Happy Memorial Day!!

thank you, veterans.
Top of the hill at the Arguello street gate, The Presidio - San Francisco, Calif.

With love from the NOPAlands: Mural in progress.

Could not resist having the Frenchie pose for a photo in front of the colorful (already!) mural on Fell & Scott street. I first learned about it via Pagelands finest, the calitexican - then I read all the details here: Mural in progress via BikeNOPA
This made me smile. I'm not sure I would have paid much attention to what was there before, as that area, personally, is highly stressful. I'm pretty slow as is, so there are a myriad of cyclists passing me very fast when I ride past this corner, and the traffic I just keep a very close eye to. It is a plate full of chaotic stress and it is nice to see the progress of a happy mural *ponytail* included.
♥I liked that the most.

May. Rain. Sun. Rain.

Yesterday was epic. Tremendous rain in the morning. Quiet afternoon with some strange doses of sun and some giant cotton white clouds coming in and out of the view above. I really enjoy this cooler weather, whether I stand alone on this, I love it.
Certainly a very quiet bike lane everywhere, especially taken back by the wiggle ratio on rain days. It was 7PM and only one person passed me after 10 blocks (Usally 10 bikers speed past me per second... or something like that).

Market at Octavia.

Quietness on Steiner st.

Cycles of bicycles and motorcycles.

DingDing. VroomVroom.

Greetings from the hemlock tavern.

Cheers.

Polklands.

Meanwhile in San José

This is Santana Row. I have not seen more silicon boobies and a particular breed of the stinky perfumed kind with cigars in awhile, but back to reality, here is the bike racks. Super

Speaking of San José, the SJBikeParty page has a soccer-theme event coming up.
Visit their FB page for more details: June 2010 World Cup Test Ride #1

Support your local firemen.

The Frenchie, SFFD finest and I. Coffee bar at Mariposa and Bryant.

Let's hear it from NYC: Whole Living magazine’s Bike to Work Day event

♥Thanks so much to Sarah in NY, for sending these over.
I'm so happy to share them, so much fun and full of girl-power awesomeness. Can we have these smoothie incentives, often, nation-wide please?! :D

Sarah says:
"Wanted to share some photos from Whole Living magazine’s Bike to Work Day event today in NYC along the Hudson River Park bike path. We served up smoothies via a bike-powered blender and had lots of giveaways including two bikes – a Café 8 by Felt from Zen Bikes www.zenbikes.com and a Gazelle single speed from Gazelle gazellebicycles.us"

*Photo Credits: Emily Roemer

Whole Living magazine Editor-in-Chief Alexandra Postman pedals a bike-powered blender from Band of Bicycles
that served up smoothies for New Yorkers along the Hudson River Park bike path on National Bike to Work Day.

New York City bike commuters fill out raffle forms to win one of two bicycles at
Whole Living magazine’s Bike to Work Day event along the Hudson River Park bike path.

I'm. Taking a ride. With Omar.

The other Sunday Omar and I went for a "short" ride up to Marin. To me, short means coffee. Otherwise it doesn't exist. Well, we still have coffee, but it wasn't until we got to the bottom of a mean steady steep hill, and I said:
-oh we are going back to the cafe that way right?-
Omar said: "No, we are going up, down and then back around. Then we go get coffee"

I hadn't even thought about it much and Omar had taken off.
He said, you got the gears now..."

Errrrrrrr - ok I went. Was fun. Kinda windy, but OK. We drank coffee at CIBO, the one special spot in Marin currently (the only one perhaps in Sausalito?) serving Blue Bottle coffee. That, itself makes it all worth it. Yes.

So I enjoyed it while I can, then we headed another nasty hill (Alexander dr.) on our way back into the city. I was ready for a hot shower and some more coffee. Cheers.

Photo de dia: Lamborghini on chestnut street.

Tonino Lamborghini bicycle on Chestnut street. Between Divis and Scott.

Let's Go Ride a Bike: Summer Olympics

The ladies from LGRAB have started the Summer Olympics Games.
Here are the details:

How to play, you ask? It’s easy. There are three main categories, and six events in each category. Complete events in each category over a three week period, and tell us about it via blog post link, email or photo addition to our Summer Games Flickr Pool. Entries must include a story and a photo of each event you complete. If you enter via a post on your own blog, please link to our blog announcement in your entry, include one of our badges and let us know via email.

Anyone who completes at least two events in each of the three categories will be entered to win the Batavus BuB by random drawing. We’re also giving away prizes as readers complete each category.

May 17-June 6: Social Cycling
• Go on a group ride
• Leave a nice note on a bike, or say hi to a cyclist at a red light
• Schedule a bike date with a friend or partner — dress up!
• Recruit a non-biking friend for a ride
• Ride with your family

June 7-June 27: Learning Experiences
• Perform a maintenance task — big or small!
• Decorate your bike
• Read a book about cycling
• Carry a load on your bike — groceries, etc.
• Test ride a different type of bike than you normally ride

June 28-July 18: New Territory
• Ride a greenway
• Have a bicycle picnic
• If you don’t normally ride to work, commute by bike, or by bike/train or bike/bus
• If you do commute, take the long way home: add distance to your usual ride
• Explore a new part of town by bike

Go to LetsGoRideABike.com for more details. Good luck!!

Cyclorama.

Got an email from the folks at Cyclorama. Check them out:

We are a small group of cycle enthusiasts who have put lots of time and effort into this project, and we’d like to share it with others in the cycling community. We hope you find cyclorama interesting and inspiring – there are already loads of articles and images to browse, and more added all the time!

Spectrumized.

Bikes & The City is floating like a spacemen3 and a tad spectrumized.
Will be back to full posting mañana Thursday.
kthanks. ♥ mucho love.

sounds like spectrum»

Tuesday beats: Adventures in Nikonlands, no.2

Part 2/3
One of my colleagues let me use his Nikon D40 for a bit, and this is the result.

Turistas from Spain.

At this point a set of random bike shots wouldn't be complete without a silly Prius somewhere in the mix.
Gotta love the -is she taking a photo?!-look

Coasting.

+ + See previous Nikon posts: here

Memo et moi y coffee and burgers.

William and I got to finally hang out outside bike shops and chat it up. We rode bikes. We drank some coffee at Matching Half and we climbed and descended some monster steep hills. All rewarded by the best veggie burger in town. Wanna know where it is? You must be a wanderluster and ride with me to the neighborhoods you probably visit least. Cheers.

at Matching Half cafe.

at Mojo's. Muffin and William talking and advising saddles.

Say CHEEZBURGER. Black cat masters unite.
- - -
Check out William's blog:
WHBikes

¡Feliz Birthday VELCRO!

♥My beautiful black cat and blogging partner interweb-assistant turns 2 this week.

international feline of mirror mystery science and bloggership lurking maximus.

United bikes of water.

Found this Facebook page from blog reader and soon-to be bike & water awareness super star: Brittany App. Good luck in your endevaours and please join their efforts!

Water Pressure - Brittany App Cycles Coast to Coast for WaterAid's Photos
Brittany App & Garrett Russell will cycle across this massive continent in the Fall of 2010 to raise awareness of our Global Water Crisis, and to raise funds to provide fresh water to those who need it most. Facebook page»

Meanwhile in Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz Tweed Ride Premier!
This Sunday, May 30
10AM-4PM
We will take off from Windmill Cafe, head to Wilder Ranch for lunch, then back to the Windmill Cafe for a special INVITE ONLY event.
More info here: SC Tweed Ride

Women Who Bike: Lisa Marie

BIKE NOPA & Bikes And The City have spun out a new collaborative bike series, Women Who Bike. Each Monday and Wednesday we will feature San Francisco women and their bicycles. Check both our blogs for the experiences, stories, and ideas that women who bike the city want to share with you.
Let us know your thoughts and leave comments for the featured riders.

Maker Faire | May, 2010

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Women Who Bike: Lisa Marie

How would you characterize your bicycling style? assertive, carefree, cautious, competitive, law abiding, slow and steady
L.Aggressive, but with a smile on my face. I don't need to be the fastest, I just need cars to see me.

Something basic: how often do you bike and what for?
L.I bike for fun, for transportation, and for exercise. I bike anytime I need to go anywhere further than 4 blocks away from my home. Which is maybe 4 or 5 days a week.

What could be done in SF to encourage more women, including teens and younger, to bike?
L.I think the new separated bike lanes on Market are a step in the right direction -- we need more of those! Also repaving streets would be nice, especially that craptacular road - Division. Having more of us everyday bicyclists out on the road in our non-spandex clothing makes other people realize they can do it too. Once you realize how fun and easy it is - you'll be hooked!

Halloween-ish times 2009

How many of your best dates/friendships started with biking?
L.Lately, ALL of my new friendships have started with biking! And I love it. It's so nice having bikey friends because there's never any question of how we're going to get somewhere. Biking is a given.
My husband and I often go on day-long meandering rides together to explore new neighborhoods. We call them day-long-dates.

I surprise people when I bike by (or with) -
L.with my panniers loaded full of groceries.

Other little things:
My favorite meal after a long ride (or in between) is:
L.burrito and a beer! cures all that ails you.

The best way to hydrate in between rides is: (coffee, beer, tea etc.)
L.water from the tap! sf water is yummy.

A personal item I must have or bring while riding my bike
L.My B. Spoke Tailor arm warmers, because you never know which way the weather will go here.

Hambone Desings»

I first met Lisa via the interwebs when we noticed our photos coincided with multiple local events. Then I noticed she was featured in the NYT [here] and was so excited to see a local bikey woman being recognized alongside her awesome bag company, Hambone designs. I am happy to be her friend and share most of our talks while pedaling through our beautiful city.

+ + + + + + + + + +
♥ Gracias Lisa!! ♥

Don't forget to check out BIKE NOPA for more Women Who Bike profiles.
Women who bike: Take the Writing Women Back into Bicycling survey online by May 15th. More than 7300 women already have. Survey conducted by the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP). See survey here: link
If you or someone you know would like to participate email me at bikesandthecity +at+ gmail
For women in the NOPA area, contact Michael at BIKE NOPA

See previous Bikes & The City profiles here: Women Who Bike Series

-
Like all photographs posted in this blog: ©Photos taken by meligrosa
unless otherwise stated and if so, always credited.

Photo de dia: Gazelle and the bicycle

Embarcadero

Bikes. Baskets. Beautiful colors invade the lower haight.

Ayuchi taking a photo.

One for the weekend: Fan photo

A view to a kill...

Photo submitted by Sean H. via the: Bikes and The City • Facebook page
♥Thank you!!! I loveitttt

Meanwhile in LA

via mashSF

Meanwhile in NY

More info via BUSTblog: Get Yr Bike On

Photo de dia: The view from the bike catwalk shot

So what does a blogger do when on the stage that became the bike catwalk?! Snap a photo of everyone. WOOOOOT

good times

And this closes the posts from Bike to Work Day - Fashion Show & Afterparty
The Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco.
May 13th, 2010

For you, it is Miss Cinelli. Grazie + Happy Friday!

I took the photo of what i was wearing so I wouldn't forget, and those are Lisa's eyes peeking in *ADORABLE*
Note reads:

•Vintage Cinelli jersey (Giordanna classic!) provided by pushbikeSF
•Sheila Moon short skirt
•Swrve cap
•Meli's famous red boots (««--I was cracking up ♥ ja jaaa!!)
*Both photos below, property of PHYang

Hola!
http://photo.phyang.org/bafw2010_2.htm

So here is what Gwen styled me with and what I wore for the BTWD fashion show, my darlings. I *LOVED* the outfit. So much fun and I could wear this any day around the city -yes-. The Girodanna classic Cinelli jersey. oh so RAD. Below I am with Sarah, the renown badass woman on wheels and the magic behind pushbike SF and Team Murder. Sup.