The good news? The wind blowing to the southeast is blowing that unseasonably hot weather out of here.
The bad news? It was blowing right in my face this morning.
The good news? It gave me a little push up my two climbs.
The bad news? It beat me down, took me down on average about one gear and about two mph.
The good news? I still beat SM 292 from Grand to Cesar Chavez (that makes me 4-1).
The bad news? Those mphs cost me about 4 minutes on my way in.
The good news? The lights made up for a little of that.
The bad news? Weird traffic stuff going on this morning.
The good news? I didn't run over any pedestrians today.
And more good news to finish on? It was still a great way to start a Friday heading into the holiday weekend.
Showing posts with label public transit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public transit. Show all posts
Friday, September 4, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Commute Friends
You know those people you see every day? The ones you recognize and notice in their absence, but you've never said a word to them?
When I started bike commuting, riding from Bernal to the Financial District, I had two that stick out: "skinny woman," and "old military guy." Just before 8 in the morning she was always running, and he was always walking on the Embarcadero near the ball park. She wore black tights, a pony tail, and, yes, was very skinny. He wore old-style running shorts (the short kind), had short gray hair, and wasn't really power-walking in the Olympic style, but was walking hard, if that makes sense. Normally shirt off, I feel like he has the faded, greening, naval-style tatoo, but maybe I just always thought he should. I still see them every now and again, if I'm a little early and they are a little late.
There were times when they weren't there in the morning. Stretches during which old military guy would miss several days and I'd start to wonder about him and what might have happened. Then he'd be back.
There's the security guard at the parking lot I ride past at my building. We wave and greet each other most mornings. When she's not there I wonder how she's doing and what she's up to.
Now, on my ride from Burlingame, there's a guy who's always coming down Airport as I'm heading up it, around Brisbane and South City. Red helmet, blue shirt, black bike. And I know he goes at least as far as Burlingame, because I've seen him there a couple of times at the end of the day, headed north.
Then there are the people on the train. Black-haired Specialized Allez rider. No-on-8 Sticker Guy. Loud, anti-government guy. Bald, compact, serious-rider guy. Bike-activist yeller woman. Webcor-uni guy.
Now, with people you pass while riding, of course you wouldn't strike up a conversation with them, but nonetheless you have a connection with them. It's a funny thing . . .
When I started bike commuting, riding from Bernal to the Financial District, I had two that stick out: "skinny woman," and "old military guy." Just before 8 in the morning she was always running, and he was always walking on the Embarcadero near the ball park. She wore black tights, a pony tail, and, yes, was very skinny. He wore old-style running shorts (the short kind), had short gray hair, and wasn't really power-walking in the Olympic style, but was walking hard, if that makes sense. Normally shirt off, I feel like he has the faded, greening, naval-style tatoo, but maybe I just always thought he should. I still see them every now and again, if I'm a little early and they are a little late.
There were times when they weren't there in the morning. Stretches during which old military guy would miss several days and I'd start to wonder about him and what might have happened. Then he'd be back.
There's the security guard at the parking lot I ride past at my building. We wave and greet each other most mornings. When she's not there I wonder how she's doing and what she's up to.
Now, on my ride from Burlingame, there's a guy who's always coming down Airport as I'm heading up it, around Brisbane and South City. Red helmet, blue shirt, black bike. And I know he goes at least as far as Burlingame, because I've seen him there a couple of times at the end of the day, headed north.
Then there are the people on the train. Black-haired Specialized Allez rider. No-on-8 Sticker Guy. Loud, anti-government guy. Bald, compact, serious-rider guy. Bike-activist yeller woman. Webcor-uni guy.
Now, with people you pass while riding, of course you wouldn't strike up a conversation with them, but nonetheless you have a connection with them. It's a funny thing . . .
Friday, August 7, 2009
CalTrain: the Bike Car
I've been riding into work all week, so I've missed out on my morning CalTrain fun. But not today. Nothing big this morning, but people, who do you suppose the "Bike Car" is for? Had to fight my way through the crowd of non-cyclists packing the coach's doorway to get my bike back to its rightful place. Not too bad this morning, but always a little annoying.
It is a constant war between the cyclists and the people who (a) want to be closest to the train station when they get to the City; and (b) the people who are too lazy to walk to the next car down when headed out of the City.
Every now and again you'll get some outraged cyclist who climbs aboard and starts yelling at all non-cyclists to get off the coach and make room for the people who are supposed to be there. It rarely works, but hey, maybe it makes them feel better.
Last night was a good one, though. A guy followed a woman up the stairs to the empty seat she took and said, "you know, this car is for cyclists and I saw you get on this car without a bike. Would you please move to another car?" Despite the "please" it wasn't the nicest approach ever, and frankly, I can't believe the guy thought it might actually work. Suffice it to say, it didn't.
It is a constant war between the cyclists and the people who (a) want to be closest to the train station when they get to the City; and (b) the people who are too lazy to walk to the next car down when headed out of the City.
Every now and again you'll get some outraged cyclist who climbs aboard and starts yelling at all non-cyclists to get off the coach and make room for the people who are supposed to be there. It rarely works, but hey, maybe it makes them feel better.
Last night was a good one, though. A guy followed a woman up the stairs to the empty seat she took and said, "you know, this car is for cyclists and I saw you get on this car without a bike. Would you please move to another car?" Despite the "please" it wasn't the nicest approach ever, and frankly, I can't believe the guy thought it might actually work. Suffice it to say, it didn't.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
The Race
Today started off fairly mellow. I'm not playing hockey this mid-week, so I'm riding into the office an extra time or two. This being the third day in a row (that doesn't happen often), I wasn't sure if I should press or take another leisurely ride like yesterday. Despite putting a little extra air in my tires last night, a little headwind to start off deflated my attitude a little, enough to slow me from really going for it, so I spent the San Mateo County portion of the ride just cruising along, nothing special.
It's funny, though. Attitude makes all the difference, and little things make big differences to your state of mind. I pulled up to the light at Airport and Grand in South City right beside the SamTrans 292, which runs along Airport, up Bayshore, and down to Mission. Basically the same route I was taking. The light turned green, and we started off from the same place. The bus, of course, has a higher top speed, but doesn't normally accelerate as fast and has to make stops for its riders.
So, I pulled away from the bus and started up the little hill on Airport. As I was cresting the hill, not really working that hard, the bus came careening by. Headed down Bayshore, it pulled into the bike lane to pick up its next round of passengers . . . and the race was on.
I bolted out around and made a dash for it. I take Tunnel and meet up with
Bayshore again headed up and over 101. I wasn't really pushing that hard on Tunnel, but at Bayshore there was the 292, again, waiting in traffic for the light at 3rd. Now the race was really on. Up the hill I cranked, then across 3rd, over 101, and onto the descent on Bayshore (which is the fastest part of my ride). At Salinas the 292 passed me, but again it had to pick up passengers just before the U-Haul depot, and I passed it back. Then we were stopped at another light together (killing my downhill momentum). By this time I was fully in the mindset, so no more lollygagging. The light turned and I was off. Despite the moderate incline, I was pushing hard and keeping just ahead of the bus.
At Silver I knew I had ST292 beaten; I held it off to the light, cruised through, and saw the 292 had another stop to make behind me as I flew down the northside of Bayshore. Right on Alemeny, left on Loomis, back up to Bayshore, then right on Cesar Chavez, and I had won (at Cesar Chavez, the bus gets on 101 for the last leg before Mission -- as far as I'm concerned CC is the finish line in that race, though with traffic on 101 I wouldn't be too surprised to learn I beat it to the downtown bus depot, too).
Of course, by then my mind was right to keep the cranks turning, so I finished up fairly strong. I didn't kill myself down Illinois and Terry Francois, but turned it up a notch around the Embarcadero, keeping it between 23 and 25 until I reached the Ferry Building.
The moral of the story? It's all in your head. Oh, and I'm faster than SM292 (at least for today), but no, I can't take you downtown.
It's funny, though. Attitude makes all the difference, and little things make big differences to your state of mind. I pulled up to the light at Airport and Grand in South City right beside the SamTrans 292, which runs along Airport, up Bayshore, and down to Mission. Basically the same route I was taking. The light turned green, and we started off from the same place. The bus, of course, has a higher top speed, but doesn't normally accelerate as fast and has to make stops for its riders.
So, I pulled away from the bus and started up the little hill on Airport. As I was cresting the hill, not really working that hard, the bus came careening by. Headed down Bayshore, it pulled into the bike lane to pick up its next round of passengers . . . and the race was on.
I bolted out around and made a dash for it. I take Tunnel and meet up with
Bayshore again headed up and over 101. I wasn't really pushing that hard on Tunnel, but at Bayshore there was the 292, again, waiting in traffic for the light at 3rd. Now the race was really on. Up the hill I cranked, then across 3rd, over 101, and onto the descent on Bayshore (which is the fastest part of my ride). At Salinas the 292 passed me, but again it had to pick up passengers just before the U-Haul depot, and I passed it back. Then we were stopped at another light together (killing my downhill momentum). By this time I was fully in the mindset, so no more lollygagging. The light turned and I was off. Despite the moderate incline, I was pushing hard and keeping just ahead of the bus.At Silver I knew I had ST292 beaten; I held it off to the light, cruised through, and saw the 292 had another stop to make behind me as I flew down the northside of Bayshore. Right on Alemeny, left on Loomis, back up to Bayshore, then right on Cesar Chavez, and I had won (at Cesar Chavez, the bus gets on 101 for the last leg before Mission -- as far as I'm concerned CC is the finish line in that race, though with traffic on 101 I wouldn't be too surprised to learn I beat it to the downtown bus depot, too).
Of course, by then my mind was right to keep the cranks turning, so I finished up fairly strong. I didn't kill myself down Illinois and Terry Francois, but turned it up a notch around the Embarcadero, keeping it between 23 and 25 until I reached the Ferry Building.
The moral of the story? It's all in your head. Oh, and I'm faster than SM292 (at least for today), but no, I can't take you downtown.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Hypocrisy, Politics, and the Bike Commuter
Ok, so hypocrisy and politics are synonyms, right?
There was big news for the bike commuter in 2008. Part of some spending bill or another that made its way through the federal government included tax relief for bike commuters. Makes sense. There was already a tax incentive to take public transit. You can (and I do) buy your public transit passes (BART tickets, MUNI pass, CalTrain tickets) pre-tax through your employer. That's a nice benefit, probably reducing the cost of those tickets by 1/4 or more (depending on your highest marginal tax rate). And it makes sense: it contributes to the public good by taking cars off the road, reducing congestion, and reducing pollution/emissions. So here's an added benefit for the bike commuter who removes a car from the road, produces virtually zero carbon emissions, and is probably healthier (costing everyone less in the shared burden of medical expenses).
Or at least that was what it seemed.
Turns out you can only take advantage of the tax credit if you don't take advantage of any other transportation-related tax relief. No double dipping, right? Well . . . you can order any combination of CalTrain, BART, and MUNI tickets, getting the tax break on all of them. Let's say you live in Oakland, but work in Palo Alto? To keep a car off the road you take BART to Millbrae then hop on CalTrain the rest of the way. You use your transportation credit on both. Or you take BART or CalTrain into the City and take MUNI from there. Tax relief for both.
Worse yet (and a generally inexplicable), you can use your pre-tax dollars to buy parking for your car. How on earth does that fit into all of this, and why is the government subsidizing more cars on the road? But on top of that broad question, why can you buy both public transportation tickets and parking pre-tax, but you can't combine your bike commuting tax relief with your public transportation tax relief? I mean that would make sense.
Hypocrisy. Some one should make a law . . .
Maybe I should write my congressperson.
(and if you're a bike commuter who is eligible for the tax credit, ping HR about it)
There was big news for the bike commuter in 2008. Part of some spending bill or another that made its way through the federal government included tax relief for bike commuters. Makes sense. There was already a tax incentive to take public transit. You can (and I do) buy your public transit passes (BART tickets, MUNI pass, CalTrain tickets) pre-tax through your employer. That's a nice benefit, probably reducing the cost of those tickets by 1/4 or more (depending on your highest marginal tax rate). And it makes sense: it contributes to the public good by taking cars off the road, reducing congestion, and reducing pollution/emissions. So here's an added benefit for the bike commuter who removes a car from the road, produces virtually zero carbon emissions, and is probably healthier (costing everyone less in the shared burden of medical expenses).
Or at least that was what it seemed.
Turns out you can only take advantage of the tax credit if you don't take advantage of any other transportation-related tax relief. No double dipping, right? Well . . . you can order any combination of CalTrain, BART, and MUNI tickets, getting the tax break on all of them. Let's say you live in Oakland, but work in Palo Alto? To keep a car off the road you take BART to Millbrae then hop on CalTrain the rest of the way. You use your transportation credit on both. Or you take BART or CalTrain into the City and take MUNI from there. Tax relief for both.
Worse yet (and a generally inexplicable), you can use your pre-tax dollars to buy parking for your car. How on earth does that fit into all of this, and why is the government subsidizing more cars on the road? But on top of that broad question, why can you buy both public transportation tickets and parking pre-tax, but you can't combine your bike commuting tax relief with your public transportation tax relief? I mean that would make sense.
Hypocrisy. Some one should make a law . . .
Maybe I should write my congressperson.
(and if you're a bike commuter who is eligible for the tax credit, ping HR about it)
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