My CAT2 ride on Sunday had to leave at 6:30 because we had to be across the Golden Gate Bridge before it closed for a half marathon.  Which meant I had to be up at 4:15 and out of the house at 5:30.  I had a lot of trouble getting a light onto my bike and finally ended up just clipping it onto my Camelback which actually worked pretty well.  I headed over to Sports Basement and we ended up having a pretty good turnout given the early hour.  A bunch of riders joined us in Sausalito which was also a pretty good idea. 

This is the sunrise from Sausalito.  Perfect:

My friend Ben, the inventor of the CAT2 series and the man whose awesomeness is recognized worldwide showed up to give a little speech at the beginning of the ride and I ran into him a couple to times on the route before he zoomed off to Tomales.  Here he is in San Anselmo where I was pointing riders into San Rafael:

Courtney hung out while they were waiting for Regan to show up:

Beautiful China Camp park.  It was pretty cold but how gorgeous is this??:

Buz and Beau:

Fabulous Marin Civic Center in San Rafael:

Extra cute James De Vinny at lunch

Buz and I had been looking forward to eating Chipotle for lunch on this ride for weeks.  Sadly, the early start time had us passing by the one at Northgate Mall before they opened which gave us the sads.  Buz ate at Big Rocks but there really isn't anything on their menu I can eat so I had chips and a luna bar along with some of the Kashi Go-Lean that I bring with me.  Not as good as a burrito.  Not as good at all.

After lunch we climbed to the top of Lucas Valley which is a hill that has broken many a rider over the years and then we headed down to Nicasio.  This is the view from the back:

We headed back to Fairfax and then headed home.  It was a pretty good day although I'm very concerned about a couple of the riders.  Some of them don't seem to be progressing in their training at all and are on the SAG wagon every week.  Another doesn't seem to have the constitution for long rides because of a combination of health issues and I worry he's going to be seriously injured which is a concern he doesn't seem to have which makes me even more worried.

I made it home around 4PM and I had dinner and lounged around the house until bed time.  It was a very long day. 

Bike Mileage:

Today 79.3 Week to date 256.6 Month to date 393.5 Year to date 1,817.6 To Goal 6,182.4 Over (Under) plan (374.2) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (8,003.7) Rolling Year 7,270.3 Since Inception 10/1/07 30,323.1

Saturday was the monthly Different Spokes club ride and it was lots of fun.  We rode Tiburon Loop plus Belvedere as we usually do.  I got to ride some with my pal Russ which was really fun.  The day was warmer than I thought it was going to be but it was still nice and crisp.  Pretty much perfect. 

Here we are at the Golden Gate Bridge.  I hadn't seen Wanderson in a while and it was a special treat to see him:

John and Scott.  John has been a riding machine this year.  He's gonna win the Lifecycle!

Brook on the road:

Michael and Scott coming over Camino Alto:

Russ!:

David:

John in Tiburon:

Johna and I:

After lunch we headed up to Belvedere where the views didn't disappoint:

Sausalito from Belvedere Island:

A bunch of the riders rode home back the way we'd come on Paradise then over Camino Alto.  We ran into them at the bridge:

I headed home and had lunch and got cleaned up.  Then Mr. Poe and I went and got ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery on 18th.  They have vegan flavors which I didn't know about and their Chocolate Cococut ice cream is spectacular.  The line was about a half an hour and it took me a long time to figure out which of the toppings I could eat but the result was fabulous.  Sadly, I was too distracted by the topping choices to notice the two horrible women who literally pushed their way to the front of the line under the pretense of wanting to look at the ice cream and then proceeded to order.  If I'd been on my game I would have shamed those bitches to the back of the line.  That won't happen again on my watch. 

After Bi-Rite we headed over to REI where I had to exchange the sleeping pad that Mr. Poe gave me but that I'd picked out.  I accidentally ordered the extra light when what I wanted was the extra luxurious.  The extra light, although I'm sure it's fabulous for backpacking, was too thin and not self inflating and I concluded that I'd hate it the second I got it out of the box.  The new one is super fantastic and turned out to be a little cheaper than the one I'd ordered.  They didn't have it in stock so they're sending it to me.  I love REI.

From there we headed home and had dinner and I baked banana bread for my CAT2 riders.  Then we went to bed.  I was pretty beat.

Bike Mileage:

Today 49.4 Week to date 177.3 Month to date 314.2 Year to date 1,738.3 To Goal 6,261.7 Over (Under) plan (431.6) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (8,036.8) Rolling Year 7,198.0 Since Inception 10/1/07 30,243.8

Friday I came down Market into work and made it home for lunch.  After work I went on a nice ride.  I headed off 2nd to Howard to 11th to Folsom and stopped at Juniper to get a pic of a condo building where one of the owners, Jeanmarie Guenot, is allegedly causing all sorts of headaches to the owners of Slims, the nightclub across the street.  She's allegedly filed noise complaint after noise complaint against the nightclub, apparently some on nights they weren't even open, that has resulted in a mountain of legal fees and a temporary loss of liquor license for Slim's.  Her ire has even allegedly spread to journalists and bloggers that have reported on the situation.  You can read more about it here, here, here, and even hear a song about her here.  Slim's is a club that I've never been to nor am I likely to since their shows all start well past my bedtime and I've never really been much a live music buff anyway.  But there are two aspects of this story which piss me off.  First of all, let's have a look at the site:

It isn't a terrible building (although it's not aging well) but it's a dead end alley in the middle of the clubbiest area of Folsom.  Slim's backs up to this alley and predates the building by a decade or so.  And it isn't even the only club on the block.  I think it's completely unreasonable that anybody would move into this neighborhood and not think that they were going to get some noise from the businesses across the street.  Moreover, if it weren't for those clubs that alley would likely be really dangerous after dark. 

The second thing that really bothers me is that I hate it when people bully the system to get their way even though it isn't the right thing to do because they know how to work the system and the system refuses to admit that it's being abused.  In this case, if the facts are to be believed, and I'm not saying that they are so don't bother sending me a cease and desist letter, then Miss Guenot is using the city to harass the nightclub because she knows that if she keeps complaining the city will have to do something about it.  I doubt the nightclub has any recourse about it but it doesn't seem fair to me and it sounds to me like harassment.  It reminds me very much of that jerk that got all the bike lane construction in the city suspended for years on some stupid technicality just because he felt like being an asshole.  I hope in the end Slim's prevails and Ms. Guenot moves the suburbs where she would undoubtedly be happier.

I pedaled my indignant ass back over to 11th to Harrison to 22nd to Valencia to Mission and stopped for some pics of the aftermath of the terrible fire from Wednesday night.  It was quite dramatic and left a bunch of people homeless:

You can read more about it here.  I hope everybody gets back on their feet.  La Lengua will rise again!

I continued on Mission to Silver to Santa Rosa to San Jose to Paulding into Judson to Hazelwood to Greenwood to Plymouth to Wildwood and stopped at Miramar for pics of pretty Westwood Park.  It isn't the sunniest or the ritziest neighborhood in the city, but I love the charming scale of the homes and can report that they have the best Chistmas and Halloween decorations every year:

This is the view looking down Westwood from Wildwood:

I continued on Wildwood to Faxon to De Monefort to Ashton to Pico to Urbano to Borica to Entrada and stopped for pics of the Ingleside Terraces Sundial which is the last piece remaining of the Ingleside Racetrack that used to stand on the site.  You can see some fabulous pictures of his here.

Some of the pretty homes surrounding the sundial:

This is the neighbor of my dreams.  The house is falling apart and there are three, count 'em, three hearses parked in front of it:

Eek:

I took Entrada to Borica to Urbano to Moncada and stopped for pics of the pretty neighborhood:

I took Moncada to Paloma to Ocean to Santa Ana to 14th to Vicente to Forest Side to Taravel to Dewey to Laguna Honda into 7th to Hugo to 3rd to Frederick to Cole to Haight to Scott to Duboce to Castro to 17th and home for dinner.  Mr. Poe was at the movies so I fed myself and the dogs and we went for a walk and waited for him to come home.  I didn't feel like sitting in front of the computer so I baked a coffee cake.  It made the house smell incredible.  Mr. Poe got home about 9:00 and we went to bed.

Bike Mileage:

Today 25.8 Week to date 127.9 Month to date 264.8 Year to date 1,688.9 To Goal 6,311.1 Over (Under) plan (459.0) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (8,079.2) Rolling Year 7,167.2 Since Inception 10/1/07 30,194.4

Thursday was cold and very, very windy.  We managed to avoid getting rain in the city but they got a rain in the east bay and even a little snow at higher elevations.  I headed home for lunch and got a pic of Mr. Poe's prize winnin' wisteria that's starting to come into bloom:

After work I headed off Columbus to Stockton to North Point to Van Ness to Francisco to Octavia to Chestnut to Lyon and into the Presidio at the Lombard Gate.  I took Letterman to Lincoln to Halleck to Old Mason to Crissy Field and up to Lincoln and then I headed over to Washington and stopped at Immigrant Point for pics.  This is Land's End as seen through the trees:

Me:

You can see how crazy the surf was with the gusty wind that nearly knocked me off of my bike a couple of times:

Marin Headlands:

I came out of the Presidio at 15th and took Lake to 8th and into Golden Gate Park.  I headed through the Music Concourse and then took MLK to 9th and up Forest Hill to Alton.  This is the view of Sutro Tower from Alton and 9th:

I took Alton to Pacheco and stopped for pics of some of the lovely homes in Forest Hill:

.

I continued on Pacheco and stopped for a pic looking south from Pacheco and Marcela:

I continued on Pacheco to Merced to Hernandez to Laguna Honda to Portola.  I stopped a little before Corbett for pics of the city.  You can see the looming clouds and storms in the East Bay:

The Financial District:

I continued on Portola to Corbett to Ord and home for dinner.  Mr. Poe was late getting home from work so I made dinner.  After dinner I walked the dogs and went to bed.  I hope it's a little warmer and less windy on Friday. I'm over this cold weather.

Bike Mileage:

Today 24.0 Week to date 102.1 Month to date 239.0 Year to date 1,663.1 To Goal 6,336.9 Over (Under) plan (462.9) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (8,086.4) Rolling Year 7,171.8 Since Inception 10/1/07 30,168.6

Wednesday was cool and sunny.  And very, very windy.  I don't exactly know why this is, but I managed to get incredible headwinds on both my way home for lunch and my way back to work.  I may never figure out the way the weather works here.  After work I headed off 2nd to Howard to 11th to Harrison to 21st to Capp.  Cap street in the 20's has many gorgeous Victorians.  So pretty:

This Deco house on Capp between 23rd and 24th is richly detailed:

I continued on Capp to 25th to Valencia and got a pic of the still green Bernal Hill from Cesar Chavez:

I continued on Valencia to Tiffany to 29th to San Jose to Wilder to Diamond to Monterey and stopped at the beautiful Sunnyside Conservatory which has recently been redone and looks incredible.  It was built as part of the estate of William Augustus Merrals in 1900 and you can read more about it here.

It has a beautiful garden with these whimsical sculptures:

I continued on Monterey to Ridgewood to Flood to Hazelwood to Greenwood to Plymouth to Wildwood to Faxon to De Montefort where I stopped to take pics at St. Emydius.  St Emydius has puzzled me for years because I could never figure out who St. Emydius was.  I thought that maybe it represented an aspect of God like Santa Fe (Holy Faith) but my searches on the internets turned up nothing.  But I was finally piqued enough to research a little farther and discovered that there's another spelling, Emygdius, and that he's an early Christian Martyr who became the patron saint of earthquakes and there are a couple of St. Emydius's in California.  Fabulous!  The current church dates from 1928 and must replace an earlier building because the Saint Brendan website says that their parish was created out of parts of the territories of St. Emydius, St Caecilia, and St. Anne parishes in 1929.  San Francisco parish history is very interesting because it helps you see how fast the city was growing and where.  I'm very fond of this church although it has clearly seen better days.  I've never been in because I'm always on my bike but I've peeked when the door was open and I think it has pretty murals:

I took De Montefort to Ashton to Head which has all these pretty bungalows that all look similar but not identical which makes the neighborhood very charming:

I continued on Head to Holloway to Lunado to Winston to 20th to Ocean to Clearfield into 24th to Yourba to Crestlake to Wawona to 30th to Vicente and stopped for a few pics of Saint Cecilia's.  This building dates from 1956 but the parish has been around since 1917 and you can read the parish history here.  Of particular note is are some pics of the early church on Taravel where you can see how rural that part of the city was.

Me:

I took 17th to Taravel to Merced to Hernandez to Laguna Honda to Portola to Corbett to Ord and home for dinner.  Mr. Poe had to work late so I made dinner for myself and the dogs and walked them.  I tinkered in the kitchen while I waited for him to come home and then we all went to bed.

Bike Mileage:

Today 25.9 Week to date 78.1 Month to date 215.0 Year to date 1,639.1 To Goal 6,360.9 Over (Under) plan (465.0) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (8,080.0) Rolling Year 7,188.3 Since Inception 10/1/07 30,144.6

Nobody slept to well on Monday night.  At one point, Mimi fell out of bed and landed with a thump.  She isn't a big dog, but she's pretty compact stocky fat so the whole room shook and Mr. Poe thought we were having an earthquake.  It's funny because she wasn't hurt.  After that, Ashley decided to romp around the house for an hour before coming back to bed.  Ugh. 

Tuesday I came down Market into work and then home for lunch.  It was sharply cooler than Monday which I liked because it's great for cycling.  I hear were supposed to get some weather later in the week and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't materialize.  After work I headed off Sutter to Fillmore to Clay to Spruce to Washington to Arguello to Lake to 8th to Cabrillo to Funston and into Golden Gate Park at the Rose Garden.  There were a couple of plants starting to bloom but it's still too early in the season.  I headed over to JFK and then over to Stow Lake where I got a couple of pics of the Chinese Pavilion:

I got on MLK to The Great Highway and headed down the coast to Taravel to Merced to Hernandez to Laguna Honda and stopped at St. Brendan the Navigator's for pics.  It's a pretty 1929 structure with a gorgeous tiled bell tower:

A Statue of St Brendan.  You can read more about the parish here:

Me:

I took laguna Honda to Portola to Corbett to Ord and home for dinner.  Mr. Poe had a meeting on Tuesday and was home early so the dinner was ready and the dogs were fed by the time I got home.  After dinner, we all went for a walk and then we went to bed.

Bike Mileage:

Today 26.0 Week to date 52.2 Month to date 189.1 Year to date 1,613.2 To Goal 6,386.8 Over (Under) plan (469.0) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (8,065.4) Rolling Year 7,190.7 Since Inception 10/1/07 30,118.7

The weather continued to be gorgeous and I went for a nice ride after work.  I headed off Sutter to Scott to Clay to Spruce.  This is an enormous, gorgeous mansion at Washington and Maple:

And here are some rad kids filming themselves skating on it.  I felt lucky to get these pics before the cops showed up:

I continued on Washington to Arguello to Lake to 8th and into Golden Gate Park.  I headed over to the Music Concourse and stopped by the Japanese Tea Garden which was blooming and gorgeous:

I headed over to MLK and came out of the park at 9th and took that to Judah to 7th into Laguna Honda to Dewey to Claremont to Portola to Santa Clara.  I got a couple of pics of pretty Saint Francis Wood:

This is the view looking down Saint Francis from Santa Clara:

I continued on Santa Clara into Monterey and got some pics of pretty Westwood Highland:

Looking down towards City College:

I continued on Monterey to San Jose and stopped at this ruin of a construction site near Bosworth.  It's kind of creepy and if I was a neighbor I'd be furious.  After a winter like the one we've had I wonder how much of it is salvageable:

I continued on San Jose to Duncan to Valencia to 18th.  This is one of the pretty Victorians on Valencia.  AND they have Tacos!

Me:

I took 18th to Douglass to Ord and home for dinner.  After dinner I walked the dogs, watched a movie and went to bed.

Bike Mileage:

Today 26.2 Week to date 26.2 Month to date 163.1 Year to date 1,587.2 To Goal 6,412.8 Over (Under) plan (473.1) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (8,063.1) Rolling Year 7,189.6 Since Inception 10/1/07 30,092.7

I felt pretty good this morning despite all the time I spent on my bike over the weekend.  I managed to get out of the house a few minutes early and didn't go straight into work.  I rode 17th to Eureka to 18th to South Van Ness to 17th to Kansas into Townsend to 2nd to Market to Sansome and into work.  The weather continued to be gorgeous and I had a great ride home for lunch.  Mr. Poe was working on the house all weekend and Ashley Jr. and Mimi wore themselves out following him around and today were more interested in sleeping:

Rufus however was romping about:

With all the rain we've had the trumpet vines in front of our house have really taken over:

The view of the garden from the front porch:

Mr. Poe's prize winnin' wisteria is just coming into bloom--  stay tuned!

We've even got roses blooming:

I headed down Market and back into work.

Sunday was my weekly CAT2 ride.  This week was Nicasio and the weather cooperated and we did a lot better than we did last week.  Last week was kind of a disaster with rain and cold.  But not this week--  it was gorgeous.  Here's everybody in San Francisco before we headed out:

You can see John Prochnow in the background waving.  He rode with me yesterday and still managed to turn out for more riding.  He's been training really hard this season and it's really paying off.  He's a machine!

Monica and her super cute boyfriend Nick:

I had to work pretty hard on the ride.  I was the last rider out of the parking lot but I had to move forward quickly because I had to point directions at the turn off to Nicasio Valley Road until the next ride leader showed (special thanks to Steven Chiodini for riding so fast!).  Then I had to move forward again to point riders onto the bicycle path through Samuel P Taylor park.  I was there for over an hour and the weather was great and that was pretty fun.  This is the view from where I was sitting. 

I waited for the sweeps to come through and followed them through the park.  The bike path hasn't fared well this winter:

The reservoirs are fill and so the creeks have a lot of running water in them:

Me:

We had lunch at Lagunitas although Buz and I decided we'd wait until Fairfax to get burritos.  This is Jen, part of our Sag crew.  Love her:

Grady:

Our lunching riders:

We headed home through Fairfax.  I can report that Grilly's in Fairfax makes a solid burrito.  Their guacamole is good but not great.  We made it back to San Francisco a little before 5PM and I headed home.  I had dinner, got cleaned up and went to bed.  I was beat.

Bike Mileage:

Today 76.4 Week to date 253.7 Month to date 136.9 Year to date 1,561.0 To Goal 6,439.0 Over (Under) plan (477.4) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (8,064.4) Rolling Year 7,283.4 Since Inception 10/1/07 30,066.5

Friday I didn't bike at all.  I had an eye appointment and came in on Muni because I didn't want to be stuck trying to make it home Friday nights with dialated pupils because I've done that before and it's neither fun nor safe.  Friday night I made Mr. Poe dinner and also started cinnamon rolls for the next day.  That's right, cinnamon rolls.  From scratch.  They're spectacular.

Saturday I rode Evan and David's Mount Tam ride.  I was looking forward to riding with the group but I ended up in a small group of five because we managed to get ahead of everybody else and it was way too cold on the mountain to linger.  This is the vertigo inducing view looking down from Alpine Dam:

John and Rochelle:

Derek:

Alpine Dam Lake:

We were moving so fast and I was having such a great time that I only stopped for pics once on the mountain.  This is the view looking North to Bolinas Bay from the top.  Spectacular:

This is the view looking South towards King's Mountain:

Derek, Rochelle, and Ken:

Me:

We had lunch at Cafe Del Soul in Mill Valley which is so delicious and the best possible food you can eat after a long ride.  Delicious.  We headed home and I was home by 3:30 which was pretty early for such a hard day.  I got cleaned up and Mr. Poe took me to dinner at Osaka Sushi in the Castro which we discovered has an amazingly cheap happy hour menu.  I ate a bunch of fried food and guzzled numerous beers and went home and went to bed.  What a great day!

Bike Mileage:

Today 60.5 Week to date 177.3 Month to date 60.5 Year to date 1,484.6 To Goal 6,515.4 Over (Under) plan (531.8) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (8,020.8) Rolling Year 7,207.0 Since Inception 10/1/07 29,990.1