physically injured. He had a cut on his leg where his jeans ripped, but luckily that was the worst injury. Our bikes, however, took a decent amount of damage. His front rim had spokes hanging off, whereas mine was slightly bent. After satisfying ourselves with each others wellness, and both admitting fault, we said farewell and walked our separate ways.

There are unfathomable numbers of people around this planet who don’t even have access to bikes, let alone automobiles. They have to walk everywhere they go. Yet, we Americans choose to drive short distances, using ridiculous amounts of petroleum without so much as a second thought. Luckily, some people are spreading the benefits of access to bicycles in areas of the world too impoverished to before enjoy this. Check out this cool short preview for the story of The Bicycle City in Rivas, Nicaragua.

Imagine if we only used our cars when we needed them, and I mean really needed them. All these people who sit in commute every day to get to the hustle and bustle of downtown cities could easily get there using bikes and public transit. People do their shopping within a mile of their house but still prefer to use their car. That is just laziness. They might make excuses, saying “I’m getting a lot of things, too much to carry on my bike.” Well, check out this photographer’s art exhibit focused on people in China using their bikes to haul tremendous loads. The artist admits to exaggerating the piles slightly, but from witness accounts they are not too far from reality. These peoples’ livelihood depends on repeatedly hauling huge amounts of goods, yet they do it without the expensive luxury of an automobile. Truly inspirational.

So I will ride out the storms this winter. It will certainly take extra care to prevent the metal parts of my bike from rusting, and definitely extra safety precautions while riding on busy streets. But in the end, I know it will be worth it. I have never gone on a ride and afterwards thought “I shouldn’t have done that.” And believe me, there are numerous other activities that have resulted in that thought. At least I don’t live in the snow, or I might have to invest in one of these bad boys. But hey, at least I could still ride.

So I learned to take my lights off every time I parked my bike. Looking back, I realize I was very lucky my years in San Diego. The only lock I had was a thin rope lock, which could barely fit through one tire and the frame, and could easily be cut with a pair of hedge shears.

Last year I was in a rush to get to San Francisco for work and hastily locked my bike at the El Cerrito Plaza BART station. I came back to the East Bay that night to find that my back tire had been stolen. I was furious. I had locked the front tire and the frame, figuring it would be too much of a hassle for a thief to steal the back tire. Besides, wouldn’t it be obvious to other people at the station? Apparently not. I have heard since that EC Plaza is actually a hotspot for bicycle thefts. I reported a case with the BART police, knowing deep inside that it was a futile gesture.

One day in San Francisco, I saw a bicycle locked up in an ingenious fashion which I now utilize every time I leave my bike out. It requires a rope lock and a U lock. I hook the U lock through the back spokes and over the frame securely onto the bike spot, or pole, then thread the rope lock through itself and back onto the U lock. It is hard to describe, here is a diagram.

So now my bike is completely secure, or so you would think. There is still the matter of the seat, which always kind of worries me. In fact, upon returning to EC Plaza BART station again one time recently, I was distraught to see my seat was removed. Luckily, someone had simply taken it off and put it on a bench. Either someone was just playing a little prank, or perhaps they were issuing me a warning. Another time at the Plaza (like I said: bicycle theft hotspot), I got off BART and saw someone riding away fast on a bike, with a bike rim in his hand. I yelled at him but he was too far gone. I then saw the bike which he had stolen it from. Moments later the bike’s owner came down and I told him the story of getting mine stolen and how I had just seen the person riding off. He took it a lot better than I had. I recently read that in 2011, more than one bike a day was stolen in Santa Cruz. Check out the article here. You can never be too cautious with your bicycle security, even if you feel you are in a safe neighborhood or will only be away from it momentarily.  People seem to be willing to go to extreme measures for bike theft nowadays. “How far,” you may ask. Well, check out this video:

There have been some awesome innovations in biking technology this year. Check out these cool lighting systems someone came up with. Or how about this nifty accessory to have your iPhone available while you ride. One of the positives of the poor economy lately is that it is forcing people to turn to alternative modes of transportation. Naturally, with more people biking comes more technological advancement.

One good thing about Europe’s high gas prices is that it turns people away from cars. Never thought I’d say it, but perhaps our gas prices should be higher. People get very power happy with their hands on a steering wheel and foot on a gas pedal. We become so accustomed to it that we forget that it’s a huge, powerful piece of metal that we are pushing along very fast. Every day I see hundreds, if not thousands, of cars driving along with only one person inside. This is ridiculously inefficient. Many of these people aren’t even going that far. With the terrible traffic here in the Bay, especially the East Bay stretch of freeway from Richmond to Emeryville, the time difference between cycling and driving is probably not even that significant. Your body will thank you for it.

In an overweight nation, changes must be made. Sitting all day at a computer is bad enough, but compile this with driving home to a TV screen along with eating fast food, and we are creating a recipe for our own demise.

But, as I said, things are improving. I have high hopes for 2012. Forget about that end of the world nonsense. We’ve witnessed and survived plenty of “raptures” in the past. However, I do believe a more collective consciousness is developing, and it will prove to have positive benefits. We shall be the beneficiary and bicycles may be the benefactor. I have been focusing more on my breath recently, breathing strictly though my nose in order to create and maintain an internal heat. Every breath, especially when I ride. I intend to ride more this coming year, especially now that I am occupied with an office job. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, in preparation for an awesome year!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving” ~ Albert Einstein

Every day, I witness fellow cyclists blatantly breaking rules of the road, putting themselves and others at risk, and making the rest of us law-abiding bikers look bad. Blasting through red lights, wearing dark clothes at night with no lights or reflectors, and aggressively cutting in front of cars are just a few examples of belligerent cycling that is rampant. When I ride with friends, we definitely try to stay in single file if we are on a busy road. Just the other day as I was driving, some woman riding with her buddies was in the lane while her friends stayed to the right. Believe me, I know that we are entitled to the lane, but if there is room to let a car pass, that should always be the priority in order to avoid incident.

So what can we do? Our cities are not designed with bicycles as the priority, although some reformation is taking place nowadays. Entire city street plans would need to be shifted in order to have bikes and cars truly cooperating. Some cities are ahead of the pack. Like I mentioned last week, Portland rules for biking in the US. They initiated a plan to become more biker-friendly back in 1971. Europe, however, seems to be leading the way for bicycle oriented thoroughfares. The Dutch and the Danish have some fantastic cycling innovations. Just check out these videos.

So we have some examples to learn from. Perhaps someday soon, a great cycling advocate will rise up into a position of political power and the necessary changes shall be made! But until then, please stay aware of your surroundings and ride safe.

I have found myself in this situation numerous times. In fact, this is becoming a more common occurrence across the country. The number of cyclists in New York City alone has risen 102 percent since 2007, and 289 percent since 2001! I think this is awesome, and thankfully the Department of Transportation in New York is working to keep up with the changing road conditions. Read about it here.

Many US cities are seeing the same trend. More and more people are leaving the cars at home and choosing to hop on their two-wheelers instead. The city that is currently the pinnacle of biker-friendly infrastructure is Portland, Oregon. In 2009, nearly 8% of the entire Portland population regularly rode bicycles to commute, much higher than any other US city. There is no doubt that this figure is larger now and will continue to grow even higher. With the ever-increasing costs of automobile maintenance, it certainly makes cents to pedal rather than to gas.

The benefits of biking are truly remarkable. Take a look at this cool infographic for a small sample of the positive results of cycling.

A few years back, I had my first participation in a Mass in San Diego. My housemate, a few of our friends, and I all hopped on our bikes, excited for the experience. The San Diego group meets at the Bea Evenson Fountain in Balboa Park. What a sight it was! A congregation of hundreds of cyclists, most just chilling with their friends conversing, laughing, and possibly some drinking or smoking. Several bikers were circling the fountain, obviously anxious, anticipating the cumulative ride.

Someone gave the signal, and we all start to move out. It was a huge exodus of flashing red tail lights and LED headlamps. A few novelty bikes were in the mix, such as some double decker frames or bikes with a trailer attached behind, possibly with a boombox or even a keg of beer. Road, mountain, BMX, and fixie bikes all riding together; it was a beautiful scene of harmony.

We set off towards El Cajon Boulevard, a fairly main street in the city. The leaders rode out ahead to block off intersections, a technique known as corking. This allows the group to ride freely through intersections, even red lights, without worries about cross traffic. We were completely dominating a four lane road. As we collectively pedaled up towards the San Diego State University campus, I started to get excited. Were we going to ride the campus, hundreds of unstoppable bikers? Yes, we did! It was awesome. The few people lucky enough to be on campus were witness to a very rare occurrence.

We rode in and out of the campus, then turned back towards downtown. When we reached downtown, we were almost two hours into the ride so some riders had disbanded, but most rode on. We cruised through the busy concentration of buildings, right by the Padres stadium and all the bars/clubs in the Gaslamp Quarter. We then started to head towards Ocean Beach. The numbers were thinning now; we were down to less than one hundred cyclists, but still looking like a commanding force. My friend and I got as far as Point Loma before deciding to turn back. If I had been more familiar with the geography and aware of how close I was to OB, I think I would have continued to the beach; it would have been only about fifteen minutes more. But we had ridden for over three hours and were ready to go home, take our shoes off, and relax. On our way back we met with three other massers and together we rode up by the Presidio above Old Town to return to our homes in South Park. What an awesome night!

I was just digging through some old boxes of my dad’s and discovered some really awesome headband/ear covers that are super crucial for this brisk air. I definitely ride with gloves on so my hands don’t go numb, but my ears are often still forced to endure extreme wind chill. These headbands should make a world of difference!

At least the rainy season has yet to begin. How do you protect yourself in the rain? Some sort of fender over the back tire to prevent mud splashing onto your back is a great idea, especially if you’re on the way to work in nice clothes. There are also numerous options for waterproof pants or shoes. There are even capes available that allow for ventilation to avoid the swampy humid feeling that arises when pedaling aggressively under several layers of clothing.

But more importantly, we must calculate the additional road space required to stop on wet asphalt. As I ride, I tend to assume that everyone else on the road is going to make a maneuver that endangers me. If that sounds paranoid, just this weekend I was riding with a friend, my buddy moved directly in front of me very suddenly and I had to skid a little bit to avoid a collision. It was nothing serious, and I made no point of it to him, but these little habits of caution are the type of action that avoid escalation into larger incidents.

One day after work last winter, I had to ride home in a sudden torrential downpour. Luckily, my house was only a couple miles away. Even so, I ended up completely drenched from my waist down. I had worn a waterproof jacket on top, but regular jeans and sneakers on bottom. My socks were literally saturated, which has to be one of the worst feelings. I was reminded of Lieutenant Dan from Forrest Gump, who was adamant about the necessity for clean, dry socks: “There is one item of GI gear that can be the difference between life and death: Socks.” I tend to agree with his sentiments, and love the feeling of a fresh pair of warm fuzzy socks. When I finally got home from my rapid ride though the squall, I was lucky my dad had a fire roaring. I immediately changed into dry clothes and made myself cozy by the fireplace.

Weather is an extremely powerful phenomenon, and humans have generally done a pretty awesome job of adapting to it in order to thrive in places like the Himalayas.

There are times, however, when an alternative route probably should be taken.

Like this:

The ferry arrived on Coronado and we set off to find the Silver Strand, a long isthmus connecting Coronado to Imperial Beach in the south. The path goes directly underneath the Coronado Bridge, perhaps best known for the infamous confrontation between Ron Burgundy and Jack Black which sent Baxter flying over the side. It then travels along the super nice golf course on the island, followed by an amphibious training base used by NAVY SEALs. We then found ourselves on a thin length of land, with the Pacific Ocean to our right and San Diego Bay to our left. Riders on road bikes were zooming past us along the trail, but we were just cruising on our mountain bikes taking in the sunshine, it was glorious!

When we reached the south end of the Strand, we stopped for a breather and grabbed some aguas frescas from a little Mexican food shop. I had a cup of refreshing watermelon juice, Charlie went for the jamaica. I remember seeing a cool sign for Imperial Beach with a picture of an old school woodie on it. I guess it was one of those classic California beaches, back when surfing was getting popularized nationwide by the Beach Boys music and movies like Gidget.

For the ride home we would take a different route. We rode along the east side of the bay, through Chula Vista and National City. It wasn’t quite as scenic as the strand, but I find it’s one of the best ways to get to know a city. As we got closer to home, we rode through Barrio Logan, a notorious neighborhood known for its gang violence. It was even featured on a couple of those History and Discovery Channel shows: “Gangland” and “American Gangster.” It was cool riding through the graffitied alleys with shoes hanging on the electrical wires above. We don’t really have alleys like that up here in the bay, it’s more of a SoCal thing. The walls were all tagged with the funky Chicano style graffiti.

Finally, under the 94 freeway we began our ascent to my neighborhood in South Park. A few blocks from my house was Hamilton’s, a local beer bar with an expansive, ever-changing menu. We had a couple of tall frosty pints and called it a day.

Here’s a map of my route. I couldn’t get it to embed, but you get the idea, and can click here to see my full Google Map of this epic ride.

It wasn’t long however, before I realized the animosity aimed at bikers by the general public. The campus of San Diego State University was very poorly designed considering the amount of people meandering from class to class (most likely with pit stops at the bar/frat house on the way). No bikes allowed, no matter what time of day or how empty the walkways were. Citations were regularly handed out by the elite forces of the SDSU police.

Riding around on the roads was not respected any more. One time, I was pulled over on my way to school for a rolling stop. I admit I did not come to a complete stop at the stop sign; yes, I broke the traffic law. But seriously, it was a completely empty intersection on a small road! I ended up having two cops search my backpack, even though I had been very cooperative and respectful. I was literally on my way to take a test and had my bag full of books.

The fact that they put so much effort into simply letting me off with a warning wasn’t so much personally upsetting as it was disconcerting. I was riding my regular 7 mile route to school, through an impoverished area where crime is constantly observable. It just seems so strange to me that police driving through a tough neighborhood would see me, a college kid on a bike, as the person suspicious enough to pull over and hassle.

This was to be just the first of my encounters with the San Diego Police on my bicycle. I ended up getting pulled over twice for wearing headphones, and once more for a rolling stop. These were all in the same low-income area where crime was abundant! I literally passed by the same prostitutes walking the street every few days. Yet I received the police officers’ full attention. I managed to make it through 6 years living in SD while only getting pulled over on my bike 5 times. Not bad I guess, considering where local law enforcement’s priorities lay.

So I have returned to the Bay Area, where Berkeley cops make an effort to see that the automobile drivers are the ones acting responsibly, because obviously bikers already are (wink wink). I can freely cruise with headphones now if I feel some music would improve my ride. I can push my pedals down bicycle boulevards straight through stop signs on wide, empty streets designed with cyclists in mind.

Even better, I was recently informed that the SDSU campus has changed, and bike lanes have finally been added!

I am very happy for the students currently pedaling to class, although some other, more regrettable, campus changes have been made, including the demolition of the campus bar Louie’s. I suppose sometimes progress takes sacrifice.