Friday was my birthday and I took the day off of work.  We slept in and then Mr. Poe took me to Mandalay on California Ave in the Richmond.  He'd never been there before and he really loved the food.  Witness:  delight:

Afterward we headed over to Lake and walked around a little.  Lake street is very pretty with lovely homes that have unusual garden sculptures:

Then we made it over to Presidio Terraces.  Which is a gorgeous gated community off of Presidio.  A little research taught me that it was San Francisco's only "Caucasian only" neighborhood when designed in 1906.  Eeek!!  Here are some of the houses:

Hello gorgeous!

The glorious Synagogue on Arguello:

Then we headed over to check out Palm Ave in the Jordan Park Ave.  Where I saw this.  Caution:  hippies:

We went home and took a nap and then we got dressed and headed over for my super fantastic birthday dinner at The Tonga Room at the Fairmont Hotel.  It is so much fun.  The food is delicious, the decoration is kitchy, the band is reasonable, the drinks are strong and it rains inside every hour or so.  Likey!  Here are Mr. Poe and I:

The Band plays from a hut in the middle of a pool:

Glamour:

Mr Smith:

The Smith-Fangs:

Dinner was over at about 10 and we went home and went to bed.  Looong day.  Best birthday ever!

In the morning I headed off Corbett to Clayton to Ashbury to Waller to Stanyan and I went into Golden Gate Park at JFK,  I came out of the park at Arguello and followed it into the Presidio and then rode through the Presidio and came out at the Lombard Gate.  Then I rode Chestnut to Laguna to Francisco to Polk to North Point to the Embarcadero.  This is the Transamerica Pyramid from the Embarcadero at Broadway:

The Bay Bridge from the same vantage point:

After work I headed off 2nd to Howard to 11th to Bryant to 21st to Valencia to Tiffany to 29th to San Jose to Wilder to Diamond to Monterey to Ridgewood to Flood to Hazelwood to Greenwood to Plymouth to Wildwood to Faxon to De Montefort to Ashton to Pico to Urbano to Borica to Entrada where I got a pic of the big sun dial.  It dates from 1913 and is a memento of the Ingleside Race Track which used to stand where Ingleside Terraves does today:

Some of the homes on Entrada Court:

Me:

#75 is this spooky place:

Complete with a hearse:

I took Borica to Holloway to Font to Lake Merced to Middlefield to Ocean to Clearfield into 34th to Yorba to 35th to Vicente to the Great Highway to Taravel to Dewey to Merced to Hernandez to Laguna Honda.  This is Saint Brendan's at the top of Laguna Honda:

I love the pretty terra cotta belltower:

This is the view looking down Portola from Laguna Honda:

I took Portola to Corbett to Ord and home for dinner.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                                 33.5
Week to date                                     109.2
Month to date                                   527.6
Year to date                                    4,452.6
To Goal                                          5,547.2
Over (Under) plan                         (1,903.4)
YTD Mileage vs Last Year            (2,817.6)
Rolling Year                                   7,947.3
Since Inception 10/1/07                 17,730.5

I didn't do a lot of riding on Wednesday.  Just to work and back on Market.  Mr. Poe came and took me out to lunch in North Beach to celebrate our anniversary.  We've been together nine years and today was the first anniversary of our second wedding.  Maybe I need to provide a chart.  I think we can all agree I'm a very lucky man.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                                 7.0
Week to date                                      75.7
Month to date                                   494.1
Year to date                                   4,419.3
To Goal                                         5,580.7
Over (Under) plan                         (1,909.5)
YTD Mileage vs Last Year            (2,825.9)
Rolling Year                                   7,913.8
Since Inception 10/1/07                 17,697.0

I slept in yet again this morning and rode a shorter route to work.  I took Corbett to Clayton to Parnassus to Cole to Haight to Stanyan and went into Golden Gate Park at JFK.  I came out of the park at Arguello and took that into the Presidio and then rode down to the Lombard Gate and then rode Lombard to Broderick to Chestnut to Laguna to Francisco to Polk to North Point to the Embarcadero to Washington to Drumm to Sacramento to Sansome and into work.

After work I headed off 2nd to Howard where I saw a cyclist narrowly avoid getting hit by a car and then then nervously continued to 11th to Bryant to 24th where I thought I'd revisit some of the splendid murals by the Precita Eyes Mural Project.  24th St has many gorgeous murals probably due to the proximity of their offices.  Love them:

This is the the view up 24th Street of the fog rollin' in:

I continued on 24th to Valencia to Tiffany to 29th to San Jose to Wilder to Diamond to Monterey to Ridgewood to Flood to Hazelwood to Greenwood to Plymouth to Wildwood to Faxon to De Montefort to Ashton to Head to Holloway to Font to Lake Merced to John Muir to Skyline to the Great Highway to La Playa and then I went into Golden Gate Park at MLK and then took it to Middle to Transverse to JFK to the Panhandle to Stanyan to Page to Scott to Duboce to Noe to Market to 17th to Ord and home for dinner.  There was a cute little bird at the bird bath in Mr. Poe's garden.  If you look at this pic you can see if flying away.  Arty!

Bike Mileage:
Today                                                36.5
Week to date                                      68.7
Month to date                                   487.1
Year to date                                   4,412.3
To Goal                                         5,587.7
Over (Under) plan                         (1,889.1)
YTD Mileage vs Last Year            (2,832.9)
Rolling Year                                   7,935.3
Since Inception 10/1/07                 17,690.0

I had a very hard time getting out of bed on Monday morning.  I took a short route into work 17th to Eureka to 18th to Harrison to Mariposa to Bryant to 2nd to Market to Sansome and into work.  It was super cold and foggy.  It didn't really clear up all day.  Ah, summer.  After work I headed off Sutter to Fillmore.  This is the Shu Uemura store on Fillmore:

They've got these great cleansing oils in bottles designed by Manga artist Moyoco Anno.  Likey:

I continued on Fillmore to Clay to Spruce to Washington to Arguello to Lake to 23rd to Balboa and down to the coast.  The beach was a cold, foggy, windy mess last night:

Me:

I continued down the Great Highway and stopped for a pic of the angry ocean a little north of Lake Merced:

I continued on the Great Highway to Skyline to John Muir to Lake Merced to Brotherhood Way to Alemany to Silver to Mission to Valencia to 18th.  It was kind of sunny in the Mission, but the fog was rolling in.  This is the view at Guererro looking West up 18th:

I continued on 18th to Douglass to 17th to Ord and home for dinner.  Then we went to bed early.  I love that.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                                32.2
Week to date                                      32.2
Month to date                                   450.6
Year to date                                   4,375.8
To Goal                                         5,624.2
Over (Under) plan                         (1,898.2)
YTD Mileage vs Last Year            (2,840.9)
Rolling Year                                   7,898.8
Since Inception 10/1/07                 17,653.5

Mr. Poe and I managed to get eleven hours of sleep on Saturday night.  Bliss!  I really needed a day off the bike so we planned a bunch of stuff.  First up, was baths for all the dogs.  Rufus didn't cry this time and was pretty easy to bath.  You have to drag him in the shower with you and he isn't very happy about it.  Ashley was next and he was a little less squirmy than the last time.  Finally, Mimi who likes getting bathed, likes the drying, the brushing, the powdering, and the perfuming.  She's a lady!  Here's everybody squeaky clean:

Rufus took forever to dry:

Then I got cleaned up and we headed to the Museum of Modern Art to go see the Georgia O'Keefe and the Ansel Adams exhibit and also the Richard Avedon photography exhibit.  I'm not a huge Georgia O'Keefe fan b ut the Ansel Adams photographs were really neat.  But the prints were tiny, with a white mat, and set against a white wall.  It was hard to see detail.  The Richard Avedon exhibit was a bit more thought out.  Highly recommended!

Mr. Poe out on the 4th floor deck.  Hello gorgeous!

I love the views from that deck:

This is my favorite building in San Francisco:  the Humboldt State Bank building:

Then we headed up to five to look at the new roof deck.  It's fabulous:

Views from the 5th floor:

The roof deck:

The Pac Bell building from the roof deck:  amazing--

Me in front of the art:

I love the indoor/outdoor space they've created.  It's gorgeous:

This is on display on the 5th floor.  Commissioned by zombies, I'd guess:

From there, we headed over to Westfield Center for lunch.  This is one of the foundtains at Yerba Buena Gardens:

They should have thought a little more carefully about their slogan:

We had lunch and then we headed home to get ready for dinner.  Our friends Elaine and Tom came over for meatballs and sausage.  Then off to bed.  It had been a long day.

Saturday was one of those days where I was so happy I was leading a ride because I never would have gotten out of bed any other way.  I led a Different Spokes ride to Fairfax, the first of a long series designed to get me back to long distance riding I've christened the "Wonky Knee Series".  Fair disclosure:  it's Ben Armstrong's Cat 2 series which I've never managed to find any fault with.  I came up with the name of the series myself.  We had eight riders, I think, and it was a really fun ride. 

Scott and the guy whose name I'm not remembering:

Laura and Doug:

We stopped for Lunch at Perry's in Fairfax which has a nice terrace and pretty good food.  It's much nicer than the Coffee Roastery across the street with their limited food choices, surly service, and science experiment like restroom.  Here we are on their patio:

The glamorous and talented Cameron:

Scott and Doug:

I got home about 3.  I felt pretty good.  I had snack and then we met Mr. Chris and David with Sofi and Lucy at the dog park where Rufus ran around until he was ready to fall over.  Here's Rufus and Mr. Poe:

We went to bed very early.  It had been a very long day.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                                47.4
Week to date                                     244.6
Month to date                                   418.4
Year to date                                   4,343.6
To Goal                                         5,656.4
Over (Under) plan                         (1,875.6)
YTD Mileage vs Last Year            (2,873.1)
Rolling Year                                   7,886.3
Since Inception 10/1/07                 17,621.3

Mr. Poe came and took me out to lunch so I didn't go home on the bike.  After work I went on a bit of a longer ride.  I took Columbus to North Point to Van Ness to Francisco to Laguna to Chestnut to Lyon and into the Presidio at the Lombard Gate.  I got on Lincoln and headed over to the Golden Gate Bridge:

I went over the bridge, down through Sausalito and then into Mill Valley which always looks so pretty in the late afternoon with the sun behind the mountains:

Then I headed over to the pretty Mill Valley City Hall building which I hadn't been to see in a long, long time:

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church:

Then I started heading home.  I stopped on the bike path a couple of times for pics. The tide was very high:

Belvedere island in the background:

Me:

Then I headed back through Sausalito and then up to the bridge.  I took an arty photo halfway across:

I got back into San Francisco and then headed over to Immigrant Point for a pic of the sun which was about to set:

Marin Headlands:

I came out of the Presidio at Arguello and took it into Golden Gate Park and then JFK to Stanyan to Page to Scott to Duboce to Market to 17th to Ord and home for dinner.  Mr. Poe was at a movie with Miss Sharon so the dogs and I watched a little TV and then we went to bed early.  I was beat.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                                46.2
Week to date                                     197.2
Month to date                                   371.0
Year to date                                   4,296.2
To Goal                                         5,703.8
Over (Under) plan                         (1,895.6)
YTD Mileage vs Last Year            (2,900.8)
Rolling Year                                   7,878.3
Since Inception 10/1/07                 17,573.9

I had a really hard time getting out of bed again this morning.  I decided that I should have breakfast and then decide whether I wanted to go back to bed for a couple of hours.  I'm glad that I didn't.  I was also worried that I was going to be very sore this morning becuase those last few blocks up Cole street last night really kicked my ass and I was a little worried I'd injured my knee.  Aside from some tender shin splints my legs felt fine although my arms were pretty tired at first.  I headed up Corbett to Portola to Woodside to Dewey to Taravel and down to the coast.  It was a bit cooler than it's been in the morning but no fog anywhere.  Gorgeous!  I got on the beach walk that runs along the great Highway between Santiago and Noriega.  So pretty!

View north:

View south:

Me:

I continued on the Great Highway and went into Golden Gate Park at JFK and followed that to the Panhandle to Cole to Hayes and up to the top of the hill at Alamo Square.  There's a glorious view of downtown from there:

The view looking west:

I continued down Hayes.  This gorgeous mansion is at Hayes and Steiner(I think):

Nicely detailed:

I headed down to Patricia's Green at Octavia which is the pretty park that has emerged out of the ruins of the Central Freeway:

There's a wonderful new sculpture I hadn't seen before.  I took pictures of it from a bunch of different angles but it's so dynamic I still don't think I was able to capture it:

My glamorous bike is in this one:

This is the link for the Facebook page of the artist.  It isn't a permanent piece so go have a look while it's there.  I think it's incredible but sadly not everybody agrees.  As I was getting ready to leave the park a very determined litle dog marched up to the sculpture and peed on it.  I guess you can't please everybody.

I continued on Hayes to Franklin to Fell.  This is the view of Civic Center from Fell and Van Ness:

I continued on Fell to Market to Sansome and into work.

I got stuck in the middle of a huge water main break at Jones and Market when I was heading home for lunch.  I was pretty scared because I couldn't see the street under the muddy water at all and the last thing I need is to fall off my bike again:

Luckily I made it through with wet feet but no issues.  The water was all gone and they were cleaning up while I was on my way back from lunch, but I got delayed behind a huge police action that had six people handcuffed on the side of the road at 5th and Market.  I didn't take pics.  None of them were hot.

After work I headed off 2nd to Howard to 11th to Bryant.  There are many beautiful homes on Bryant in the Mission, although many of them could use a little lovin'.  Case in point:

Fantastic detail:

I continued on Bryant to Precita to Mission to Richland to Arlington to Wilder to Diamond to Monterey.  I stopped at Westgate for a pic looking south towards Darien:

I continued on Monterey into Santa Clara to Portola to Claremont to Dewey.  This is the view looking South on Dewey to the fabulous radio antenna:

I continued on Dewey into Laguna Honda into 7th to Hugo to 3rd to Frederick to Cole and up to Carmel.  That last block of Cole totally kicked my ass and I had to walk the last half a block and it was very discouraging until I looked down at my bike and realized I was in my big ring in the front.  Note to self:  You're a fucking idiot.  This is the view looking down Cole.  Hill = steep:

Me:

I continued on Carmel to Clayton to Corbett to Ord and home for dinner.  Mr. Poe made me stuffed peppers!  They were delicious.  I love it when he's on vacation.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                                39.1
Week to date                                     151.0
Month to date                                   324.8
Year to date                                   4,250.0
To Goal                                         5,750.0
Over (Under) plan                         (1,914.4)
YTD Mileage vs Last Year            (2,907.6)
Rolling Year                                   7,872.9
Since Inception 10/1/07                 17,527.7