Next weekend in San Francisco…

This week I took the recumbent instead of the folding bike. Much more awkward on BART, but a hell of a lot more comfortable in the city.

Here’s what I saw:

Today I rode the recumbent instead of the folding bike. Getting it on Bart was a hassle, but I covered the whole wharf district in about half the time and in twice the comfort.

This dude is a local rock balancer. He stacked these rocks up in about half an hour, while I ate my lunch.

Kids pretending to be aeroplanes on the pier.

First stop: The farmer's market! I had to pay a buck twenty for a single orange, but what the hell, it was tasty. Besides oranges I got romaine, a cucumber, some carrots, some samosas, and a nice juicy plum which I ate right there on the sidewalk.

'Twas a nice day out.

The Golden Gate from an interesting angle. I had to hoof it waaay up a hill for this shot!

I wonder how much red paint they apply to this structure each year...

Looking up at one of the massive columns.

On the tiny pier south of Sausalito.

On the ferry boat from Sausalito back to San Francisco. You wheel your bike down a ramp to the lower deck, then purchase an eight dollar ticket during the ride itself. Lots of tourists on this boat.

I enjoy those evil looking accident icons.

Alcatraz Island. Dig those crumbly structures, yo.

Back at the big city. What a nice summer day!

Street musicians have to use whatever gear they can find. The cymbal on this stand may be busted for conventional use, but it still makes a neat sound.

This is John F King II and his drum setup. Nice fellow. He let me play along with him for a little while.

The light between the large buildings always captivates me.

Lookit all the columns, wheeeeeee!

More of that endless layering I enjoy so much.

The bus is all squished up! Heeheee!

This wall painting got a laugh.

There's somethiing about decaying victorian woodwork that brings back childhood memories in me. Must be my summer visits to Berkeley.

Yup. That's a pretty steeeeeep hill.

Colorful houses. It's like a big bowl of marshmallow cereal!

Odd light at a random intersection.

Lovely setting sun light on some flowers.

This is me, with way too much beard. I'll shave it some day, but right now I'm playing the role of a hermit.

Return To San Francisco (Yet Again!)

For those of you who do not know: I now live in Oakland.

Earlier this week I bought a folding bike, and yesterday I took it on Bart underneath the bay and into San Francisco, and went tooling around. Here’s what I saw:

Mr. Breakpoint poses with the folding bike. He rode with me on Bart from San Francisco to Oakland.

Starting off with the bike! My first big ride with it! The seat is a little uncomfortable, but I can probably fix that later.

The first thing I ran into was a Farmer's Market. Mmmm!

Delicious carrots!

I enjoy the name of this farm.

These folks were filming the crowds, so I decided to make it a meta-moment and photograph them filming the crowds.

This guy is on a nine-foot-tall unicycle. I reckon their show makes a lot of money with the tourist crowds.

Touring the city via Segway. Cute, but very ... American. I like the people on the rented bikes better.

This band was performing a very lackadaisical version of "Stand By Me". Blegh!

Birds perch anywhere they like, around here.

Pretty boats.

Lots and lots of seafood gets chomped here.

A neat staircase.

Cable car wires.

A park scene. Look at all those boxy houses! I like the range of pastel paints.

This is used to suspend small boats in the air for pain and barnacle scraping.

The city is so compressed together ... I really like the chaos in the layers.

More layers...

The victorian architecture is fascinating against the wispy clouds.

Another upward shot. I like the sense of space.

From the top of a big hill, looking back the way I came.

Check out that big cargo ship. There's a whole lot of resources sitting here.

This dude is about to go down Lombard street.

Lombard street is very well maintained...

... And very twisty.

Chinatown is awesome.

An amusing city shot.

So many people, doing so many errands...

The mix of textures and color and age is fascinating.

Every square yard seems to have its own character.

I've always been fascinated by the way the buildings seem layered on each other, like they form a labyrinth. I imagine the city as a giant hedge maze in a garden that winds around for eternity.

More of that awesome layer effect. You could make a neat jigsaw puzzle out of this.

I'm pretty sure this is the same fellow who hangs out around Berkeley. He sure does get around. Every 30 seconds or so he would yell out a repeated phrase, ending in, "HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!!"

A famous building.

My last photo of San Francisco for the day, right by the same Bart station where I started. It's only been about four hours, but I've seen a lot on my little folding bike!

What do you suppose this means?

My haul from the Farmer's Market. (Not shown: A container of delicious hummus.) vCarried it in my backpack the whole time ... it seems to have survived the trip.

Pretty lamps.

Crater Lake To Stanley, Day 18 : Curiosity

I’ve been in Stanley for two days – one day spent almost entirely indoors recovering, and one day spent biking casually along the roads near the town, looking at all the kitschy shops and the colorful fellow tourists. A couple of times I’ve been surrounded by small groups of curious people and answered questions about my route and my hardware. Each time I’ve tried to bend the responses around enough to encourage people to try bicycle touring themselves.

I have also encountered some fellow cyclists in town. Some of them on bikes, most of them on foot attending to other business but eager to talk to someone with a shared interest. Mostly they ask about riding the recumbent bike, and I’ve tried to be as honest as possible with my answers. I don’t want to sell someone on the idea of a recumbent bike when they probably wouldn’t enjoy it. Riding a recumbent requires that you pace yourself a certain way … and that you have a very good sense of balance. So if your butt and/or back don’t hurt on an upright bike, why compromise? Besides, it’s not like I own stock in a recumbent bike company, and I get uncomfortable if my words sound too much like a sales pitch.

It’s a strange position to be in … I know I probably come across as a seasoned veteran to the people who ask questions, but I don’t feel like one. And also, I almost certainly look like a weirdo. Some crazy West-Coast hippie; probably hates cars; probably has saddlebags full of granola and flyers and an ipod full of earnest music by Pearl Jam, Coldplay, and R.E.M. Get him talking and he’ll probably tell you he’s vegan and accepting donations for the Save The Turtles foundation. (Which usually I am, actually.) So I find myself trying to act against type, to convince people that bike touring is not that hard, and that it’s not that weird, and that any red-blooded yankee can and should try it out. Bike Touring: It’s Not Just For Hippies and Europeans Anymore™. I don’t just want people to take a passing interest, I want them to feel like they can participate.

Sitting in my tent, in a corner of a free campground at the base of the Sawtooth Range just a few miles outside of Stanley, with the evening winding down around me and the birdsong giving way to crickets, I think about my motivation. What am I trying to do? When I’m by myself it’s obvious – I’m listening to audiobooks, pedaling, and looking at cool geography. I’m on an adventure. But when I encounter other people, something else is going on. I’m motivated by some other desire.

I not sure, but I think that what I’m trying to do is set an example, by traveling and talking in-depth with people as I go. I want to present a way of living – or at least of acting – that shows people in disconnected groups that they could all benefit from reaching beyond the people they know, and that they are not in danger of losing their identity if they do so. I think that if people feel confident or interested enough to participate in an activity that they thought was the territory of outsiders, then they are doing something important: They are forming a bridge, for communication and relationships to extend.

Yeah, I know, that sounds way too cerebral, and also egotistical: How dull must I think the lives of others are, if I think that cruising up to them on a loaded bike is going to impress or inspire them? Well, I’m not saying I’m on this ride for the sake of other people. I’m doing it for myself. If my overriding purpose in life was to act as a “bridge”, I would have a bigger effect by becoming a teacher and assembling a civics course for English-as-a-second-language students. But look at it this way: What else should I do when I encounter other people, during a journey that is solitary by design? Sneer at them? Tell them to get out of my way? Vandalize their homes as I ride through town, for a quick laugh? Well … I might have been a bit of a vandal fifteen years ago … but that’s just not who I am these days. Call me a hippie if you want, but now I enjoy community building. Whether my motivation actually comes across, in my words or appearance, is of secondary importance to me, because hey, it’s just a hobby.

Darkness has enclosed by little tent in the woods. I listen to an hour or so of H.P. Lovecraft radio dramatizations, then snuggle down for my last night of camping.