Sunday, April 29

Today was climbing day on the CAT2 series.  Up to Alpine Dam lake and then up over Mount Tam.  Note that they don’t call it Hill Tam.  We started a little later than we have been so I went down market and through North Beach and then up over Fort Mason into the Marina before heading to the start in the Presidio.  We didn’t have a whole lot of riders but we were expecting that because it was a whole lot of climbing and Saturday had been Day on the Ride, a much larger organized training ride with 600 riders designed to simulate what an actual day on the lifecycle would be like.  And I hear it was hot.  We shoved off at around 8 and headed over the bridge, through Sausalito and then over Camino Alto.  Max got a flat and I helped him find the offending piece of glass stuck in his tire:

Then we continued on to Fairfax.  People were pretty excited about getting up the mountain and didn’t linger too long:

Then we headed up, up, and up some more.  At the top of the ridge, we started to descend down into Alpine Lake.  You can see the fog creeping over the ridge in the background:

After a windy and occasionally terrifying descent down into Alpine Lake, I hung out with the riders.  Here’s Ben and I:

Look I got new bike shorts!  I finally have a pair that isn’t too big!  But these had better stay that way because if I have to go another size down I’m going to be shopping in the boys department.  Kind of like Michael Jackson except I’d be looking for clothes.  Here’s a solo of Ben attempting studly:

And here’s the lake itself:

And our fabulous riders:

After the lake we climbed.  A lot.  All the way up Mount Tam   Today was unusual because we were up above the fog layer.  I’d never been up on Mount Tam when this had happened but it was so neat.  The fog looks like glossy white frosting spread in a layer as far as the eye can see. 

After we came off the mountain, everybody else went home for food and rest.  But not me.  I added on Marin Headlands.  All the way up the the top and then down out to Rodeo Beach.  It was foggy and cold all over:

Rodeo Beach from above

Rodeo Beach

From there I headed inland, up Ike Turner hill, back down Conzelman towards the bridge.  Ben made me add a hill to the route so I went down to Fort Baker and then came up to the bridge from underneath:

Once over the bridge, I went to the Presidio to Seacliff up to the Palace of the Legion of Honor and then out to Ocean Beach.  Then I went once around Lake Merced and then home up through Saint Francis Wood and over the Twin Peaks viewing platform.  The day came to 86 miles which put me at about 310 miles for the week.  I was pretty tired so I ate a little dinner, sat in the hot tub, and then went to bed at 7:30.

Saturday, April 28

I woke up early because I wanted to get a ride in before Jeff and I ran errands at 10am.  I went out to McLaren park which I won’t go to again early in the morning for the following reasons:

1) It’s covered in mosquitos
2) I felt like I was in the beginning of a “Law and Order” episode where the jogger discovers the corpse.

But the view was beautiful:

I headed down through the Excelsior to and checked out the beautiful church of the Epiphany. The architecture is very spare but it comes off as modern rather than cheap.

Likewise, the beautiful mosaics over the door use tesserae that are just a little bit larger than you’d expect. It seemed very modern to me as well.

Then I headed into Daly City which contains some triumphs as well as some tragedies of mid century architecture. Here’s some of the good:

From there I came around Lake Merced which was very quiet and pretty in the morning light:

Then I came up Ocean Beach and proceeded to bother this Samoyed who was wondering who the heck kept whistling at her:

Then up to the Palace of the Legion of honor and then through Seacliff, down Lake to Clay and then Buchanan to Japantown

Then Laguna Market and then home.  About 25 miles.  We went and dropped my commuter bike off at REI and then went to pick up food for Mimi at the SPCA.  We looked at puppies at the SPCA but I think we’ll end up getting ours elsewhere.  I’m not interested in a dog over eight weeks old and I’d prefer to get it from a litter as opposed to a shelter.  Then we went to the grocery store and then home for lunch.  I went walking with Nathan later in the afternoon.  We went to Harding Park at lake Merced which was really fun.  Nathan, as the kids say, still knows how to “get down”:

I think it’s nice that he can still move like that.  You know, at his age.  Here is prior to his unsuccessful attempt to confiscate my camera.

Harding park has a lot of piers that you can walk out on, this one was rotting away but I managed to avoid incident:

Muni was in semi meltdown mode and we had to wait a long time for the train.  There seemed to be a lot of people going to a party or the prom or something.  This being San Francisco, Nathan and I amused ourselves trying to figure out whether some of the revelers were drag queens or just tacky big boned girls. 

Jeff made steak for dinner for Nathan and Nick and we all had Taco Salads.  Unfortunately for me, Jeff steered the dinner conversation towards the topic “Embarassing Facts about Joseph You Might Not Know”.  Which totally pissed me off.  It’s hard to focus on what a great husband he is when he’s being such a horse’s ass.

I went for a walk ove lunch today and it was unbelievably warm and beautiful downtown. I walked down the Embarcadero. There’s this puzzling sculpture in front of a new pier they’ve built. It’s a little “Night of the Living Dead” for me:

Then I went and visited Chris and David and Sofi at South Park where they were having lunch. We’re babysitting Sofi again in a few weeks and we’re really looking forward to it. Especially me:

I walked home through Yerba Buena Gardens and it seems like everybody was outside enjoying the sunchine today:

The DeYoung building continues to emerge from the scaffolding. I can’t believe that the ugly WAMU building had this underneath it and that they would ever cover it up in the first place. But there are a bunch of buildings like this all over the city just waiting to be unwrapped.

After work I headed off on the bike up Columbus, through Fort Mason, the Marina, and into the Presidio. I went up Arguello and then turned on Washington where there’s a beautiful viewing platform:

Then I headed up to the Palace of the Legion of Honor. Here’s the holocost memorial. It’s very evocative:

I headed down Geary to Ocean Beach and along the coast and came up on Ulloa. When I hit West Portal, I went through Saint Francis Wood and into Monterrey Heights:

Then I headed up and over Miraloma and up Portola and then up Twin Peaks up to the viewing platform. Gorgeous views for such a pretty day!

Nick got us Yum Yum House for dinner and you don’t even want to know how much of it I ate in a sitting, but it was a whole, whole lot. I’m going to bed early because I want to get up early to go biking in the morning. Big surprise. Total mileage for the day: 36.

It’s really warming up today and it’s almost steamy outside.  I think it’s going to be in the seventies this afternoon.  It’s one of those days in San Francsico where the thought of living anywhere else is just crazy talk.  I headed out Taravel to Ocean Beach and then went up Geary and stopped at the palace of the Legion of Honor which looked even more fabulous in the morning light than usual, if you can believe it:

Here’s one of me in my “Team Japan” jersey– look I match the freaky sculpure!

I headed down through Seacliff to Lake to Arguello to Jackson to Gough to Pacific and then back to Jackson.  Gorgeous ride!

Check out this link that I found on Queerty.com.  It’s a questionnaire that matches you up with the super hero of your dreams

Superhero Dating Game

I’m 62.8% compatible with Spider Man.  I don’t know about that.  I’m holding out for The Question. 

Thursday, April 26

I went home for lunch again and had a nice ride doing that.  It’s getting a bit warmer in San Francisco and it was really nice out.  After work, I took Sutter to Presidio to Euclid to Arguello.  That’s a nice hill coming up sutter and Euclid.  Then I headed through the park and out at 9th avenue.  I went to the same staircase I’d been to in the morning to catch it in the afternoon light.  So pretty:

Then I headed down 16th avenue where I saw this little dog.  I think she must be famous or something because she was wearing dark glasses so the paparazzi wouldn’t recognize her:

Her owner said she was seventeen!  I should look so good at that age!  I headed down Quintara to the ocean and then went over to Lake Merced.  I went into Harding Park which I’d never been to before which is both beautiful and very large.  Who knew??

I’ve been around Lark Merced a million times and I had no idea any of this was here. 

Yes, I totally changed my jersey over lunch because my New Mexico one didn’t match my new nuclear yellow jacket and when I took my fleece off it looked crappy.  Yes, I’m absolutely that big of a fag.  But that surprises no one.  And I prefer to call it “Light in the loafers”.

It was getting kind of late so I headed off to class.  After I took Teresita to Portola to Corbett.  Total mileage for the day:  41.

I got up nice and early again this morning and astonishingly ate even more breakfast than usual.  I decided to do a few hills to work it off so instead of heading down Taravel from Dewey as I’ve done all week, I went up Pacheco and rode up on Forest Hill and Golden Gate Heights.  I rode past my pal Kevinn Tam’s old house.  He has since moved to Minneapolis and we all miss him very much, including his house:

Here is an incredible view of the Ocean as seen from 14th ave and Quintara:

And one with me in it in my favorite jersey–  the New Mexico Flag:

It’s really warming up this week and I wore arm warmers instead of a fleece under my jacket.  I rode around Golden Gate Heights and took this picture of the incredible staircase at 16th ave and Moraga

It’s all mosaic.  Unbelievably beautiful, especially when the sun is shining on it but of course then it doesn’t photograph well.  I headed down towards the ocean and hit Ocean Beach at Irving.  Then I went up Geary and got over to Lake and took Lake to Arguello to Euclid to Presidio to Post and then into the financial district.  Mileage came in at just under 16.  I felt good on the hills and I’m looking forward to more of them after work.

Wednesday, April 25

I went home for lunch on my bike and had a nice ride back.  My Trek is a whole lot faster than my Cannondale and it makes a big difference coming down Market Street.  I had class, so I went for a long ride after work that ended up at the city college.  Geary to Polk to Pacific to Lyon to Jackson to Arguello and then into the park to Ocean Beach.  This fabulous hose is on Jackson street and is so detailed it’s unbelievable:

I went into the park at the Rose Garden which is finally starting to bloom

Orange roses are my favorite and they’ve got some at the Rose Garden that are the color of an orange crayon but they aren’t blooming yet so these peachy-orange ones will have to do.  Ocean Beach was sunny and beautiful but windy and I got sand blasted the whole way down Great Highway.  Here’s a pretty view of Lake Merced from up above Skyline:

I rode around lake merced then rode around Westwood Highlands and Monterrey Heights before heading into class.  I took Teresity up to Portola and down Corbett home.  Total mileage for the day: 46. Big day!

My commuter bike was shifting funny last night so I did a little bike maintenance last night and discovered that the one of the derailleur cables is frayed and has to be replaced.  I’m on my road bike until I can get that done because the last time I snapped a derailleur cable I had to pedal in my
highest gear all the way to Lombardi, navigating Russian Hill in the
process, which totally sucked.  My Trek 5000 is much lighter and faster than my commuter, but I love my Cannondale and how stable and comfortable it is.  I did the same ride I did yesterday pretty much, mostly because I wanted to measure it so I can know how much I’ve been riding lately.  It came in at just over 17 miles.  I think I put over 250 miles on my bike last week.  Which explains why I’ve been so alternately tired and ravenously hungry.  The fog rolled in last night but it only came up to Lincoln and the Lands End, and the Golden Gate were sunny.  I got this picture looking down onto Sutro Baths:

You can see the fog streaming onshore just south of me.  Here’s one of the Seal Rocks–  look carefully it is covered in birds:

Today, I headed up to the Palace of the Legion of Honor and then continued down through the Presidio and came up Greenwich again.  That hill coming off of Polk is steep steep steep regardless of the bike I’m on.  Then hills over to Nob Hill and down to work on Clay.  Total mileage:  17.4

Tuesday, April 24

Another gorgeous day in San Francisco??  Can you blame me for wanting to be on my bike all the time??  I rode Corbett to Portola to Laguna Honda to Dewey to Taravel and then down to the beach.  Big surprise.  That ride has emerged as my favorite morning training ride this season because it has a moderate hill at the begininng (Corbett) to warm you up and also because Ocean Beach is so pretty in the morning.  I headed up Geary and stopped at Fort Miley which has a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge

I also saw some cargo ships heading out:

Then I headed down to Seacliff and into the Presidio, out the Lombard gate and then I took Greenwich up to Russian Hill.  Man, that hill is super steep coming off of Polk Street.  Then I did a few more hills on Russian and Nob hills and came down Clay through Chinatown to work. 

Over lunch I went for a walk with my friend and frequent houseguest Nick.  We walked over to Telegraph hill and Up thre Filbert Street Steps over to Jack Early Park and then back through North Beach.  Very pretty.  And the walking felt very good for my heavily biked legs.  Here I am at Jack Early Park:

And here’s Nick.  What the hell kind of goddamn outfit is this???

Seriously, where the hell do you find a tie like that??  Did he mug a used car salesman and steal his clothes??  And the beard!  It’s like the Unibomber on dress up day.  I’ve been pressing and pressing him to return to the super cute “Classic Nick” look of seasons past but have not met with much success.  Stay tuned!

After Work I headed out Sutter to Steiner to Clay to Arguello and then rode through the park out to Ocean Beach.  It’s so much fun heading through the park going west because it’s largely downhill.  Who can argue with that??  Then I headed south on the Great Highway.  The ocean looked very beautiful:

as did Lake Merced:

I came home through Saint Francis Wood which has many fabulous trees that haven’t got leaves on them yet.  Man, is that neighborhood pretty.  It’s a toss up for me which is the most fabulous neighboorhood in San Francisco.  It’s probably either Presidio Heights or Saint Francis Wood.

Then up Miraloma back up to Portola and the down Corbett.  My coworker Shashi was wondering how long of a ride that was and from work out to Lake Merced and then Home came in at about 18 1/2 miles.  Which put me at about 35 for the day. 

Mr. Poe has
been having terrible allergies and hasn’t been feeling very well.  Yet
he made me an enormous dinner anyway.  I was asleep by 9:15.  Which seemed a little late for me.

I rode home for lunch and on the way back I figured out exactly where I’d strained that muscle on Thursday– springting up market between 14th and Dolores. Without anything on my back I can really put hit that hill pretty hard. I was still a little stiff today. After work I did Marin headlands and I rode without my fleece– the first time I’d ridden after work without it since the fall. Summer’s a comin’! Came up McCullogh again instead of the tunnel. I really like that hill but it’s really tough. I’ve nicknamed it “Ike Turner Hill”. I think that says it all. There was the requisite beautiful view of the bridge on the way down:

How can you improve on such abeautiful view?? Well, let’s see:

When I came back into town I rode around Seacliff for a while. At the top of California there’s an increible view. If you look carefully you can even see the Transamerica Pyramid:

And at the very top of California there are pretty stairs that go up into Land’s End:

I didn’t get the mileage today, but I was on my bike for about five hours today. On a Monday! Can you believe it?? Dinner was enormous and I’m going to be early.