crystal springs reservoir

we went on a fun ass road ride today. waaaay south into san mateo county, then took a train part of the way back. total distance = over 30 miles.

bike rap

kinda cheesy, but cute. i watched the whole thing.

"i found true freedom, i was riding my bike"

pista concepts

max's comment inspired me to write a haiku about my brief ownership of a celeste pista concept:

mash made concepts hot!
aluminum not my thing.
steel only for me.

bikes i've owned

pepperspray update

so the dude who tried to pepperspray me came into my shop today. it took me a sec to recognize him, but it was definitely him. my coworker helped him (unknowingly) and showed him the door before i was able to say or do anything. he was in there for like 1 min, then out the door. adrenaline pumped, i wanted to hit him with the handlebar that was in my hand. but i didn't. i don't want the fucker to know where i work!

anyways, i'm struggling to understand the logic. . .
1. throw bagel at cyclist while jaywalking
2. cyclist confronts you, belittles you for your empty threats and cowardess
3. pepper spray cyclist and run away onto the muni
4. decide to become a cyclist?

maybe i impressed him with my bravado?

anyways, next time i see him on the street, he's fucked.

so cute. there should be a site called kittiesyawning.com. . . .

mentoring

so part of my job is working with at-risk youth. they get jobs as interns at our shop, learn how to work on bikes, job skills, responsibility, etc.

here are some excerpts from today:

INTERN: "See, I knew something was wrong with this. Haha! See, we interns do know some stuff! He told me just do it this way but I WAS RIGHT!"
KEN: "Do not question anything we tell you. EVER. We are never wrong."
---------------------------------

KEN: "Have you ever removed a freewheel before?"
INTERN: "Nope. So how do you take off this freewheel? Do you do it like this?"
KEN: "No."
INTERN: "Do you use this tool, like this? Or how about using this??"
KEN: "Nope."
INTERN: "Aren't you supposed to do it like this? Someone told me that you do it by. . . . ."
KEN: "When someone is teaching you something, they should be doing the talking, and you should be listening. OK?"
---------------------------------

A little old lady came in to have us help her put air in her old mountain bike tires. . .

LITTLE OLD LADY: "I couldn't get them to fill up!" (following P.T. into the workshop area)
P.T.: "Sorry ma'am, you aren't allowed to come back into the mechanic shop. Its not safe."
L.O.L. : "Oops, OK."
P.T.: "One of these kids could whack you on the head with a tool. . . that wouldn't be good."
L.O.L. : "It probably wouldn't make any difference!"

i laughed.

scraper bikes is on the scene

SF loves heroin

clare and i puppy-sat for a friend this weekend. 2 yorkies. little bitch-doggies. since their bladders are the size of a thimble, we had to take them out every couple hours to pee/poop (though this didn't stop them from going on our floor. . . 3 times).

walking around the neighborhood is good. you see things you wouldn't notice if you were riding a bike. like today, we found TWO heroin syringes in the same day.

ken: "WHOA, check this one out! it still has the needle in it and everything!"
clare: "WTF, why do people out here like doing heroin so much?!"

some douche tried to spray me with pepper spray

yep, the title says it all. here's how it went down. . .

1. clare and i riding on market towards embarcadero on road bikes, to get sangwiches in north beach.

2. fat guy jaywalking near financial district, we go around him.

3. fat guy gets pissed, throws bagel at me, hitting my back.

4. i turn around, hop the curb, ride right up to him.

5. me: "wtf, asshole? you were jaywalking!"

6. him: "you call me asshole one more time and i'm going to beat the shit out of you!" (this guy is like 6' tall, thirtysomething, 250+, thinning hair, looks like the kind of dude that got fucked with a lot when he was younger, and really into video games. i think might be a security guard of some sort downtown)

7. me: "man, FUCK YOU asshole. don't throw shit at people! (he does nothing) whats up, if you're gonna talk shit, you better back it up?!"

8. him: (as he enters walgreens) "well. . . . maybe i'll spray you with pepper spray!" he does.

9. i duck, but it still gets on my helmet and jacket. luckily, i'm part ninja.

10. i step away, check the situation. i'm ok. a bystander who almost got sprayed recommends i call the police.

11. 911 call, give description of this douchebag.

12. he leaves walgreens, i follow. he asks why i'm following him, i reply, "its because you fucking assaulted me TWICE. the cops are on their way."

13. he ducks into a muni station. i don't follow him because i have to wait for the cops and they said not to follow this guy.

i don't know why i didn't just beat the hell out of the guy. he was bigger than me, but that makes no difference. i had a u-lock in my back pocket. the pepper spray still made my skin burn and irritated, but luckily it didn't get in my eyes. i could have pummeled him as he came out of walgreens. but i would've had to drop my guerciotti on the street for any passer-by to pick up. i guess i care more about my bike than i do about vigilante justice.

either way, i'm pissed. but i know i did take the high road. who knows what i'll do if i ever cross paths with that guy again. . . .this town isn't that big, its bound to happen.

i've lived in SF 8 months and this is already the 2nd physical altercation i've gotten into on my bike. the first guy wound up in the hospital i'm pretty sure. hopefully this is the last. . .

what are you going to buy with your $600 economic stimulus money??

i thought this was pretty funny. originally posted on sffixed.