Archive for the ‘community’ tag
On the Road……Sausalito’s 1st Annual Herring Festival
I rode my Brompton down the street to meet some friends at the 1st annual Herring Festival, but I couldn’t believe they ran out of all their herring by 1pm!
I did manage to sample the grilled herring on a skewer and the pickled herring (I preferred the pickled herring).
One of my favorite places to eat in Sausalito, Fish, was on hand, as were others, to help raise funds for one of the town’s community boating centers, Cass Gidley Marina.
During the afternoon, I also spoke with a CA fisheries biologist who filled me in on this local, commercial fishery — it seems we have at our doorstep a truly sustainable fishery. The season started in January and is open through mid-March. Last year’s catch was more than 1,600 tons of fish.
Interestingly, the primary product is the herring roe, which is sold to the Japanese. In Japan, herring roe is called Kazunoko.
I was excited to learn all this because in recent weeks I’ve been seeing awesome displays of bird life (and a few sea otters looking fat and content) out in the harbor. I captured a bit of this spectacle in this photograph.
Now I know what all the fuss was about — the little Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii).
Bicycling Culture……Election Day in Pelosi Country
Show on mapMade a quick ride over to my polling station (the Woman’s Club in Fairfax) to vote. Some of the ballot highlights:
- Nostalgia candidates — Jerry Brown (governor) and Frank Egger (water district) .
- Prop 19 — a statewide initiative to regulate and tax marijuana.
- Measure B — a county transportation initiative.
- Measure S and Measure T — a competing (and confusing) set of local measures over how, when, and if, Marin can begin to study and build a water desalinization plant.
Bicycling Culture……Biketoberfest Marin 2010
Bicycles + Beer + Birthplace of the mountain bike = Biketoberfest this past Saturday, 10/16/10.
Sycip, a local Sonoma County builder.
Betty Foy‘s back-side (by Rivendell).
Bamboo-framed bikes including the Bamboosero.
LUCE goods = hand-made cycling clothes.
One of several non-profits in attendance was the National Parks Conservancy. (I was staffing the WalkBikeMarin tent.)
Not pictured is the delicious Spanish paella I had for lunch courtesy of Venga Paella (Thanks Eduardo!) or the Lagunitas Brewing Co.’s PILS that I washed it down with. The PILS wasn’t bad, but it could not compare to my favorite pilsner brewed fresh in nearby Berkeley.
On the Road……Uptown, Minneapolis and Calhoun Cycle
My Brompton was inspected by TSA baggage handlers (they left their dreaded, yet polite calling card).
Whether it was the result of a poor re-packing job by TSA Screener #101906 I cannot say, but the spokes and fender stays of the front wheel emerged a little unhappy after the 3.5 hour San Francisco-to-Minneapolis flight.
My friend in Minneapolis just happens to lives about 2 miles away from Calhoun Cycle, a local Brompton dealer. I rode over in a pouring rainstorm and Kody (pictured above) trued the wheel and straightened the bent fender stay.
The cost: $5!
The place exudes a pleasant alternative transportation, indie bike shop vibe. Plus, it’s connected through a common wall opening to a Dunn Brothers Coffee house (kind of a mid-western Peet’s, but with on-site roasting).
Here’s Calhoun Cycle’s philosophy (from their website):
We think spinning on a bike is a great way to physical, emotional and spiritual fitness. Reducing pollution, road congestion and parking stress are icing on the cake. The bicycles and accessories we sell are designed to help you be successful cyclists, whether you’re touring Nepal or bopping around the corner for milk.
Bicycling Culture……San Francisco’s Sunday Streets
This bike share demo was my first experience with San Francisco’s Sunday Streets. (Whereby I also discovered — and highly recommend — the mobile food cart, Chairman Bao.)
Closing down streets to auto traffic began with Bogota’s Ciclovia. Here’s some of the history from SF Sunday Street’s website:
Ciclovía, literally “bike path” in Spanish, is a ground-breaking event that started in Bogotá, Colombia. This weekly event draws more than 1.5 million people to walk, bike, skate and enjoy more than 70 miles of streets opened to people – and closed to automobile traffic – every week.
Nearly 20% of this city’s population turns out every Sunday and holiday to participate in the 7 am to 2 pm event, which includes unparalleled free recreation and social opportunities, including dance and yoga lessons in the city’s streets and local parks.
“A quality city is not one that has great roads but one where a child can safely go anywhere on a bicycle.” Enrique Peñalosa, Former Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia.
John (navy-blue uniform and shades) is the Bixi installation wizard from Montreal. Brodie (light green shirt on the right) manages operations for Alta Bike Share. Sylvia (cap and light green shirt) was, like me, helping out for the day with public information and outreach.
The bikes themselves have lots of useful features: built-in generator hubs to power front and rear lights; internal frame-routed cables; height adjustable seats (yet non-removeable, and thus theft-proof); chain and skirt guards; three-speed internal gear-hubs; and, a front basket-like purse/brief case carrier with bungee cord.
Gear Gallery……Local Bike Kitchen: ‘The Bicycle Works’
Changing a freewheel is about a 2-3 minute job — if you have the correct tool!
To mount the Suntour 13-28t I needed a special Suntour four-prong extractor. So I rode down to The Bicycle Works and found one in their tool collection.
They’re located at Yolanda Station along the east-west bike route in San Anselmo. If you’re not yet a member consider joining.
From The Bicycle Works website:
The Bicycle Works is Marin’s non-profit do-it-yourself community bicycle tool workshop empowering our community with knowledge, skills, tools, and materials for bicycle related activity with open workshops, classes and a space for creative collaboration. Directors Jelani Bertoni and Spokey Godfrey, have launched this hub of community in San Anselmo to inspire the people and the planet to live more active, sustainable lives.
That’s Jelani in the background of the above picture. He showed me the neat trick of securing the extractor in the bench vice and then turning the wheel with downward pressure to unscrew it (normally, I would brace the wheel on the ground and turn the extractor with a long wrench — a much worse way to go about it).
Thanks Jelani!
Bike Culture……Downtown Fairfax
Ah yes, it’s the local bicycle, brat and beer garden! Gestalt Haus 28 Bolinas Rd. on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
On the Road……Civic Center Farmer’s Market
The amazing thing about the ballot victory at the polls last November — in addition to the north bay finally getting some fixed rail transit — is that the measure included full funding for a $91 million, 70-mile bike and pedestrian pathway stretching from Larkspur all the way to Cloverdale (70% of which is class 1 pathways, meaning bike/ped only — no cars)!
The beginnings of this infrastructure is visible in the image above.
(Full disclosure: I helped lobby for the ballot measure as the Marin Field Rep for Greenbelt Alliance). The Marin County Bicycle Coalition (MCBC) deserves tons of credit for their work spearheading the lobbying.
