Origami and Kayaking – My Saga – Part 1

Posted on December 15, 2013 by stamatsps

This past summer I was perusing Kickstarter. I came across a campaign with an interesting twist on kayaking, a sport I enjoy during the summer. The campaign sponsor told a story of migrating from Seattle to San Francisco and rueing his inability to store a kayak in his miniscule new digs. Over wine, drinks, whatever he and friends explored ways to accommodate a kayak in a two bedroom flat in San Francisco. The answer was a foldable kayak. Employing origami principles, the Oru Kayak was born. I signed on right away with a slightly different perspective.

I am a fan of sports that don’t involve internal combustion engines or gun powder. Plenty of options to choose from. My favorites are cycling, soccer, sailing, tennis, archery, jogging and kayaking. This Kickstarter campaign fired my imagination. What if I could trailer a kayak on my bike to the Bay in SF? Cycling provides great aerobic exercise for the legs and lower body, but does nothing for the arms and upper torso. Being able to combine cycling with kayaking seemed like a small version of nirvana to me.

My pre-order through Kickstarter got me a great price and a 3 month projected wait time until my kayak would be ready to ship; Mid-October. I didn’t have a problem waiting until then. The projected ship date migrated later into the year as time passed. In mid-November I inquired on my status and got an opportunity to pay my balance due with a new projected ship date of 8 to 10 business days. Three weeks later I inquired again about my now paid in full kayak. “It would ship in a few days,” they said. It did. This weekend, with my daughter, Veronica, I had a chance to play with this new toy.

Conceptually, the Oru Kayak is a great idea. Fold a twelve foot long 20 inch wide boat into a large suitcase sized case weighing less than 25 pounds for easy portability. Could this really work? After pulling the suitcase version of the product from its shipping case we felt it a good idea to try unfolding it into final form at home before heading to the Bay.

On our back deck I timed the initial unfolding and set up. 20 minutes, give or take a minute or so, from start to finish. Written instructions and the site’s video were great help.

Will it float? Will it float?

While it appeared to assemble easily, how well would it float? Our next stop was San Francisco Bay. Folding the boat back into suitcase shape was relatively quick. The trick was the last folding step which I am still concerned really takes two people to do. The folded kayak fit easily into the back storage area of our Prius without putting the back seats down.

At the Bay with the Oru Kayak in suitcase form At the Bay with the Oru Kayak in suitcase form

We parked along Terry A Francois Street and set up the kayak next to a boat ramp north of 16th Street. Assembly, this time, took us no more than eight minutes (coming down the learning curve quickly!). Once built the kayak is quite light and easy to portage down to the water with one hand. While we were doing our assembly a couple stopped to chat and were intrigued by the idea unfolding before their very eyes.

Out on the water I found the Oru kayak, initially, more tippy than other kayaks I had used. More tippy, but more responsive and easier to turn. After about ten minutes and a few adjustments to the foot rests this concern went away and I was off. After about a 40 minute tour of San Francisco’s eastern shore I returned to the boat dock to let Veronica have a try.

On cruise control On cruise control

Veronica handled the boat really well on a short ten minute ride. She agreed with me that the boat handled well while feeling tippy initially. Our refolding, repacking efforts took only about five minutes during which we chatted with a nice gentleman and his daughter. The folding kayak concept is a real attention grabber.

No problems and staying dry No problems and staying dry

Now that we’ve successfully had our maiden voyage I need to seriously explore the bike trailering option and complete my initial vision. Stay tuned for the continuation of the saga.

Posted in Health and Hygiene, Lifestyle Issues, Sports and Exercise | Tagged | Comments Off on Origami and Kayaking – My Saga – Part 1

Pedaling for Power – 125 Watts per Hour

Posted on November 23, 2013 by stamatsps

I enjoy analogies. I like converting abstract concepts into tangible realities. Say you want to lose 10 lbs. What does that really mean? A gallon of milk weights a little over 8 pounds. Pick one up at your local grocer. Imagine losing that over the next two months? Do you think not having to lug that around all day every day would be beneficial? You betcha.

When you exercise you are not just burning calories. You are generating energy which is mostly lost to the environment. But their is a generic energy equivalent in the energy you are generating and it can be expressed in the tangible output of other energy consumers. For cycling I like to think about light bulbs. My average energy generating capabilities when I ride a bike smooth out to about 125 watts. That means I am capable of lighting a 125 light bulb for the entire length of any ride. But only one light bulb. And I am tired after I finish. We take light bulbs for granted, but they consume a lot of energy.

Pedal Power Concert
Last fall, on a bike ride through Golden Gate Park I passed a gathering in a glen along JFK Boulevard. A band was playing, about 300 people were lounging on the parched lawn, and 12 cyclists were pedaling off to the left. It was a Pedal Power Concert. Individuals volunteered to provide some of their energy to the benefits of others in a truly communal experience. All of the energy required for the quintet playing on stage was provided by this rotating band of volunteer cyclists. I expect we’ll see more of this in the future.

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Energy Drinks without High Fructose Corn Syrup

Posted on November 11, 2013 by stamatsps

I am an avid cyclist and workout regularly at a health club when I can’t get out on the road. To keep myself hydrated and replenished with important electrolytes I had been using Gatorade or Gatorade 2 as my energy drinks of choice. Recently, a friend of mine, best interests in mind, pointed out to me that Gatorade contains High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). Oh no! He knew I was a conscientious objector to HFCS. How had I missed this? What could I turn to instead? I checked on the internet for organic energy drinks or energy drinks without HFCS . Several cited coconut water as a good solution, but I am not a fan of coconut water and prefer a more robust taste. Several others promoted specific energy drink options, but I couldn’t find these brands at my local Whole Foods or Safeway. A little more research turned up a simple homemade solution. I’ve tried this out over the past two months and, with a couple of small adjustments come up with a satisfactory solution.

Online Search results for Organic Energy Drinks:
Scheckter’s Organic Energy Drink
FRS Energy Drinks
Note (and disclaimer): Promotes the consumption of Quercetin as beneficial. I don’t know whether this is a real benefit or not.

Post on Organic Energy Drink Products (2010)

Homemade Energy Drink

I found a recipe on the internet for a homemade energy drink using all natural ingredients. It is simple to make, just before use, and, with a slight modification on my part, easy to stock up on in advance. Once mixed it will keep in the refrigerator for one day.

Here is the basic recipe:

2 Tablespoons of honey
1 liter (quart) of water
250ml (1 cup) of fresh organic fruit juice (your choice of orange, cranberry, blueberry, lemon or lime)*
1/4 Teaspoon of salt (this provides the electrolytes you need so don’t use lite salt)

* – I made the above recipe a few times and found it very satisfying after a few long bike rides. The problem with it, though, was the requirement of fresh fruit juice. So I chose to purchase organic frozen cans of fruit juice. Our local Whole Foods stocks frozen cans of orange juice and cranberry juice. I open a can, dole out 1/4 of the concentrate in 250ml (1 cup) of water and I’m good to go. The rest of the can keeps well in the freezer for weeks.

Posted in Cycling, Health and Hygiene | Leave a comment

Not Your Sunday Ride in the Park

Posted on October 20, 2013 by stamatsps

This past Sunday my wife, Karen, my youngest daughter, Abbey, and I had a nice fall Sunday to spend in New York City. Crisp, cool and clear with a slight breeze up from the south along the rivers either side of Manhattan. We were staying in Brooklyn, a block from Abbey’s roommate’s family home. After brunch and some shopping we walked a couple of blocks from our hotel to go on a bike ride into Manhattan using the city’s new bikeshare program.

A nice Sunday bike ride on a pleasant fall day. In some respects that’s what it was, but in several other respects it was a trying experience. Before taking off I downloaded an iPhone app called ‘City Bikes’ while my wife downloaded the NY City Bike Share app. By the end of the day both of us were impressed with the ‘City Bikes’ app. It showed us where the stations were and also how many open slots were available and how many bikes to rent were available. Both of these are important to know. Later on our travels we had a chance to use the ‘City Bikes’ app in DC and found it worked well there as well. The app covers about 200 cities around the world with bike sharing programs so it seems incredibly comprehensive.

I purchased two one day passes for myself and Abbey, the limit for one credit card. Karen had her credit card denied and had to spend fifteen minutes with Bank of America confirming that, no, she was not traveling in a foreign country and, yes, she did make these previous 10 transactions over the past five days. As she was laboring through validation processes with BofA I got a text on my iPhone from my credit card provider, Chase, asking if I, indeed, had placed a recent transaction for a bike rental. Boy, these rental kiosks must be suspect! I texted a ‘1’ back declaring that, yes, the charge was legit so I was good to go. Once all purchase authorisations were settled the three of us had our bikes and off we went. Signage for cyclists approaching the Manhattan Bridge heading into the Big Apple were quite good. We had no problem getting onto, up and over the bridge though the lanes were a little tight in some places. At the base of the bridge entrance on the Manhattan side it took us few minutes to get our bearings. We navigated our way onto Chrystie St heading north with the plan of trading in our bikes (there is a 30 minute time limit for free use on each rental before extra charges kick in).

As we wended our way north on Chrystie St, it was a little disconcerting to face cyclists coming at us against the traffic. I don’t see this much during my rides in SF, but this appeared to be standard practice with the biking elite in Manhattan. At the 16th and Chrystie St station there were only four open slots for the three of us. Karen and Abby docked just fine. My first attempt was a failure and thankfully there was one additional slot left that did work. I suppose, if we had been desperate, Karen could have retrieved a new bike to open up a slot and I could then have docked mine. With a fresh half hour to work with we expected we could go north a block and turn left on Prince Street only to find out that Prince Street doesn’t intersect with Chrystie Street, but starts one block over. Correcting for this, by going up to north to Houston Street and then south on Bowery we got back on track.

Our ride west along Prince Street was our first experience having trouble navigating intersections. This was not just an issue of watching out for aggressive drivers, there were plenty of those, but having to deal with aggressive pedestrians as well. If we hadn’t pushed our way through the throngs crossing intersections on foot (against the lights) we’d still be in Manhattan today.

The ride along Prince Street was scenic and pleasant, intersection jams aside, and we tooled along until we got to McDougal Street where we stashed our bikes in order to take a neighborhood stroll and get treats. This was fun neighborhood to walk around in displaying fresh, crisp fall air and plenty of shops with goods on sale. We found a quaint French cafe to provide us with a bit of sweets and a touch of caffeine. Having walked back toward mid town a few blocks we only had a block or so to go to find another bike station from which to grab our third bikes of the day. I must say, the ability to dock and forget the bike you have and then just pick up another is a refreshing experience. At this point in our day’s ride I had figured out that I should look at the available bikes and pick the one with a bike seat height set closest to what I need. All bike share bikes have a set of numbers on the their seatposts designating seat heights. Now that I know my seat height number, I know what I’m looking for even though changing bike seat height is relatively easy. The bike I picked up from this station had a broken bike gear changer cover. Damage to bike share bikes must be a ongoing problem for the overall program. In general, these bikes are overbuilt and should be able to handle a fair amount of abuse. At this kiosk, Karen had retrieved a slip of paper for her five digit code, but returned to the kiosk, as I was still working to get my codes, because the code she was given didn’t work. Mildly frustrating.

We navigated north to Prince Street again, west to Hudson Street and, finally, west on Houston Street through to the Hudson River bikeway where we headed south. For a Sunday afternoon in mid-October, the bikeway was well occupied by cyclists of all shapes, sizes and degrees of lycra apparel. I stopped along the way to get a pic of the new World Trade Center Tower until we reached Warren Street and traded in for our fourth bikes. At this kiosk there were three Europeans ahead of us. I chatted them up a bit and immediately found out they were having problems getting credit authorization to they could actually rent the bikes. The kiosks used a funny term when users were asked to use their credit cards. The display just said ‘Dip your credit card’. What the hell does ‘dip’ mean? At first, I thought the Europeans were having problems because their credit cards were chip based versus magnetic stripe based like most domestic US credit cards. I used my credit card successfully and heard the Europeans express a collective ‘Aaah’ as they saw I inserted and quickly removed my card to get it to work. The Europeans had interpreted the word ‘dip’ to mean insert your credit card and leave it there. By this point in our ride all three of us had gotten savvy enough to know we were better off memorizing the five digit code presented on the screen versus relying on the printouts.

It was a short ride, crosstown, on Warren Street to the Commons Historic District and Brooklyn Bridge City Hall. Riding east across the Brooklyn Bridge on a pleasant Sunday afternoon was like salmon swimming up stream during spawning season. A slender painted bike path gave us some right of way, but the crowd of pedestrians enjoying their stroll over and back across the bridge was stifling. Once on solid ground again in Brooklyn it was short ride back to our original bike station. Riding in Brooklyn was a welcome, calmer relief, to the intensity of Manhattan traffic and pedestrian congestion.

I’ve ridden bikes from bike share programs in six different major metropolitan cities now on three different continents. The programs all have some quirks to them, but, in general, provide a great way to see a new city while taking in the fresh air and getting a little exercise. I recommend it, but only if you are sure enough and secure enough in your capabilities, as a bike rider, to face each new cities conventions and challenges.

Posted in Cycling, Sports and Exercise, Travel and Touring | Leave a comment

Cycling to Pro Sports in SF – a Football vs Baseball Comparison

Posted on September 9, 2013 by stamatsps

San Francisco is fortunate to have great professional sports. Given their popularity, getting to and from their venues can be a challenge. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend the 49er’s 2013 season opener, a closely contested 34-28 win over Green Bay. With the wonderful weather this time of year I chose to cycle to Candlestick with my son for some pre-game tailgating. I also attend several Giants baseball games each year and cycle to most of those games as well. The contrast in my experiences cycling to these two venues is so striking I wanted to highlight them.

Getting to either venue in San Francisco is possible by car, public transit, cycling or on foot. From our home in Noe Valley we’re 3 miles from the Giant’s AT&T Park and 6.5 miles from the 49er’s current home at Candlestick Park (they’ll be down in Santa Clara next year).

The 49er’s site and a search on Candlestick Park provide internet options for getting to the game, but neither site promotes getting their by bike. It took me over twenty minutes of searching across the sites to finally locate a PDF with a short paragraph stating that bike parking was available at Gate A along with a big disclaimer that they were not responsible for anything stolen.

The Giant’s provide on their website a ‘Getting to AT&T Park’ page showing equal space for cycling there along with all other options. The Giants are supported by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition who run a valet parking service in secure rooms behind right field. At any game I’ve been to they appear to service between 100 and 300 bikes per game. Roll up to their entrance, hand off your bike and enjoy a ballgame with the assurance your bike is safely parked for the duration.

Upon arriving at Candlestick Park yesterday I couldn’t immediately find the bike parking section at Gate A. I asked support staff where to go and was directed to the left of Gate A up hill only to be told to go back down hill to Gate A by another of the support staff. I found a support supervisor who quickly and authoritatively told me to go over to the end of the chain link fence next to the Kinder Gate entrance. We didn’t find bike parking there either. The next support supervisor handled my question about bike parking by smartly calling someone who did give me clear direction, finally to an indented section of chain link fencing a bit to the right of Gate A. There were two signs, elevated 10 feet off the ground, about two feet square each that identified the area behind the signs, in small lettering, as reserved for bikes parked at their own risk. An hour before game time there were no bikes parked in this area. After locking our bikes to crowd control fences provided in the area (not bike racks) my son and I attended a tailgater and then went right into the stadium for a thrilling game. When we returned to claim our bikes (nothing stolen) there were just three bikes parked in the area. Three bikes with over 70,000 game attendees.

I do find riding my bike to either ballpark more efficient and less costly either in time or money than other options. Particularly when heading home cycling allows me to get ahead of anyone on foot and around the thousands of cars shuffling along packed roads while also avoiding the sardine can experience of public transit. The added benefits of a little extra exercise and fresh air almost go without saying.

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SF to SFO by Bike for Business or Pleasure (It can be done!)

Posted on June 9, 2013 by stamatsps

(Long Post)
As our society’s interest in cycling has grown and my personal commitment has matured I began exploring ways of adding cycling to out of the ordinary parts of my life. I travel quite a bit, about twenty trips a year, and wondered if I could bike to the airport instead of taking BART, Supershuttle or a cab. A couple of years ago I made this a reality and ongoing commitment. It can be done and I now do it for almost all of my trips. How to get there at all, how to get there safely, and how to secure my bike for several days were the main issues I had to address.

Getting There: A Couple of Routes to Choose From
Both of the routes below begin at the corner of 24th and Church streets in Noe Valley. The first provides a longer, though flatter, workout with some off-road routing. The second route is the safest and shortest with a few more hills. Time of day, traffic and weather can play important factors in choosing either route. Car traffic is an issue either way you go and riding both routes at night will take you through areas with little or no street lighting. On the majority of the rides the prevailing winds come from the north or west so going to the airport is an easier ride than the return trip, but that is all part of cycling.

Route 1: Cesar Chavez to Bayshore and around Candlestick (15.0 miles)
Noe Valley to SFO Route 1
Head south on Church Street, go left onto Cesar Chavez and navigate ‘the hairball’ (101 Freeway Interchange) to get under the freeway and onto Bayshore Blvd. If it is early in the day with light traffic I stay on Cesar Chavez past the 101 south freeway entrance and follow the road around onto Bayshore, but this is not a good idea with a lot of traffic present.
SF to SFO Cesar Chavez E BayshoreCesar Chavez under 101 to Bayshore Blvd

Follow Bayshore Blvd uphill past Silver Avenue to Paul Avenue. Take a left onto Paul Avenue and coast down to 3rd Street as it is fairly bumpy. (An alternate route at this point (saving about 2 miles) is to continue uphill on Bayshore, back under the freeway to the top of the hill and then down hill on Bayshore to Tunnel Ave. This route has the most hill and has a dangerous road crossing at the top of the hill.)
SF to SFO Bayshore to Paul Ave SBayshore Blvd uphill to Paul Ave (recently repaved with bike lanes)

Cross 3rd Street and continue on Evans all the way around Candlestick. Follow the main road to the left under the freeway and past the Recology Center (smells a little bit rank). Go right on Beatty Ave and then left onto Tunnel Avenue.
SF to SFO Tunnel Ave STunnel Ave south to Lagoon Rd

Take Tunnel Avenue to Lagoon Rd where you go left around the lagoon with a right onto Sierra Point Pkwy, back under the freeway and onto Marina Blvd at the office park complex. Here is where the route gets tricky. Follow the road to the end or take a right into one of the building parking lots and wend your way to the parking area behind the buildings. There is a clear route to the far south end of all the parking where you will find a tiny ramp built for cyclists taking you onto a dirt path between trees and from there onto a wood bridge (just off to your right) across a small inlet and onto the backside of two hotel parking lots (also just off to your right).

Keep going south through the parking lots onto the access road which wends its way around to the east and then south again to meet up with Grand Avenue. Go right onto Oyster Pt Blvd and then take the next left onto Gateway Blvd. From here you stay on this road until it becomes South Airport Blvd which takes you directly into SFO. At the end of your ride stay to your left at the airport under the parking lot until you arrive at the Terminal G entrance located directly under the airport BART station.
SF to SFO Final StretchArriving at SFO – Take Road under Bldg to the left to Terminal GIMG_0635_SmallPlenty of secure bike parking and a workstation for repairs, if needed!

Travel time for me along this route has generally been between 1 hour and 5 and 1 hour 10 minutes depending on weather and time of day.

Route 2: Geneva to Bayshore and San Bruno (13.0 miles)
Noe Valley to SFO Route 2
Start off on this route heading south on Church Street and take it all the way to its end. Go left onto 30th Street and right onto San Jose Blvd. Follow San Jose Blvd uphill and around a long curve in a bike lane with soft post protection. Veer off to the right at the first exit option and then go left onto Arlington St steeply downhill to Bosworth Street. Go left and into the far right bike lane under the 280 freeway and then on up to Alemany Blvd. Go right on Alemany and take the generous bike lane on a slight uphill climb past Ocean Avenue to Geneva. Go left on Geneva, a busy intersection, across Mission Blvd, another busy intersection, and climb up to the Crocker Amazon playing fields. From there you get a nice 1.5 mile downhill ride to Bayshore past the Cow Palace. Take a right onto Bayshore Blvd and stay in the semi-protected bike lane south all the way to Brisbane. After Brisbane you climb one more hill and then coast along Bayshore Blvd downhill into San Bruno.
SF to SFO Bayshore after GenevaBayshore Blvd heading south to San Bruno

Stay on Bayshore through San Bruno down and under the railroad tracks. Go left at South Airport Blvd and take it under the 101 freeway. It will run around to the right to parallel the freeway after that and take you directly in to the airport.
SF to SFO S Airport Blvd at AirportFinal stretch along South Airport Blvd into SFO

Like the first ride, stay to your left at the airport under the international parking lot until you arrive at the Terminal G entrance located directly under the airport BART station. Travel time for me along this route has generally been between 55 minutes and 1 hour depending on weather and time of day.

Getting There Safely
I’ve now done over 40 trips along these routes (and a few other alternates) learning some safety tips along the way. In all of these trips I’ve had three mishaps, one flat tire and two crashes. Each crash was of my own doing, one from slipping on muni car sand at a corner and the other on a slick patch of mud during a rainy ride at the end of a long down hill into Brisbane. With the flat tire I was able to get my wife to pick me up and return home whereupon I took a taxi to SFO so I would make my flight, but I do carry a spare tube, levers, and a bike pump if I need to change on the go. I allow about 20 minutes of cushion to the timing of my ride so I can still make my flight if I need to fix a flat.

On many of my rides I am either going to or returning from SFO in the dark. I took my initial rides with basic LED lights on the front of the bike, but quickly found I could see nothing and had to ride slowly through the South SF/Brisbane wetlands. I invested in a Strella helmet mounted LED light sporting 300 lumens of output. This provides decent road illumination, but can be a little overpowering if you come upon anyone you know while riding (cover it with your hand).
Strella 300 LightStrella 300 Bike Light

Because you are going to SFO for a trip you will generally be traveling with a heavier load on your bike than you are used to on trips around town. This requires more care in cornering, as I learned from my first spill, and heightened awareness of possible slippery spots in wet weather, my second spill. Under heavy load the rear end of my bike will scoot sideways when I hit a decent sized bump. There a plenty of bumpy spots along either route above.

I swear by rear view mirrors. If you don’t have one, get one. Once you use one for a while you will feel naked without it. There are a few places along either route that require merging or lane changes and I always like to know what the traffic is like behind me.

Securing Your Cycle at SFO
The SFO website provides decent information on where to park your bike and rules for long term stays. Since I generally travel United the Terminal G parking spot is most convenient. The Terminal A parking spot is similar to that for Terminal G. Upon arrival check in with the parking attendant at the kiosk. Sometimes the attendant knows why you are stopping by, but a few have no clue. In the kiosk right hand desk drawer there is a plastic sleeve with Bike Parking forms. You need to fill one out if you are parking your bike for more than 24 hours. You can park for up to 14 days. I generally add one day to my planned return date in case I encounter any travel delays (this has happened once to me). My typical business trips are 3 or 4 days in length.

The bike racks are located off to the left of the ground floor Terminal G entrance. It is well lit, open air, but covered from rain. There are security cameras everywhere and one or two police cars parked nearby. Pretty safe place to park. I lock my bike, bike seat, bike wheels and helmet to the provided rack and make sure to take everything else with me.

Packing It All In
I have always been a light packing traveler. I adhere to the travel mantra “Either it is carry on or it is lost”. In warm weather my travel load is fairly light, but during winter months packing has to be judicially thought out. For a typical business trip I carry one backpack and one pannier for carryon. The pannier has a 20 liter capacity. When it is full (for wintertime rides) it weighs about 20 pounds and this requires me to be sensitive to large bumps (or potholes) in the road. Between my backpack and pannier I can carry a second set of shoes, three pair underwear, one pair of gym shorts, two T-shirts, two additional pairs of socks, two shirts, a pair of pants, a sport coat and a winter waist length jacket. For business gear I carry a laptop, iPad and chargers along with other small items like pens, business cards and earphones. I often put one spare shirt and T-shirt in my backpack to save pannier space. I also carry a toothbrush, razor and comb, but do not place them in a Dopp kit or carrying case to save space. Finally, I tote the regulation less than three ounces of toothpaste, shaving cream, shampoo and deodorant. For trips of more than two days length I do laundry in my hotel room sink. This is quicker than you think and works well.

Handling Security and Prepping for Boarding
Recently, I qualified for TSA Pre and can sail through security. Prior to that the folks at TSA didn’t quite know how to deal with me. I would show up, fairly sweaty, in day-glo yellow or green shirts and lycra leggings. All alarms would go off when I went through the screening device since it detects the presence of liquids and pretty much all of my chest and back are wet. After my first few visits the crew got to know I was arriving, would ask me about my ride that day, but still take time to do a thorough pat down.

After security, I visit a men’s room and change in a bathroom stall into business clothes. I carry deodorant and a plastic bag to stuff my riding outfit in. Generally, I am good to board about ten minutes after going through security.

On return trips, often with a connection through Denver, I will change into my biking outfit before boarding my flight to SFO to save time. Flight attendants and passengers are sometimes taken aback by my garb, but then it really isn’t much weirder than many others who travel these days. On one trip last year I chose to change into my biking garb in the middle of the flight to SFO. Aside from the fact the bathroom is smaller than a phone booth (remember those?) I scared a number of people when I emerged looking quite a bit different than when I went in.

Trying It Out for the First Time
If you are motivated to try biking to SFO for a flight I highly recommend you do as I did and make a test ride one weekend during the day along either route or test out both routes to see which you like. Timing is important since you are catching a flight with a fixed time of departure. I aim to be at the Terminal G parking spot no less than one hour before my departure time and I get priority security clearance. You may want to allow more time, particularly for your first few rides. Try it out!

Posted in Cycling, Lifestyle Issues, Social Issues | Tagged , | 1 Comment

12,566th Place and I Feel Great!

Posted on February 15, 2013 by stamatsps

This past month I participated in Strava’s January Challenge. Strava is an online cycling social media site, one of many, but with more visibility in the blogosphere, generally negative, than others. I like the app they have for my iPhone and it takes uploaded rides from my Garmin Edge 500 more easily than the Garmin website.

When I took on the January Challenge I set a goal for myself to try and be in the top 50% of riders, measured by miles ridden, but didn’t really think about why that was my goal. I didn’t have any idea how many people would participate, but found out toward the end of the month that there were over 36,000 riders enrolled in the challenge. The Strava site also posts stats from previous challenges and showed around 7,200 riders taking the January Challenge for 2012. That’s substantial year over year growth.

About mid-month I saw that I was in the top half of the pack and was pretty pleased with myself. I had ridden about 200 miles at that point including a couple of cold rides on my trips to Iowa. 35 degrees Fahrenheit is my lower limit for cold weather cycling. So I figured I would check out how the top riders were doing. Well, although I hadn’t thought this all the way through, the top riders were from locations like Australia, New Zealand, and other summery Southern Hemisphere locales. One of the top ten riders on the challenge was from Boulder, Colorado, though. These are some serious cyclers. Halfway through the month the top riders were sporting over 2,000 miles! By the end of the challenge the top rider had ridden more than the distance across the U.S. from New York City to Los Angeles. Inconceivable!

I was able to log 389 miles for the month, besting my 2012 distance by about 70 miles. Some of the other riders must have tailed off during the final weeks because I came in very close to being in the top 1/3. Interestingly, when I segmented the results by age group (45-54, putting me at the far right end of this group), by weight, by gender, or by country I still came in pretty close to the top 1/3 in each result. 12,566th place never felt so good.

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San Francisco before 10am

Posted on December 17, 2012 by stamatsps

San Francisco is a beautiful city. Even more beautiful to enjoy before 10am each day. I am a morning person which works well for me in two respects. First, living on the left coast I am ready for business each weekday at 6am when others are just arriving for work on the East Coast. Second, I find enjoyment of this great city in more private and intimate settings than the crowded bustling amongst others after 10am in the morning.

On weekends I regularly take a long bike ride, typically setting off around 6:00am and ending around 9:00am. Not only are the streets quiet, but I get wonderful early morning sunrise pics like this one:

SF Sunrise from Fort Point - December 11, 2011

I typically ride out from our home in Noe Valley east to the bay coastline at 3rd Street and 16th Street then start a counter-clockwise tour of the city perimeter. About 30 to 40 miles in total depending on the full route I take. Traffic is light to non-existent for most of the ride and aside from the occasional runner I generally don’t pass by many others out for exercise. Taxis and delivery vans make up most of what traffic there is. No crazy drivers, no lost tourists. A city of over 870,000 nearly all to myself before 10am.

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Magnolias in bloom at SF Botanical Arbor

Posted on March 8, 2012 by stamatsps

Magnolias in bloom at SF Botanical Arboretum

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The Downside of Cycling in Iowa in March

Posted on March 8, 2012 by stamatsps

The Downside of Cycling in Iowa in March…Cold, Windy, Rainy and Two Flat Tires!

I have been challenging myself over the past two years to push the envelope on what weather I am able to ride in. Wet, rainy and 35 degrees Fahrenheit is my current lower limit.

This past March I rode to my cousin’s house around 5pm; nearly dusk. The weather was overcast with light rain and about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Dressed warmly with four layers over my torso the ride was not too bad. I didn’t head home until around 10pm. Pitch black and now about 35 degrees Fahrenheit. Tom, my cousin, offered to give me a ride home, but I was determined to ride back on my own. Mostly downhill to the condo I stay at on the Cedar River. The total ride is about six miles each way. The first three miles are on dirt or seal coated roads and include one steep descent of about an eighth of a mile. I negotiated the first mile and a half of the ride just fine until rolling over the Indian Creek Bridge. A wobbly rear end signaled a flat rear tire. Damn! Cold and dark, but I still tried to make it on my own. It took me about 20 minutes to change the tire tube. Thankfully, I had a strong headlamp, but my fingers began to go numb. I rode on. About a mile and a half later after passing the Nature Center my rear end got bobbly again! Another flat tire. Now I was in trouble. Halfway home. Temperature falling. No second spare. No one around to help.

After reviewing my options the only real choice was to call Tom. He was more than gracious and concerned. About 15 minutes after my call his Jeep Grand Cherokee (very new) showed up heading my way. We were able to stuff my bike into the rear storage, but a bunch of mud ad grease stained the back of his new SUV. How awful. Tom drove me into the condo.

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