Cheeky Birds and Falling Bikes

The wind was still whistling through the trees on Sunday morning, but I braved the Golden Gate Bridge and 7 miles of 101 North for our second "bikers brunch." Our destination was Guaymas, on the waterfront in Tiburon. (Also popular with cheeky birds that swooped in for tortilla chips at the tables nearest the water.)



The ride out -- with Don riding along as "wingman" -- was pleasantly uneventful. Riding back, I slowed down when I saw brake lights up ahead and started scanning the road to see what was causing the delay. Suddenly I saw two tangled racing bikes in the fast lane and two frantic guys crossing four lanes of traffic to retrieve them. The bikes had apparently fallen out the back of a truck that was parked on the side of the road. More evidence that it's not possible to worry about the actual thing that you might need to deal with on the road -- in this case, dodging a flying 10-speed (or are they 20-speeds now?)

Wicked Wind

It's been a foggy summer in SF, but last week there were three days when it was clear enough to ride my motorcycle to work.

I have to make the decision at 6 am, when it's still dark outside, so the question is whether I can see the moon overhead. If yes, it's clear enough to ride. The only problem with this decision tree is that it doesn't take into account the wind, which was keeping the sky clear of clouds, I guess, but making it challenging to steer. Especially at high speeds on the freeway. At one point, the front tire did a weird shimmy and I decided to take surface streets the rest of the way to work so I could face the wind at slower speeds.

Making a virtue of necessity, I took El Camino Real the rest of the way to Palo Alto. (El Camino Real is the famous 600-mile road that connects 21 misssions in California and runs all the way from SF to Palo Alto -- with stop lights every few blocks and speed limit of 35 mph when traffic allows.) On the return trip, I took El Camino from Black Mountain Road, where my usual route feeds onto the freeway, to San Franciso and discovered that El Camino becomes Mission Boulevard. It added 30 minutes to my commute, but I survived to consult my motorcycle book about riding in the wind.

I was relieved to find that the shimmy was not a problem with my motorcycle. As the author described it: "When riding through crosswinds, you may get some strange feedback from the front wheel..." The proper response, he says, is to "concentrate on countersteering to make the motorcycle go in whatever direction you wish, and let the tires swerve around under you."

Yikes.

After dinner on the evening of the windy ride, we watched a documentary about the making of four Broadway musicals (Wicked, Caroline or Change, Taboo, and Avenue Q). The star of Caroline or Change shared a favorite quote: "Things always works out in the end, so if things aren't working out, it's not the end." Maybe I should think about that when I'm riding through wind.

The Bottom Line

After 3 months and 1600 miles in the saddle, I invested in some real motorcycle pants – something friends had been urging me to do by sharing stories of accidents where the right material in the right place saved serious injury. (In one story, a rider is saved from abrasion by his thick wallet – which wore away, along with the pocket of his jeans, except for the leather side nearest his bottom.)

My new pants (Alpinestar Street Cargo) aren’t leather, but they are made of a space-age material that claims to offer better protection than jeans. More importantly, they have an ingenious design that replaces the saggy seat characteristic of motorcycle pants with a stretch waistband in back covered by stylish panel of material that blends in with the rest of the pants. This means you can bend over while riding without showing your backside. They look like cargo pants but have heavy duty armor in the knee/shin area, which is removable for washing.

Catch a Wave

Being a conscientious new rider, I was aware that my bike was due for a chain lube. I understand that this is something one can do on one's own, but I was apprehensive about doing it wrong or buying the wrong goop, so I asked Henry to assist. (Deborah quipped that I had gone from novice to Navas.)

I collected some important new information in the course of the visit. Henry lives on a hill and he told me to turn the front tire uphill when parking on an incline. Apparently the bike can roll off the kickstand if it is pointed downhill... So much to learn.

I have ridden to work a few times since the time I dropped the bike in the parking lot. One time I stayed on the freeway all the way and it was faster and easier than my usual scenic route. I still encounter plenty of challenges -- just this morning the bike skidded as I went around a corner near home because of wet ground from morning fog -- but I must be getting more confident because I am starting to notice "the wave" you get from fellow motorcyclists -- and even take my left hand off the handle (briefly) to wave back. Wondering about the significance of different waves, I found some funny YouTube videos on the subject. Apparently there is no wrong way to wave, but some techniques seem more sophisticated than others...

Stop, Drop, and Roll

Yesterday's biking challenge was getting my 250 pound vehicle upright after dropping it in the parking lot at work.

The ride to work had been uneventful and I was backing into a parking spot; bike in neutral, engine still running. I'm not sure what happened to upset the bike's equilibrium, but it started to fall over to the right and all I could do was try to ease it down so it would crash from a lower height.

The bike was still running from its prone position, so I turned it off, got it upright, and began to assess the damage (relieved that no one was in the parking lot at 7AM to witness my mishap). I noticed that the mirror was loose, the brake lever was curved in a new shape, and there was fluid of some kind on the ground. I didn't see a leak, so I hoped the fluid had escaped in some natural way from the bike being sideways for a few seconds with the motor running. I took it for a test drive around the parking lot to see if the brake still worked. All good except the mirror, which couldn't be tightened by hand...

I consulted with Henry by email and decided it was safe to ride as far as the Honda place where I bought the bike two months ago. A friendly mechanic named Murray tightened the mirror and said the brake lever would work OK if I didn't mind the new shape.

Another learning experience: When I set off to get my bike repaired, I forgot to switch the fuel lever from OFF to RUN and learned that the bike will run for a few blocks before the engine dies. Fortunately I was able to turn into a parking lot when I felt the bike start to lose power and I figured out the problem fairly quickly -- after worrying for a few seconds that the loss of power resulted from damage in the fall...

All went smoothly during the ride home, but I decided to drive to work today to allow time for all the lessons to sink in.

Blow, winds

Yesterday's riding challenge was Highway 101 on the way to work and 20mph winds on the way home.

Seeking to avoid fog on the coast, I joined the early morning rush hour stream down Oak in SF and merged with freeway traffic at Octavia. The speed limit is a sensible 45 or 50 through South San Francisco, so my main challenge was keeping an eye on merging traffic and not freaking out as cars whizzed past me on both sides. At 380, I cut over to my familiar route on the reservoir roads that run along 280.

Riding home I was enjoying the warm temperature when I began to feel a strong headwind and occasional gusts from the west. I began to wonder how this would feel on the freeway when I would be traveling at higher speeds ... Then I noticed fog along the coast and decided to stay on 280 instead of taking the foggy Pacifica loop. Between the wind and the rush hour traffic returning to SF, it was another educational ride and I spent some time reading about "dang wind" in my riding book...

Fog Fest

Rode to work again today. The fog was so thick from SF to Pacifica that I had to stop several times to wipe the condensation from my glasses. Eventually, I took my glasses off and rode with the face shield up because it was the only way I could see where I was going.

This time the freeway was the easy part of my commute because it was the only stretch where the fog lifted and the sun shone through.