san francisco

When we left for San Francisco on Sunday, I knew we were planning to rent bikes. Having visited the city before, I also knew that there are lots of steep hills. Oh well, I thought, if the hills are too hard to ride up, I'll just walk the bike. No big deal.

glad to see he's working on it

Our flight was delayed (yes, it was as bad as it looks and took almost 3 hours to fix!) and the ride from the airport took longer than expected, so it was late afternoon when we finally got settled in our hotel, and we decided to pick up the bikes the next day. On foot, we visited Chinatown and had dinner at the Mona Lisa restaurant in Little Italy.

I wish she'd quit smirking at us!

Early Monday morning, we headed (uphill) to Bike and Roll to pick up our Trek Verve Comfort Hybrids. I had never ridden anything quite like it -- even my Trek FX 7.2 step-through has a less upright seating position. But it turned out to be a pretty decent ride.

It was raining. A light rain, but steady. Not exactly what we expected, but ah well... it's just water. We set off (downhill) to the bike trail, thinking we'd ride up to the Golden Gate Bridge. As we rode, the rain increased until soon it was a steady downpour. The fog was so dense we couldn't even see the Golden Gate Bridge, so we were pretty sure that we wouldn't be able to see anything from the bridge. It was wet and cold and miserable. We stopped in at a sporting goods store, where Hubby bought some cycling gloves,  and then we turned around and rode back to the hotel, hoping the rain would stop.

After downing some tasty Louisiana shrimp at Bubba Gump's (we chose to eat here because one of my students absolutely loves the movie "Forrest Gump"-- and because, even in the fog, it offers a nice view of the bay) we started out again.

foggy first full day in San Fran

The rain had stopped and the sky was clearing, so after a detour to Telegraph Hill and the Coit Tower...

halfway up to Coit Tower

 ...we decided to try again for the Golden Gate Bridge.

It's a bit of an uphill climb to the bridge, and I was quite pleased with the bike. I tackled the hill as if it was one of the River Valley climbs and found myself passing everyone else. When I reached the top I felt good and not even out of breath.

We weren't sure exactly where to go from this point, so we followed some loud-mouth guy who sounded as if he knew what he was doing. He probably did, but clearly he had a different destination in mind -- NOT the bridge.

Up another hill, around a bend, and this breathtaking vista was before us...

I caught my breath when I came around the bend...

We didn't know exactly where we were, but it was a marked bike route and beautiful, and we could see that we had left the bridge behind us...

Our goal -- behind us! How did that happen?

... so we decided to keep going. Finally, thanks to some friendly natives and our less-than-adequate tourist map, we ended up on the road to Golden Gate Park.

In my opinion, this park is overrated. It's pretty, with gorgeous flower gardens and large exotic-looking trees, but it was so crowded with cars and pedestrians that cycling was not very pleasant. The bike lane is placed between parked cars and the sidewalk, so that people who wanted to reach their cars had to cross the bike lane, often in large groups with strollers, kiddie bikes, etc. So I was not altogether sorry when I saw the Dutch windmill on the right, because I knew that marked the westernmost edge of the park. Pretty lousy shot, with the street lamp right in front, but oh well...

the Dutch windmill

Now it was time to ride along the ocean front -- fantastic! We saw a lot of surfers (wearing wetsuits) and I was almost tempted to stick my feet in, but as it wasn't very warm out, I thought I'd hold off.

too cold to swim

Another fairly decent climb awaited us, and then another. Hubby was not impressed when we hit the second climb so soon after the first! I think it reminded him of riding in the River Valley.

And then, downhill -- and a flat tire for me. Somehow I managed to ride over a long, twisted, rusty nail that went into the bottom of the tire and came out on the side. Bummer.

But - the guy at the bike rental shop had assured us that if we got a flat, all you have to do is call and I'll be there... Oh, wait, I'm getting it mixed up with that James Taylor song. But he did say they would come to the rescue.

Problem: we didn't have our cell phones. Taking out our not-so-trusty map, we discovered that fortuitously, we just happened to be at an intersection shown thereon. And, it was just a short walk to a more or less main drag, where surely there would be some place we could make a phone call. Maybe there'd even be a bike shop? If nothing else, we figured, we could catch a bus.

It was about four or five blocks -- amazingly not up or down hill -- to California Street, where there was a gas station  on the corner. Not much else, though, and certainly no bike shop. But the gas station attendant was friendly and helpful and made several calls from his own phone. First call -- to Bike and Roll. No answer. I left a message on the voice mail, but didn't have a lot of hope. Next, he called two different bike shops, but both were closed.

What about the bus, we asked? He was only too happy to tell us how to get back to our hotel by bus, and an equally friendly customer confirmed the directions. The bus stop was nearby, so that's what we did. We had to take two different buses; both bus drivers were super helpful with the bikes and with directions, and we made it back with no trouble.

I have to confess that after this, I was a little discouraged about the whole bike idea. But we decided that when we took the bike in to get a replacement, we'd also ask for a flat repair kit. That way, at least we wouldn't be stranded if we had another flat. And of course, as any Murphy's Law adherent knows, as long as we had the flat repair kit on hand, we wouldn't get a flat tire anyway.

from Telegraph Hill

yet another reason to ride

In my ESL class on Thursday, I was given yet another reason to keep riding my bike. We started the class with a 15-minute writing assignment. I wrote a few adjectives on the board and asked the students to write about one or more people who could be described by one or more of the adjectives. This type of assignment is always well-received. Since it's just a brief time of writing, the pressure is minimal; students know perfection is not expected. To be honest, I am not sure how well I would perform on such a task, but the students always do a bang-up job.

One of the adjectives I wrote was "energetic." I was surprised when a student from Ukraine  began to read, "My teacher Jane is a very energetic person..." As evidence, she cited the fact that I ride my bike to work every day, even in the winter, adding that I inspired her to start cycling, too.

Immediately after she finished reading, the Sri Lankan student stepped in. As a Buddhist monk, he is responsible for the spiritual guidance of his community. He said that he often uses me as an example to Sri Lankan-Canadians who complain about winter. He tells them about how his English teacher rides her bike all winter, even when the temperature is minus 40. 

Needless to say, I was had to blink back a few tears. When I first started bicycle commuting, I never dreamed that I would become a legend!

In reflecting on this, I remembered something that struck me when I read the Anne of Green Gables series while pregnant with my second son. 

Anne and her then-friend Gilbert are discussing their hopes for the future, and these are Anne's words: “I'd like to add some beauty to life... I don't exactly want to make people KNOW more... though I know that IS the noblest ambition... but I'd love to make them have a pleasanter time because of me... to have some little joy or happy thought that would never have existed if I hadn't been born."

My primary goal as an English teacher is of course to help students KNOW more English, and I've always felt lucky to have such a rewarding job, but if, from time to time, I can help people to be a little happier as well, I will consider myself extra lucky. 

seen on the dog walk

 Sometimes the dog walk is just a walk. Other times, it's a magical experience.

 The city has built a couple of new ponds right near our house, so we like to take Maggie down there. Both ponds are home to families of loons, muskrats and of course geese.

 I experimented with the low light setting on my camera, with tolerable results.

River Valley East

Since Hubby and I had been stymied in our efforts to get past Wayne Gretzky Drive a couple of nights ago -- we weren't sure about the best way to go -- last night we decided to drive all the way to Capilano and enter the River Valley from there.

We went later in the day, and it was hot, hot, hot. 27 C with Humidex of 30. There was not really any wind to cool us off. We rode up lots of hills, which made us feel the heat even more. But it was a good ride.

First we rode east to Rundle Park. Not exactly pleasant on a hot Saturday afternoon -- there were so many people on the trail, we felt like we were a nuisance.

So we turned around and rode west to the Cloverdale foot bridge and then back up to Wayne Gretzky Drive. This time, we had our map, so after looking it over, we decided to climb out of the valley on to Ada Boulevard, following that as far as the Rundle foot bridge. From there it was back to the parking lot and the air conditioned ride home.

i take what i can get

It really is true -- you can't have everything in this life. 

Hubby outright refuses to ride the country roads -- range roads and township roads -- with me. But he is happy to drive into the city and ride around in the River Valley. So that's what we did. We spent about 3 hours exploring various trails -- some old, some new. Up Emily Murphy hill, up Forest Heights hill, up the hill to 142 Street. Lots of downhills, too.

It was a warm evening, sunny, but sort of hazy. I had to stop at this lookout point in Forest Heights park and take some photos. 
I feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful place, even if the weather is like the girl with the curl: 

When it's good, it's very, very good;

But when it's bad, it's horrid.

Fortunately, right now we are having quite a long spell of the very, very good, and I intend to make the most of it!

riding but not writing

I've ridden a lot during the last couple of weeks, but haven't spend a lot of time at the computer -- except for lesson prep. Time for a few photos from recent rides...

I arrived at work Thursday morning to find this little creature enjoying the broadleaf weeds that had been left on the lawn.

 And here is a pic from my "new" trail -- when I ride through here I feel as if I might be not far from my Laotian student's jungle village.

 And from my most recent country ride, looking down towards Spruce Grove...

greatly exaggerated

Apparently the Mark Twain quote about his death, as commonly cited: "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated," is a misquote. According to Oxford Academic, the original statement was actually, "The report of my death was an exaggeration." 

Slightly less dramatic, but still rather clever.

I never thought I'd have to say something along those lines, but I do. In my case, it is thus:

The report of my cycling was an exaggeration.

 I sort of wish I could say that I bicycle commute year-round from Spruce Grove to downtown Edmonton, but despite my boundless enthusiasm for cycling, that is something I can never imagine myself doing. My hands and feet are nothing particularly beautiful, but they're the only ones I have and I don't want to risk losing them to frostbite.

I feel a little embarrassed about the misunderstanding, but I think the video about Edmonton bicyclists was a great idea, and I hope that others can be inspired to use their bikes to get around the city as a result of hearing and reading a little bit about the cycling community.