6:45 Monday, June 29. Bike stolen from San Francyclo, including assault of one of the employees. Richmond District Blog has more details, and the below Tweets posted by the bike shop include video of the crime in progress.

If you have information about this crime (SFPD case #151802980), please contact the Richmond District police station at (415) 666-8000 or [email protected]. An anonymous tip line is also available at (415) 668-7387.

    ^{— Richmond District Blog (http://richmondsfblog.com/2015/06/30/robbery-and-assault-at-san-francyclo-bike-shop-on-monday-night/)}

Perp enters… pic.twitter.com/Mhjln0t8Su

— San Francyclo (@SanFrancyclo) June 30, 2015

Perp enters, commits ($1,500) robbery & an aggravated assault on way out. Then threatens to kill Anson if he pursues! pic.twitter.com/ETexWMeNoj

— San Francyclo (@SanFrancyclo) June 30, 2015

Perp exit and assault! pic.twitter.com/WUxYKk9g7L

— San Francyclo (@SanFrancyclo) June 30, 2015

When I was involved in the bike shop in San Francisco’s Bayview district, we unfortunately were the victim of bike theft twice. I feel for you San Francyclo. Best of luck.

It was one of those “Well duh!” sort of moments. The times when you suddenly realize something that, in retrospect, should have been obvious all along. And once I did I knew that riding my mountain bike on the streets was going to make me ride better on every bike.

It all started with a rather unfortunate and poorly timed mechanical failure on my road bike. Just weeks before my planned 200+ mile weekend, I went and broke my left brake assembly. So off to the shop with the road bike, with an estimated 2 week turn-around for warranty approval from and parts shipping from SRAM.

With only 23 days to go until Seattle to Portland, I couldn’t really just stop riding. Plus I was still doing my daily commute. That left me with two other options – my cargo bike and my mountain bike. Looked like me and the Breezer MTB were going to be spending some quality time together.

I’ve experience some frustration riding this bike on the roads. It just seems…. so…. slow….
I don’t hold it against the bike. It has some ridiculously knobby tires and front energy-sapping suspension. It is, after all, a mountain bike. It isn’t really designed for road riding. But man, it always feels like I’m riding through molasses.

Obviously I was aware of the rolling resistance issues. And it weighs more then my road bike. There has also always been a grinding sort of noise at speed that I’ve assumed was my disk brake rubbing in a way I couldn’t seem to prevent. All things in my mind that were simply dragging me down.

In all fairness, the brake was actually not an issue (I later learned.) I’ve yet to identify exactly what that grinding sound is. It only happens when I am pedaling at a steady rate, and the brake would obviously be a more constant sound. So no brake hangup. Scratch that off the list of “why the hell does this feel so slow.”
That of course left the tires. Those damn knobby tires. Awesome in the loose dirt. Terrible on the pavement. I pondered this as I was again out of the saddle attempting to get the bike back up to cruising speed.

Heeeeeeey….. wait just a second.

Why exactly was I up out of the saddle? I was on flat ground, riding in a straight line. I should have been spinning steadily.

That was when it hit me. The issue I was facing with this bike wasn’t really about overcoming the rolling resistance of the tires while I was pedaling. Sure – there was added drag and inefficiencies there. But the real problem had a whole lot more to do with my poor pedaling style.

I tend to coast a lot. It is something I’m working to try and overcome. In most of my efforts on and off the bike I tend to favor my fast twitch muscle. I’m naturally more inclined to sprint – something very much augmented by how much time I spend sprinting from stop light to stop light in traffic. On my road bike, I can pedal pedal pedal, then coast for a couple of seconds with minimal loss in speed. On this bike, as soon as I stop pedaling speed drops quickly. The increased fatigue and effort I was experiencing weren’t so much from what it took to keep the mountain bike at speed, but rather what it took to continually struggle to get the bike back up to speed.

Duh!

Once I realized that, I started to focus on maintaining an easy pedaling rhythm. The ride got a whole lot easier.

Turns out this little mountain bike that I was being critical of on my commutes was actually going to help me overcome my poor pedaling technique. This was something that I’d gotten away with for so long on my road bike that mentally I just no longer thought about it any more. I was conscious of this bad habit and wanted it to change, but just couldn’t seem to focus on correcting it when on my training rides.

Basic fitness and muscular gains aside, this little mountain bike was going to help improve my riding over all on any bike.

I know… it sounds like one of those annoying meme-style headlines. “This Pacifica woman to marry her bike – and you won’t believe what the honey moon will be like!” But this is actually something that someone is actively promoting. I know that the anti-marriage equality crowd has been warning us for a while that gay marriage will lead to marrying animals – but marrying a bike? Well according to a campaign recently posted on indiegogo, that is exactly what Lisa Nelson is trying to do.

Hello! I’m Lisa Nelson and on March 2, 2014, I intend to marry Steel Spokes, my beloved bicycle! We’ve been together for over 15 years now we are going to make it official AND depart for 6 months on our “Bicycling Honeymoon” to accomplish a variety of ambitious goals that lead to even bigger dreams!

All fanfare aside, from what I can tell it appears she is looking to use this experience to help put together some kind of youth development program centered around bicycles titled “Semester on Cycle.” Let’s face it – I’m a sympathetic ear to those kinds of things. But even my “I want to immediately support anything bike” mindset is finding it a bit hard to understand exactly what it is she is trying to raise money for:

Semester on Cycle is a proposed model university education program that not only provides an exceptional experience for the cycling participants, but also offers effective methods of connecting with community members and assisting people in need (Read more details at:http://questforzest.org/mission/).

Unfortunately the Quest for Zest mission statement didn’t do a really good job of telling me what this was about. It basically sounds like a general concept to do good things for various communities, while riding into the communities on bikes.  OK. Umm….

I don’t know. I’ll let you guys be the judge here. As to the whole “marry my bike” idea I have an unfortunately revelation for her though. It isn’t really that new of an idea. In fact, I’m willing to bet that if you talk to the significant other of any cycling nut or amateur racer, they will tell you that they are already married to their bike anyhow.

Pro bike wrench Josh Boggs just posted a link to a Craig’s list posting. I now share it with you – without comment *snicker*

I stole your Trek Madone road bike near 33rd and Vine (33rd and Vine)

Well actually I stole it from the guy who stole it from you so that I may give it back to you.Sunday afternoon there was a homeless looking guy rolling a bike by the back wheel down the alley. The u-lock was still around the front wheel and downtube so I stopped him. It was clear it was not his bike so I took it from him.

Please contact me to describe and claim.

Yes, the key you bring must fit the lock for me to turn the bike over to you.

What I know about you:
You bought the bike at Turin within last few years, you are over 6′ w wide shoulders, you have a kid, and you don’t ride as much as you had hoped.

Mike

In the culmination of a 20+ year project, the new eastern span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge opened up. And included on that new bridge was a separate bike and pedestrian lane. Those familiar with the area will quickly point out that this bridge only gets you half way across the bay, and that there is a second bridge that still lacks bicycle access that prevents a bike ride completely across. So for the short term at least this is a recreation trail only with no commute benefits.Now that it is open it has understandably added fuel to discussions about enabling bikes to make the full crossing.

And it didn’t take long for a cyclist to find his way onto the shoulder of the main traffic lanes away from the bike path. It is unclear if this was somehow a mistake or a deliberate act – perhaps to make a statement. But of course a local publication took the opportunity to somehow spin it as a “look at the stupid cyclist” story. On and they even threw in a “And helmetless to boot” comment. Sigh.

However, SFist did publish this story about an apparent bike thief caught with one of the bikes from the recently launch San Francisco Bike Share program.

I’ve tried out neither the bike share nor the new bike path personally – all of which I hope to remedy in the coming weeks.

While riding the Amtrak Capitol Corridor train again today I found a card advertising a survey (pictured at right). I’ve been riding the Capitol Corridor trains for years, and I had some time to kill on my one hour 50 minute trip, so I figured “why not.” I was a bit surprised, however, when I found out that the grand prize in a drawing of those that take the survey is a Brompton M3L folding bike. Seemed a little bit of an odd give-a-way item, and raised my interest even further.

Once I started taking the survey I found out why that bike was associated with this survey. Seems Amtrak is considering running a rental-bike program.

Capitol Corridor is considering offering an easy to use folding bike rental system like the one pictured below called Brompton Dock which is popular with commuters in the UK.

The Brompton Dock system provides a high quality three-speed, internal hub folding bike that can be easily rented from the fully automated electronic dock it is stored in. It can be used to ride the “last mile” from the train station to your destination or for longer term – weekly or monthly rentals as well. The folding bike can be taken on the train or other transit without the need for bike space and can be easily stored in the office or at home. In order to rent a bike, you would register online with Brompton Dock and set up an account. You can then send a text message to rent or return a bike. Capitol Corridor plans to offer this service at a low cost between $1.75 and $2.50/day depending on how often you rent.

— From Capitol Corridor Survey Question at http://capitolcorridor.org/survey

I can’t help but suspect this has something to do with recent policy changes regarding bicycles on the Amtrak Capitol Corridor trains. I’m excited to hear that Amtrak is giving this enough thought to even run the survey. I for one hope that this happens. If you ride these trains, and especially if you use a bike on the train, or would consider using a bike with the train, go take the survey yourself.

Interesting side note – the survey is actually hosted at BARTs (Bay Area Rapid Transit) web address – http://www.research.bart.gov. Is BART looking into this program too?

May is bike month. We all know it, and many of us go on about it. We get bike to school day, bike to work day, and in addition a whole bike to work week! Local coffee shops, bike shops and assorted business get the excuse opportunity to set up tables along popular bike routes and paths giving away free swag and looking very bike-friendly. This should be a month for me to rejoice – to share enthusiasm and passions with the greater cycling community. A time for us to pat ourselves on our collective back and take stock in how far advocacy efforts have come. And May is action packed with a lot more than just advocacy and riding to work. On the racing front, we had not only the grand american race Tour of California, but also the Giro d’Italia.  The Tour of Cali was especially engaging for me this year, as I watched one of my personal favorites – and fellow old guy – Chris Horner appear to struggle through the Time Trial with an anchor on his bike. The setback would have crushed the spirits of other folks. But the drama unfolded in the final significant climbs of the race as Horner, Jens Voigt (another personal favorite and fellow old guy) and others took a flyer off the front. Slowly riders from the break away dropped one by one, until Chris Horner had actually made back all the time lost in the TT and then some.  He climbed his way into first place on paper – as Phil Liggett likes to say – and had me on the edge of my seat. Unfortunately the herculean effort was not enough and he was eventually caught. But what a way to highlight what bike month is supposed to be about – enjoying all aspects of bicycles. Rolling the cruiser, commuting to work, or ripping the peloton apart.

Unfortunately, this time around all Bike Month managed to do for me was remind me that the other 11 months are not bike month.  June came this year to punch me in the gut and drive the point home. June has brought us the apparent implosion (again) of what should have been the best team in the peloton – RadioShack Nissan Trek. Andy Schleck has been plagued by … something … all season. There are already rumors of the Schleck boys leaving the squad. When the team announced their Tour de France lineup, Chris Horner was not on the list. This lead to all kinds of speculation and drama as to why that happened. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that the presumed Tour de France GC contender Andy Schleck was not going to make it due to injury. Ahh, but poor Bruyneel wasn’t done with bad news yet. Just when we thought it was over, Bruyneel and Mr Armstrong find themselves in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Yup – doping allegations again. What is a cycling enthusiast to do.

But hold on a second…

I once again started my commute on a bicycle this morning in beautiful San Francisco. I passed numerous folks doing the same thing. I continue to ride my bike and enjoy it. And despite the fact that folks are predicting a guilty finding for Armstrong would “destroy cycling” my bike will still pedal and roll regardless of a USADA decision regarding Armstrong.

So that’s what I’ll do. I’ll let June suck for Bruyneel and Armstrong. Come July, I’ll be keeping track of the Tour de France and enjoying it. Bike Month is irrelevant to me, honestly. I don’t have a bike month, or even a bike year. I have a bike life, and plan to until I can’t turn my pedals any more.

I’ve heard rumors through the grapevine (or on the mailing lists, if you want to get technical) that the Amtrak Capitol Corridor trains were considering changing their policies regarding bicycles aboard the trains.  Currently, they allow you to take a complete, assembled un-boxed bike on board the train and store it in one of the spaces provided.  These spaces include a standing floor rack, or hooks you can hang the bike from.  These accommodations vary by train car and equipment set configuration, but cars generally have space for either 3, 8 or 13 bicycles at a time.

Currently, if and when all spaces become full and more bikes want to get on, passengers are allowed to continue to board the train and place their bikes … wherever.  There is a walkway with a handrail that has been a particular favorite of many, as well as a large empty spot allocated for wheelchairs.

The rumors flying around are that conductors were going to start denying passengers access if all “official” bike spots were already taken.  The facts behind this rumor were revealed in a blog post on the CapitolCorridor website:

You may have heard or read public comments about the Capitol Corridor’s Joint Powers Authority’s (CCJPA) new on board bike storage policy. I want to clarify that on February 1, 2012 we will start our “get acquainted period” to help educate riders who bring bikes on board the importance of proper bike storage. We will begin implementing the new policy several months afterwards in order to give riders time to prepare and acclimate to proper bike storage practices that allow for adequate access and safety.

— David Kurtrosky

Kurtrosky further explained the need for this policy change by citing “…our [Capitol Corridor trains] growing ridership and the corresponding increase in bike usage over the past few years.”  However, the official policy statement stops short of saying that people will be denied the right to board, using much gentler language:

Several months from now, when the Capitol Corridor’s new bike policy is in place, passengers who board trains with bikes will be required to:

• Secure bicycles to prevent the sudden or uncontrolled movement of bikes in the event of a sudden train stop; and
• Store bicycles so that all passengers (including those in wheelchairs) can safely navigate the train aisle-ways.

Kurtrosky’s blog post gives further details, and a response to the anticipated “why don’t you make more space for bikes” questions.  I’ll personally be keeping a close eye on this, as I’m on the cusp of changing from once weekly commutes to 4 times a week.  Of course my bike is an integral part of that commute.

Thanks to VeloReviews member, and fellow Amtrak rider Paul Crescione ( @paulcrescione ) for bringing the Amtrak blog post to my attention

The below photo – courtesy of Up Town Almanac – is apparently a collection of bikes left behind at the Burning Man Festival.  My question is this – how the heck did they get them all up there in the first place?  And what’s it gonna take to get them down?

I’ve seen fuzzy bikes before – but this may just be the fuzziest. Spotted at San Francisco Caltrain station.