Nice Rack!

Yep, this is what passes for a bike rack at the Point Loma Ralphs.

Rolling Near The River...A Sane Surprise

When a total stranger comes up to me and initiates a conversation with me at a trolley station, my conditioned reaction is usually somewhere between "wary," "guarded," and "Holy Sh*t, reach for the pepper spray."  There tends to be a thin line between "chatty" and "crazy" in such public encounters, and in my experience the instigators of trolley-platform chats tend to skew decidedly towards the "crazy."

But Saturday morning at the Fenton Parkway station outside a Costco-anchored shopping center, I soon recognized that the perky young woman approaching me looked far too bright-eyed and clean-cut to be a crazy roving trolley-troll. 

Far from it... she was a volunteer for the San Diego River Park Foundation, with the good judgement to immediately spot a likely signer of her petition regarding expansion of the river bike trail system.   Not a difficult conclusion to reach when seeing me with my bike and its fully loaded "grocery getter" pannier bags.  And when her question about my experience with the trail got a response of "Oh, you mean the 'Can't Get There From Here Trail'?", she could tell I was hooked.

The volunteer handed me a map and a flyer for the foundation's upcoming "River Days"event, and we briefly discussed a variety of biking and trail-related issues before I signed the petition and got on board the next trolley. While I admit I probably will not end up volunteering to work events or cleanup garbage along the river myself, I certainly appreciate those that do...and for this cynic, it's also encouraging to encounter NON-crazy people at the trolley station for a change!

Encouraging Words on MTS Transit

As a bike+transit commuter who lived through increasing new lows in San Diego transit service, I thought I would never see this.  

For a couple years the pattern was very predictable...every 6 months we would see a new "Service Change" bulletin from MTS announcing the latest bus route/service cuts.  My personal "Lowlights" were cuts of the 928 route (from Fashion Valley to my office in Kearny Mesa) to once an hour on weekends, and complete elimination of Sunday service on the 923 route (Ocean Beach to the airport).

With the last couple bulletins I sensed some improvement...while cuts were still being made in some areas, service was being restored in others.   But that didn't prepare me for the latest news.

At first glance the attached change notice is unremarkable.  My first impression was just how few changes there were.  My second impression followed with a jolt of surprise...every single change this time around is a positive improvement in service.  Some were frequency increases, others restorations of weekend or Sunday service...and all were encouraging signs of transit improvement!

Hands Up--A Bizarre Road Confrontation

I had my first on-road heckling in quite a while on Linda Vista Road last Tuesday night. I was fully lit/reflectivized, in a bike lane going straight, obeying all traffic lights, halfway between Kearny High School and the University of San Diego, generally having a pleasant commute.  Then suddenly some guy in a small SUV slowed down beside me in the middle of the block to yell out the window in a particularly surly tone...

"STOP IF IT'S A HAND!!!!!!!!!!"

This completely baffled me, so much that I couldn't think of any response. I wasn't doing any hand signals, nor was anyone around me, and for that matter I was just minding my own business (and all traffic lights) in the bike lane.  Hand...what was he talking about? I tried to think of anything hand-related but nothing seemed relevant to commuting. 
It took me several blocks to conclude that he must have been talking about the red flashing hand that is the "Don't Walk " symbol on all pedestrian crossing lights on that road. I was obeying the rules of the road, but apparently he thought I should be crossing as a pedestrian.

Weirdest thing was the more signals I saw, I noticed that from beginning to end of a green traffic light, unless a pedestrian has actually pushed the crossing signal button, IT'S ALWAYS A HAND! I confirmed this the next night retracing my route, even pulling over to push a button once to see if it worked. 

But while I've figured out the workings of the pedestrian crossing system, I have yet to figure out the motivations of the surly motorist who confronted me.  I almost hope I see him again on the way home...just so I can try out a hand signal that might bring HIM to a stop!

'Tis the Season (and NOT the Good One)-Another Commuter Carol

Last Friday the holiday season and the Southern California rainy season were intersecting in a big way. The approach of both an early winter storm and the Ocean Beach Holiday Parade festivities meant the weekend might literally rain on our parade.  And despite Weather.com's optimistic forecast of showers ending by 5, and assertion that it was merely "overcast" in my office's zip code at 5:15, a quick hand out the front door assured me that it was definitely raining on my homeward commute.

Scuttling back to the rest room to change into all my raingear and stuff my overpacked bike bag into its waterproof sheath  did not leave me in a terribly festive mood, nor did pedaling through the rain to the Mission San Diego trolley station just to see a westbound trolley pull away at my approach.  But the extra time did give me the time to compose yet another heartfelt and inspiring little Commuter Carol (to the tune of "Deck The Halls":

'Tis the season to get poured on,
F*** f*** f*** f*** f***, f*** f*** f*** f***.
Time to pull your rainproof drawers on,
F*** f*** f*** f*** f***, f*** f*** f*** f***.


Don all your reflective clothing,
F*** f*** f***, F*** f*** f***, F*** f*** f***.
Yuletide rainstorm fear and loathing,
F*** f*** f*** f*** f***, f*** f*** f*** f***.


And for those who object to my liberal use of the "F" word in this composition, please remember it was YOUR dirty mind that just filled in those asterisks whie singing along.  For all you know, I just ment "FAIL"!

Use Your Illusion II

This post has nothing to do with the 1991 Guns N' Roses album of the same name, though I do have fond memories of listening to it on cassette tape while driving across the state of Michigan and feel a need do download some tracks from Rhapsody for my next ride.   For those of you too young to remember Axl Rose et al before they became a big joke, check Wikipedia for the album info here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_Your_Illusion_II  .  For those who DO remember G N' R, you might want to see if you can spot any Wikipedia errors you wish to refute.

But the album title reference is sheerly coincidental--a bit of a reach in an attempt to continue the musical theme I fell into this week on both my commuting and food blogs.  I knew yesterday was my second day of biking all the way home from work--a huge change from my usual half-transit lazy-commuter trip.  I also confirmed that without taking a break to add reflective gear and update Facebook, I could make that ride in just under an hour.  That revelation displaced my convenient illusion that I was doing the part-trolley commute to save time--hence, "Use Your Illusion II".

Yesterday's all-bike commute home was part choice, part necessity.  With Jesse off helping his cousin move to Chicago, I had a deadline for getting home to let the dog out.  A very busy afternoon at work made my early departure impossible, and kept me at the office until a time that left me with a 50/50 chance of walking into a house full of dog poop.  My previous day's commute home had reminded me that the all-biking route through Linda Vista was probably the fastest way back.  At the same time, since I had a tight schedule for the evening I realized 11 miles of biking was probably the only thing I had time to do to counteract that day's lack of exercise.

So I clipped an extra blinky light on the collar of my jacket and headed for home.  The trip itself was uneventful, and the house thankfully poop-free upon my arrival.  But I was forced to acknowledge that my lingering belief in the time-saving powers of the part-trolley commute was an illusion---and one that I really need to LOSE rather than just USE.

Tis the Season (In Song)

I finally realized that all the bitching and complaining I could muster would not erase the pre-Thanksgiving holiday ads all around me.  The fact that my post-vacation, post-Daylight Savings Time funk is exactly the opposite of the holiday spirit makes no difference to the larger forces of the commercial universe. Scrooge-y, Grinch-y behavior would get me nowhere.

So I decided if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

At the end of today's workday I decided to get an early start on my holiday-season commuter workaround...the all-biking route home that totally bypasses the  Mission Valley mall-o-plex region in favor of the Aero Drive/Linda Vista Road commuting corridor. 

As a lazy bike+transit commuter I haven't taken this route much lately, preferring the half-transit route from Murphy Canyon through Qualcomm Stadium to Morena/Linda Vista Trolley Station.   But once I got started I realized I had been missing out--the wide and consistent bike lanes and polite traffic of the Kearny Mesa/Linda Vista area make it a pretty mellow ride even in complete darkness. 

Even with a few random unlit bikers and runners in the bike lane, and some construction surprises, it beats the living hell out of trying to sardine into a holiday-packed trolley or wait through the holiday traffic nightmares of a Mission Valley mall-area bus route.  Today's trip seemed like a welcome "dry run" or preview of my upcoming holiday-season commute.

After a few scary moments taking  the Via Las Cumbres downhill stretch from Linda Vista to Friars without disc brakes, I mellowed out...and took the seasonal spirit one step further by composing my own Christmas carol lyrics.

(To the tune of the traditional "O Tannenbaum")

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Like you I'm lit and shining.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Hope drivers see me riding.

In black of night, I'm biking home...
I ought to wear a lighted dome.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
...O damn, it's just five thirty!