Driving Sucks
I saw a bunch of other cars, unfortunately.
I had to drive my car to work today for the first time in quite a while and it wasn’t as fun as biking. It took longer, I didn’t get any exercise, and my car is currently sitting in a parking garage in San Francisco’s Financial District racking up what will amount to a $30 parking charge.
I used to enjoy driving to work, but I’ve gotten so used to biking and am enjoying it so much that driving is sort of sucky!
I came across a great website today, The Safety is Sexy Campaign, tagline: “You’d look hotter in a helmet.” This is an excellent idea for a marketing push, and they’ve been at it since September, 2006.
The website decrees that their mission is:
“To erase the stigma that wearing a helmet is dorky or uncool and to encourage the idea that wearing a helmet is attractive, cool and smart.”
As I’ve lamented before on this blog, everyday I’m shocked at how many helmetless cyclists I see weaving in and out of heavy traffic in San Francisco. I’m sure there are many excuses for cycling sans helmet. Recently the Washington D.C. City Paper did a cover story titled, “What do D.C. Cyclists Have Against Helmets?” and some of the excuses include not wanting to have “helmet head” (sure beats “busted-open head”), the notion that helmets look “corny,” and the idea that if a particular trip is short a helmet is unnecessary.
All of these excuses are flat out assinine.
Maybe I spent too much time with my dad at work (he was an ER doctor for many years), which makes it easier for me to visualize pretty much any kind of injury. He used to take me to work with him to underscore points about wearing helmets, seatbelts, etc.. When you see a head trauma come through the ER, you remember it forever.
Anywho, in more of a carrot versus stick approach, The Safety is Sexy Campaign features links to cool helmets that are available and pictures of men and women looking hip wearing helmets, and other positive images of helmets, which is a great thing to be promoting as cycling continues to grow, but helmet-wearing statistics remain alarmingly low. My one complaint with the site is an inappropriate image of an almost nude woman wearing a santa cap, and holding a helmet. I’m all for sexy, but this image is demeaning towards women and risks alienating a key demographic they should be trying to recruit. She isn’t even wearing the helmet or riding a bike so I’m puzzled as to the relevance to their campaign. It just seems out of place on a site that is doing so many things right!
One of the biggest excuses (of women in particular) for not commuting by bike is the whole fashion issue. What could you possibly wear on the bike that would transition easily to office and still look fashionable???
I try to look relatively hip when I commute on my bike. My wardrobe is a hybrid of cycling and office clothing: dri-weave shirts and rayon jackets combined with black trousers, tights, or jeans so I can easily slip on either a top or dress when I get to the office. My shoes are usually zip-up Merrills, with heels in my bike basket. I’m working up to actually wearing the heels…
I love watching what other people are wearing on their commutes. It is part of the reason I originally became interested in biking to work — the bike commuters looked so cool. Cycling up the bike lane on Valencia Street. Pants rolled up on one leg with socks showing. Briefcases slung over shoulders with helmeted heads.
There seem to be three wardrobe approaches for bike commuters — those who are flat out wearing all their office attire (n.i.c.e….I can’t pull this off), those who are wearing hybrid attire, like I do, and those who wear all bicycling gear and change completely.
Today, I rode behind a girl who took the cool factor of wearing all your office attire on the commute to a whole new level. She was dressed all in white — white turtleneck sweater, white jeans, white/silver sandals and a white bike with white and pink fenders, seat, and handle bars. I did wonder where her white helmet was, though.
I’d look ridiculous sporting this, but she was fabulous!!!
Ruby Hill Vineyards, Livermore
Glorious weather in the Bay Area for the long 4th of July weekend — 80’s in the East Bay = perfect bicycling weather. For this weekend’s ride, we decided to keep it simple so we left from Glenn’s house in Pleasanton and headed towards the Livermore wineries where there are beautiful landscapes of mountains on all sides with the numerous vineyards growing lushly in between.
Our route started on Bernal Avenue in Pleasanton, as we turned right onto East Vineyard. After passing out of Pleasanton proper, we rode along a nice bike trail bordered by lavender, rosemary, and small trees alongside the maturing vineyards (harvest time in about two months, so grapes have formed but are still small and green). As we rode along Vineyard, we passed several wineries including Mitchell Katz and Ruby Hill, which both have gorgeous grounds and tasting rooms (we’re serious about the biking, so we weren’t tasting…on this day).
Before turning off of Vineyard, we stopped at a roadside fruit stand to pick up some fresh peaches (for peach margaritas later).
We soon entered Sycamore Grove Park, which has several miles of trails, including a 2.5 mile paved bike trail. This park is a wildlife oasis – we saw huge jack rabbits and deer — with huge Sycamore and Walnut tree groves. After riding the 2.5 mile trail, we came out right across the street from Wente’s massive grounds — golf course, acclaimed restaurant, tasting room, concert venue, etc. We took a little tour of the grounds and strolled through the restaurant’s garden (complete with figs ripening on the tree), and then headed out and up Arroyo past several more wineries, and then circled back onto vineyard again.
Beautiful day, great low-key ride of about 20 miles. Here is the route we took:
View Livermore Wineries/Sycamore Grove Park in a larger map
I’m all about these murals right now. I had never really noticed just how many there are all across the Mission. Here are a few more shots I took on this morning’s commute.
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