October 20, 2001
contest day!
So the 2-hip contest went off today and 500 bmx kids descended on my neighborhood riding spot. I only got to catch a couple qualifying rounds in the Great class and half a round in the Really Great (pro) class. The course was really small and didn't lend itself to lines or street tech. It was pretty much confined to huge airs on the jump box, wall rides on the big wall, and lip tricks on the hip. It was good to see so many people still riding.
I took a few quicktime movies of Bruce Crisman's first run. Here's a big 360 cross-up, a nosepick to stall to no-footer in, and a big fufanu on the hip's extension (I was slow with the zoom on the new camera).
[10:43 PM]
October 15, 2001
That was fast
I took another ride up to the bridge and across to Marin. Unfortunately, the warm, clear, blue skies of last week are gone. Apparently summer's over.
[11:58 PM]
October 13, 2001
2-hip contest
Just a week away is Ron Wilkerson's 2-Hip street contest. This is going to be right outside my apartment, actually in the space I usually practice riding. I missed last year's jam, but I saw video from it. There were real, everyday obstacles you'd find in the street and it looked like a blast.
It was probably in 1989 or so when Ron started his contests, with the very first street contest in a parking lot behind a supermarket down in Santee, California. I remember that people brought ramps, there was an old car to bash in, and a huge wall to carve on. It was an amazing contest that launched every street contest that followed it.
[12:38 AM]
October 10, 2001
I would ride 500 miles...
Today, while on a quick ride down through Golden Gate park to Ocean Beach, and up to the Cliff house and back, my mt. bike's odometer tripped 500 miles. I reset it in early January, and it's really only from riding 5x a week to and from Bitzi's offices, between July and September. It was roughly a 9 mile roundtrip, so the miles added up quick. Last year I rode about 650 miles between July and December riding a shorter distance to and from Pyra.
I'm hoping to break a thousand this year, and I think I can do it if I take some longer trips in the next couple of months.
[10:40 PM]
October 8, 2001
movabletype!
The software I use to keep this site easy to update is now ready for download at http://www.movabletype.org/. If you maintain a news/daily/weblog type site, give it a whirl, it's an amazing little sytem.
[02:17 PM]
October 4, 2001
pain
When you attempt to ride a bike like you did when you were younger, you're bound to get hurt. Since I started riding my freestyle bike, I've pulled my right shoulder a few times, I've got tendonitis in my left forearm, and my shins are covered in bruises and deep gashes. I thought getting back to my old self on a bike would take a while, but I had no idea how much the "road to recovery" would prolong it.
[10:59 AM]
October 1, 2001
the long ride
One of the things you often hear at work on sunny days is "I wish I wasn't cooped up in here on a day like this." I promised myself that the next time I'm between jobs, I'd do as much bike riding as possible, to enjoy the outdoors while I could. I've also always wanted to ride across the Golden Gate bridge. Last week I found out about an easy safe route to get there, so today was the day to accomplish both goals.
I grabbed my mountain bike and started out around 1:30PM. The air was sunny and clear and the ride up Arguello was relatively easy and safe (it has one of the few bike lanes in the city). Once in the Presidio, the riding was through rolling tree filled hills, with little traffic. By the time I made it to the bridge, I could see the fog had come in a bit (I could hear fog horns on ships well before it, and I knew that wasn't a good sign). I had heard the bridge was closed to all pedestrian and bike traffic in the wake of the WTC attacks, but it was open today. The fog was unbelievably thick. I wish I had brought my camera, because it was another world from the sunny, peaceful one I left behind in the park. On the way back across the bridge, other cyclists 30 feet ahead of me were disappearing in the fog, while the wind was blowing so hard I was having trouble riding straight.
Once away from the bridge, the wind was gone, and the riding was again through idyllic settings. I accidentally missed the Washington turn-off to go back the way I came, and instead chose to follow 49-mile drive. I knew it went down to Ocean Beach, a place I frequently take short trips to, via Golden Gate Park. I've always wanted to ride the whole loop (except the part on the freeway), so today I got to knock another little goal off my list of things to do in the city. I probably covered 10-12 miles of it today, and by the time I arrived home almost 2 hours and 20 miles later, I was exhausted.
Though I'm tired and a little sore, today felt better than any day I've ever spent sitting at a desk in my entire life.
[map of today's trip] [entire map of 49 mile drive]
[05:11 PM]
